Steven Pinker is one of the greatest philosophical thinkers of our time. He’s written extensively in the field of ethics, environment ethics, and animal rights. This book was started before the presidential election of 2016 but accelerated to address the fomenting and destabilizing effects of nationalism, identity politics, and anti-science and anti-reason currents popping up in the US and abroad. Pinker explores an extensive lists of macro measures of “quality and quantity” of life since the Enlightenment with his central thesis being that humanity has made considerable progress across almost all measure DESPITE the “sense” that we aren’t and that we’re perpetually headed for decline. He explores these facts with extensive empirical evidence and also describe the varying hypotheses (not all his own) as to why we “feel” the sense of dread and decline. He speaks to political rhetoric coupled with increasingly massive volumes of sensationalist and offense seeking media, mixed in with our natural cognitive biases like negativity biases (many brought about as useful evolutionary adaptions but which have been coopted in our modern age through marketing and political messaging). I did a podcast with graduate student Dustyn Addington and co-host Whitney Johnson (find the podcast here) on the subject which is pretty entertaining. I recommend the book for anyone interested in history and the philosophy of science, as well as those interested in long range planning, macro economics and economic development, empirical evidence based analyses at a micro and macro level, and philosophy of history as well. This book I believe is a helpful North Start when you’re feeling adrift or overly negative/cynical/frustrated with where you “feel” things are headed. This book will lay out the empirical evidence that supports that while short term events and narratives may sway you emotions, reason will prevail with supported empirical evidence.
Shantaram: A Novel
Shantram is an amazing book, vivid in its descriptions and captivating in its characters and their numerous adventures. Told from the perspective of Lin, a convict who escaped from an Australian prison, it chronicles his trials, adventures, and misadventures in the 80’s in what was then called Bombay, India, as well as several other locations. I listened to the Audible book, twice now, which is quite well produced. The narrator is obviously a voice actor with a diverse set of character voices and accents in his toolbox. This book is considered a top book for world travelers and vagabonders and for good reason. It explores many difficult subjects including extreme poverty, famine, drug use, organized crime, murder, but also many others including love, friendship, mentorship, philosophy, nationalism, and more. I recommend this book widely as a great novel and a serious page turner.
Principles: Life and Work
Ray Dalio is the founder and long time CEO (now Co-Chairman) of his hedge fund Bridgewater. The first 3rd of the book describes his journey through writing and refining these principles over 30 years of operating his company. He had systematized and computerized the analysis and management of their financial portfolio and eventually, Ray figured out that he MUST systematize (and in some ways computerize!) the management system of Bridgewater. Principles is the public version of those principles. Ray does a splendid job in describing varying methods of using the book, reading the book, and integrating the methods into your work and life. It’s approachable to all readers, of all ages, of any discipline or career path. It’s clear, concise, organized, and very pragmatic. This book is now in my Top 10 books, for ANYTHING, and I’ll be sure to share these principles (and as he suggested, the ones modified to fit your personal and professional life) with my children. I recommend this book for essentially anyone in their personal and professional lives who want exposure to what principles are at a minimum but at the other end, for those who want a systematized practice for life and work.