Matt's Book Reviews

The Road to Serfdom - F. A. Hayek

Matt — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 05:17:26 GMT

Published: 2007 (original 1944)

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

ISBN: 0226320553

My mother-in-law sent me a copy of this book for my birthday and I finally got around to reading it this last fall. Economics is a fascinating field and von Hayek's work "The Road to Serfdom" is incredibly relevant today even though it was originally published in 1944. The book was not intended to be an economic treatise but rather an application of economic theory to political reality. Hayek saw what happened in Europe between the wars and felt compelled to write a book to his fellow Britons warning them against the dangers of socialism. Many today see similar signs in America as we push the envelope of capitalism to be ever closer to Keynesian thinking.

Quotes

"I think what is needed is a clear set of principles which enable us to distinguish between the legitimate fields of government activity and the illegitimate fields of government activity. You must cease to argue for or against government activity as such."

Keynes read this book on his way to Bretton Woods. He remarked "Morally and philosophically I find myself in agreement with virtually the whole of it, and not only in agreement with it, but in deeply moved agreement." (So much for Keynes being the evil mindless idiot some on the American "right" would make him out to be!)

"Socialism can be put into practice only by methods which most socialists disapprove." (Love this statement... wish my liberal friends could grasp this concept.)

Keynes wrote in "The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money", "I am sure that the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas."

"There is in particular, all the difference between deliberately creating a system within which competition will work as beneficially as possible and passively accepting institutions as they are." (Libertarians? Anyone?)

Thoughts

One of the more interesting concepts that Hayek talked about was a section where he explains what should and should not be handled by government. In his opinion, things which are genuinely "insurable" can be folded into the government without significantly reducing the freedom of individuals. During the health care debate there was much talk about whether or not government should be involved in health care but there was very little talk about which facets of health care government should be involved in.

If government were limited to only the insurable portion of health care, it would likely have all the positive effects that the liberals hoped for without the negative effects that the conservatives are worried about. Rather than having a reasoned debate about the scope of government involvement however, the political forces in America turned it into an all or nothing, black and white argument.

I suspect von Hayek would have been very disappointed in the placard carrying folks at Tea Party meetings who invoke his name without ever reading his work.

Conclusion

By all means, every voter in America should read this book but only with an open mind and a conscious effort to avoid confirmation bias. Afterwards they should research the history of the time and research the economic concepts involved and then re-read the book. This book, if understood, would greatly increase the quality of the economic debate in our country.

How We Decide - Jonah Lehrer

Matt — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 04:56:13 GMT

Copyright: 2010

Publisher: Mariner Books

ISBN: 0547247990

Jonah Lehrer's book "How We Decide" is an interesting traipse through the field of decision theory from the perspective of cognitive psychology. He touches on a number of cognitive biases as well as digging into the physiology of the brain. Most of what he writes isn't brand new research but he does put it on a level that mere mortals (such as myself) can comprehend the subject.

Notes

Lehrer gets things started with Herbert Simon's scissors analogy. He compares cognitive function to a pair of scissors where one blade is the brain (cognition) and the other is the brain's environment. If we are ever to understand how the brain makes decisions, we have to understand both blades.

Within the brain, dopamine responds to patterns. Ultimately the entire brain works on patterns and pattern matching. This part of the book reminded me of Jeff Hawkin's (founder of Palm) book On Intelligence where he spoke extensively of pattern processing in the brain.

Further delving into the brain, Lehrer points out that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is involved in both cognition and emotion. It's primary role is "error detection." When we make a mistake, we feel bad. In this sense, negative feedback is the key to learning and ultimately to decision making. Once again, this dovetails nicely with Antonio Damasio's work in Looking for Spinoza, where he ties emotion with cognitive function.

This theory comes from an interesting experiment called the "Iowa Gambling Task". Participants are presented with rigged decks of cards, some good, some bad. After being told that they can win or lose money based on which decks they draw from they begin drawing cards. Interestingly, healthy participants can discern a bad deck from a good deck long before they are consciously aware. Subtle physical indicators as well as choice of card drawing indicate that we "intuit" bad decks long before we are able to articulate why.

Some tips for problem solving:

Clear extraneous stuff out of the way
Seek creative associations
Recognize the correct solution when you see it

Some random thoughts:

Emotions help identify solutions from experience
Stress reduces self-control by reducing cognitive resources
You have to learn to force yourself to listen to arguments against your own beliefs if you are going to make good decisions

Certainty Trap

Lehrer explores in depth the concept of the certainty trap. He explains how we often become so certain of a conclusion that we fail to explore all options. We fall victim to confirmation bias and we only place value on information that conforms to our conclusion.

In order to break free from the certainty trap, a certain amount of indecisiveness or self-questioning is important.

Five Guidelines to Better Decisions

Simple problems require reason, not emotion to solve effectively. Complex problems require emotion, not reason.
New, novel problems require reason and emotion.
Embrace uncertainty – if you are 100% sure of yourself, you are likely to be wrong.
You know more than you know.
Think about how you think. Become a student of your mistakes. Don’t let fear stop you from making them.

Conclusion

I read this book because of my interest in software engineering, particular with regard to human computer interaction. Interestingly much of the material in this book is applicable in other areas of life, including the political arena. Anyone interested in understanding how others make decisions or improving their own decision making would benefit from this book. Only read it if you have an open mind however!

Team of Rivals - Doris Kearns Goodwin

Matt — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 04:18:50 GMT

Copyright: 2006

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

ISBN: 0743270754

For some history reading over the summer I listened to the audio book "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. The book is a massive (something like 36 CDs) and present an incredibly in-depth view into the political atmosphere surrounding Lincoln's rise to the Presidency.

Kearns starts by looking at the background of each of the men who ran against Lincoln in the primary. These men all had deep political backgrounds and high ambition. Even though each of them intensely disliked Lincoln as a rival, each of them grew to respect him as they later served with him in his Cabinet. Kearns does an excellent job of maintaining an entertaining narrative while at the same time piecing together and intricate puzzle of political maneuvering amidst the rise of war.

Quotes

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing." ~ Abraham Lincoln

Conclusion

If you love politics and like the intertwining, ever complex world of political ambition, this book is a great read. It explores the political climate as well as the political prowess of a number of men of the era. If you are looking for heart-warming stories of Lincoln in a log cabin, this book isn't for you.

Love Wins - Rob Bell

Matt — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 04:25:47 GMT

Copyright: 2011

Publisher: Harper One

ISBN: 9780062049643

Rob Bell's book Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Ever Person Who Ever Lived, has sparked some controversy in the evangelical world. This review is simply one person's perspective on the book and is more my opinion than an actual review.

Much Ado...

The blog world blew up when this book was released. Facebook ignited with posts and in one day no less than five of my friends posted the same link to an interview Rob Bell did with Martin Bashir. Oddly, most of the people posting about the book didn't seem to have read the book.

Kevin DeYoung wrote a long comprehensive review on his blog after he read the book, but he seemed to be writing a review of a book that he wished Rob Bell had written, not the one he actually did. He spends several paragraphs in the introduction to his review convincing us that Rob Bell intended this work to be a theological treatise rather than a provacative conversation. Knocking down a straw man is never impressive.

The odd thing about this whole controversy is that Bell's book is incredibly informal and conversational in tone. It is not intended to be an exegetical study of the doctrine's of heaven and hell. Bell doesn't seem to claim that this is a definitive theological treatise which lays out his beliefs. In fact, to the contrary, in several places he seems to be saying "the jury is still out."

...About Nothing

The format of the book, the layout of the text, the sentence structure and the contents of the book all take on a conversational tone. Bell isn't doing a deep theological expose on heaven and hell, rather he is asking the reader to consider that maybe, just maybe, we got it wrong. Because guess what? Maybe we did.

