Neuromancer

Neuromancer – William Gibson

Summary: not as good as other books. Couldn’t get attached to the characters

The Matrix is a world within the world, a global consensus- hallucination, the representation of every byte of data in cyberspace . . .

Case had been the sharpest data-thief in the business, until vengeful former employers crippled his nervous system. But now a new and very mysterious employer recruits him for a last-chance run. The target: an unthinkably powerful artificial intelligence orbiting Earth in service of the sinister Tessier-Ashpool business clan. With a dead man riding shotgun and Molly, mirror-eyed street-samurai, to watch his back, Case embarks on an adventure that ups the ante on an entire genre of fiction.

Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury

Summary: person escapes the system in which he was complacent. Reflection on how we live our lives on autopilot and are ‘trapped’ by the system.

Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury, published in 1953. It is regarded as one of his best works.[3] The novel presents a future American society where books are outlawed and “firemen” burn any that are found.[4] The book’s tagline explains the title: “Fahrenheit 451 – the temperature at which book paper catches fire, and burns …”

The Checklist Manifesto

The Checklist Manifesto – Atul Gawande

Summary: Great book, really insightful. Written from personal story, but also includes the framework. Not too much details, i.e. leaves it to you to figure out!

Idea: use checklist manifesto and completionist tendency of people to use a checklist to get people to share about Queal?

The Checklist Manifesto, begins on familiar ground, with his experiences as a surgeon. But before long it becomes clear that he is really interested in a problem that afflicts virtually every aspect of the modern world–and that is how professionals deal with the increasing complexity of their responsibilities. It has been years since I read a book so powerful and so thought-provoking.

Gawande begins by making a distinction between errors of ignorance (mistakes we make because we don’t know enough), and errors of ineptitude (mistakes we made because we don’t make proper use of what we know). Failure in the modern world, he writes, is really about the second of these errors, and he walks us through a series of examples from medicine showing how the routine tasks of surgeons have now become so incredibly complicated that mistakes of one kind or another are virtually inevitable: it’s just too easy for an otherwise competent doctor to miss a step, or forget to ask a key question or, in the stress and pressure of the moment, to fail to plan properly for every eventuality. Gawande then visits with pilots and the people who build skyscrapers and comes back with a solution. Experts need checklists–literally–written guides that walk them through the key steps in any complex procedure. In the last section of the book, Gawande shows how his research team has taken this idea, developed a safe surgery checklist, and applied it around the world, with staggering success.

The danger, in a review as short as this, is that it makes Gawande’s book seem narrow in focus or prosaic in its conclusions. It is neither. Gawande is a gorgeous writer and storyteller, and the aims of this book are ambitious. Gawande thinks that the modern world requires us to revisit what we mean by expertise: that experts need help, and that progress depends on experts having the humility to concede that they need help.

Also by Gawande – Being Mortal

Awesome news – Deaths in Scotland drop by 30%

Perennial Seller

Perennial Seller by Ryan Holiday is an interesting book on making and marketing. It details how things can sell for a long time, or in other words, become a perennial seller. The book explains how we can make companies that will last the test of time.

From the web:

“Bestselling author and marketer Ryan Holiday calls such works and artists perennial sellers. How do they endure and thrive while most books, movies, songs, video games, and pieces of art disappear quickly after initial success? How can we create and market creative works that achieve longevity?

Holiday explores this mystery by drawing on his extensive experience working with businesses and creators such as Google, American Apparel, and the author John Grisham, as well as his interviews with the minds behind some of the greatest perennial sellers of our time. His fascinating examples include:

• Rick Rubin, producer for Adele, Jay-Z, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who teaches his artists to push past short-term thinking and root their work in long-term inspiration. • Tim Ferriss, whose books have sold millions of copies, in part because he rigorously tests every element of his work to see what generates the strongest response. • Seinfeld, which managed to capture both the essence of the nineties and timeless themes to become a modern classic. • Harper Lee, who transformed a muddled manuscript into To Kill a Mockingbird with the help of the right editor and feedback. • Winston Churchill, Stefan Zweig, and Lady Gaga, who each learned the essential tenets of building a platform of loyal, dedicated supporters.

