Category: Reading

Note: This book has an incredible number of references and correlations. One should read it if one is curious about sounds.

• Perfumes are designed to give off different smells as they evaporate

• “For it’s precisely the pursuit ideological purity, the rigid orthodoxy, and the shear predictability of our current political debate that keep us from finding new ways to meet challenges we face us as a country. It’s such doctrinal thinking and stark partisanship that has turned Americans off of politics. This is not a problem for the right. A polarized electorate or one that easily dismisses both parties because the nasty, dishonest tone of the debate, works perfectly well for those who seek to ship away at the very idea of government. After all, a sinical electorate is a self-centered electorate. But for those of use we believe government has a role to play in promoting opportunity and prosperity for Americans, a polarized electorate is not good enough.”
• What is the point of having values of you do not follow through with them
• Politics is the art of the possible where religion is inherently the art of the impossible
• We need to make law based on principles that all religions can accept
• God does not reveal Himself or His angels to all of us at the same moment

• The body is chocked full of machines that transform hundreds of times a second
• Biological processes are circular: add more and get more
• There is no difference between chemical and biological processes, but we still do not know why one is alive and the other is not
• The KERB cycle is a cataclysm, not a furnace
• Respiration evolved long before photosynthesis
• “Energy flows; Matter cycles”
• Free radicals do not cause aging but aging causes more free radicals
• Identical twins are not actually identical because mitochondrial genes are different

• Scarcity is having less than you feel you need
• Subjective expansion of time is when we process more information than usual
• Lonely people do better at reading the emotions of others
• Being poor, literally lowers the application of intelligence
• We do not think about trade-offs if there is slack in our budget
• Abundance makes it difficult to understand alternatives
• Poor people lifted out of poverty may not immediately fall back but often do if there is still not slack in their system
• Design programs with failures in mind
• Firefighting leads to dropping important, not-urgent items
• More time does not equal more bandwidth
• Driving hands-free is almost as dangerous as driving on the phone
• Avoid trade-off thinking
• Scarcity often starts with abundance

• We are too fixated on finding single causes
• “10 key dimensions” that are in our control
  • Communication
  • Narrative
  • Structure
  • Technology
  • Diversity
  • Bias
  • Action
  • Timing
  • Adaptability
  • Leadership
• Being bullet-proof is not the point
• Risk is a calculation between likelihood of incident and intensity of consequences
• “What gets us into trouble are the things we ‘know for sure’ that just aren’t so”
• Make sure your narrative lines up with your values and has details
• Structure informs power
• Technology should aid decisions, not make it
• “A man trampled to death by an elephant is a man who is deaf and blind.”
• When stuff fails, include diversity in your corrective action
• Groupthink suppresses opinions in favor of cohesion
• Diversity is often about asking good questions
• Include your biases in your plans
• Biases will always be there, so plan accordingly
• We often choose to stay where we are because it is more comfortable
• Periodically confirm your actions are still appropriate
• There is both a right moment and correct speed
• Sometimes an extra pit stop can make us more efficient
• “Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.”
• If you have a strategy, make sure to use it
• 4 ways to manage
  • Detect
  • Assess
  • Respond
  • Learn
• Knowing what your “normal” is, is important to know what is not