Every person who has ever lived to have introspective thoughts has one thing in common: we have all wondered what happens after death. Unfortunately a very precious few of us actually have the privilege of finding out and then coming back. Our entire theology of death, heaven and hell is based on a handful of verses in the Bible that were written in a language that none of us speak natively in a time about which we know very little.

Can God reveal the truth through His words thousands of years after they were written down? Absolutely. What makes me (or you) think that our particular interpretation is the right one and the guy down the street got it wrong?

Ultimately the message I get from Bell in this book is: "get down off your doctrinal high horse long enough to love your neighbor."

doctrine (not Doctrine)

I am not a universalist (capital or lower case) but I have to admit the way that Bell presented his thoughts made me think twice about how we (Christians in general) present the gospel message. Most evangelical's approach the gospel message as though "our way is the only right way to think about this, everyone else is wrong." My own experience coming from a strong Baptist background was that Baptists claim to have a corner on "salvation by grace" but after visiting everything from Assemblies to e-free to non-denominational I have discovered: no they don't.

The same thing can be said about most of our doctrinal teaching about heaven and hell. We isolate ourselves, shoring up our position with references to our favorite theologians and we recast scriptures in whatever mold it takes to make them conform to our beliefs. We set ourselves up as the arbiters of truth and defend our position by pointing out that everyone else is wrong.

True enough, Rob Bell does all of this in Love Wins, but I can't help but wonder if he isn't doing it just to point out how ludicrous most of our doctrinal positions are. He seems to be holding out the bait which folks like DeYoung have risen to quite quickly.

Good Stuff

Sure, if you don't like his theology you won't like anything in his book but here's some gems I like.

"When we hear people saying they can't believe in a God who gets angry-- yes, they can. How should God react to a child being forced into prostitution? How should God feel about a country starving while warlords hoard the food supply?"
"Our eschatology shapes our ethics. [...] What you believe about the future shapes, informs and determines how you live now."
"Grace and generosity aren't fair; that's their very essence."
"It's very common to hear talk about heaven framed in terms of who "gets in" or how to "get in." What we find Jesus teaching, over and over and over again, is that he's interested in our hearts being transformed, so that we can actually handle heaven."
"It often appears that the people who talk the most about going to heaven when you die talk the least about bringing heaven to earth right now, as Jesus taught us to pray: "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." At the same time, if often appears that those who talk the most about relieving suffering now talk the least about heaven when we die. Jesus teaches us to pursue the life of heaven now and also then, anticipating the day when earth and heaven are one."
(About Lazarus from the parable) "He's alive in death, but in profound torment, because he's living with the realities of not properly dying the kind of death that actually leads a person into the only kind of life that's worth living."
"Often the people most concerned about others going to hell when they die seem less concerned with the hells on earth right now, while the people most concerned with the hells on earth right now seem the least concerned about hell after death."

Conclusion

I read this book because I was intrigued by some of the snippets I read. Bell seems to be advocating for a more pragmatic approach to "religion". I acknowledge that this resonates with me so perhaps I am just seeing what I want to see. DeYoung and other pastors however would do well to not minimize the number of folks like me who have backed away from "traditional Christianity." I don't hate God, on the contrary, I have a deep and abiding respect and love and fear of God. What irks me is the insipient insistence of Religion that "they got it right." Maybe... but surely we can't all be right since we disagree, so how about let's cut each other some slack?

(Yes, I know this last bit sounds like pacifism and we are supposed to earnestly contend for the faith and all that. Last time I checked however there were no lions with me on the menu so maybe we can dial back the dialogue a little bit?)

Just Courage - Gary Haugen

Matt — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 05:22:05 GMT

Copyright: 2008

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

ISBN: 9780830834945

The author of Just Courage: God's Great Expedition for the Restless Christian, was a lawyer for the Justice Department working in the Civil Rights division in the 1990's. He also was the director of the United Nations genocide investigation in Rwanda. In 1997 he left all that behind to step out in faith to start a non-profit organization to seek justice around the globe. International Justice Mission now has 14 field offices around the world and over 300 people on staff, 90% of whom are nationals in the country in which they serve. This book is Haugen's call to action for Christians around the world and particularly in America to bravely answer God's call to seek justice for those in need.

Notes

The premise of the book is simple: God didn't put us on earth to work jobs and sit on our couches while evil oppresses. If we want to enjoy Christianity to the fullest we must leave the safety and comfort of our white picket fence life and face the calling.

God's call can be summed up from Isaiah 1:17.

Seek Justice
Rescue the oppressed
Defend the orphan
Plead for the widow

Three historical examples of justice fighters that Haugen pointed to were:

William Sheppard
Donaldina Cameron
Irena Sendlerona

Below is just a scattering of notes I wrote in my journal as I read.

Haugen was influenced by John Stuart Mill's essay "On Liberty" in which he used Christianity as an example of people who talk about things but don't really believe them.
How far do most Christians go? As far as we feel safe and in control.
God's power in our weakness does not require us to give up our strength. Rather it requires us to undertake tasks that are greater than our strengths so that we must rely on God.
To answer the question "Now What?" in Christianity we must answer the question "For What? (purpose)"
Why don't we answer the call?
- Ignorance
- Despair
- Fear
We do not choose the path, we simply choose whether or not to go down the path.
Injustice == Abuse of power
Violence is different than other felt needs
- It is intentional
- It is scary
- It leaves deep scars
Violence has secrets to breaking it's grip
- Perpetrators of violence are not that brave
- Predators are afraid of the truth
- Oppressors of the poor are afraid of jail
We always want to ask "Who is my neighbor?" but Jesus wants to ask "Are you loving your neighbor?"
God doesn't call us to try to be brave, He calls us to train to be brave.
We must choose Success or Significance?

Conclusion

Haugen's lawyer-like presentation of the subject matter and his direct call to action were very appealing to me in reading this book. If you want to be challenged to think outside of your neat boxed-in life, pick up this book and have a read.

The Shack - William Paul Young

Matt — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 02:17:33 GMT

Copyright: 2007

Publisher: Windblown Media

ISBN: 9780964729230

Those who know me well are aware that I lost my sister to cancer a few years ago. While this loss isn't the same as the loss of the fictional character Mack in The Shack, I strongly related to The Great Sadness he struggles with in the story. In addition, the spiritual journey that he traveled during his sojourn at the shack closely mirrors many of the thoughts and revalations I have experienced in the past two years. For me, reading William Paul Young's novel was a very personal experience.

Synopsis

The basic plot of the story is a father (Mack) whose daughter is kidnapped and brutally murdered in a shack in the wilderness. He and his family suffer tremendously and his heart is heavy. In an odd twist a note shows up in his mailbox telling him that he should come to the shack. The note is signed "Papa" which is Mack's wife's nickname for God.

Mack ends up visiting the scene of the crime, the abandoned shack in which his daughter was murdered. While there he has a fascinating experience with God. God shows himself as a black woman, the Holy Spirit appears as almost a fairy like woman and Jesus shows up as Himself, a Jewish carpenter.

The dialogue takes over the greater part of the book intermingled with incredibly well written scenery and a subtle plot. The main point of the book is to show Mack that he really didn't know that much about God even though at a younger age he had studied theology formally.

The theological discussions that take place are outside the realm of any organized religion and will likely grate against the conscious of even the most moderately religious person. The dialogue deals with topics that have plagued philosophers and theologians alike for centures: the problem of evil, the need for atonement and sacrifice, the problem of an angry God, freedom vs. license with regard to works.

