Category: books

This is a book I wanted to read because it is very important subject for me. I want to be more efficient and better at whatever I want to do and to be honest, sometimes I find it difficult to sit down and try to learn something new with my computer. As well, I dont like unnecessary distractions, mainly at work…. As usual, I expected to find the magic pill to get focus. But the book was better than that, it was the author’s journey from not having focus to understand why we are in this situation and the options we have. Spoiler alert: there is no magic pill, and it is not easy (neither impossible). At some points looks quite dramatic, but I see the point.

• Multitasking – This is a lie we tell ourselves. We “can” do several “easy” things at the same time, only. That reminds me a sentence from a person I respect highly: ATP “Make one change at a time”.

• Flow: This chapter was mainly based on the book “Flow” from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Summary to get into “flow” mode you need: Clear goals, meaningful goals and at edge of own ability.

• Sleep: Very important for hour healt and sanity. As well, I liked the concept of less sleep => more consume. And that reminded to something I heard once that the Netflix CEO said the only competitor of Netflix was sleep….

• Wandering mind: Sometimes we think that is bad, but depends on the circunstancies. Meditation is a good things it calms the mind. But the point here, using Poincare example resolving an important problem, for having focus, we need to give space to our mind too.

• Aza Raskin (infinite scroll) and Tristan Harris (Google). They are two important figures from the tech work showing the devils of social media / big tech and how works inside. These companies they want you as much as possible in their platform. And that is not always the best for you! It was interesting to read about “positive reinforcement” that is the main practice to get you hooked to social media. This was developed by BF Skinner. As well, there is a reference that one of the founder of Instagram was in the class of Skinner. As well, I liked the reference to Magic (powa.academy) as it works tricking your focus!

• These companies harvest so much data… that is easy to polarize people. Examples in Brazil (Bolsonaro supporters shouting “Facebook!!” and USA (Trump) elections.

• Nir Eval: I read his book “Indistractable” and I follow several of his pieces of advice. He sais we have to adapt to the new circunstances. We need to find the distraction triggers. And all is about avoidance. I was surprised with the author showed the conflicts between Nir (tech is ok, it is our fault we got distructed) vs Tristan (tech is bad). As well, it was interesting to read Nir’s background in the tech industry. I dont think all tech is evil but I am clear about something. If I dont pay for a service (gmail, youtube, etc) then I am the currency (aka: If you are not paying for the product, then you are the product). So you have to be conscious about what you are using it for.

• How to change things: change business model, instead of getting money from advertisers, you pay for the service (although dont think that would world outside the rich countries), so they will server you! not the advertisers. Government regulation. I liked the concept of “Surveillance Capitalism” that is based on “human (psychology) hacking”

• You get focus when in a safe environment. If not, you are always in a stress mode. I liked the story of Nadine Burke Harris and her work to get kids on track in school from difficult neighbourhoods. There is a point to the “Universal Basic Income” concept that I think it is great.

• Work hours: longer is not better. More focus, more efficiency. Win/win for employer and employees. Again this is something that is not going to work for everybody, just to office workers. Although I fully agree with it. There is too much stupidity in the office culture….

• Food: This is our source of energy, and with the wrong diet, we can get focus. The evil of ultra processed food. There is a mention to Michael Pollan for cook books.

• Pollution: This affects too our capacity of attention.

• ADHD: attention illness in kids. There is a huge diagnosis of ADHD and that means a lof of prescription pills. The book mention that is not always and illness that is most of the time the environment, mainly for kids.

• Play! It is critical for kinds to spend time outside and without supervision to be able to develop personal skill and thought process. The education system and society is getting worse at this. And I agree, I always remember when I was a kid that my best time was when going to my hometown where I could be outside all day. In the big city, this was very difficult, although I was lucky to have a football group and a small park where I spent a lot of time too!

• Intrinsic Values: Social media is mainly based on showing-off. And we lost track of what is really important. Having the “correct values”for their own sake get us off that wheel that doesnt give us anything and always keep us unfulfilled.

• James William (Google) mentions that there are three types of attention: spotlight, startlight and daylight.

