Rudisp's bookshelf: all en-US Mon, 23 Sep 2024 13:45:28 -0700 60 Rudisp's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[The Skeptics' Guide to the Future: What Yesterday's Science and Science Fiction Tell Us About the World of Tomorrow]]> 60021453
Our predictions of the future are a wild fantasy, inextricably linked to our present hopes and fears, biases and ignorance. Whether they be the outlandish leaps predicted in the 1920s, like multi-purpose utility belts with climate control capabilities and planes the size of luxury cruise ships, or the forecasts of the �60s, which didn’t anticipate the sexual revolution or women’s liberation, the path to the present is littered with failed predictions and incorrect estimations. The best we can do is try to absorb the lessons from futurism's checkered past, perhaps learning to do a little better.

In THE SKEPTICS' GUIDE TO THE FUTURE, Steven Novella and his co-authors build upon the work of futurists of the past by examining what they got right, what they got wrong, and how they came to those conclusions. By exploring the pitfalls of each era, they give their own speculations about the distant future, transformed by unbelievable technology ranging from genetic manipulation to artificial intelligence and quantum computing. Applying their trademark skepticism, they carefully extrapolate upon each scientific development, leaving no stone unturned as they lay out a vision for the future.

Ěý±Ő±Ő> 432 Steven Novella 1538709546 Rudisp 3 4.01 2022 The Skeptics' Guide to the Future: What Yesterday's Science and Science Fiction Tell Us About the World of Tomorrow
author: Steven Novella
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Press Reset: Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry]]> 55277893 From the bestselling author of Blood, Sweat, and Pixels comes the next definitive, behind-the-scenes account of the video game industry: how some of the past decade's most renowned studios fell apart -- and the stories, both triumphant and tragic, of what happened next.

 Jason Schreier's groundbreaking reporting has earned him a place among the preeminent investigative journalists covering the world of video games. In his eagerly anticipated, deeply researched new book, Schreier trains his investigative eye on the volatility of the video game industry and the resilience of the people who work in it.

The business of videogames is both a prestige industry and an opaque one. Based on dozens of first-hand interviews that cover the development of landmark games -- Bioshock Infinite, Epic Mickey, Dead Space, and more -- on to the shocking closures of the studios that made them, PRESS RESET tells the stories of how real people are affected by game studio shutdowns, and how they recover, move on, or escape the industry entirely.

Schreier's insider interviews cover hostile takeovers, abusive bosses, corporate drama, bounced checks, and that one time the Boston Red Sox's Curt Schilling decided he was going to lead a game studio that would take out World of Warcraft. Along the way, he asks pressing questions about why, when the video game industry is more successful than ever, it's become so hard to make a stable living making video games -- and whether the business of making games can change before it's too late.]]> 301 Jason Schreier 1538735490 Rudisp 5 4.02 2021 Press Reset: Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry
author: Jason Schreier
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains]]> 62050269 Sapiens, Behave, and Superintelligence, but wholly original in scope, A Brief History of Intelligence offers a paradigm shift for how we understand neuroscience and AI. Artificial intelligence entrepreneur Max Bennett chronicles the five “breakthroughsâ€� in the evolution of human intelligence and reveals what brains of the past can tell us about the AI of tomorrow. In the last decade, capabilities of artificial intelligence that had long been the realm of science fiction have, for the first time, become our reality. AI is now able to produce original art, identify tumors in pictures, and even steer our cars. And yet, large gaps remain in what modern AI systems can achieve—indeed, human brains still easily perform intellectual feats that we can’t replicate in AI systems. How is it possible that AI can beat a grandmaster at chess but can’t effectively load a dishwasher? As AI entrepreneur Max Bennett compellingly argues, finding the answer requires diving into the billion-year history of how the human brain evolved; a history filled with countless half-starts, calamities, and clever innovations. Not only do our brains have a story to tell—the future of AI may depend on it. Now, inĚýA Brief History of Intelligence, Bennett bridges the gap between neuroscience and AI to tell the brain’s evolutionary story, revealing how understanding that story can help shape the next generation of AI breakthroughs. Deploying a fresh perspective and working with the support of many top minds in neuroscience, Bennett consolidates this immense history into an approachable new framework, identifying the “Five Breakthroughsâ€� that mark the brain’s most important evolutionary leaps forward. Each breakthrough brings new insight into the biggest mysteries of human intelligence. Containing fascinating corollaries to developments in AI, A Brief History of Intelligence shows where current AI systems have matched or surpassed our brains, as well as where AI systems still fall short. Simply put, until AI systems successfully replicate each part of our brain’s long journey, AI systems will fail to exhibit human-like intelligence. Endorsed and lauded by many of the top neuroscientists in the field today, Bennett’s work synthesizes the most relevant scientific knowledge and cutting-edge research into an easy-to-understand and riveting evolutionary story. With sweeping scope and stunning insights,ĚýA Brief History of IntelligenceĚý proves that understanding the arc of our brain’s history can unlock the tools for successfully navigating our technological future.Ěý±Ő±Ő> 432 Max Solomon Bennett Rudisp 3 4.44 A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains
author: Max Solomon Bennett
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.44
book published:
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow]]> 58784475 In this exhilarating novel, two friends—often in love, but never lovers—come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.