Many of these are issues that I have had to come to grips with in the years since my sister passed and I related very closely to Mack in this story. I too studied theology at a younger age and I too suffered a loss that I couldn't understand and frankly for which I grew angry at God. I too had to come face to face with the realization that I didn't know God... that God couldn't fit into the neat confines of any organized religion.

Thoughts

These quotes jumped off the pages at me but there were many more that I didn't write down.

"Life takes a bit of time and a lot of relationship." ~ Papa (God)

"Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know you are loved." ~ Sarayu (Holy Spirit)

"It is impossible for you to take power over the future because it isn't even real, nor will it ever be real." ~ Jesus

"...my love is a lot bigger than your stupidity." ~ Papa

Conclusion

I wish I could recommend this book to everyone but I fear that many would just bristle at how the contents don't square with their view of God. Many will likely see the book as too fanciful to be of any use. For me this book was the perfect story at the perfect time in my life.

Son of Hamas - Mosab Hassan Yousef

Matt — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 06:20:04 GMT

Copyright: 2010

Publisher: Tyndale

ISBN: 9781414333076

Son of Hamas is the gripping story of a young man who is the son of one of the founders of Hamas. He tells his own story, going all the way back to his grandfather and his father as imam's in the Muslim faith all the way through his seeking asylum in the United States because of his work for Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security force tasked with finding terrorists within the homeland. The amazing transformation of his life from son of a Hamas leader to working for the Israeli intelligence community is inter-twined with the equally amazing story of his journey from the Muslim faith to the Christian faith all the while working closely with men of the Jewish faith.

Switching Sides - Politically

Mosab was a hardened youth ready to fight against the Israelis in pursuit of justice and freedom for his Palestinian brethren. As a teenager he was arrested by the Israelis, tortured and interrogated for weeks on end. During this time he was approached by a member of Shin Bet who offered him the opportunity to work for the Israelis in exchange for protection and an end to the torture. After some thought Mosab agreed but secretly his goal was to come back and kill the young Shin Bet officer once he had earned his trust.

Since it would have been suspicious to release Mosab too soon, he was transferred to another prison and forced to serve another 6 month term. During this time he witnessed the darker side of the Hamas movement. He saw them torturing their own and he saw the power struggles within the group that were motivated not by a desire to help the Palestinians but rather to further each individuals agenda.

Over time Mosab began to realize that Hamas was doing as much damage to the Palestinian people as any other group was doing. He determined that if he truly wanted to help his people, the best thing he could do was help the Israelis take down the terrorist wing of Hamas.

Switching Sides - Religiously

Mosab's father and grandfather were both good Muslim men of great faith. They both had a strong desire to help their people and serve their God. Mosab grew up wanting to be just like them but while in prison the first time he began to see some of the inconsistencies of the Muslim faith.

Not long after this, while he began his work with Shin Bet he was invited to join a group of Christian youth engaged in Bible study. He began to study the Bible, justifying it first in his own mind and then to others by saying that the Bible was a great historical book and a good Muslim should be a good student of history.

Over time (six years by his own account) he began to see that what he had grown up believing about the Muslim faith could not be reconciled with the world around him. Further he began to see that the Muslim faith was inconsistent within itself. Gradually he converted to Christianity, eventually being baptized by a visiting Christian while still working for Israeli intelligence.

At the end of the book Mosab points out that he doesn't consider himself to be a good or mature Christian. He makes no claim to having it all figured out... he just knows that Christianity is the truth for which he had been seeking.

Lessons Learned

This book was a fascinating read. The author has a unique perspective on this part of the world and he freely shares what he believes to be the weaknesses of both the Palestinian point of view as well as the Israeli. He doesn't try to paint a pretty picture of any of the players in the region, he simply lays it out the way he sees things.

With the recent events in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has been a topic of discussion. Many Conservatives are up at arms because an American official recently pointed out that the Muslim Brotherhood isn't 100% a terrorist organization. In Son of Hamas, Mosab gives a bit of the history of both the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. Both organizations were started as humanitarian institutions rather than political. Both organizations have elements that are less than noble but they also have their good sides.

Americans would do well to learn more about the history of the organizations which they so glibly talk about on their cable news shows. Glenn Beck and others are making lots of money talking in conspiratorial tones about groups with mysterious sounding names. It's time we do our homework and learn about these folks... and not just the bad things we can dig up.

Conclusion

I think every American should read this book. The story gives insight into a world that most of us can't even imagine. I found myself coming to the end of the book wishing there were more because I felt I had learned so much in the reading.

Parenting Teens with Love & Logic -- Foster Cline & Jim Fay

Matt — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 05:12:34 GMT

Copyright: 1992

Publisher: Pinon Press

ISBN: 0891096957

The Love & Logic method of parenting can take a lot of the stress out of parenting. Foster Cline and Jim Fay apply their principles of parenting to the ever scary teen years in Parenting Teens with Love & Logic. The basic premise of Love & Logic is that children should be raised to be responsible yet most parents take actions that keep this from happening. By ensuring that kids feel loved and by applying logical thought to situations, Cline and Fay believe kids can learn from their own mistakes, become responsible and not drive their parents crazy in the meantime. In this book, the authors dole out an incredible amount of practical advice and wisdom that can help any parent who has teens.

Notes

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and took many great tidbits and concepts away from my reading. First and foremost was the idea of giving children choices rather than trying to force them to do things. I have always held to the philosophy that "I can't make you do something... but I can make you wish you would have." I doubt Cline and Fay would quite agree with that way of putting it but essentially that's what they advocate throughout their book.

Responsible teens feel good about themselves
Responsibility is caught not taught
Teens need to own up to problems and solutions
Parents can gain control through choices
Parents should set limits through thinking words
Empathy + Consequences = Success
Parents need to build a relationship to last a lifetime

Caveats

I wil confess that I was disappointed with this book on some levels. While there is so much good and practical advice in the book, it felt like there was a huge disconnect from reality. Undoubtedly some of this is because I read the 1992 edition of the book which has some rather dated references to pop culture. There is a 2006 edition that is available if you want an updated and expanded version.

The other disconnect for me was that while I know that the authors are authoritative, it was discomforting that nearly the entire book is anecdotal in nature. There are few (if any?) references to studies or research in the book. Perhaps this is to make the book more palatable to a wider audience but it seemed odd.

Finally many of the anecdotes in the book speak to situations that many parents will never face. Anecdotes about kids being arrested and locked in jail or smoking in the house are situations that are undoubtedly faced by a lot of parents but I would venture that the majority of parents don't ever face them. This leaves a dearth of applications for many of the great principles that are found in the book.

Conclusion

I would encourage anyone who has children or teens to read some of the Love & Logic books. Much of it might seem like fluff but the principles and concepts in the book are valid and useful. If nothing else, parenting is hard so we should get every bit of help we can get so reading yet another parenting book can't hurt.

The Man Who Lied to His Laptop - Clifford Nass

Matt — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 04:48:31 GMT

Copyright: 2010

Publisher: Penguin

ISBN: 9781617230011

The Man Who Lied to His Laptop is a fascinating look into the world of human computer interaction. Clifford Nass has done extensive research into the concept of computers as social actors. For several decades he has explored the idea that people interact with computers in much the same way as they interact with other humans. This goes far beyond just the simple anthropomorphization that we witness when a frustrated user says his computer is stupid or when a bank customer yells at an ATM for not giving him money. In his latest book, Nass takes his research one step further and instead of just helping computer designers understand how people interact with computers, he uses computers to help us understand how we interact with each other.

Faulty Navigation

In the introduction Nass relates a problem that BMW had when it released it's new navigation system in it's Five Series cars in Germany. They were forced to do a recall on an arguably superior navigation system because it turned out, German male drivers refused to take directions from the female voice of the navigation unit. Even when technicians explained that the cartographers and engineers who designed the system were likely males, the drivers still refused to acknowledge that the directions were accurate.