• Constant economy growth: we need to consume more because there are no more markets! You need to do more in the same amount of time. Professor Thomas Hylland Eriksen. Steady-state economy: different goals. Pushing our mind and nature to the limit. W.H. Auden “We must love one another, or die” WWII.

In general, it is a good book that gives you a lot of information about this problem and show you examples of people of fighting it from all points: from the 4 days work week, freedom to play for kids, etc.

The author says he hasnt solved it but he has learned a lot in this journey.

I finished this book today. And to be honest I have struggled a bit with it from the scientific aspect to the social one.

DNA is our instruction set but we depend on the our environment too for developing those instruction. But that DNA is a random mix from our parents. So we could look like them but we are not them, we are unique. Each person is unique.

It is difficult to accept that whatever I have achieved is based on genes and environment, and luck. Many times I tell myself when looking at the mirror that I am the luckiest person in the world, so I came into terms with that point. As well, that doesn’t mean that we are pre-programmed and there is nothing to do, that there is no “free” will. This is a tough philosophical topic and again, I got a hard time reading about it in the book but the author says there is elbow room between our genes/environment and what we become or do with it. So it was a bit of a relief as your ego is not totally destroyed.

People vary in ability, energy, heath, character, and other socially important traits, and there is good, although not absolutely conclusive, evidence that the variance of all these traits is in part genetically conditioned. Conditioned, mind you, not fixed or predestined”

Theodosius Dobzhansky

So in the book, there is a strong emphases to the fact that the genetic lottery defines much of the inequality in the society we live. We live in the system where educational success, work success, etc follows one standard. The book wants to change the idea that one system fits all is not possible, as we are all different so we need/have different ways to evolve, learn, etc. So for achieving a more fair society we need to provide a different education method to children that can’t learn/develop in the “standard” way. For doing that, we need to have a better understanding of our DNA. And obviously that is a bit scary because it can be misused by companies, governments, etc. That means a change in mentality in social politics. It is kind of being more “socialist” instead of a more cut-through capitalist society. And I think that makes sense, the social improvements we have from the “socialist” politics like free education, free health system, holidays, worker rights, etc has improved our societies compared with the earliest ones from the Industrial Revolution. But at some point, the inequality gap is increasing again. So accepting that genetics is a lottery and we need a new approach to close that gap, is the first step.

These are two pictures that helped me to understand what they book was trying to achieve. Equality is giving to all, the same. Equity is given each one what it needs, and that is win-win situation for all.

The author refers to three types of positions when dealing with social policies:

• eugenic: we are defined by our genetics and we should do nothing to change it.
• genome-blind: ignore genetics difference, waste time/money without really improving the inequality gap (or making it worse)
• anti-eugenic: use genetic data to search for effective processes that improve people’s live and reduce inequality in society.

Something that surprised me is the mention that there are deaf couples that wanted their children deaf as they dont see deafness as defect, and they used genetic help for that. I struggle to accept that is correct.

Still got the feeling that I am not explaining all properly or if I have understood everything properly. I need to take notes, highlight things, etc. How difficult is to have a pencil around when most of the time I am reading at home 🙂

Based on this video:

Ingredients:

• 130g dark chocolate (+70%)
• 130g butter + extra for greasing

• 3 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 100g caster sugar

• 70g plain flour
• 15g cocoa powder + extra for dusting
• 2.5g baking powder

• 4 aluminium moulds

Process:

• Pre-heat oven at 180C
• Melt chocolate and butter at “baine marie”. Let it cool down a bit to use later.
• Grease with butter the moulds and dust the sides with cocoa powder
• Make the “raw sabayon”: whisk the eggs and sugar until pale in color.
• Fold the chocolate (be sure it is not too hot) into the sabayon. Be sure the mix is uniform and there are no lumps.
• Sieve flour, cocoa and baking powder. Then add to the mix bit by bit, folding with a spatula and checking there are no lumps.
• Fill the moulds at 90% aprox. They will raise in the oven
• Bake the moulds at 180C for 9 minutes aprox.
• Use a tooth stick to be sure they are still creamy inside. The idea is the chocolate should come out once opened.
• Unmould and present on a plate with a bit of fresh mint, strawberries. Dust with a bit of icing sugar.
• Be sure you serve it hot! (optionally you can add a ball of vanilla ice cream).