On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn't heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won't protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.]]> 401 Gabrielle Zevin 0735243344 Rudisp 4 4.12 2022 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves:
review:

]]> The Book Thief 19063 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.

By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

(Note: this title was not published as YA fiction)]]> 592 Markus Zusak Rudisp 4 4.38 2005 The Book Thief
author: Markus Zusak
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves:
review:

]]> UNIX: A History and a Memoir 53011383 183 Brian W. Kernighan 1695978552 Rudisp 5 4.38 2019 UNIX: A History and a Memoir
author: Brian W. Kernighan
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Doom Guy: Life in First Person]]> 60310722
John Romero, gaming’s original rock star, is the cocreator of DOOM , Quake , and Wolfenstein 3-D , some of the biggest video games of all time. Considered the godfather of the first-person shooter, a genre that continues to dominate the market today, he holds a unique place in gaming history. In DOOM Life in First Person , Romero chronicles, for the first time, his difficult childhood and storied career, beginning with his early days submitting Apple II game code to computer magazines and sneaking computers out the back door of his day job to write code at night.

Industry-redefining breakthroughs in design and tech during Romero’s time at id Software made DOOM and Quake cultural phenomena, and this thrilling story recounts every step of the process, from collaborative, heavy metal–fueled days spent crafting the industry’s most revolutionary and cutting-edge games to a high-profile falling-out with id cofounder John Carmack. After years in the gaming spotlight, Romero is now telling his story—the whole story—shedding new light on the development of his games and his business partnerships, from the highest highs to the lowest lows, sharing insights about design, code, the industry, and his career right up to today. Sharing gratitude for a lifetime in games, Romero reveals the twists and turns that led him, ultimately, to be called DOOM Guy.]]> 384 John Romero 141975811X Rudisp 5 4.25 2023 Doom Guy: Life in First Person
author: John Romero
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Brolliology: A History of the Umbrella in Life and Literature]]> 34355468 An illustrated history of the umbrella's place in life and literature
Humans have been making, using, perfecting, and decorating umbrellas for millennia--holding them over the heads of rulers, signaling class distinctions, and exploring their full imaginative potential in folk tales and novels.

As Rankine points out, Derrida sought to find the meaning (or lack thereof) behind an umbrella mentioned in Nietzsche's notes, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote essays on the handy object, and Dickens used umbrellas as a narrative device for just about everything. She tackles the gender, class, and social connotations of carrying an umbrella and helps us realize our deep connection to this most forgettable everyday object--which we only think of when we don't have one.]]> 193 Marion Rankine 1612196705 Rudisp 4 3.39 2017 Brolliology: A History of the Umbrella in Life and Literature
author: Marion Rankine
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves:
review:

]]> The Midnight Library 52578297
When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.

The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren't always what she imagined they'd be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger.

Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?]]> 288 Matt Haig 0525559477 Rudisp 4 3.96 2020 The Midnight Library
author: Matt Haig
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/12/18
shelves:
review:

]]> Killing Commendatore 38820047
In Killing Commendatore, a thirty-something portrait painter in Tokyo is abandoned by his wife and finds himself holed up in the mountain home of a famous artist, Tomohiko Amada. When he discovers a previously unseen painting in the attic, he unintentionally opens a circle of mysterious circumstances. To close it, he must complete a journey that involves a mysterious ringing bell, a two-foot-high physical manifestation of an Idea, a dapper businessman who lives across the valley, a precocious thirteen-year-old girl, a Nazi assassination attempt during World War II in Vienna, a pit in the woods behind the artist’s home, and an underworld haunted by Double Metaphors. A tour de force of love and loneliness, war and art—as well as a loving homage to The Great Gatsby�Killing Commendatore is a stunning work of imagination from one of our greatest writers.]]> 681 Haruki Murakami 052552004X Rudisp 4 3.88 2017 Killing Commendatore
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/12/18
shelves:
review:

]]> Kitchen 50144 Kitchen, the dazzling English-language debut that is still her best-loved book, is an enchantingly original and deeply affecting book about mothers, love, tragedy, and the power of the kitchen and home in the lives of a pair of free-spirited young women in contemporary Japan. Mikage, the heroine of Kitchen, is an orphan raised by her grandmother, who has passed away. Grieving, she is taken in by her friend Yoichi and his mother (who was once his father), Eriko. As the three of them form an improvised family that soon weathers its own tragic losses, Yoshimoto spins a lovely, evocative tale that recalls early Marguerite Duras. Kitchen and its companion story, "Moonlight Shadow," are elegant tales whose seeming simplicity is the ruse of a writer whose voice echoes in the mind and the soul.]]> 160 Banana Yoshimoto 0802142443 Rudisp 2 3.91 1988 Kitchen
author: Banana Yoshimoto
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1988
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2021/09/12
shelves:
review:

]]> No Longer Human 194746 No Longer Human, this leading postwar Japanese writer's second novel, tells the poignant and fascinating story of a young man who is caught between the breakup of the traditions of a northern Japanese aristocratic family and the impact of Western ideas. In consequence, he feels himself "disqualified from being human" (a literal translation of the Japanese title).

Donald Keene, who translated this and Dazai's first novel, The Setting Sun, has said of the author's work: "His world � suggests Chekhov or possibly postwar France, � but there is a Japanese sensibility in the choice and presentation of the material. A Dazai novel is at once immediately intelligible in Western terms and quite unlike any Western book." His writing is in some ways reminiscent of Rimbaud, while he himself has often been called a forerunner of Yukio Mishima.

Cover painting by Noe Nojechowiz, from the collection of John and Barbara Duncan; design by Gertrude Huston]]> 176 Osamu Dazai Rudisp 3 3.99 1948 No Longer Human
author: Osamu Dazai
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1948
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2021/09/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business]]> 12609433
Marketers at Procter & Gamble study videos of people making their beds. They are desperately trying to figure out how to sell a new product called Febreze, on track to be one of the biggest flops in company history. Suddenly, one of them detects a nearly imperceptible pattern—and with a slight shift in advertising, Febreze goes on to earn a billion dollars a year.

An untested CEO takes over one of the largest companies in America. His first order of business is attacking a single pattern among his employees—how they approach worker safety—and soon the firm, Alcoa, becomes the top performer in the Dow Jones.

What do all these people have in common? They achieved success by focusing on the patterns that shape every aspect of our lives.

They succeeded by transforming habits.

In The Power of Habit, award-winning New York Times business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. With penetrating intelligence and an ability to distill vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives, Duhigg brings to life a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential for transformation.

Along the way we learn why some people and companies struggle to change, despite years of trying, while others seem to remake themselves overnight. We visit laboratories where neuroscientists explore how habits work and where, exactly, they reside in our brains. We discover how the right habits were crucial to the success of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and civil-rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr. We go inside Procter & Gamble, Target superstores, Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church, NFL locker rooms, and the nation’s largest hospitals and see how implementing so-called keystone habits can earn billions and mean the difference between failure and success, life and death.

At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, raising exceptional children, becoming more productive, building revolutionary companies and social movements, and achieving success is understanding how habits work.