Holiday reveals that the key to success for many perennial sellers is that their creators don’t distinguish between the making and the marketing. The product’s purpose and audience are in the creator’s mind from day one. By thinking holistically about the relationship between their audience and their work, creators of all kinds improve the chances that their offerings will stand the test of time.“

Business Adventures

Business Adventures – John Brooks

Summary: Good stories without judgement

What do the $350 million Ford Motor Company disaster known as the Edsel, the fast and incredible rise of Xerox, and the unbelievable scandals at General Electric and Texas Gulf Sulphur have in common? Each is an example of how an iconic company was defined by a particular moment of fame or notoriety; these notable and fascinating accounts are as relevant today to understanding the intricacies of corporate life as they were when the events happened.

Stories about Wall Street are infused with drama and adventure and reveal the machinations and volatile nature of the world of finance. Longtime New Yorker contributor John Brooks’s insightful reportage is so full of personality and critical detail that whether he is looking at the astounding market crash of 1962, the collapse of a well-known brokerage firm, or the bold attempt by American bankers to save the British pound, one gets the sense that history repeats itself.

Five additional stories on equally fascinating subjects round out this wonderful collection that will both entertain and inform readers . . . Business Adventures is truly financial journalism at its liveliest and best.

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch – Philip K. Dick

Interesting book. A bit too many worlds. Drugs to keep population happy/content.

Summary: Palmer Eldritch’s three stigmata are his artifical arm, steel teeth and electronic eyes. He is a merchant adventurer lately returned with something valuable from Proxima Centauri to a globally overheated Earth. The UN (a regulatory body replacing government as such) is protecting him like a state secret.

Corporate boss Leo Bulero is the head of the Perky Pat empire, which employs “precog” telepaths to read the future and design business strategy. Bulero’s business is the Barbie and Ken-type Perky Pat dolls and accessories used by planetary colonists to ease their misery and remind them of a materially idyllic Earth. In conjunction with the Perky Pat toys, colonists chew Can-D, an illegal drug which allows them to imagine themselves as the main characters in the Perky Pat world. Bulero’s company secretly controls Can-D and publicly sells endless accessories for the miniature twosome.

Barney Mayerson, a high-ranking precog, predicts that Bulero will murder Eldritch, who has discovered a drug more attractive and powerful than Can-D. In confronting Eldritch, hoping to kill him, Bulero is plunged into powerfully realistic hallucinatory worlds clearly controlled by his bionic rival. Gradually he suspects that his antagonist is not only God and the devil, but that he and everyone else is an aspect of Eldritch. The material world becomes optional. What is real? Can Eldritch be resisted? Are our souls our own? It is to Dick’s credit that as his hasty standard English and cardboard characters disintegrate in his wake, we are still left with sturdy philosophical questions.

Dick’s speed-enhanced gift was to capture the illusion sometimes encountered by the deadline-conscious hack, hyped on adrenaline, playing with transcen- dental notions that creator and creations, illusions and reality are one. As with hallucinogens, the condition can cause obsession and psychosis, a distinct sense that the book is writing you. You become merely a medium. Common sense usually brings you back to shared reality. But in the case of Dick or L Ron Hubbard, inventor of Scientology, the experience formed the basis of a rough and ready belief system resembling Buddhism or Manichaeism. Does the mind control reality? Do good and evil emanate from the same source? What do we worship and why?

As he followed these themes, Dick’s novels became increasingly incoherent and, for me, scarcely readable. Hacking out book after book, he gave himself no time to discover a more idiosyncratic structure or style, the search for which characterised the so-called SF New Wave and gave us sophisticated American visionaries such as Thomas M Disch, John Sladek and Samuel R Delany.

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch ends with a question about identity. Unfortunately, I had to leaf back through the book before I could understand the question because the characters involved were so hard to tell apart. It could be true, as Dick so frequently suggested, that we are all actors playing out the dream of a great director in the sky. In this case, given the illusion of free will, I think I’d rather be in the movie.

