Interrelativity

Category: Books

  • Is Reality Broken? Is Virtuality Broken? The Costs and Benefits of Online vs. Offline

    Two of the most interesting and provocative books I’ve encountered recently are Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other, by Sherry Turkle, and Reality is Broken: How Games Can Make Us Better and How They Are Changing the World, by Jane McGonigal. I have not finished reading either book,…

  • Fitting in vs. Belonging: The Costs and Benefits of Conformity

    A while back, I wrote about Brene Brown‘s inspiring TEDxHouston talk on Wholeheartedness as connection through courage, vulnerability and authenticity. I have since read her most recent book, The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are, and was so moved by her insights that…

  • The Stories We Make Up About Ourselves

    Several years ago, I read a book by Dan P. McAdams on narrative psychology, describing identity as a personal myth we create in order to construct a sense of meaning, unity and purpose in our lives. In The Stories We Live By: Personal Myths and the Making of the Self, McAdams argues that we consciously…

  • The Power of Pull: Institutions as Platforms for Promoting Individual Passions

    There are a number of interesting and provocative ideas in The Power of Pull, by John Hagel III, John Seely Brown and Lang Davison. I’ve already tweeted about a number of articles by the authors – based on their book – that highlight the importance of physical places, the ways we can shape serendipity and…

  • Empowered: More Platform Thinking, De-Bureaucratization and Redistribution of Agency

    The new book, Empowered, by Josh Bernoff and Ted Schadler of Forrester Research, proclaims an inspiring message: social media is increasingly empowering customers to draw attention to their problems, and the best way for businesses to provide effective solutions is to empower their employees with the same tools. The book makes a strong case for…

  • Creativity, Distractability and Structured vs. Unstructured Procrastination

    I have been practicing structured procrastination while allowing a few blog posts to, uh, ferment a bit longer (not to mention other things I want to get done). As evidence, after reading Jonah Lehrer's recent post about unstructured procrastination – Are Distractable People More Creative? – I feel inclined to write about that, rather than…

  • Jonah Lehrer’s Metacognitive Guide to College

    Jonah Lehrer, the 27 year old author of How We Decide, gave the Opening Days convocation keynote at Willamete University last Friday. After being introduced by Willamette president M. Lee Pelton as “a humanist disguised as a neuroscientist”, Lehrer offered a fun and fascinating whirlwind tour of neuroscience, psychology and sociology, in the context of…

  • The “Boopsie Effect”: Gender, Sexiness, Intelligence and Competence

    Last Thursday, I heard segments of a KUOW interview with Deborah Rhode, Stanford law professor and author of The Beauty Bias: The Injustice of Appearance in Life and Law, in which she spoke of the Boopsie effect, wherein women in upper-level positions in historically male-dominated professions find that “attractiveness suggests less competence and intellectual ability”.…

  • Violent communication, emotional contagion, genocide and eliminationism

    Last night, I watched a disturbing show on PBS, Worse than War, "the first major documentary to explore the phenomenon of genocide and how we can stop it". Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, narrator of the film and author of the book upon which it is based, argues that contrary to common conceptions of irrational and spontaneous…

  • Be Impeccable With Your Word: Confrontation vs. Condescension and Intimidation

    I’ve had a number of opportunities recently to reflect on don Miguel Ruiz‘ first agreement: be impeccable with your word. Amid public conversations at the recent Coffee Party kickoff meeting, private discussions about reviews of academic papers and proposals, and listening to an interview about the science of wisdom, I’ve gained a greater appreciation for…