Steven
This was not a good book. It had some interesting stories, but the way the idea of being so ‘hard' you can endure anything was shared left me scratching my head.
- “I'm so hard I can run a marathon on broken legs.”
- “I'm so tough that I can do chin ups until my hands rip apart.”
- “My mind is so calloused that I can run until I shit myself.”
I think perhaps David's mind is so calloused it's not working anymore. Why would I want to be tough enough to run on broken legs? If my legs are broken I want to be ‘tough' enough that I can give up on a dream and go to the hospital.
David has done some cool things, but I see very little point in any of it. This book was not for me, and I don't think it's for most people. I rolled my eyes through most of it.
Key takeaways:
- Engaging. It was nice to see someone work through the available data and use that to influence decisions. It seemed like on many issues the data suggests the best way forward is what works for your family. There were a few spots where there was a clear winner, but most of the time, that isn't the case. Take a deep breath and do what feels right for your family.
- Causation and correlation are not the same thing. REMEMBER THIS.
=== SLEEPING ===
- Co-sleeping is more dangerous. If you decide to proceed that way, no blankets or pillows.
- SIDS has the highest risk in the first four months. Best plan of action is a basinet in your room. After four months, it doesn't matter as much.
- Kids should sleep on their back with nothing in the crib.
- Sleep training works. It's not easy to hear your baby cry, but it's not harmful to the baby.
=== BREASTFEEDING ===
- It doesn't seem to matter whether you opt for breastfeeding or formula.
=== VACCINATION ===
- There is no evidence that vaccines are harmful. There is plenty of evidence that they are helpful.
=== STAY AT HOME ===
- There is little evidence that parents working has any harmful effects on your children. Do what works for your family.
=== EARLY EDUCATION ===
- You can't teach your kid to read until age 4+. Even if your kid starts to read early, it does not necessarily have any positive effects later in life. Sweden doesn't even teach kids to read until age 7.
- Baby Einstein and other similar ideas are good for entertaining, but there isn't evidence that they make your baby smarter.
- The type of daycare or preschool your kids go to doesn't matter, as long as they are safe and engaged.
=== DISCIPLINE ===
- Spanking doesn't help, and may even be harmful.
- Consistency is key.
- Don't threaten punishments you can't or won't enforce.
- Your kid being annoying doesn't warrant a punishment.
- You can't reason with toddlers. Accept that.
Key takeaways:
- Stop thinking of ‘I don't know,' as a negative, meaning, ‘I have no idea,' or ‘I am not smart enough.' Start thinking of it as, ‘I don't have all the facts yet,' or ‘there are some unknowns'
- An expert will be better than a rookie, but neither can know for sure what the outcome will be. The expert will have seen more scenarios and as such will be able to better predict the outcomes given the facts, but both are still making guesses.
- Make peace with the fact that in many things, we cannot be sure–and that is okay.
- Redefine what it means to be wrong. If you have a 10% chance of your strategy failing, then your strategy fails, you were not wrong. Your bet just didn't work out. That was always a possibility.
- Sometimes long shots land. Blaming the bookie misses the point.
- Beware of resulting-second guessing your decision if it ends badly. If you analyzed the data available and made a sound decision, then the outcome was bad, it doesn't mean you made a bad decision. Luck and/or incomplete data may change the outcome. The decision may still have been sound.
- All decisions are bets.
- We have a predisposition to believe things we hear are true, even if they are not.
- Motivated reasoning is interpreting new information based on your existing beliefs. This is dangerous, but it is our default. It is very hard not to do.
- The purpose of fake news is not to change views or opinions. It's to entrench already held beliefs.
- We are rarely 100% or 0% confident in our beliefs. Thinking in probabilities or percentages brings this to mind. Saying you are 70% confident on a decision reminds us of this and makes it easier change our minds in light of new information. It feels bad to go from, ‘I am 100% convinced,' to ‘I am wrong.' It's much easier to go from, ‘I am 65% confident,' to ‘I am 40%' or ‘There was a always a 35% chance this was going to work out differently than I anticipated.' This way conflicting information isn't a threat.
- Calculate the expected value of new ventures/customers. If there is a 75% chance of landing a $1 million account, that account is worth $750,000. If there is a 5% chance of landing a $25 million account, that account is worth $1.25 million.
- Do a ‘pre-mortem'. Before embarking on a project, imagine you are at the end. What could have gone wrong? This allows you to spot pitfalls but also makes it much easier for people to share dissenting views.
Boring. I gave up halfway through. Then I read some reviews, thinking I must have been missing something for this book to be so widely regarded as McCarthy's best work. It seemed a lot of people thought the back half was better. So I picked it up again.
I finished it three days later and I still don't like it.