The Man in the High Castle

The Man in the High Castle – Philip K. Dick

Summary:

The TMITHC is an alternate history in which the Axis has won WWII. Dick gives some grim pictures of the “history” since the war. Yet the book is ultimately more positive than negative. As Pete Chvany (on rec.books.phil-k-dick) has pointed out: It has “strong characters with basic moral centers. Tagomi’s decision to free Frank in the face of Nazi intimidation and after recently being forced to kill against his deepest religious principles, is powerful stuff. So is Juliana’s realization that she has to warn Abendsen about the plot to kill him. Bob Childan’s decision not to turn American jewelry into cheap trinkets is a big moment, as he realizes the choices Paul Kasoura offers him and finds a way to take pride in himself, rather than in a lost past.”

Dick has said that he wrote TMITHC with the help of the I Ching (see quotes below), forming hexagrams as he came to junctures in the book. He then put the hexagram in the book text and had the character involved interpret the hexagram (sometimes in different ways) in light of his or her own view of the “moment.”

The final two hexagrams the I Ching gives characters are the same: Inner Truth. Tagomi forms the hexagram first–after killing the SD men. At first he finds no solace in the answer. He tries meditating on a pin that contains Wu, a source of truth in itself, and traverses universes. Juliana seems to “understand” the hexagram immediately.

THE SUMMATION: Only after Tagomi has his heart attack–one he presumably will survive–does he realize he will ultimately understand, in his own way, the answer given by the I Ching. This gives him a sense of peace and hope. Juliana gets the same hexagram and to her it means that the world in Abendsen’s book, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy (also supposedly written with [by] the I Ching,) is true. This also gratifies her as the Grasshopper is a book from which she (and several other TMITHC characters) draws hope and strength.

THE CATCHES:

“Historicity”–a key element in the TMITHC–turns out to be deceptive. Frank, for instance, has been making fake “antique” guns. Wyndam-Matson’s lecture to his girlfriend shows that the “authenticity” [of historicity] lies in a piece of paper, not in the thing itself. By extension from this theme, we therefore can ask ‘Is the universe depicted in Grasshopper any more true than the universe Juliana is currently in?’

It is clear that the universe pictured in Grasshopper is not our universe, as Tugwell is President after Roosevelt, etc. Tagomi visits one reality in which the Japanese are not in power and in which he sees the Embarcadero Freeway (a real place in our universe when TMITHC was written, although the past big earthquake has necessitated that San Francisco remove this structure). The easiest assumption is that the universe he visits is indeed ours. We can therefore see that there are at least three realities described in TMITHC: the novel’s, Grasshopper’s, and the one Tagomi visits. Which is “true?” Are all true? It is difficult to answer these questions.

In sum, the book is basically positive because of the moral decisions made by a number of characters, because Tagomi finds enlightenment {although it is not clear to him or us what this will utlimately mean to him), because Frank is released to go on making real, contemporary American art, and because Juliana discovers that there is at least one “better” universe.

Ladies & Lords

Ladies & Lords – Terry Pratchett

Summary:

The book is a follow up to Witches Abroad. The witches Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick return home to the little mountain kingdom of Lancre, where they discover that amateur practitioners of witchcraft have weakened the fabric of fantasy. Elves manage to break through, and must be defeated.

The plot turns on Magrat’s wedding to King Verence II, and her misgivings about it. The plot includes several elements of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, and quotes lines from various folk songs about elves. The sub-plot includes the Unseen University wizards, mainly Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully, Ponder Stibbons, the Bursar and the Librarian.

According to Pratchett himself, this is one of the few Discworld novels that cannot stand on its own; one needs to have read the previous two books in the Witches sub-series, Wyrd Sisters and Witches Abroad, to have a proper understanding of the characters and their relation to each other.

Unbreakable Runner

Unbreakable Runner – T.J. Murphy & Brian MacKenzie

Summary: How to combine (explosive) strength with endurance (marathon) training.

Unleash the power of strength & conditioning for a lifetime of running strong

CrossFit uses compound functional exercises, such as burpees, that recruit a swath of muscle groups.