Habits aren’t destiny. As Charles Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.]]> 375 Charles Duhigg 1400069289 Rudisp 4 4.13 2012 The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
author: Charles Duhigg
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/09/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Truth: A Brief History of Total Bullsh*t]]> 52398026 'TOM PHILLIPS IS A VERY CLEVER, VERY FUNNY MAN' Greg Jenner

This is a book about TRUTH - and all the ingenious ways, throughout history, that we've managed to avoid it.

We live in a 'post-truth' age, we're told. The US has a president who openly lies on a daily basis (or who doesn't even know what's true, and doesn't care). The internet has turned our everyday lives into a misinformation battleground. People don't trust experts any more.

But was there ever really a golden age of truth-telling? As the editor of the UK's leading independent fact-checker, Tom Phillips deals with complete bollocks every day. Here, he tells the hilarious story of how we humans have spent history lying to each other - and ourselves - and asks an important question: how can humanity move towards a truthier future?

PRAISE FOR HUMANS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF HOW WE F*CKED IT ALL UP:

'This book is brilliant. Utterly, utterly brilliant' Jeremy Clarkson, author of The World According to Clarkson

'F*cking brilliant' Sarah Knight, author of The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck

'Very funny' Mark Watson, author of Eleven

'In dark times, it's reassuring to learn that we've always been a bunch of clueless f*cking nitwits' Stuart Heritage, author of Don't Be a Dick, Pete

'A light-touch history of moments when humans have got it spectacularly wrong... Both readable and entertaining' Telegraph

]]> 304 Tom Phillips 1472263189 Rudisp 4 3.73 2019 Truth: A Brief History of Total Bullsh*t
author: Tom Phillips
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/09/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction]]> 23995360 Ěý
In Superforecasting, Tetlock and coauthor Dan Gardner offer a masterwork on prediction, drawing on decades of research and the results of a massive, government-funded forecasting tournament. The Good Judgment Project involves tens of thousands of ordinary people—including a Brooklyn filmmaker, a retired pipe installer, and a former ballroom dancer—who set out to forecast global events. Some of the volunteers have turned out to be astonishingly good. They’ve beaten other benchmarks, competitors, and prediction markets. They’ve even beaten the collective judgment of intelligence analysts with access to classified information. They are "superforecasters."
Ěý
In this groundbreaking and accessible book, Tetlock and Gardner show us how we can learn from this elite group. Weaving together stories of forecasting successes (the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound) and failures (the Bay of Pigs) and interviews with a range of high-level decision makers, from David Petraeus to Robert Rubin, they show that good forecasting doesn’t require powerful computers or arcane methods. It involves gathering evidence from a variety of sources, thinking probabilistically, working in teams, keeping score, and being willing to admit error and change course. Superforecasting offers the first demonstrably effective way to improve our ability to predict the future—whether in business, finance, politics, international affairs, or daily life—and is destined to become a modern classic.]]> 352 Philip E. Tetlock 0804136696 Rudisp 2 4.06 2015 Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction
author: Philip E. Tetlock
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2021/09/12
shelves:
review:

]]> When Breath Becomes Air 25899336
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a naĂŻve medical student "possessed," as he wrote, "by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life" into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.

What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.

Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. "I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything," he wrote. "Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: 'I can't go on. I'll go on.'" When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.]]> 208 Paul Kalanithi 0812988418 Rudisp 3 4.41 2016 When Breath Becomes Air
author: Paul Kalanithi
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2021/09/12
shelves:
review:

]]> Leonardo da Vinci 34684622 600 Walter Isaacson 1501139150 Rudisp 4 4.19 2017 Leonardo da Vinci
author: Walter Isaacson
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/09/12
shelves:
review:

]]> Steve Jobs 11084145 630 Walter Isaacson 1451648537 Rudisp 5 4.15 2011 Steve Jobs
author: Walter Isaacson
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/09/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage]]> 41022133 AĚýNew York TimesĚý#1 Bestseller
A New York Times and Washington Post notable book, and one of theĚýFinancial Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch,ĚýSlate,ĚýMother Jones, The Daily Beast, and BookPage's best books of the year

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of PilgrimageĚýis the long-awaited new novel—a book that sold more than a million copies the first week it went on sale in Japan—from the award-winning, internationally best-selling author Haruki Murakami.

