July 2010
12 posts
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best thing i read today: Park vs. Park →
Central Park or Prospect Park?
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10 under 10 →
In the wake of The New Yorker’s recent “20 Under 40” list of gifted fiction writers who have not yet reached age 40, the literary community has turned its attention to even younger emerging talent. Here is that next generation.
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The Brain That Changes Itself
is one of the most fascinating books I’ve ever read. It walks the reader through studies of patients suffering from neurological disorders to explain how our brains are constantly adapting. For a long time, neuroscience believed the brain was immutable – fixed - one part of the brain for each body part or function and that’s that. But recently the field of neuroplasticity, the idea that the...
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best thing I read today: Does Language Influence... →
Pretty interesting article in the WSJ today. Basically says that language profoundly influences how we see the world. Some examples:
Russian speakers who have more words for light and dark blues are better able to visually discriminate shades of blue.
An aboriginal community in Australia doesn’t use terms like “left” and “right”, and instead uses north, south, east...
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The Big Five
dimensions of personality. I read this book called Personality about a year ago and thought it was great. It’s book two in my behavior/personality reads.
David Nettle, the same author of Happiness (seriously, if you haven’t read that one yet, try it out), writes about the five dimensions of personality - extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness. Here’s...
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Album of the Summer, 1: Phantogram - Eyelid Movies...
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“I would like to beg of you, dear friend, as well as I can, to have patience with...”
– Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet. I ate this book up this afternoon.
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WatchLast night I watched 180° SOUTH. It was beautiful and inspiring and really made me feel lazy. But maybe that’s because I was laying in bed eating a pint of ice cream while watching. Anyway - it’s definitely time to plan my next adventure.
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the luckiest guy alive:
Robert J. Croak, the founder of Silly Bandz. Not only is he the luckiest guy alive right now, he may be the most overly optimistic.
A few years ago, Croak spotted some animal shaped rubberbands at a tradeshow in Japan. He thought, if they were a little thicker, they could make a great fashion accessory. So he went to work and created what he now calls “the hottest toy, the hottest fashion...
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LeBron James: Ultimate Millennial →
I really like David’s take on the “The Decision.”
can you believe we still use firing squads?
I meant to write on this earlier, and I’m kind of surprised by the lack in attention it received. Where’s the national debate? A man was executed by a firing squad in Utah last week. He had murdered two people in 1985, yet during his time in prison had transformed into a mentor for incarcerated youth. Five police officers who volunteered for the task took shots at the man, but one of...