What book are you currently reading?
-
- I've got nothing better to do
- Reactions: 2
- Posts: 83
- Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2011 5:34 am
Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos: With Applications to Physics, Biology, Chemistry, and Engineering by Steven Strogatz
Lectures on youtube that go with the book:
Lectures on youtube that go with the book:
-
- I've got nothing better to do
- Reactions: 2
- Posts: 83
- Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2011 5:34 am
Biology and Human Behavior: The Neurological Origins of Individuality by Robert Sapolsky
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Sapolsky
His lectures on youtube that go with the book:
He asks his students in the class at Stanford, "How many of you believe in free will?" You can't see the students but his response is, "That's all going to change by the end of the course."
Free will is squeezed into a smaller and smaller corner as the science of human behavior advances.
More by Sapolsky:
Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping
A Primate's Memoir
The Trouble With Testosterone: And Other Essays on the Biology of the Human Predicament
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Sapolsky
His lectures on youtube that go with the book:
He asks his students in the class at Stanford, "How many of you believe in free will?" You can't see the students but his response is, "That's all going to change by the end of the course."
Free will is squeezed into a smaller and smaller corner as the science of human behavior advances.
More by Sapolsky:
Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping
A Primate's Memoir
The Trouble With Testosterone: And Other Essays on the Biology of the Human Predicament
All of the above books are very good. Sapolsky is a superb communicator: a great speaker and an accomplished writer in full command of his subjects, like a juggler who never drops a ball. The Stanford lectures are fascinating and there are plenty of interviews on youtube that are worth watching
The memoir is evocative, touching. A great Humanist with a lot of sympathy for other animals. Behave is probably his most profound work so far. His work in jurisprudence is impressively sane.
Criticisms ? I worry that some of his stories are so apposite that he may be a little too close to the replication crisis that partially undermined Kahneman.
But nonetheless, https://www.robertsapolskyrocks.com/
The Emergence and Complexity lecture is especially interesting.
Recently enjoyed:
Excellent:
Apparently from the diary of a journalist who was in Berlin when the Russians arrived
Very good:
Gödel was even weirder than Dirac but perhaps responsible for the most fundamental insight
A fun, irreverent investigation into the nature of everything nothing
Interesting:
Spacetime as evolved metaphor 'the map not the territory'
A suggestive model of brain hemisphericality, pushed too far imo, but has interesting aspects. McGilchrist is also an impressive speaker.
Excellent:
Apparently from the diary of a journalist who was in Berlin when the Russians arrived
Very good:
Gödel was even weirder than Dirac but perhaps responsible for the most fundamental insight
A fun, irreverent investigation into the nature of everything nothing
Interesting:
Spacetime as evolved metaphor 'the map not the territory'
A suggestive model of brain hemisphericality, pushed too far imo, but has interesting aspects. McGilchrist is also an impressive speaker.
Midlothian by Sir Walter Scott.................its old English mixed with old Scots language ...slow going
-
- I've got nothing better to do
- Reactions: 2
- Posts: 83
- Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2011 5:34 am
Thanks for the video and comments.
"His work in jurisprudence is impressively sane.
Criticisms ? I worry that some of his stories are so apposite that he may be a little too close to the replication crisis that partially undermined Kahneman."
By by 'his work on jurisprudence' does that mean: Even the worse criminals are not responsible for their behavior since there are reasons for what they did? Without free will we aren't responsible for are actions so punishment must take that into account.
If I were on trial for murder, I might want Sapolsky and also a respected free will denying philosopher as expert witnesses.
******************************
Can you say more about how Sapolsky's work suffers from replication crisis? And how Kahneman's work also suffers from it?
"His work in jurisprudence is impressively sane.
Criticisms ? I worry that some of his stories are so apposite that he may be a little too close to the replication crisis that partially undermined Kahneman."
By by 'his work on jurisprudence' does that mean: Even the worse criminals are not responsible for their behavior since there are reasons for what they did? Without free will we aren't responsible for are actions so punishment must take that into account.
If I were on trial for murder, I might want Sapolsky and also a respected free will denying philosopher as expert witnesses.
******************************
Can you say more about how Sapolsky's work suffers from replication crisis? And how Kahneman's work also suffers from it?