Here he gives us the remarkable story of Tsukuru Tazaki, a young man haunted by a great loss; of dreams and nightmares that have unintended consequences for the world around us; and of a journey into the past that is necessary to mend the present. It is a story of love, friendship, and heartbreak for the ages.]]> 308 Haruki Murakami 0385352115 Rudisp 4 3.93 2013 Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/09/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life]]> 28257707 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780062457738

In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be "positive" all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people.

For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "F**k positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let’s be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it." In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected American society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up.

Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited�"not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault." Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek.

There are only so many things we can give a f**k about so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear. While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A much-needed grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is a refreshing slap for a generation to help them lead contented, grounded lives.]]> 212 Mark Manson Rudisp 2 3.87 2016 The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
author: Mark Manson
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2021/06/24
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable]]> 242472
A black swan is a highly improbable event with three principal characteristics: It is unpredictable; it carries a massive impact; and, after the fact, we concoct an explanation that makes it appear less random, and more predictable, than it was. The astonishing success of Google was a black swan; so was 9/11. For Nassim Nicholas Taleb, black swans underlie almost everything about our world, from the rise of religions to events in our own personal lives.

Why do we not acknowledge the phenomenon of black swans until after they occur? Part of the answer, according to Taleb, is that humans are hardwired to learn specifics when they should be focused on generalities. We concentrate on things we already know and time and time again fail to take into consideration what we don’t know. We are, therefore, unable to truly estimate opportunities, too vulnerable to the impulse to simplify, narrate, and categorize, and not open enough to rewarding those who can imagine the “impossible.�

For years, Taleb has studied how we fool ourselves into thinking we know more than we actually do. We restrict our thinking to the irrelevant and inconsequential, while large events continue to surprise us and shape our world. In this revelatory book, Taleb will change the way you look at the world, and this second edition features a new philosophical and empirical essay, “On Robustness and Fragility,� which offers tools to navigate and exploit a Black Swan world.

Taleb is a vastly entertaining writer, with wit, irreverence, and unusual stories to tell. He has a polymathic command of subjects ranging from cognitive science to business to probability theory. Elegant, startling, and universal in its applications, The Black Swan is a landmark book—itself a black swan.]]> 480 Nassim Nicholas Taleb 1400063515 Rudisp 3 3.96 2007 The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
author: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2021/06/24
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope]]> 43808723 From the author of the international mega-bestseller The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck comes a counterintuitive guide to the problems of hope.

We live in an interesting time. Materially, everything is the best it’s ever been—we are freer, healthier and wealthier than any people in human history. Yet, somehow everything seems to be irreparably and horribly f*cked—the planet is warming, governments are failing, economies are collapsing, and everyone is perpetually offended on Twitter. At this moment in history, when we have access to technology, education and communication our ancestors couldn’t even dream of, so many of us come back to an overriding feeling of hopelessness.

What’s going on? If anyone can put a name to our current malaise and help fix it, it’s Mark Manson. In 2016, Manson published The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck, a book that brilliantly gave shape to the ever-present, low-level hum of anxiety that permeates modern living. He showed us that technology had made it too easy to care about the wrong things, that our culture had convinced us that the world owed us something when it didn’t—and worst of all, that our modern and maddening urge to always find happiness only served to make us unhappier. Instead, the “subtle art� of that title turned out to be a bold challenge: to choose your struggle; to narrow and focus and find the pain you want to sustain. The result was a book that became an international phenomenon, selling millions of copies worldwide while becoming the #1 bestseller in 13 different countries.

Now, in Everthing Is F*cked, Manson turns his gaze from the inevitable flaws within each individual self to the endless calamities taking place in the world around us. Drawing from the pool of psychological research on these topics, as well as the timeless wisdom of philosophers such as Plato, Nietzsche, and Tom Waits, he dissects religion and politics and the uncomfortable ways they have come to resemble one another. He looks at our relationships with money, entertainment and the internet, and how too much of a good thing can psychologically eat us alive. He openly defies our definitions of faith, happiness, freedom—and even of hope itself.