The implications of this kind of behavior are intense for anyone designing software interactions. The fact that people will treat our software as a social actor means we must think not just in terms of "easy to use interfaces" but also "easy, intelligent, empathetic, thoughtful...." and the list goes on.

Short Notes

Because I own this particular book I will not write extensive notes on this page, just a few refresher notes.

Praise vs. Criticism

Praise is accepted whether it is accurate or not. Criticism on the other hand is filtered based on its accuracy. Critics will invariably have negative feelings associated with them, regardless of whether where the criticism is directed.

Interestingly, critical or negative software is considered to be more expert even while it has negative feelings attached. Praising or positive software is considered less expert but more user friendly.

When offering criticism it should be action-oriented by offering what can be done to fix the problem.

Hedonic Assymetry

This is a self-serving bias that we all suffer. Neutral is viewed as bad because we all consider ourselves above average.

Fixed vs. Growth mindset

Carol Dweck, a Stanford psychologist, has identified people's fundamental views about success and failure. She calls them mindsets and most people are either of a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.

Folks in a fixed mindset believe that intelligence and ability are innate qualities and cannot be changed. When faced with failure and / or criticism, their reaction is "I am just not good at this."

On the other hand, people with a growth mindset see opportunity in every failure and criticism. They believe that intelligence and ability are growth qualities and that failure is actually a good thing as it identifies an area for effort.

These mindsets are critical to identify, particularly when working with children as they can greatly affect how we should approach their grades in school and their approach to learning.

Team Building

Nass has an entire section explaining why the whole cottage industry of "team building" is largely a failure. He points out that the two basic tenets of team building are identification and interdependence. These are surprisingly easy to do at times but are also surprisingly incompatible with many of the techniques that "team builders" use.

Conclusion

This book is a great read. The chapter break-downs are a little odd and the book reads a little bit like a long list of anecdotal evidence at times. The author seems to be trying to break out of his shell of helping computer designers in order to help psychologists in general. I don't know how effective he will be at this attempt but the book contained plenty of information that was useful to me, a non-psychologist!

The Upside of Irrationality - Dan Ariely

Matt — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 03:04:38 GMT

Copyright: 2010

Publisher: Harper

ISBN: 0061995037

Dan Ariely is one of my new favorite authors. Probably because he delves into the field of behavioral economics which is my new favorite field... but still, I will give Ariely credit for writing absolutely fascinating books. The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home is an attempt to further the thoughts presented in Predictably Irrational. There is some overlap with the previous book but just enough to make this book able to stand on its own without needing to read the prior work. The first half of the book follows the pattern of the earlier book pretty closely: anecdotal evidence introduces a subject, experiements were detailed, results analyzed and conclusions drawn. The latter part of the book is a far more personal look into the world of behavioral economics from the author's view-point. Ariely looks at his own life experience, specifically with regard to his youthful injury by fire, in the light of behavioral economics. He covers everything from why he chose his field to how he chose his wife and how all of these decisions were impacted by his injury and subsequent recovery.

Notes

Higher incentives (quantity of money etc) don't always improve performance. This is something others have noted but Ariely points out that there are three characteristics that impact this effect:

Nature of the task
Personality of the individual
Experience of the individual with that particular task

In addition to the research regarding higher incentives, Ariely notes that "meaning" in work is as important or likely more important than the compensation for the task. Sometimes giving work meaning is as simple as acknowledging the work that someone has done.

IKEA effect: we like things more when we make them. To get this effect you need to strike a balance between too much customization (makes things too complex) and not enough customization (no ownership effect.) Completion of the task is key.

NIH (Not Invented Here) syndrome affected even Thomas Edison. He was adamantly opposed to research and working with AC power because it wasn't his invention. In the end of course, AC won the day with regard to our daily electrical needs. NIH seems to particularly affect inventor types.

Revenge is biologically pleasurable. Ariely brings to light some very interesting research into the psychology of revenge. This is particularly interesting to me because of some research I have been doing with regard to forgiveness. Given that revenge is pleasurable, forgiveness is painful. Interestingly Ariely found that a simple apology can negate the offense.

Hedonic adaptation is the name of the phenomenon whereby humans adapt to both pleasure and pain. This is why as we eat a meal the pleasure of eating tapers off. It is also why people who have suffered tremendous injuries (like Ariely and other war veterans) have a higher threshold of pain.

Interestingly hedonic adaptation can be interrupted. Thus if you take a break from a pleasurable activity when you come back it will have broken the adaptation curve and will be as pleasurable as when you first started. Similarly, taking a break from a painful task means that upon resumption, the task is just as painful as when you started, even though the pain subsided a bit over time.

The identifiable victim effect, explains why we are more likely to help a person if we identify with them. Closeness and vividness are factors that help us to identify with a victim. So if we hear a cry for help or are friends with a person who needs help, we are more likely to help than if the cry for help is in a far off land or the person needing help is a complete stranger to us. The drop-in-the-bucket effect means we are less likely to help a situation if we feel that our efforts will only contribute a tiny bit compared to the need.

Towards the end of the book, Ariely deals with a concept called self-herding. This is where we make decisions based on prior decisions and their outcome. He did some research regarding how emotionally charged decisions can impact not only the short-term but also long-term decision making. This research dove-tailed with the research into the psychology of emotion and decision making as outline by Antonio Damasio in Looking for Spinoza.

Conclusion

Once again, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the field of behavioral economics or decision theory. If the work you do can be helped by understanding why people do what the do, this book will shed some light on human behavior.

Good Work - Gardner, Csikszentmihalyi and Damon

Matt — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 17:05:29 GMT

Copyright: 2001

Publisher: Dutton

ISBN: 0465026079

Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet is the product of three psychologists from different fields. Howard Gardner is a cognitive psychologist best known for his theory of multiple intelligences. Csikszentmihalyi is a social psychologist best known for his concept of "flow", a state in which an individuals skills and challenges mesh and completely absorb the mind. (See his book Flow) William Damon is the author with which I am least familiar but he is a developmental psychologist who focuses on social and moral issues. The book itself is the culimnation of several years of intense research into two major fields: genetics and journalism. The focus of their study was searching for the factors that lead to both highly effective and highly ethical behavior in a given field.

General definitions

Aside from being a fascinating portal into the two fields of genetics and journalism, this books spends a great deal of time delineating various aspects of our working society. Since this book is from academics, it is not terribly practical, however the insight is valuable nonetheless.

The authors note that many people face ethical dilemmas in the course of their work. Guideliness for consideration are:

What is the mission of your profession?
What are the standards (best practices) of your field?
What is your identity, i.e. what are your personal values?

The authors go into great details on the differences between individual practitioners, domains, and fields. For simplicity sake here are simple definitions of each term.

Practitioner: A person who chooses to enter a given profession. (The authors recursively define a profession as "a group of people who decide to work together.)

Domain: A symbolic structure that surrounds a codified body of knowledge.

Field: The set of people and practices that work with a given domain.

Within a profession, individuals can hold one of three "positions":

Gatekeeper: one who presides over the destiny of the professional realm
Expert: one who is recognized and authorized by the gatekeepers to practice
Apprentice: one who is a student of the field, seeking entrance

Notes

"We are not against market based economy, but against market based society."

"At one level information is the ratio of signal to noise... at another it is about 'meaning.'"

"Matthew Effect" from Robert Merton. "For unto every one that hath shall be given" Matthew 25:29. Merton noticed that people who have accomplished things will have an easier path towards accomplishing more things. This means early success in fields such as journalism and genetics are crucial to long term effectiveness in the field.