It was an interesting story. I didn't really like the style, but I can appreciate why this is a classic.
Key takeaways:
Brought up, we were taught that the residential schools were terrible institutions, but I don't recall being taught much beyond that. This book takes a much wider view of the many ways Canada had tried to control and eliminate the indigenous way of life. As I read through this book, I tried to think of what it would look like if someone set up this system today, and I was part of the group being oppressed.
Key takeaways:
- I loved the part of the book where Kyle Maynard was talking about rating something (a candidate, a speaking engagement, an investment, etc.) on a 1-10 scale, the stipulation being you cannot choose 7. There are so many things I would rate as a 7, being forced to choose either 6 or 8 makes it easier to decide if it is a good idea or not.
This doctor seems highly unlikeable to me, and the book rambles often. Interesting to read about the subject, but many parts of the book did not relate to each other, and we jumped between topics frequently in a way that didn't drive the story forward.
Key takeaways:
- The way Robert presents his ideas, he seems like the kind of person you would only do business with once, after that you would want to stay far away.
- He talks often about crushing or dominating people on your team or enemies. From my experience, I think a collaborative approach is much better. I would rather earn my place by working harder and being more creative than by outwitting or outmaneuvering everyone around me.
- I think there are probably a few select times in a persons career or business where these principals are practical and effective, but living these principals on a daily basis is unlikely to lead to a happy life.
- “Over confidence, particularly as a result of success, will make you go to far.”
- “War demands the utmost in realism, seeing things as they are.”
- “The last war you fought is a danger, even if you won it. If you are victorious, you will tend to repeat the strategies you just used, for success makes us lazy and complacent. If you lost, you may be skittish and indecisive.”
- “We tend to over estimate others' abilities, after all, they are trying hard to make it look like they know what they are doing, and we tend to underestimate our own. You must compensate for this by trusting yourself more, and others less.”
- “Reading and thinking about [new ideas] won't work. You must put them into effect.”
- I loved the section where it talked about General George Marshall training leaders under him. He spent a lot of time transferring his ideas and thoughts to people who could become ‘replicas' of himself.
- “The essence of strategy is not to carry out a brilliant plan that proceeds in steps. It is to put yourself in situations where you have more options than your enemy does...True strategy is being able to do strategy A, B, or C, depending on the circumstances.”
- “If you want to make people with low self esteem feel better about themselves, praise has a superficial effect. Instead prod them into accomplishing something tangible, giving them a real experience. That will translate into a much deeper feeling of confidence.”
Key takeaways:
- Sometimes, we need to change to move forward. Sometimes, change will move us backward. It can be hard to know which way the change will move you.
- Core values will help with this.
Key takeaways:
- The body knows what to do. For the most part, you can trust it.
- Moving around and letting gravity work for you is important.
- The mind and body are very connected. Staying relaxed and calm during labour greatly helps. Labour can slow or even reverse if the mother is stressed or uncomfortable with the environment.
- The main benefit was listening to the accounts of other people's experiences. It highlighted a wide range of possible scenarios and added a high degree of familiarity and comfort with the process–at least in theory.
I think I missed a lot of the details in this book because I was a bit sick while reading.
Key takeaways:
- The risk assessment part grabbed me. A typical bank executive's career lasts 28 years. That's not enough to go through more than one major economical event, in most cases. This highlights the need to study history, not relying solely on what you have seen during your career.
Key takeaways:
- It was fun to re-experience the world through the eyes of a child. That aspect felt very nostalgic.
- I like Atticus. While at first he didn't appear to be much, his integrity and character shone through at the end of the day. It was a good reminder of what counts in a person, even if they don't seem all that special at first.
- Just because you disagree with a person, or just because a person does something you disagree with, it doesn't mean you need to treat them any different. Atticus does a great job separating the person from the beliefs/actions (Mrs. Dubose, Ewells, etc.)
Key Takeaways:
- If something is mission critical, EVERYONE involved needs thorough training of not just the day-to-day aspects of the job, but also what to do in unusual circumstances
- If you do not know what you are doing or you are not comfortable with something, ask questions. If your questions are dismissed or not answered satisfactorily, consider the ramifications
- Listen to the evidence. Don't stick your head in the sand
- Always be prepared. Ask yourself, ‘What could go wrong?' If it is serious, prepare for it
Key takeaways:
- The issues of residential schools are incredibly complex. Healing is not easy and will take time. It is a process that involves all of us.
- This was a terrible system with rampant abuse. It was even harder to read, having nieces and nephews that are similar in age to many of the children that were kidnapped.
- Even early on, there were critics of the system. Speaking up for what is right can be difficult, especially if you are in a small minority, but it is important to right the wrongs. It's much easier to do with the benefit of hindsight, but that doesn't solve the problems. Stand against injustice before it is easy.
