In the order in which they were read.
Key: Engrossing Reads Graphic Novels Young Adult
Future Perfect
The Question Mark
Peanut
Tesoro
Go Wild
The Third Elevator
Danza
Last Days of an Immortal
La Quinta Camera
Rules of Summer
Continue reading
Early bird registration closes soon for one of my favorite conferences, A Better World by Design (ABWxD). To me, it tops even MIT Technology Review’s heady (swanky, even) EmTech experience of being within meters of tech revolutionaries at MIT’s Media Lab. Because ABWxD is an extremely engaging, active experience with interactive, well-facilitated problem-solving workshops and charismatic keynote speakers who have spoken passionately about the role of effective design in a variety of fields ranging from sustainability and health to urban development and education. It’s not just invigorating but also empowering. But do I really want to go once again to drink the design thinking Kool-Aid?
The first part of Decisive‘s WRAP framework is Widen Your Options, so the question shouldn’t be “whether or not to attend A Better World by Design”; to escape narrow framing, consider what am I or should I be comparing this amazing conference experience to? Well, for the $165 early bird registration cost for 3 days of ABWxD excitement, I could…
– get a Remee lucid dreaming sleep mask and up my commitment to my decades long interest in lucid dreaming;
– get a third of an iPad mini (but easily a whole iPad mini and then some after considering transportation and lodging costs);
– take a day or overnight trip to the White Mountains; Continue reading
Just found Vi Hart‘s compelling video (below) via Scientific American, and it’s got me close to convinced that we’re better off with tau instead of pi. I’ll have to check out Michael Hartl’s The Tau Manifesto later which will probably clinch this for me…
The fascinating and comprehensive evolutionary perspective on human health presented in Go Wild by Dr. John Ratey and Richard Manning compellingly describes the importance of nutrition, exercise, sleep, socializing and contact with nature in our lives. While the tone can seem bombastic at times, the writing brings together a great collection of research findings and stories into an enthralling arc. It’s like The Social Conquest of Earth meets The Wild Life of Our Bodies meets Your Brain on Nature and then some.
Here are some passages from the book I found quite striking.
Humans are the Swiss Army knives of motion.
The evolution of our unique brains was locked into the evolution of our wide range of movement.
…nomadism, bipedalism, and omnivory—are defining for our entire genus and have accrued over the course of two million years of hominid history.
…the calorie content made available to your body is, in fact, to some degree dependent on the type of bacteria in your digestive system, a population that varies wildly from person to person.
…a study in 2011 showed that eating trans fats greatly increases the risk of clinical depression…
“One researcher in education—not in nutrition—performed a meta-analysis of all peer-reviewed research on proven methods to increase a child’s intelligence (that is, boost academic performance). The conclusion: “Supplementing infants with long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids [specifically omega-3s], enrolling children in early educational interventions, reading to children in an interactive manner, and sending children to preschool all raise the intelligence of young children.”
Annual per capita sugar consumption in the United States was 5 pounds per person in 1700, 23 pounds in 1800, 70 pounds in 1900, and 152 pounds today. Continue reading
Recently, I’ve encountered a number of thought-provoking ideas on leadership. Here are a number of them I’ve collected together in Scapple.
Looking for a beach-bag, in-flight or in-hammock book that offers cutting-edge, even actionable ideas, instead of literary escapism? Here are some paradigm-shifting books I have been enthralled by and continue to use personally and professionally. Enjoy!
Creative Productivity
Glimmer (aka CAD Monkeys, Dinosaur Babies and T-Shaped People)
By 99u.com: Manage Your Day-to-Day, Maximize Your Potential—excellent guidance on how to be an effective creative professional
Steal Like an Artist
Getting the Right Work Done
Do More Great Work—the workbook for making the work you care about even better
The Nature of Thought, Human Behavior and the World
The Heath Brothers Trilogy: Made to Stick, Switch, Decisive—effective strategies for communicating, driving behavioral change and making decisions based on psychology research, explained clearly with compelling stories
The Social Conquest of Earth—the story of who we are as species, why we can be so kind and so hostile (http://www.npr.org/2012/04/13/150575003/how-humans-and-insects-conquered-the-earth)
Your Brain on Nature—how we’re healthier with nature (and some explanation of why)
Leaders Eat Last—the anthropology and neurobiology of leadership
Imagine, how creativity works (http://www.npr.org/2012/03/21/148607182/fostering-creativity-and-imagination-in-the-workplace)
Where Good Ideas Come From
The Rise of Superman—the neurobiology of flow through the lens of extreme sports
Antifragile—systems can be more than resilient; rather than bounce back from disruption, some can be made stronger by it; enter antifragility
Focus: the hidden driver of excellence—“The more you can concentrate, the better you’ll do in anything, because whatever talent you have, you can’t apply it if you’re distracted.” http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R905131000
The Power of Habit—the anatomy of habits (http://www.npr.org/2012/03/05/147192599/habits-how-they-form-and-how-to-break-them)
The Paradox of Choice—how more choices actually make us less happy (http://www.npr.org/2012/05/02/151881205/the-pursuit-of-happiness)
The Willpower Instinct
Your Brain at Work
Ha! The Science of When and Why We Laugh—“humor is by nature confrontational—sometimes cognitively, sometimes emotionally, and sometimes both” (http://www.npr.org/2014/03/15/289946192/whyd-the-scientist-cross-the-road-to-figure-out-why-youre-laughing)
The Information Diet (http://www.informationdiet.com/; http://www.npr.org/2012/01/14/145101748/is-it-time-for-you-to-go-on-an-information-diet)
The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking
The As If Principle
The Social Animal
Disciplined Entrepreneurship
Pushing us to take a hard look at the pursuit of writing as a career, the conference session “The Strategic Writer” provided some realistic, practical perspective for writers in any stage of their development. Led by literary agent Eve Bridburg, the session took us through a framework for approaching writing with clearer purpose and direction, ultimately allowing us to find the viable paths and then select the best ones—reminds me of the quote from Émile-Auguste Chartier shared in Do More Great Work, “Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it’s the only one you’ve got.”
Two major components of the framework are
and
These points Eve discussed immediately reminded me of concepts from the invaluable books Made to Stick and Switch, especially
and
The session also resonated with points made in Kevin Starr’s PopTech talk “Lasting Impact” which I require all of my Intro to Environmental Science students watch and apply. Clarity of mission can make all the difference.
Kevin Starr: Lasting Impact from PopTech on Vimeo.
Wow. It is utterly amazing that we understand the universe in such rich detail. This video by Nature is just fantastically stunning.
Recently, I’ve been watching UBC Medicine’s Neuroanatomy video series on YouTube, and they are fantastic! Totally cerebral, sometimes literally so. Videos tend to be between 7 – 15 minutes long and effectively convey essential concepts with a combination of clearly shown, well labeled brain specimens and concise, friendly explanations.
Here’s their video on the basal ganglia.
During this year’s The Muse and the Marketplace, Grub Street’s annual writers’ conference, one particular idea struck me immediately and deeply. It was perspective and philosophy not on writing but on career and life. During a discussion on partner publishing, literary agent April Ebhardt mentioned that one’s career and life can be thought of as having 3 stages: Learn, Earn and Return. That seemed like such a clear and practical view.
Undoubtedly, all times in our lives incorporate some combination of learning, earning and returning (I think all are essential to being truly human), but Continue reading
A Contemplative Compilation 