-
- I've got nothing better to do
- Reactions: 2
- Posts: 83
- Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2011 5:34 am
THanks. These are great suggestions for me.MaxB wrote: ↑Mon May 17, 2021 3:40 pmRecently enjoyed:
Excellent:
Apparently from the diary of a journalist who was in Berlin when the Russians arrived
Very good:
Gödel was even weirder than Dirac but perhaps responsible for the most fundamental insight
A fun, irreverent investigation into the nature of everything nothing
Interesting:
Spacetime as evolved metaphor 'the map not the territory'
A suggestive model of brain hemisphericality, pushed too far imo, but has interesting aspects. McGilchrist is also an impressive speaker.
I will read the Godel book first. I am always looking for information on him.
From what I understand, he was in love with a woman his parents would not let him marry. She was a dancer who had some facial flaws and was probably from a lower class. He tried to stay away from her and that landed him in a mental institution (or something like that). In the end, he married her anyway.
He would only eat food prepared by her because he was afraid everyone else might poison him. When she got sick, he wouldn't eat and died of starvation.
..... and he proved the Incompleteness Theorem
I am sure the book will give a lot more information about him.
Broadly yes. Sapolsky is something of a hard determinist, but it doesn't make him think that anything goes. If people can't help doing bad things then they really need to be locked up. What he takes issue with is socially sanctioned retaliation/revenge.john_q_public wrote: ↑Tue May 18, 2021 5:35 pm
By by 'his work on jurisprudence' does that mean: Even the worse criminals are not responsible for their behavior since there are reasons for what they did? Without free will we aren't responsible for are actions so punishment must take that into account.
He often references the Charles Whitman case.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman
But it's a murky business. Even to a determinist, the threat of punishment may be an effective deterrent.
john_q_public wrote: ↑Tue May 18, 2021 5:35 pmCan you say more about how Sapolsky's work suffers from replication crisis? And how Kahneman's work also suffers from it?
See this article:Yet Kahneman himself left no room to doubt those suspect findings. “Disbelief is not an option,” he wrote in the book. “The results are not made up, nor are they statistical flukes. You have no choice but to accept that the major conclusions of these studies are true. More important, you must accept that they are true about you.” He concluded the chapter on priming with what he called “a perfect demonstration” of its argument—a study from 2006 in which posters showing a pair of eyes or a bunch of flowers were put into a university kitchen. People were more likely to pay for their tea and coffee in the presence of the poster with the eyes, that study found. Something as subtle as this meager gesture at surveillance could prompt important changes in behavior.
https://slate.com/technology/2016/12/ka ... rrors.html
Sapolsky occasionally uses 'cute' examples like this. They make for a great teaching aid, being both amusing and memorable. They seem to tap into our desire for them to be true. Compare the criticisms of 'Just So' stories employed by some evolutionary biologists.
https://scienceoveracuppa.com/2016/05/2 ... evolution/
I've been carrying around Twain's "A Tramp Abroad" for at least six months and haven't gotten past thirty pages.
I really think Hemingway takes the win for top American author.
Maybe I just read better in rain & snow.
(maybe Twain over-edited this one? I'm no expert. It was seven bucks)
I really think Hemingway takes the win for top American author.
Maybe I just read better in rain & snow.
(maybe Twain over-edited this one? I'm no expert. It was seven bucks)
- spitthedog
- Is the World Outside still there ?
- Reactions: 124
- Posts: 5722
- Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2014 10:19 pm
I recently finished Win or Learn, by Conor Mcgregor's trainer John Kavanah.
Quite a thoughtful read I thought. I recently went to a few Judo lessons and appreciated his first thoughts on entering Karate lessons. Very calm, Zen, and Mr Myagi like.
Also finished Yoga for People who Can't be Bothered to do it, by Geoff Dyer, in a few hours, which is a travel book and has nothing to do with yoga.
Great read, although I kind of felt I'd lived his experiences already. Especially the young kid switching seamlessly from abusing him to crying, in an attempt to get him to buy a can of coke in Angkor.
And the fantastic space cadets you meet on the Thai islands.
Next book is The Unquiet Grave, by Cyril Connelly.
I've come to re-appreciate the concentrating medative qualities of reading a book, compared to watching a film.
Quite a thoughtful read I thought. I recently went to a few Judo lessons and appreciated his first thoughts on entering Karate lessons. Very calm, Zen, and Mr Myagi like.
Also finished Yoga for People who Can't be Bothered to do it, by Geoff Dyer, in a few hours, which is a travel book and has nothing to do with yoga.