With his usual mix of erudition and where-the-f*ck-did-that-come-from humor, Manson takes us by the collar and challenges us to be more honest with ourselves and connected with the world in ways we probably haven’t considered before. It’s another counterintuitive romp through the pain in our hearts and the stress of our soul. One of the great modern writers has produced another book that will set the agenda for years to come.]]> 288 Mark Manson 0062955934 Rudisp 2 3.67 2019 Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope
author: Mark Manson
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2021/06/24
shelves:
review:

]]> Kafka on the Shore 4929 Kafka on the Shore, a tour de force of metaphysical reality, is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom. Their odyssey, as mysterious to them as it is to us, is enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerizing events. Cats and people carry on conversations, a ghostlike pimp employs a Hegel-quoting prostitute, a forest harbors soldiers apparently unaged since World War II, and rainstorms of fish (and worse) fall from the sky. There is a brutal murder, with the identity of both victim and perpetrator a riddle—yet this, along with everything else, is eventually answered, just as the entwined destinies of Kafka and Nakata are gradually revealed, with one escaping his fate entirely and the other given a fresh start on his own.]]> 467 Haruki Murakami 1400079276 Rudisp 4 4.14 2002 Kafka on the Shore
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/06/24
shelves:
review:

]]> Norwegian Wood 11297
A magnificent blending of the music, the mood, and the ethos that was the sixties with the story of one college student's romantic coming of age, Norwegian Wood brilliantly recaptures a young man's first, hopeless, and heroic love.]]> 296 Haruki Murakami 0375704027 Rudisp 5 4.01 1987 Norwegian Wood
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1987
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/06/24
shelves:
review:

]]> Permanent Record 46223297
In 2013, twenty-nine-year-old Edward Snowden shocked the world when he broke with the American intelligence establishment and revealed that the United States government was secretly pursuing the means to collect every single phone call, text message, and email. The result would be an unprecedented system of mass surveillance with the ability to pry into the private lives of every person on earth. Six years later, Snowden reveals for the very first time how he helped to build this system and why he was moved to expose it.

Spanning the bucolic Beltway suburbs of his childhood and the clandestine CIA and NSA postings of his adulthood, Permanent Record is the extraordinary account of a bright young man who grew up online—a man who became a spy, a whistleblower, and, in exile, the Internet’s conscience. Written with wit, grace, passion, and an unflinching candor, Permanent Record is a crucial memoir of our digital age and destined to be a classic.]]> 339 Edward Snowden 1250237238 Rudisp 4 4.29 2019 Permanent Record
author: Edward Snowden
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/06/24
shelves:
review:

]]> The Industries of the Future 25111341
As Hillary Clinton's Senior Advisor for Innovation, Alec Ross travelled nearly a million miles to forty-one countries, the equivalent of two round-trips to the moon. From refugee camps in the Congo and Syrian war zones, to visiting the world's most powerful people in business and government, Ross's travels amounted to a four-year masterclass in the changing nature of innovation.

In The Industries of the Future, Ross distils his observations on the forces that are changing the world. He highlights the best opportunities for progress and explains how countries thrive or sputter. Ross examines the specific fields that will most shape our economic future over the next ten years, including robotics, artificial intelligence, the commercialization of genomics, cybercrime and the impact of digital technology.

Blending storytelling and economic analysis, he answers questions on how we will need to adapt. Ross gives readers a vivid and informed perspective on how sweeping global trends are affecting the ways we live, now and tomorrow.]]> 320 Alec J. Ross 1476753652 Rudisp 3 3.95 2016 The Industries of the Future
author: Alec J. Ross
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2021/03/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions]]> 1713426
Why does recalling the Ten Commandments reduce our tendency to lie, even when we couldn't possibly be caught?

Why do we splurge on a lavish meal but cut coupons to save twenty-five cents on a can of soup?

Why do we go back for second helpings at the unlimited buffet, even when our stomachs are already full?

And how did we ever start spending $4.15 on a cup of coffee when, just a few years ago, we used to pay less than a dollar?

When it comes to making decisions in our lives, we think we're in control. We think we're making smart, rational choices. But are we?

In a series of illuminating, often surprising experiments, MIT behavioral economist Dan Ariely refutes the common assumption that we behave in fundamentally rational ways. Blending everyday experience with groundbreaking research, Ariely explains how expectations, emotions, social norms, and other invisible, seemingly illogical forces skew our reasoning abilities.

