Action Figure Daniel

Category: Reading

  • “The Wisdom of Psychopaths” by Kevin Dutton

    Delving into the fascinating realm of psychopathy, Dutton focuses on the many virtues that can be gleaned from this 1 to 2 percent of the our population. Contrary to many myths, most psychopaths are fully functional members of society and include CEOs and US Presidents. Indeed, many of their core attributes–stoicism, the ability to make hard decisions quickly, a lack of emotional attachment–makes functional psychopaths more ideal than the average person for high pressure, fast paced positions. Dutton also makes an interesting connection: many attributes of psychopaths are also shared by the “spiritually enlightened.”

    Interesting tidbit: psychopaths are more likely to offer and provide unsolicited aid to someone who obviously needs it (such as someone having difficulty functioning with a broken limb) than a normal person.

  • “How the Mind Works” by Steven Pinker

    When I first picked up this book I thought, “Great, I can learn how the brain works.” It was not until I was pretty far into this hefty book that I realized that the word “mind” was carefully chosen because it was distinctly different from “brain.” Pinker delivers on his promise and the book wanders through many of the wonders of the mind. It contains many fascinating ideas, studies and theories about why we do the things we do.

    Interesting tidbit 1: Children will generally accept any food given to them from birth through their second year, after which their tastes and generally “locked in” for life.

    Interesting tidbit 2: Children generally learn fears and phobias between the ages of three and five.

    Interesting tidbit 3: Tickling is a form of mock fighting and laughing while tickling is a way of saying, “I know this would otherwise be scary because it seems like I am attacking you, but I am just having fun.”

  • “You Can’t Lie to Me” by Janine Driver

    Driver details strategies to detect deception beyond basic body language.

    Interesting tidbits: There are seven universal emotional expressions that are the same across all people, everywhere regardless of culture or upbringing.

  • “Brave New Universe” by Paul Halpern and Paul Wesson

    Partly an review of the history various theories physics and quantum theories and partly an exploration of the implication of those same theories.

    Interesting tidbit: The solar winds leave the sun at approximately 100,000 mph. If there was air in surrounding it, there would be a perpetual sonic boom.

  • “Everything is Obvious” by Duncan Watts

    Watts makes a direct attack against the foundation of what we call ‘common sense.’ He backs his assault with a bevy of studies, done by himself and others. It was interesting to note that we are really bad at making predictions… of any kind. Yet we think we are fantastic at it because so many things seem obvious to us, especially in hindsight. This is a common theme of the book.

    Interesting tidbit: experts are generally not statistically significantly better than a non-expert crowd at making predictions.