Geneticists identified four themes of their work:

Thrill of scientific inquiry
Pleasure of working with scientific materials
Enchantment with the quality of thinking
Belief that science foregrounds a certain kind of rational thinking

In a discussion on the conflict between science and religion, Francis Collins came up. He is a fascinating and sometimes controversial geneticist.

Much of the description of early American Journalism can apply to today's "blogosphere". Penny papers were sometimes decorated with lavish artwork, others were poorly typeset. Each paper catered to a consituency, be it ethnic or otherwise. Virtually all news sources of the day were blatantly and shamelessly partisan. Sounds just like the blogging world of today!

Conclusion

This book was an interesting read, however the authors make their liberal views well known however when they praise Salon and Slate as "objective" and put down Drudge as "inaccurate". My main disappointment in this book was the blatant left leaning perspective. I am under no illusion that Matt Drudge is a "journalist" or that Fox News is wholly unbiased. But please don't insult my intelligence by lifting up NBC and Salon as models of journalistic integrity. All in all it was a decent book but it was marred and in my opinion fatally flawed by some of the bias shown in the journalistic section. If the authors couldn't bring themselves to be intellectually honest in the face of their own bias, how can I expect the rest of their work to be accurate?

The Reason for God - Timothy Keller

Matt — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 02:29:47 GMT

Copyright: 2008

Publisher: Dutton

ISBN: 9780525950493

Tim Keller leverages his many years in the ministry in the writing of The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. Redeemer Presbyterian is located in Manhattan and has a young, urban attendance. For many years Keller took time after the Sunday service to answer questions and many of those questions reflected urban youth. "How can there be one TRUE religion?" "How could a good God allow suffering?" "Why is the church responsible for so much injustice?" "How can a loving God send people to hell?" "How can you reconcile the Bible with Science?" These questions and others form the basis for Part 1 of this book: The Leap of Doubt. Part 2: The Reasons for Faith, continues the discussion only in a more positive stance of explaining Christianity. Throughout, Keller's methodical, didactic approach is highly appealing for anyone looking for a logical rather than a passionate explanation of what Christianity is all about.

The Great Rift

As someone who follows both politics and religion, the Introduction of this book caught my attention. I am tired of the strident antagonism between those on the far left and the far right, both in the political and religious spheres. Both sides hurl accusations at each other and rather than answering honest questions, they deflect and instead question the motives of the other side.

Keller points out that this is largely because ideological people tend to not face their doubts. Rather than legitimize their doubts, they get caught in an endless cycle of reinforcement due in part to confirmation bias as well as a fear of facing the fact that they might be wrong.

Both believers and non-believers, Conservatives and Progressives need to legitimize and thoughtfully address the position of those on the other extreme. Until you have taken an honest hard look at the other side's position, you aren't in a position to give valid answers to their questions. It's time in America for dialogue rather than diatribe to begin to rule the day.

Thoughts

I will not here try to recap each argument of Keller's in the book. His writing is so concise and precise that it would necessitate the reproduction of the book in order to capture the essence. I will instead hit a few brief points that I want to be able to return to myself.

"Pharisaic people assume they are right with God because of their moral behavior and right doctrine." "What if, however, the essence of Christianity is salvation by grace?" "The people who are fanatics, then, are so not because they are too committed to the gospel but because they're not committed to it enough."

Jesus' miracles were not a suspension of the natural order but rather a return to the natural order as originally created.

"Only if your God can say things that outrage you and make you struggle (as in a real friendship or marriage!) will you know that you have gotten hold of a real God and not a figment of your imagination." "An authoritative Bible is not the enemy of a personal relationship with God, it is the precondition for it."

Arthur Miller's character Quentin in After the Fall views his life as a series of arguments before a bench to prove that his life is worthy. Imagining an end with no God he proclaims "... all that remained was the endless argument with oneself, this pointless litigation of existence before an empty bench... Which, of cours, is another way of saying -- Despair."

"Jesus is the only Lord who, if you receive him, will fulfill you completely, and, if you fail him, will forgive you eternally."

"Real forgiveness is costly suffering."

Conclusion

I approached Keller's writing initially with some skepticism but I quickly began to enjoy his practical approach to Christianity. This book is a "must read" for any non-believer and for many believers who have doubts they wish to address. Rather than touting a pious "Christianity is the ultimate" approach, Keller brings a modest, non-nonsense application of logic and truth to the discussion.

Guns, Germs, and Steel - Jared Diamond

Matt — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 06:10:38 GMT

Copyright: 1997

Publisher: Norton

ISBN: 0393038912

I wanted to enjoy Jared Diamond's book, Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, and it started off well. He details a conversation he had with a New Guinean who asked a simple question, "Why was it the whites that invaded New Guinea and not the other way around?" This book is Diamond's answer to the question. No, it's not that white people are smarter, faster, stronger and better than everyone else. In a nutshell, it's because of geography, climatology and agronomy.

Unfortunately, I quickly discovered that Diamond likes to repeat himself. After establishing his basic argument he spend the next 300 pages rehashing the same thing over and over again. In academia this is known as being thorough. In the lay-world, this is known as wasting my time. I get it, move on.

Also detracting from my enjoyment of this book was the fact that it was a library copy and a previous patron had written in the margins extensively. Please, please, please I beg of you... if you borrow a book from the library do not ever write in the book. I am sure that whatever this person wrote was insightful and thoughtful to them but the few comments I read made little sense and worse appeared to be attempts to influence the thinking of the next reader. Poor form.

This book was highly recommended on several lists that I came across but as I mentioned I was very disappointed at the verbosity of the author. I have other books to read so now I will move on. Apologies to Mr. Diamond, he is an intelligent man but don't read the book, watch the documentary and save yourself a lot of time.

Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea - Charles Seife

Matt — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 03:24:35 GMT

Copyright: 2000

Publisher: Viking

ISBN: 067088457x

Mathematics is a fascinating field but alas a field in which I am not an expert. Nevertheless I enjoy reading books like Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea. Charles Seife is the interesting author of another book I read, Decoding The Universe. In Zero he manages to pack an amazing amount of history of math, mathematicians and their effect on the world into a relatively short book. He does it with an engaging narrative and brings it down to a level just low enough where a mere lay person can understand the significance of the number Zero in history.

Notes

The first civilization to use the zero was the Babylonians
Much of western civilization spurned the concept of zero for many years while the eastern cultures were busy building entire mathematical systems around the recognition of it's importance as a number.
Golden Ratio: Divide a line such that the ratio of the small part to the large part is the same as the ratio of the large part to the whole.
Dividing each number of the Fibonacci sequence by the preceding number yields a set of numbers that approaches the Golden Ratio.
Leonard of Pisa was better known as Fibonacci
Algebra comes from Al-jabr wa'l muqabala a treatise by Al-Khowrizmi on how to solve equations. (Note that Al-Khowrizmi can be mis-pronounced algorithm by westerners!)

Zeno's Paradox

Zeno postulated that nothing in the world can move. His paradox states that if a tortoise has a head start, even swift Achilles can't catch him. Let's say the tortoise starts off a foot ahead of Achilles and that Achilles runs 1 foot per second. The tortoise only runs 1/2 foot per second.

After one second, Achilles has run 1 foot, however the Tortoise is no longer there, he has travelled half a foot. Achilles can cover that half foot in a half second. But by the time he gets there, the Tortoise has now moved 1/4 foot ahead. Once again, Achilles can cover that distance in 1/4 second but now the Tortoise is 1/8 of a foot ahead. No matter how fast Achilles goes, he can never catch the Tortoise.

Zeno of course didn't understand limits!

