Review: Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Noah Harari
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It is interesting to read this right after Nate Silver's "On the edge". My guess is we will start reading many more books dealing with AI and its changes to society, governments, business, and everyone's life.

This is written with the usual in-depth historical research typical of Harari, with some repetitions from his old books.

There are some fascinating points, such as how conservative political movements have become untenable with all this change, so they have morphed into radical movements touting revolutionary slogans.

Also some interesting analyses, such as how the Catholic church has been able to change with the times without ever admitting it was wrong (it cannot, since technically it follows God's word), but rather due to "bad actors". I don't know if this holds true, but it's an interesting perspective.


Either way, Harari remains a must-read.



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Review: Dissipatio H.G.

Dissipatio H.G. by Guido Morselli
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I admit I wasn't in the right state of mind for this. I found myself wondering where people were, wanting the protagonist to explore more (such as when he went to the airport) and learn how he survived on his own (how does electricity hold up? etc.).

While it did have some of these aspects, most of the book concentrated on the philosophical aspect of being alone, whether that constitutes the end of the world, and other aspects of the protagonist's past (I won't write any spoilers here).

It's probably an excellent book for questioning your mortality, etc. But otherwise you may feel like a teenager watching an intellectual artsy movie, and just wishing for some action.


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Review: Sugli specchi e altri saggi. Il segno, la rappresentazione, l'illusione, l'immagine

Sugli specchi e altri saggi. Il segno, la rappresentazione, l'illusione, l'immagine by Umberto Eco
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In this age of online shock-value headlines, conspiracy theories and general lack of critical thinking, it's a breath of fresh air to read essays by Umberto Eco, which provide the opposite.

I must say, however, that while the first essay on mirrors was excellent, some of the others dragged on a bit and were a tad repetitive (which makes sense, being a collection of articles, essays, etc.). I also enjoyed his thoughts on Dumas' Count of Montecristo (I had no idea he had been paid by the word).


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Review: The Instructions of Shuruppak

The Instructions of Shuruppak by Shuruppak
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The world's oldest known text is a list of to-do's by a father to his son. And it certainly reads as such. It's a short, enlightening read, and it has some decent advice (mixed in with the weird and outdated).


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Review: How to Be a Leader: An Ancient Guide to Wise Leadership

How to Be a Leader: An Ancient Guide to Wise Leadership by Plutarch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Timeless advice, although it is impossible not to read this and see how current politicians compare, concluding that they fall far short. I’m guessing this is pretty much the point, but it is still depressing. 

Still, if I ever find myself in politics this will be worth a re-read in detail. 

Some quotes I noted down:

“Kings are afraid for their subjects, while tyrants are afraid of their subjects.”

''I hate that man and wish to do him harm, but I love my country more.''

“Just like a blemish is more notable if it is on one’s face rather than elsewhere, a fault is more noticeable with a leader than others” (Paraphrased, since I can’t find the quote anymore). 

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Review: La agonía del eros

La agonía del eros by Byung-Chul Han
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Already my second philosophy book of the year. Like the last one (Ariel), I had no idea this dealt with philosophy before starting it. Maybe I should start getting to know what I'm reading before I start a book. 

However, I enjoyed this more than the last one. There were some interesting insights, from Hegel to 50 shades of Gray... 

I also liked the statement that Auto-compulsion is more fatal than allo-compulsion, since you cannot resist auto-compulsion (no one else to blame when failures occur). I'm not sure I agree with it 100%, but it's an interesting perspective. 

A good short read. I'm not sure I could've handled a longer book though. 

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Review: Ariel

Ariel by José Enrique Rodó
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a very interesting book to get into blind. I had this bookmarked as a book to read if I wanted to check out some Uruguayan literature, but I didn't remember anything else about it. When it started talking about the teacher giving a farewell speech to his students, I expected the speech to end quickly and the rest of the story to get started. 

Regardless, I found his philosophy very interesting, albeit faulty in several ways. Maybe they just don't stand the test of time. Still, it's interesting when he mentions the difference art and 'utilitarianism', counting Latin America among the lovers of art, and the Anglo saxons among the more utilitarian. I couldn't help think of Oscar Wilde's similar argument re: art and utility. Except, ironically, Wilde's version was much more artistic and entertaining. 

Probably 3.5 stars. I'm still quite glad I read it. 

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Review: Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache

Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache by Keith H. Basso
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Having started this book, I almost left it unfinished after the first part. I still don't know why I had it in my wishlist. Regardless, it is definitely a unique book. This is part linguistics, part anthropology, part philosophy, all dealing with the Western Apache. The idea of "place-making" is, as far as I can tell, unique, and yet there are echoes of it in other cultures I'm sure. 

No matter who you are, this is almost definitely what Tyler Cowen refers to as a "view quake" book. 

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Review: The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence

The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence by Josh Waitzkin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is like a self-help book in the sense that a biography can be a business book by teaching you business lessons. He talks about his experiences and then extrapolates the lessons he learned from different incidences and accomplishments in his life. 

If you are looking for easily digestible to-do nuggets, like "don't check your email first thing" or "never go to bed angry", you won't find them here. His advice requires you to dig deep, but they seem quite worthwhile nonetheless. 

Some of my notes:

Children who are told they are smart, tend to go for results, thereby avoiding any challenge where they might fail, while children who are taught to put more effort, tend to apply more effort to greater and greater challenges (Entity theorists vs. incremental theorists)

He discusses repeating what you learn until it becomes automatic, and then adding to it, and repeating again, and adding again, etc. 