I decided to buy and read this book one day while checking out some stands in a library. I am not keep of biographies of “famous” people. It rang the bell that he was an actor so I was surprised to find a book about food. Checking the cover there was a sentence that bought me “he grew up in an Italian American family that spent every night around the table”. That’s what I like, build a culture around food, preparing and enjoying it.

The book is not a recipe book, it is a history around food. It has some funny moments and more important thing, some recipes to try. And will do my best to do so.

As well, there is an important reference to “Big Night” and actually watched it this weekend. Nothing really special but I got his point about the food and the enjoyment about it. And that reminded me to the movie Chef, I liked it more.

There is another important reference to “Julia Child” who was a famous TV cook/chef/presenter. Some weeks ago having lunch with friends somebody mentioned her and a movie about her life: “Julia and Julie” while talking about cooking and nice food. And I am trying to convince myself to watch it.

A good point is the critic to people on TV tasting food and always saying that is amazing when they haven’t had the time to swallow! I always thought it was a bit fake, so I am glad I am not the only one thinking that.

I am surprised by the outcome of his recovery of tongue cancer. His metabolism and allergies were “reset”. So no more lactose issues and improved digestive system.

Anyway, it was entertaining and I hope I can take some recipes for my own repository.

I finished the second part of “The Silk Road” book. It is mainly focus between 2005-2009 and the Trump administration. It is a bit of the same but more up to date with the push from China to “build” the new silk roads and the challenges, like USA rejection. It shows all the chaos caused by Trump and how easy made the life of Russia, Iran, China etc. The same for using tariffs to stop trading as middle-long term, the other side is going to win. This reminds me the “Chip wars”. As well, there are countless examples of agreements for investment between countries of the Middle East and Asia. Something that, from a western point of view, we dont really have visibility or ignore plainly. The summary, based on the author, is the world center is moving to Asia although in EU/USA we dont want to believe it or look at it. I think it is time of opportunities but nothing is perfect. Personally, each empire lasts less and less so how much we will see of China as leader at some point.

Just the day before starting reading this book, I was in a place that at some point were putting the best hits of Edith Piaf (although I prefer this). Funny enough, the book nearly started referring to the song about “regrets”…. and how that is not a good advice.

One of the best sentences is “Feeling is for thinking” and “thinking is for doing”.

I dont believe in the absolute sentence of “no regrets” neither “being blocked by regrets”. At the end of the day, the virtue is in the middle as Aristotle said

BTW, ChatGPT confirms it 🙂

Aristotle's idea of virtue being the "middle ground" or the "golden mean" is discussed in his book "Nicomachean Ethics".

In Book II, Chapter 6, Aristotle writes: "Virtue, then, is a state of character concerned with choice, lying in a mean, i.e., the mean relative to us, this being determined by a rational principle, and by that principle by which the man of practical wisdom would determine it."

He goes on to explain that virtue is the mean between two vices, one of excess and one of deficiency, and that the right amount of any given quality or behavior depends on the situation and the individual involved.

Source: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8438/8438-h/8438-h.htm#chap02

Regrets has to be a way to improve ourselves, to move forwards. All of us make mistakes, so deal with it.

I regret mainly my lack of balls with girls and not standing up for myself for many years. But I am trying to learn about it: girls, feelings, relationships, etc. I didnt know better neither so as most things, “learning on the job training”.

At some point, I felt the data provided was a bit “weak”. Based on “Calling bullshit” I thought the stats were not really representative for the whole world.

In general, I think the moral of the book has more impact in the western cultures based on most of the quotes from people. But as said, earlier, regret is something that makes us human, so very likely it will affect anybody wherever you are from.

The author divide regrets in four sections:

• Foundation Regrets: family, education, work, health, money, etc
• Boldness Regrets: fail to jump for the opportunity: chat with a girl, work abroad, trip to X place, etc
• Moral Regrets: theft, infidelity, betrayal, etc
• Connection Regrets: meaningful relationships, etc

For example, in most cases we regret “not doing things” than “doing something”. That lack of action comes from our nature of risk averse.