Conclusion

If you like reading books about math and science you will love this book. It brings a wide range of topics into the realm of the layman. Seife covers everything from Aristotlian philosophy and it's relation to mathematics all the way through to string theory and how it can help explain the beginning (and end) of the universe.

Ministries of Mercy - Timothy Keller

Matt — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 04:30:52 GMT

Published: 1997

ISBN: 0875522173

Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road is the work of the Presbyterian pastor and church planter, Timothy Keller. The opening chapters of this book are a vivid reminder to those of us living behind our white picket fences and enjoying the middle class life that while times are tough these days, there are plenty of folks far worse off. After planting the seed of the burden in the readers heart, Keller goes on to lay out an intensely practical and biblical approach for dealing with the problem of poverty. Without getting stuck on any ideological perspective, Keller deftly weaves doctrine together with pragmatic solutions.

I listened to an audio version of this book over several weeks allowing the powerful message of this book to seep into my mind and heart. After reading or listening to this book, a person would need a heart of stone to not want to get involved in some way in a Ministry of Mercy.

Since my entire experience with this book was while driving, my notes are somewhat disjointed, having not quite mastered the art of writing while driving. (I plead the 5th on texting and driving!)

Premise

Keller offers a convincing argument that the church is uniquely situationed to deal with poverty. Whereas government, 501c3 and other NGO organizations are all effective to an extent, the church can offer a full solution to poverty because they can deal with the root causes of poverty.

He identifies three primary or root causes of poverty:

Calamity (death, illness etc)
Oppression (abusive relationship etc)
Sin (addictions, legal issues etc)

The church must not blame all poverty on the last of these causes, however they are equipped to deal with it if that is the issue at hand. In addition, the church should equip itself to deal equally effectively with the other two causes. We ought not concede ministry to the poor to secular institutions simply because we feel that we aren't properly trained to deal with emotional or psychological issues. Certainly we should avail ourselves of the aid of those who have been trained specifically in these fields but that gives us no license to shy away from these responsibilities.

Interestingly, Keller points out that Mercy Ministry is not just something to be done for the benefit of the community. The Christian himself benefits because until you see the love that God requires us to give to our neighbor, we cannot accept the love that He offers to us.

Meeting Felt Needs Through Deeds

Keller draws a mental picture of concentric and ever-expanding needs. These needs loosely correlate to Maslow's hierarchy but are pointedly "theologically correct."

At the core is Theological needs. Next out are Psychological (mental and emotional) needs. The next level is Sociological (relationship) needs. The outside ring represents the most readily "felt" need and is Physiological or physical needs.

This progression of needs provides an outline for the progression of thinking as Keller explores our role in helping the poor. After developing concrete goals for several chapters, Keller offers a pragmatic breakdown of seven levels of restoration (as opposed to relief) that should be a roadmap for mercy ministries.

Direct Assistance
Information and Counseling
Advocacy
Individual Transformation (Education, Housing, Jobs)
Community Transformation (Co-ops, community businesses)
Information for Justice (Policy makers)
Intervention for Justice (Political)

The first three levels are what Keller terms "Direct Assistance" and are where most church ministries get involved if at all. The next two (4 and 5) are Transformation assistance and begin to bring about permanent change in the lives of individuals and communities. The last two (6 and 7) are Reformation assistance and are broader in scope but arguably just as important. Who better to inform and influence government policy makers and legislators for good than the church?

Practical Implementation

When diving into the nuts and bolts of implementing mercy ministries, Keller displays a solid understanding of the inner workings of most American churches. He offers sound advice on dealing with many of the traps that await someone hoping to engage in mercy ministries.

For a leader designing a mercy ministry or outreach program, Keller says to ask several questions:

What are the needs?
What services already exist?
What are the gaps?
How can we find the needy who fall into these gaps?

When matching gifts to needs there are two questions that apply to existing ministries and three more that apply to starting up a new one:

What needs resonate?
What skills do you have?
Are there others who share this burden?
Is there really an opening?
Have you counted the cost?

There are countless other nuggets of wisdom that Keller tosses out in this book.

Notes

Desire + Ability + Opportunity = Call
Mercy limits Mercy where necessary
The Law (and the Pharisees) sought to restrict the definition of "who is my neighbor?" Jesus sought to expand the definition!
Word and Deed have a single end
Average age of a homeless person (dated stat) is 34
Grace & Mercy
- Grace is related to man's merits (or lack thereof)
- Mercy is related to man's misery.
To be poor in spirit is to be totally empty of self.
We should help out of gratefulness, not guilt.
Treating symptoms is good; Treating root causes is better.
Mercy provides plausibility for the Gospel not just credibility.

Conclusion

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book. Since I have literally dozens of books on my "to read" list already, I rarely read books more than once however this one might be an exception. The practical nature of the book along with the biblical knowledge strewn throughout makes this a wonderful read and would be a great addition to a library.

Bridges Out of Poverty - Payne, DeVol, Smith

Matt — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 03:29:17 GMT

ISBN: 0964743795

Bridges out of Poverty: Strategies for Professionals and Communities is an insightful and yet practical look into the world of poverty. The premise of the book is that the culture of poverty is so different from the middle class and wealthy cultures that it is difficult for people living in the latter to help people out of the former. Much of the content resonated with me and reminded me of my experience years ago in the Little Village area of Chicago. Having the benefit of hindsight, I can see where the principles and ideas of this book were in play, even though at 17 and 18 years old I lacked the knowledge to recognize them.

What follows is raw material notes that I took while reading. I apologize if they are not helpful for those who have not read the book but perhaps they will encourage you to get your hands on a copy, particularly if you are interested in working with the poor and less fortunate.

Key Points

Poverty is relative
Poverty occurs in all races and in all countries
Economic class is a continuous line
Generational poverty and situational poverty are different
This book is based on patterns. Patterns have exceptions.
An individual brings with him / her the hidden rules of the class in which he or she is raised.
Schools and businesses operate from middle class norms and use the hidden rules of the middle class
For our clients to be successful we must understand their hidden rules and teach them the rules that can make them successful at school, at work and in the community.
We can neither excuse persons from poverty nor scold them for not knowing. As professionals we must teach them and provide support, insistence and expectations.
Upward socioeconomic mobility requires giving up relationships for achievement (at least for some period of time)
We cannot blame the victims of poverty for being in poverty.
We cannot continue to support stereotypes and prejudices about the poor.

Notes

Emotional resources allow you to break patterns. Role models are KEY to developing emotional resources.
Women are central in the poverty culture. Relationships tend to be coping mechanisms.
Some reasons people leave poverty:

Goal of vision
Find a Sponsor
Too painful to stay in poverty
Special talent or ability provides a path out

Jail is not about change but rather penance and forgiveness. This helps explain high rates of recidivism in the culture poverty.
Emotional responses determine behaviors
Leaving poverty is a process, not an event
Only 10% of the population will exhibit resiliency. Before you dive into working with the poor, consider your success rate and whether or not you can handle it.

Conclusion

The notes here are somewhat sparse, mostly because of my past experience and how this helped me internalize the messages in this book. Anyone working with folks in poverty should read this book, regardless of whether you are working with a 501c3, a ministry or just on a personal level.

Priceless - Tom Davis

Matt — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 22:14:31 GMT

Publisher: David C Cook, Colorado Springs

ISBN: 9781589191037

Priceless: A Novel on the Edge of the World is a powerful story about a man whose life is changed when he becomes embroiled in a plan to rescue young orphan girls from forced prostitution in Russia. The author, Tom Davis, brings to light an enormous and growing problem in the world: human trafficking. While the story is a novel, much of the story is accurate in its depiction of this sordid underworld.