Not only do we make astonishingly simple mistakes every day, but we make the same "types" of mistakes, Ariely discovers. We consistently overpay, underestimate, and procrastinate. We fail to understand the profound effects of our emotions on what we want, and we overvalue what we already own. Yet these misguided behaviors are neither random nor senseless. They're systematic and predictable--making us "predictably" irrational.

From drinking coffee to losing weight, from buying a car to choosing a romantic partner, Ariely explains how to break through these systematic patterns of thought to make better decisions. "Predictably Irrational" will change the way we interact with the world--one small decision at a time.]]> 247 Dan Ariely Rudisp 4 4.12 2008 Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
author: Dan Ariely
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/03/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World]]> 41795733
Plenty of experts argue that anyone who wants to develop a skill, play an instrument, or lead their field should start early, focus intensely, and rack up as many hours of deliberate practice as possible. If you dabble or delay, you'll never catch up to the people who got a head start. But a closer look at research on the world's top performers, from professional athletes to Nobel laureates, shows that early specialization is the exception, not the rule.

David Epstein examined the world's most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters and scientists. He discovered that in most fields--especially those that are complex and unpredictable--generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. Generalists often find their path late, and they juggle many interests rather than focusing on one. They're also more creative, more agile, and able to make connections their more specialized peers can't see.

Provocative, rigorous, and engrossing, Range makes a compelling case for actively cultivating inefficiency. Failing a test is the best way to learn. Frequent quitters end up with the most fulfilling careers. The most impactful inventors cross domains rather than deepening their knowledge in a single area. As experts silo themselves further while computers master more of the skills once reserved for highly focused humans, people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive.]]> 339 David Epstein 0735214484 Rudisp 3 4.12 2019 Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
author: David Epstein
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2021/03/06
shelves:
review:

]]> The Intelligent Investor 106835 Now available for the first time in paperback!

The Classic Text Annotated to Update Graham's Timeless Wisdom for Today's Market Conditions

The greatest investment advisor of the twentieth century, Benjamin Graham taught and inspired people worldwide. Graham's philosophy of "value investing" -- which shields investors from substantial error and teaches them to develop long-term strategies -- has made The Intelligent Investor the stock market bible ever since its original publication in 1949.

Over the years, market developments have proven the wisdom of Graham's strategies. While preserving the integrity of Graham's original text, this revised edition includes updated commentary by noted financial journalist Jason Zweig, whose perspective incorporates the realities of today's market, draws parallels between Graham's examples and today's financial headlines, and gives readers a more thorough understanding of how to apply Graham's principles.

Vital and indispensable, this HarperBusiness Essentials edition of The Intelligent Investor is the most important book you will ever read on how to reach your financial goals.]]> 623 Benjamin Graham 0060555661 Rudisp 4 4.24 1949 The Intelligent Investor
author: Benjamin Graham
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1949
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/02/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[One Up On Wall Street: How to Use What You Already Know to Make Money in the Market]]> 762462 More than one million copies have been sold of this seminal book on investing in which legendary mutual-fund manager Peter Lynch explains the advantages that average investors have over professionals and how they can use these advantages to achieve financial success.

America’s most successful money manager tells how average investors can beat the pros by using what they know. According to Lynch, investment opportunities are everywhere. From the supermarket to the workplace, we encounter products and services all day long. By paying attention to the best ones, we can find companies in which to invest before the professional analysts discover them. When investors get in early, they can find the “tenbaggers,� the stocks that appreciate tenfold from the initial investment. A few tenbaggers will turn an average stock portfolio into a star performer.

Lynch offers easy-to-follow advice for sorting out the long shots from the no-shots by reviewing a company’s financial statements and knowing which numbers really count. He offers guidelines for investing in cyclical, turnaround, and fast-growing companies.

