Category: Reading

In an unusual position, Asma argues that we are not benefited by our strong pursuit of “fairness” (which is, in part at least, evidenced by the lack of clear definition of what is universally “fair”). Instead, he discusses the well know recognition of “tribes” (person who share similar attributes) in social science and suggests that embracing our tribal nature, and thus our natural inclination to favoritism, we can then leverage that connectedness in a way that “fairness” can only dream of. For example, consider that a community that embraces favoritism will help its struggling community members because they are part of the same “tribe” even if it might not be “fair” to do so.

Note: “Tribe” is a social science term used to describe bonds, usually tight-knit bonds formed through common experience or attributes. Some examples of “tribes” include person who grew up together (often considered family regardless of relation or lack thereof), a small group of coworkers and old neighbors.

Interesting tidbit: I have struggled writing an essay for years on the topic of fairness. After reading this book, I have finally retired those drafts. Asma made the argument much better than I.

Vanderbilt delves deep into the nuances of driving, the world over. He explores many of the components the influence road safety, driver awareness and even driver culture.

Interest tidbit: “… a samurai in Japan, who kept his scabbard on his left side and would draw with his right arm, wanted to be on the left as he passed potential enemies on the road. So Japan today drives on the left. In England, horse-drawn carts were generally piloted by drivers mounted in the seat. The mostly right-handed drivers would “naturally” sit to the right, holding the reins in the left hand and the whip in the right. The driver could better judge oncoming traffic by traveling on the left. So England drives on the left. But in many other countries, including the United States, a driver often walked along the left side of his horse team or rode the left horse in a team (the left-rear horse if there were more than two), so that he could use his right arm for better control. This meant it was better to stay to the right, so he could judge oncoming traffic and talk to other drivers. The result is that many countries today drive on the right.”

Huth opens by lamenting our current, sad state of inability to navigate based solely on observation of non-electric devices. He then spends the rest of his very generous book identifying and explaining various ways one can use observations to reliably navigate over land, sea and through air.

Interesting tidbit: If one sits on a beach on a clear even and watches the sun set then rapidly jumps up one can catch a second sun set. Interestingly enough though, in both case the sun has already set and is below the horizon. What we see as the sun set is actually light being refracted around the horizon for our viewing pleasure.

Another interesting tidbits: Ants on stilts.

A scientist got funding to glue stilts to ant legs to test their sense of pacing.

It is true.

“Behold the Squid!” That is not said nearly enough. Williams delves into the world and science of squid including much of the research we are doing concerning them. She also includes many interesting insights into the life of these fascinating animals.

Interesting tidbit: Neurosurgeons and scientist frequently learn how to extract neurons from common squid because they have a comparatively large neuron that is easy to extract (and the squid and common enough to make good test subjects).

Another interesting tidbit: The colossal squid has bioluminescent patches behind its eyes that shine light out, like headlights in the cold ocean deep.

Kluger has collected a variety of interesting research regarding the operations of complex and simple systems. There are a lot of very interesting connections between these systems.

Interesting tidbit: Mammals, regardless of size, live an average of 1 billion heartbeats.