I don't read a lot of fiction and when I do, I rarely write up any notes but I was so moved by this book that I couldn't help myself. In my opinion every adult in American and certainly every Christian should read this book. Sitting comfortably behind our white picket fences we all too often fail to see the poverty, evil and pain that permeates much of the world. It is incumbent upon us to make a difference and do something.

Pick this book up and start reading it and like me, you will likely not be able to put it down. You will also not likely make it through without tears, I know I didn't.

Flow - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Matt — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 18:51:05 GMT

Publisher: Harper

ISBN: 0060162538

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience is the attempt by positive psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi to explain and encourage the idea of enjoying life. Much of the field of psychology is concerned with why people don't enjoy life; positive psychologists want to understand why some people do enjoy it, even though in many cases they have similar situations to those who don't. The concept of Flow is used to describe a state of enjoyment which people in all walks of life can reach regardless of their circumstances. Flow can be reached in work, sports, relationship and indeed in life in general. In this book, Csikszentmihalyi explores what Flow means and how it can be reached.

Pleasure vs. Enjoyment

The first thing you can do before figuring out how to have an optimal experience is to understand what you mean by optimal experience. Think about the wide range of responses you would get if you asked a group of kids what was "fun" to them. Adults aren't much better, we have a hard time putting our finger on what we mean by "optimal".

Mihaly points out the distinction between pleasure and enjoyment. Pleasure is when we simply feed a desire. Eating is pleasurable because it satisfies our hunger. Sleep is pleasurable if our body is tire.

Enjoyment however goes a step further. Enjoyment of an activity is a psychological state. It requires that we pay attention; or as Mihaly likes to say, it requires psychic energy. Times of activity or thought where we are pushed to grow through increasing complxity are times that register as truly enjoyable.

As such, we can all gain pleasure from eating. It takes a gourmet to truly enjoy eating however as they take the time and invest the energy to differentiate the tastes, smells and even the sight of the food as it is prepared, served and consumed.

Components of Enjoyable Activities

Mihaly outlines a number of prerequisites for an activity to be an enjoyable one:

Tasks that can be completed
Able to concentrate on the task
Task has clear goals
Task provides immediate feedback on progress towards the goals
Actions remove us from awareness of everyday life
Experience allows a sense of control over actions
Concern for self disappears; Sense of self emerges stronger
Sense of duration of time is altered

An important distinction is made about "sense of control". Mihaly points out that it is not the sense of being in control that is important but rather the sense of exercising control.

In addition, just because a task was enjoyable once, doesn't mean it will be again. In order for one to maintain a sense of enjoyment and reach flow, tasks much become increasingly complex. Flow is a state in which your skills are matched to the challenges. Therefore if your skills increase, the complexity of the task must increase in order to maintain flow.

Cultural Relativism

One of the challenges that I have come across numerous times in my reading is this: what determines whether a person or culture is satisfied with their life? Neo-classical economists tackle this problem by injecting the notion of "utility" into their equations. Utility isn't a measure of money but rather the measure of "something" that the actor wants. It might be money, it might be free time, it might be power, it might be pleasure but utility is a simple measure for all of these.

The problem I have seen is that at the end of the day, neo-classical and conservative economists assume that increasing money means increasing utility. The idea is that no matter what brings you utility, money can bring utility.

Liberals on the other hand like to talk about ethnocentric thinking and cultural relativism. The idea here is this: who are we to say whether someone in another culture is better or worse off than us? A good modern example is those who look at Muslim women and say "we have no right to say they aren't happy with how they are treated, they have a different value system than we do!" To a liberal, money isn't the be all end all because mnoney can't buy everything.

Mihaly tackles this philosophical mess by saying that all of this debate goes out the window if you make the assumption that optimizing human experience should be the considered universal goal. Notice, optimizing human experience crosses cultural boundaries with ease AND it cannot be quantified with money or any other measure of utility.

Since these ideas are new to me and I haven't processed them fully yet, I can't say for certain whether this distinction is helpful for my thinking. I can say however that it is making me rethink much of what I hold with regard to political and economic beliefs!

The Family

Mihaly put an entire section in his book on how best to help your children and your family have an optimal experience. He outlines a family context that he feels can best promote optimal experience:

Clarity: kids know what is expected. Goals and feedback are unamiguous
Centering: parents are interested in whatever the kids are doing in the present
Choice: kids should have choices for their actions and suffer the consequences
Commitment: kids should have the trust in their family to set aside shield of defenses
Challenge: parents should provide increasingly complex opportunities for their kids

In the matter of commitment, I wrote down this quote regarding trust: ‎"Unconditional acceptance, the complete trust family members ought to have for one another, is meaningful only when it is accompanied by an unstinting investment of attention. Otherwise it is just an empty gesture, a hypocritical pretense indistinguishable from disinterest."

Amateur Hour

One of the fascinating sections of the book for me was where Mihaly explores the idea of becoming an amateur in some area, as opposed to becoming an expert. He explains that in Western culture we are programmed to believe that if we aren't going to become an expert in a field, why dabble? Amateur and dilettante have become slights but they shouldn't be.

When you consider that life requires complexity in order to be truly enjoyed, there is nothing wrong with becoming an amateur scientist or artist or author. These activities can provide great enjoyment, far greater than what you will obtain by spending the same amount of time watching television!

As an example, he points out that writing for the sake of writing (not necessarily for the sake of being published) has the benefit of allowing one to order their experience. Writing can take the random pieces of information that float about our life and put them in an ordered fashion that allows one to enjoy a greater band of their life than he might otherwise. For me this is very true as that is the very reason I write these "reviews". I am simply ordering the information that comes in during my reading!

Conclusion

"It is not the hearing that improves life but the listening." The many things I read are pleasurable but this book allowed me to see that I must begin to apply them... to truly listen... in order to improve my life. Mihaly points out so eloquently that an exclusively economic approach to life is truly irrational. Quality and complexity of experience are the true bottom line. I encourage anyone to pick this book up and read it thoughfully.

Honest To God - John A T Robinson

Matt — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 02:03:07 GMT

Copyright: 1963

Publisher: The Westminster Press

Honest to God was a recommendation from a talented and insightful acquaintance. When she heard that I was going through a spiritual rediscovery in my life, she immediately recommended this book. I suspect she may have been referring to the book written by Bill Hybels by the same name but the Robinson book was a fascinating read for me! John A T Robinson was a Bishop in the Anglican church who began to question some of the religious activities of the church. Many of the stately and ornate traditions of the Anglican church seemed far removed from modernity and he wondered out loud if perhaps the church was stuck in traditions that had little or nothing to do with true worship of God. Robinson's questioning of the long standing traditions of his church is where my own journey intersects with his work and at times in reading the book I felt he was writing directly for me (though for the record, the book was written well before I was even born!)

From "Up There" to "Out There"

Robinson starts his exploration of the religious question by looking at the question of "where is God?" In the New Testament numerous references were made to God being "up in the heavens." Of course in that day, the world was still flat and the notion of "up there" and "down there" (for the Devil) were quite convenient.

Christianity hit a bit of a bump in the road though when we found out that the world was actually a sphere. This made it so that God might be "up" for some of us but not for those on the other side of the world. We cleverly got around this by referring to God as being "out there" as opposed to "here on earth." This worked quite well because there was no way to get "out there."

Back in the 60's however we started going one step farther than Babel when we started making rockets that were quite literally capable of reaching the heavens. At the time of Robinson's writing, the Church was facing an existential crisis because we were exploring space... and not finding God "up there."

Robinson's approach seemed (indeed seems!) blasphemous. He posited that perhaps God wasn't any particular place in the Physical Realm. Perhaps the idea that God exists as a separate Being simply isn't true. Perhaps God needed to be experienced as a "depth of being" rather than as a "separate Being."