This was an interesting read, but I felt like I couldn't really figure out who Jack was.
In parts, they made him seem like an outsider, hick who didn't just started a business on a whim and got luck, in other parts they made him seems like a wizard who knew exactly what he was doing.
Sometimes, he seemed like he opposed most of what the Chinese government does, in other parts they made it sound like he worked with them.
Sometimes he sounded like a ‘for the people' leader, other times it seemed like he didn't care much about people.
Regardless, he is clearly a brilliant man, with unusual drive and foresight.
Key takeaways:
- Connectors know a vast number of people and serve as hubs for social networks. They naturally bring different groups together. This makes them critical in spreading ideas.
- Mavens are informations specialists. They accumulate knowledge or spot trends and love sharing it with others. They influence others by providing reliable, persuasive information that helps people make decisions.
- Salespeople are charismatic and can persuade others to act. They amplify the appeal of an idea or product, making it more attractive and convincing to others.
Example: A Maven identifies a new product or trend. The Connector spreads this information to a wide and diverse audience, building a base of early adopters. The Salesperson helps persuade hesitant individuals to adopt it, drastically increasing the uptake.
All three are necessary to create an epidemic.
- A good salesperson
Key takeaways:
- I didn't have many ‘takeaways' from this book, but enjoyed the way human history was nicely summarized, touching on some of the more important moments.
- My favorite part was the discussion of the future. I thoroughly enjoy technology, and the thought of being a cyborg one day was highly engaging for me.
Key takeaways:
- I love reading books that challenge assumptions I hold. This book had page after page of research that made me think twice. Very fun and engaging.
- I particularly liked the section about mail that gets delivered without postage. The cost of perfectly ensuring every letter has a stamp is too high compared to the missed revenue on those few letters that make it through. In business, you need to make sure the effort is worth the end result and be okay with recognizing sometimes it's better to let things slide.
- I liked the chapter about tenure, veganism, and the review of the ‘Good to Great' companies.
Key takeaways:
- Be willing to reconsider your views
- It is never to late to accomplish something meaningful
- If you have a mission worth accomplishing, do not be deterred
Interesting enough. It's hard to imagine living during wartime and how the war touched so many lives.
This book and ‘Shadow Divers' made very interesting comparisons between the German and American soldiers as people and the ‘honor' of fighting for one's country. I'm not sure I'm ready to think there was much honor in what Nazi soldiers did, whether they knew about the atrocities being committed or not. Either way, they were the aggressors and I don't know how they justified the actions of their country.
Key takeaways:
- Innovate!
- Be okay with the ‘contradictions' in business
- It's okay to be different than your peers, if you know why it is to your advantage
Key takeaways:
- I probably view this as one of the most important books I've read so far. Few of us like thinking about what decline looks like. Fewer of us have plans for it. This book highlights the importance of doing that, and how big of an impact a good plan can have.
- We get to a point where medicine can't fix anything, merely push the problem down the road. We need to accept that.
- Medicine is surprisingly ineffective at lengthening life when it comes to terminal illnesses. Often life is only extended by a few months (sometimes it is even shortened) and the quality typically decreases by a disproportionate amount.
- Hospice care (focusing on how to enjoy today) can dramatically improve quality of life, often without any meaningful decrease in the length of time left.
- We need to ask ourselves: What are our hopes/goals? What are we willing to endure to achieve them? This takes the pressure off the caregivers to make difficult decisions. Example from the book, when his dad was sick, he said that as long as he could eat ice-cream and watch football, he wanted life to continue. If it came to the point where he couldn't do that, he didn't want further treatment. This way his kids didn't need to stress over whether further treatment was right or not.
I think everyone should read this book, especially if they have aging family or themselves are aging.
For some reason I don't understand, I've always felt a pull to Everest, thinking, “Maybe someday I'll try to climb it.” I have no idea why. I don't like camping. I don't like the cold. I don't enjoy physical exertion in any form. I haven't tried it, but I expect that I wouldn't enjoy defecating on a snowbank on a hill in -36 Celsius and winds reaching 160 kph. Amazingly, this book did nothing to dampen that call.
Some fun facts from the book:
- There are dozens of ways to die on Everest: multiple altitude sicknesses, cold, falling into a crevasse, avalanches, falling serracs, suffocation.
- It takes more than two months to climb.
- The descent is often more dangerous than the assent.
- There are hundreds of bodies on Everest, many along the trail you travel.
- The mountain is littered with garbage and feces.
- The air is so thin at the top, that without acclimatizing, you would be unconscious within 3 - 4 minutes, dead a few minutes later.
- The summit is 29,035 feet above sea level.