CrossFit Endurance (CFE) – sustained or improved performance while running fewer miles overall – reduced injury risk as ‘junk’ mileage is replaced with functional fitness workouts that train the same energy systems – increased explosive power and speed – less damage to mobility and range of motion through incorporating workouts that improve range of motion in the joints and muscle tissues – increased production of human growth hormone, which helps counter the natural loss of muscle mass that comes with age – revved-up fat-burning metabolism to burn excess body fat – improved coordination of upper- and lower-body muscle groups through the inclusion of compound movements in training – better race performance through greater strength, improved form, and greater running efficiency

HIIIT (central to the program)

Born to Run – Christopher McDougall – Tarahumara runners

Land on the front of the foot, not on the padded back

The CFE philosophy: Developing Skill and Technique – develop a race cadence – develop op proper forward lean – land underneath your center of gravity – keep contact time brief – pull with the hamstring – maintain proper posture and position – be patient

Mobility! – mobility exercises – 1 minute for each – roll lacrosse/massage ball under each foot – use massage stick on calf muscles – roll thighs over foam roller – roll IT bands (hip to knee) over foam roller – roll hamstrings over foam roller – roll (longer) for hip and lower back

– tighten the core – walk barefoot

Endurance with teeth

Overtraining – avoid it In CFE, mileage is relatively low, but every run is targeted to deliver maximum endurance and speed benefits. – vs LSD, long slow distance – which should increase fat burning efficiency LSD improves a runner’s ability to stay in the aerobic zone and to burn carbohydrate and fat most efficiently – but, reduce mobility, range of motion, and explosive power, resulting in muscular imbalances and postural weakness – high-mileage training can have negative effects on overall health. It can increase stress on the endocrine system, accelerate ageing, and compromise the immune system

CFE to: – increase bone density. High-intensity/power method is less likely to cause stress fractures – build tendon and ligament strength. 6 weeks of weight training can also generate substantial connective tissue gain – improving capillary growth. High-intensity exercise can increase capillary networks within 4 weeks around both fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscle fibers – maximise fat burning. Fat-burning power of interval training, in which high-intensity training periods are alternated with short rest periods. – improve running economy. VO2 max training.

Fewer than 20 percent of motor units are recruited in a marathoner’s legs at any time during competition, so it’s not a matter of the runner having failed to build an endurance base. – source of the problem is the failure of the runner to more fully engage these neural connections during training – focus on stimulating something called the neural governor – calibrating exercise intensity and neural output – to get faster or run farther, a runner must overcome the limits set by the neural governor – via high-intensity, explosive strength training

Runner trains via a weekly template that incorporates all of the target components of training. – CFE runner remains at 95 percent of working potential and can race year-round

Fewer miles can lead to better running, as long as intensity is boosted – minimum effective dose – making every step count

Strength & conditioning workouts for the CFE runner

No scientific study has ever linked advances in running-training volume beyond 57 miles per week with increases in running performance-related physiological variables

Circuit training advances aerobic capacity, lactate threshold, running economy, and VO2 max – and improves coordination, so a faster stride rate, better running form, neuromuscular development

High-intensity circuit training (HICT)

The combination of aerobic and resistance training in a high-intensity, limited-rest design can deliver numerous health benefits in much less time than traditional programs

Choosing a gym – some have CFE coaches – do your homework, visit as many gyms as you can, and try to interview the coaches – via crossfit.com – ask them how they plan the workouts – should be able to tell you why each workout is programmed – what the overall training effect is – ask how a runner might best fit in the program – try introductory workout

Wildhearts = profi RTM = big Hofplein = convenient, not too pricy

Nutrition the CFE way

More important than what you eat in a competition is refining how you eat day to day

Good nutrition is a high priority and is considered essential to health, longevity, performance, tissue repair, and hormonal balance.

Dumping sugar (fast carbs) on the body is not good. The system becomes overloaded, we become insulin-resistant (type II diabetes). – runners are not immune to this

Low-carb, low-inflammation diet

There is always individual variation

– shop the perimeter of the grocery store – eat real food – meat (if any, grass fed) – fish (wild-caught) – vegetables and fruit (focus on veg) – dairy, legumes, grains, sugars, and sugar substitutes (avoid them) – get blood panels (c-reactive protein) – water (drink lots)

Dr Robert Lustig Gary Taubes

Consume carbohydrate to enhance recovery

The Dark Forest

The Dark Forest – Liu Cixin

Summary: Great book that has an even better arch than The Three-Body Problem. Sometimes confusing with the Chinese names, but that is the price you pay for listening to audiobooks.