He puts it this way: "The question of God is the question whether this depth is a reality or an illusion, not whether a Being exists beyond the bright blue sky or anywhere else. Belief in God is a matter of 'what you take seriously without any reservation', of what for your is ultimate reality."

Robinson at times flirts with Pantheism but he always brings his conception of God back to relationships.

"God, the unconditional, is to be found only in, with and under the conditioned relationships of this life: for he is their depth and ultimate significance."

He then points out:

"Our contention has been that God is to be met not by a 'religious' turning away from the world but in unconditional concern for 'the other' seen through to its ultimate depths, that God is... 'The personal ground of all that we experience.'"

Grace

Robinson quotes Paul Tillich at length and I wanted to be able to find this quote again so bear with the lengthy quote:

"It happens; or it does not happen. And certainly it does not happen if we try to force it upon ourselves, just as it shall not happen so long as we think, in our self-complacency, that we have no need of it. Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness. It strikes us when we walk through the dark valley of a meaningless and empty life. It strikes us when we feel that our separation is deeper than usual, because we have violated another life, a life which we loved, or from which we were estranged. It strikes us when our disgust for our own being, our indifference, our weakness, our hostility, and our lack of direction and composure have become intolerable to us. It strikes us when, year after year, the longed-for perfection of life does not appear, when the old compulsions reign within us as they have for decades, when despair destroys all joy and courage. Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying: "You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted!" If that happens to us, we experience grace After such an experience we may not be better than before, and we may not believe more than before. But everything is transformed. In that moment, grace conquers sin, and reconciliation bridges the gulf of estrangement. And nothing is demanded of this experience, no religious or moral or intellectual presupposition, nothing but acceptance.

In the light of this grace we perceive the power of grace in our relation to others and to ourselves. We experience the grace of being able to look frankly into the eyes of another, the miraculous grace of reunion of life with life. We experience the grace of understanding each other's words. We understand not merely the literal meaning of the words, but also that which lies behind them, even when they are harsh or angry. For even then there is a longing to break through the walls of separation. We experience the grace of being able to accept the life of another, even if it be hostile and harmful to us, for, through grace, we know that it belongs to the same Ground to which we belong, and by which we have been accepted. We experience the grace which is able to overcome the tragic separation of the sexes, of the generations, of the nations, of the races, and even the utter strangeness between man and nature. Sometimes grace appears in all these separations to reunite us with those to whom we belong. For life belong to life.

And in the light of this grace we perceive the power of grace in our relation to ourselves. We experience moments in which we accept ourselves, because we feel that we have been accepted by that which is greater than we. If only more such moments were given to us! For it is such moments that make us love our life, that make us accept ourselves, not in our goodness and self- complacency, but in our certainty of the eternal meaning of our life. We cannot force ourselves to accept ourselves. We cannot compel anyone to accept himself. But sometimes it happens that we receive the power to say "yes" to ourselves, that peace enters into us and makes us whole, that self-hate and self-contempt disappear, and that our self is reunited with itself. Then w can say that grace has come upon us."

Christianity without Religion

Robinson does not equivocate regarding his view of modern religion. It is out of touch with reality and is designed to make us feel better about worshiping God rather than make God feel anything regarding our worship. He points out that worship has become a realm into which we withdraw from the world in order to "be with God." Why though when God is right here with us?

The real function of worship should be to focus, sharpen and deepen our response to the world in which we live. When Jesus walked the earth He was actutely aware of the needs, physical, emotional and spiritual, of all around Him. Why then should we strive to separate ourselves from the world in such a way as to be wholly disconnected?

The real test of worship then is how far it makes us more sensitive to Christ, not "up there" or "out there" but rather in the naked, the homeless and the prisoner.

Legalism

In my own journey I have left behind a movement steeped in a desire to prove themselves to God through holy living. These are good people who love God but in my estimation they are unaware of just how deep our sin nature lives within us. The idea that I can, of my own volition, do anything that is pleasing to God is to forget His assessment of my righteousness as filthy rags.

That said, I have wondered lately how I can best be a help to those from my past. Robinson seemed to be speaking directly to me when he said regarding his own Anglican church, "one must have a realistic assessment of one's revolutionary capacity." I have come to the conclusion that my past is my past and while many good people are in my past, they are wholly uninterested in my ideas or opinions. Rather than try to revolutionize them, my time is better spent engaging in the work of Christ in my own community.

Recently I have had some interesting discussions regarding the Sermon on the Mount and the role that Christ played in fulfilling the Old Testament Law. Robinson addresses the Sermon on the Mount by saying that it "is not 'do this for all time' but rather 'at any moment, if you are unconditionally open to God, this will be demanded of you.'"

At times I find myself disagreeing with Robinson's theology but his view of sin, or more specifically what many Christians regard as "sin actions" is interesting. He argues that actions are not intrinsically right or wrong but rather a lack of love in any action is what makes it wrong. This is a very relativistic view of morality and while I am not sure to what level I agree, I suspect he is closer than those who extract rightness or wrongness from even the punctuation of the Bible.

Conclusion

This book was a fascinating read for me. For anyone looking for a theology with which they agree, I doubt you will enjoy this book. On the other hand if you are looking for a book with which you may not agree but will definitely make you think, pick up a copy of this book and dive in!

Envisioning Information - Edward Tufte

Matt — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 21:51:04 GMT

Publisher: Graphics Press

ISBN: 0961392118

Envisioning Information is very similar to another of Tuft's books I read, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Envisioning Information doesn't focus as much on the display of data per se but rather broadens the scope to include all types of information. As you would expect with a book on such a topic, this one is a visually pleasing experience. The included graphs, maps and pictures along with the anecdotal evidence for Tufte's conclusions made this an enjoyable read.

Flatland and Floods

Tufte uses the term flatland to describe the 2 dimensional world onto which we transcribe data that lives in our 3 dimension plus time world. The amount of data we try to transcribe often determines the method we use and is in turn often determined by how long we have been collecting a particular type of data.

For instance when Galileo first began charting sunspots, he had only a few samples from his new telescopic arrangement. He used a spot diagram to first show what he was seeing. Then he became interested in the changes over time so he used a small multiple chart... the same diagram repeated on the same page with only the differences showing.

Over time however scientists built up hundreds of thousands of observations and in 1904 a man by the name of E. W. Maunder drew a chart of sunspots that became known as the butterfly chart. His chart covered hundreds of observations over several decades and showed the cyclical nature of sunspots on the sun's surface.

Now we have charts that show this effect over a hundred years times and on this chart, Tufte superimposes some macro level data regarding not just the number of spots recorded but their relation to the equator of the sun and what percentage of the sun's surface was covered by spots.

When data goes from a trickle to a flood, there is a series of strategies used to aggregate and display the data. Tufte delineates this progression as such:

Spot diagrams
Small multiple diagrams
Dimensionality and data compressions
Micro / macro displays combining patterns & details, averages & variations.

The last bit was emphasized considerably by Tufte. There are two fundamental summary measures in statistical data: averages and the variation about the average. Charts need to show these two things in order to be effective.

Notes & Quotes

"If the numbers are boring then you've got the wrong numbers."

"To clarify, add detail."

"Clutter and confusion are failures of design, not attributes of information."

"Information consists of differences that make a difference."

Re: Grids. Try to do away with the lines of a grid if at all possible. Allow the data to draw the lines.

Re: Use of color. There are 4 major uses of color:

Label
Measure
Represent (imitate)
Decorate

Conclusion

I love reading books like this. Short and yet packed full of useful information. If you are involved in design in any way, whether it is full fledged graphic design or just making a newsletter for your local organization, you should read this book and frankly anything you can get your hands on that Tufte wrote.