Great read, although I kind of felt I'd lived his experiences already. Especially the young kid switching seamlessly from abusing him to crying, in an attempt to get him to buy a can of coke in Angkor.
And the fantastic space cadets you meet on the Thai islands.
Next book is The Unquiet Grave, by Cyril Connelly.
I've come to re-appreciate the concentrating medative qualities of reading a book, compared to watching a film.
"I don't care what the people are thinking, i ain't drunk i'm just drinking"
John Le Carre’s A perfect spy - his best novel and one of the best British novels of the last few decades. And I have bought his newly published collection of letters.
Also a bit of recently deceased Spanish novelist Javiar Marias, Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada and Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov
Also a bit of recently deceased Spanish novelist Javiar Marias, Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada and Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov
-
- I've got nothing better to do
- Reactions: 2
- Posts: 83
- Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2011 5:34 am
Black Hole Blues by Janna Levin
The story of Rainer Weiss's 50 year hunt for gravity waves
(Levin wrote the book before they knew if he would succeed. The project had actually failed up to that point. She was interested in the fact that he did not give up for so long and continued to get funding for so long. About 1 billion dollars of funding. But they succeeded and Weiss won the Nobel Prize a few years later in 2017.).
Janna Levin at Google
In grad school, I worked in a lab down the hall from Rai Weiss but never met him. People said he would win the Nobel Prize if he ever succeeded in what he was doing. But they did not seem to believe he would. No one knew if gravity waves existed or could be measured if they did exist. They said Weiss was the only person at MIT who would return unused grant money at the end of the year.
***********************************
Going Infinite: The Rise And Fall Of A New Tycoon by Michael Lewis
Lewis spent many months hanging out with Sam Bankman-Fried until the end. Lewis's story and judgement of SBF is not so black and white.
MIchael Lewis on 60 minutes talking about his book and SBF
********************************************
Averaging Methods in Non-Linear Dynamical Systems by Verlhurst and Sanders
Averaging Methods in the Theory of Non-Linear Oscillations by N. N. Bogolyubov
Introduction to non-linear mechanics by Nikolai Mitrofanovich Krylov, Nikolai Nikolaevich Bogolyubov
The story of Rainer Weiss's 50 year hunt for gravity waves
(Levin wrote the book before they knew if he would succeed. The project had actually failed up to that point. She was interested in the fact that he did not give up for so long and continued to get funding for so long. About 1 billion dollars of funding. But they succeeded and Weiss won the Nobel Prize a few years later in 2017.).
Janna Levin at Google
In grad school, I worked in a lab down the hall from Rai Weiss but never met him. People said he would win the Nobel Prize if he ever succeeded in what he was doing. But they did not seem to believe he would. No one knew if gravity waves existed or could be measured if they did exist. They said Weiss was the only person at MIT who would return unused grant money at the end of the year.
***********************************
Going Infinite: The Rise And Fall Of A New Tycoon by Michael Lewis
Lewis spent many months hanging out with Sam Bankman-Fried until the end. Lewis's story and judgement of SBF is not so black and white.
MIchael Lewis on 60 minutes talking about his book and SBF
********************************************
Averaging Methods in Non-Linear Dynamical Systems by Verlhurst and Sanders
Averaging Methods in the Theory of Non-Linear Oscillations by N. N. Bogolyubov
Introduction to non-linear mechanics by Nikolai Mitrofanovich Krylov, Nikolai Nikolaevich Bogolyubov
-
- Similar Topics
- Replies
- Views
- Last post
-
-
Am I reading this right? $95k to 'solve' a fatal hit and run?
by Bong Burgundy » Sat Feb 03, 2024 5:43 pm » in Cambodia News - 11 Replies
- 843 Views
-
Last post by Night Owl
Mon Feb 05, 2024 11:51 pm
-
-
-
Poundshop reading glasses bad for you eyesight?
by spitthedog » Thu Aug 04, 2022 12:54 am » in Health and fitness - 6 Replies
- 2486 Views
-
Last post by Alexandra
Fri Aug 05, 2022 5:10 am
-
-
-
typing (and reading) khmer script on Linux devices
by flo » Sat Nov 21, 2020 12:37 am » in The IT and Techy Forum - 0 Replies
- 2849 Views
-
Last post by flo
Sat Nov 21, 2020 12:37 am
-
-
- 3 Replies
- 2056 Views
-
Last post by chkai chgout
Sun Jun 11, 2023 7:53 am