In summary, the book is easy and quick to read. And it is good reminder of what regret should be, look at the past, learn from it, and move to the future.

So this is the end of Foundation series. I liked it, nice twists in the story, some drama and deaths. Robots and mental powers are the key! So all is connected at the end. Although the last sentence of the book looks like to leave something open. To be honest, I dont like the typical “Hollywood End” where everybody is happy ever after.

This is the last book from the original Dune series. Thinking of the first books, looks like a different world although there are references to the beginning. The end is quite open so you can think this is can continue in more books as with the time there is always a new plot/drama. Although there are many things I dont understand. The couple of “Face Dancers” in contact with Duncan? I like the references to Van Gogh pictures like “Thatched Cottages at Cordeville“.

I would never think that Duncan would be present in all books and being a critical character.

But at the end, all is about love and the repression of it like Bene Gesserit do.

And quite moving the last words from the author about his wife death.

This is an interesting book about the flooding of data we need to go through and the difficulty to figure out what is true or not. And I feel it many times you read something “scientific” with many numbers, stats, etc and you kind off believe that has to be true. And those new pharmaceutical drugs that are so amazing or latest paper with a dramatic breakthrough.

Interesting points:

With the hype about machine learning, understanding the algorithm may be out of our understanding but the critical thing is the training data fed into that algorithm. GIGO = Garbage In, Garbage Out. Because the training data is “biased” or not relevant, imagine how is going to be the result.

Correlation is not causation. This is a difficult topic becase we see very easily causation everywhere or find one that matches our theory.

Goodhart’s law adapted to normal people: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure”. That’s so true. Think of your performance review at work, the GPU tests, etc.

Regarding the stats, it is important to pay attention to the axis: start at zero? same proportions/scales?, be mindful of 3D stats, “ducks” decorate or obscure the meaningful data,

If it is too be good to be true/false, then it isn’t.

“mathiness”: formulas and expressions that look like “good” math but they lack logical coherence and formal rigor. This is very typical for things that are not really easy to quantify (ie healthcare quality management), how things are measured?, unit? etc

One of my favourite examples is the paper about the fMRI on the brain of dead! salmons when showing picture of people showing different types of mood. This was important to clarify that MRI images maybe are not as perfect as you expect. I assume that nowadays that has improved….

Prosecutor’s fallacy: You need to prove you customer is innocent although there is DNA match in a database. There is an error rate of 1 in 10,000,000.

	Match	No Match
Guilty	1	0
Innocent	5	50,000,000

You are the defence prosecutor and you want to focus in the left column (blue). That means that there are 5 chances out of 6 (5+1) that your client is inocent having a DNA match.

p-values: null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis. Most papers are based on a p-value of 0.05 (now you have Goodhart’s law)

Refuting Bullshit:

• Use “reductio ad absudum”
• Be memorable (dead salmon example)
• Find counterexamples (immune system theory vs trees)
• Provide analogies (74M$ -> 2sec faster)
• Redraw figures
• Deploy a null model

I leave a lot of things behind that I dont remember but it is worth the reading (and more than once)

In summary, the goal is to be “smart” sceptic and dont believe everything throw to us.

This is a book recommended by a good friend. He had watched some documentaries about octopus and was amazing. So I was curious about it and gave it a go.

The book is not just about octopus and cuttlefish but about intelligence based on the evolution of our nervous systems. It seems the octupus developed their nervous system in a different way from mammals. And even between cephalopods seems to have evolved in more than one way.

Another things I was quite surprised is the life span of the octopus is around 2 years! There is a part of the book quite interesting about ageing. Why are there organism like sequoias that can live over 3000 years and then octopus with a very advance nervous systems only last 2? I need to re-read it again. As per my understanding this is related to the our evolution, we reap the benefits quickly but there is always drawbacks that turn up later.

There were parts were I didnt engage enough but I think it was worth it just for the two points above.