I liked his discussion about how to deal with distractions. Rather than trying to do away with them, increase them, so they don't bother you (he applies this to chess, but it probably translates to many other endeavors)

I also liked his talk about constraints being liberating. He broke his hand, and learned to compete with one hand, deflecting with one so as to attack with another, so that once it healed he almost saw it as an unfair advantage. I like this idea, that average people would see an injury as 6 weeks doing nothing, but professional athletes find ways to take advantage of it. Allow yourself not to be at peak performance, so that you can learn/try new things to improve.

Creating your own trigger: Identify a moment when, or activity wherein, you're in the zone. Find other habits/activities you enjoy. Engage in these in a set routine, then start activity where you're in the zone. Repeat several times. 

At this point, you should be able to engage in the set routine and you'll automatically be in the zone. 

While playing chess he would eat 5 almonds every 45 minutes for alertness. (or bananas/ protein bars, etc.)

Anger: 3 steps: flow with distraction, use distraction, recreate internally

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Review: La città del sole

La città del sole by Tommaso Campanella
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Campanella seems to have amalgamated aspects of Thomas More's Utopia, Plato's dialogues, Christianity and some astrology for good measure. 

I did like how he seemed to be a fan of new inventions, which were aplenty in this city of the sun. Including an "orecchiale", like an "occhiale" but for listening to space. I also liked how knowledge should be open to all, and not closed up to the people. 

He talks about how their inhabitants are amazed that we are occupied with breeding horses and dogs, but we don't do the same with human. But then takes the wrong lesson and basically has them practice eugenics. 

I did not like how women and children were basically common property. Also, what was the deal with 'voluntary' human sacrifice?? Also, it seemed like he was kissing up to the Spanish toward the end (which he probably was). 

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Review: Democritus

Democritus by Paul Anthony Cartledge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a 2nd read-through for me, and I think I enjoyed it more this time (I gave it 3 stars last time). 

It is rather short, also given the fact that we don't have much information about Democritus. He is credited with coming up with the idea of the indivisible "atom", making up everything. 

Interesting how he states that thoughts are also made up of atoms:

"We know nothing truly about anything, but for each of us opining is a rearrangement (of soul atoms). (p. 10)

Also, he talks about how bodies and worlds are held together by "a membrane", which seems like his version of explaining gravity, and which seems to work quite well. 

Some of my  other notes:

"All those who make their pleasures from the belly, exceeding the right time (or measure) for food, drink or sex, have short-lived pleasures - only for as long as they eat or drink - but many pains." (p. 30)

"Poverty in a democracy is preferable to so-called prosperity among dictators to the same extent as freedom is to slavery. (p. 38)

Apparently Karl Marx wrote his doctoral thesis on a scholarly comparison between Democritus and Epicurus. 

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Review: A Little History of Philosophy

A Little History of Philosophy by Nigel Warburton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a good introduction to the history of philosophy, which then become the evolution of philosophy, from its beginnings to the present day. It is by no means exhaustive, but probably the best primer I've seen thus far for newbies like myself.

After having finished this I'm curious to read more about Epicureanism, which is pretty much the opposite of what I had assumed, due to how the expression is used now. It seems more along the lines of Hedonism nowadays.



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Review: An Intelligent Person's Guide to Philosophy

An Intelligent Person's Guide to Philosophy by Roger Scruton
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

I don't think I'm in any position to give this book a rating. It basically reinforced my opinion that philosophy isn't my cup of tea. To be frank much of it didn't seem like philosophy at all. There is a discussion about how if, say, an apple falls off the branch of a tree on my head and I ask "why?" then you can say that the branch was weak and the weight of the apple applied too much pressure, etc. But if you throw an apple on my head and I ask "why?" you wouldn't answer "because impulses in my brain made my muscles move in such and such a way". (I don't remember the exact wording and can't find the page right now). But that's just distinguishing between cause and reason, which to me is just semantics. He goes on to say that it's more than semantics, but to be honest he lost me.
The section on music lost me completely.

I suspect that, if I want to learn about philosophy, I should probably do so in a classroom setting, so I can interact, ask questions, etc. etc. Unfortunately I can't do that with a book.


Some interesting quotes:
"All rational beings have an interest in acquiring courage, since without it they can achieve what they really want only by luck, and only in the absence of adversity"

The quote by Masaryk re: "half-education" (too long to quote verbatim, but on page 14)


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Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker

Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I feel like this was "The better angels of our nature, Vol. 2" (which in itself was more or less an extension of The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley, but anyway). It sounds like, since his last book, he read Superforecasters, Thinking fast and slow, and he also wanted to update his message for the post-Trump election world, and, frankly, he sounds a tad more pessimistic in this one.

Having said that, his overall message still resonates. Things are much better now than ever before, by pretty much any metric, despite what we keep hearing.


Some of my notes:
We give punishments that are proportional to the crime not because of karma or anything, but because we want to deter, while not rendering people desensitized
Availability heuristic: 1st year med students interpret every rash as something serious. People have a fear of flying, because plane crashes make the news, although they make the news because they are rarer than car crashes, and almost no one has a fear of driving. 50 deaths per year in US from tornadoes. > 4,000 deaths per year due to asthma, but most people think tornadoes are more deadly.
"always predict the worst and you'll be hailed a prophet"
Genocide deaths (Odd chart. No spike for 2015? Nothing re: Syria?) - Compiled in 2008, but then why does it include later years on the graph??
War is now against the law. Since the UN, countries cannot just conquer others and gain new territory. A big exception is Russia and Ukraine. This only works if countries want to be accepted by international community, so recent turn against the intl community is damaging.
Japan didn't surrender bc of the nuclear bomb, but because the soviet union was entering the war (is this true??)
Jerry seinfeld, Bill Maher and Chris Rock are weary of performing on college campuses, because someone will be offended by a joke
You can't reason that there's no such thing as reason
Don't confuse pessimism with profundity.




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