As long as you invest for the long term, Lynch says, your portfolio can reward you. This timeless advice has made One Up on Wall Street a #1 bestseller and a classic book of investment know-how.]]> 304 Peter Lynch 0743200403 Rudisp 4 4.26 1988 One Up On Wall Street: How to Use What You Already Know to Make Money in the Market
author: Peter Lynch
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1988
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/02/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor (Columbia Business School Publishing)]]> 25530069
Munger's system has steered his investments for forty years and has guided generations of successful investors. This book presents the essential steps of Munger's investing strategy, condensed here for the first time from interviews, speeches, writings, and shareholder letters, and paired with commentary from fund managers, value investors, and business-case historians. Derived from Ben Graham's value-investing system, Munger's approach is straightforward enough that ordinary investors can apply it to their portfolios. This book is not simply about investing. It is about cultivating mental models for your whole life, but especially for your investments.]]> 224 Tren Griffin 023117098X Rudisp 3 3.95 2015 Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor (Columbia Business School Publishing)
author: Tren Griffin
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2021/02/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns]]> 171127 216 John C. Bogle 0470102101 Rudisp 4 4.11 2007 The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns
author: John C. Bogle
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/02/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Humans: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up]]> 40858227

In the seventy thousand years that modern human beings have walked this earth, we've come a long way. Art, science, culture, trade - on the evolutionary food chain, we're real winners. But, frankly, it's not exactly been plain sailing, and sometimes - just occasionally - we've managed to really, truly, quite unbelievably f*ck things up.

From Chairman Mao's Four Pests Campaign, to the American Dustbowl; from the Austrian army attacking itself one drunken night, to the world's leading superpower electing a reality TV mogul as President... it's pretty safe to say that, as a species, we haven't exactly grown wiser with age.

So, next time you think you've really f*cked up, this book will remind you: it could be so much worse

]]> 238 Tom Phillips 1472259033 Rudisp 4 4.05 2018 Humans: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up
author: Tom Phillips
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/02/13
shelves:
review:

]]> Catch-22 168668
Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy—it is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to excuse himself from the perilous missions he’s assigned, he’ll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes a formal request to be removed from duty, he is proven sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved.

This fiftieth-anniversary edition commemorates Joseph Heller’s masterpiece with a new introduction by Christopher Buckley; a wealth of critical essays and reviews by Norman Mailer, Alfred Kazin, Anthony Burgess, and others; rare papers and photos from Joseph Heller’s personal archive; and much more. Here, at last, is the definitive edition of a classic of world literature.]]> 453 Joseph Heller 0684833395 Rudisp 4 3.99 1961 Catch-22
author: Joseph Heller
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1961
rating: 4
read at: 2021/02/13
date added: 2021/02/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)]]> 386162
Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.

Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do we die? Why do we spend so much time between wearing digital watches? For all the answers stick your thumb to the stars. And don't forget to bring a towel!]]> 193 Douglas Adams Rudisp 0 to-read 4.28 1979 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)
author: Douglas Adams
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1979
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/12/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Man’s Search for Meaning 4069 Man's Search for Meaning has become one of the most influential books in America; it continues to inspire us all to find significance in the very act of living.]]> 165 Viktor E. Frankl 080701429X Rudisp 4 4.39 1946 Man’s Search for Meaning
author: Viktor E. Frankl
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1946
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2020/12/06
shelves:
review:

]]> This Is Your Brain on Music 141565 This Is Your Brain on Music unravels a host of mysteries that affect everything from pop culture to our understanding of human nature, including:
� Are our musical preferences shaped in utero?
� Is there a cutoff point for acquiring new tastes in music?
� What do PET scans and MRIs reveal about the brain’s response to music?
� Is musical pleasure different from other kinds of pleasure?

This Is Your Brain on Music explores cultures in which singing is considered an essential human function, patients who have a rare disorder that prevents them from making sense of music, and scientists studying why two people may not have the same definition of pitch. At every turn, this provocative work unlocks deep secrets about how nature and nurture forge a uniquely human obsession.]]> 314 Daniel J. Levitin 0525949690 Rudisp 3 3.90 2006 This Is Your Brain on Music
author: Daniel J. Levitin
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2020/12/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect]]> 64341 175 Roger Williams 1411602196 Rudisp 0 to-read 4.08 2006 The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect
author: Roger Williams
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Naked Money: A Revealing Look at Our Financial System]]> 30231790
It has no more value, as a simple slip of paper, than Monopoly money. Yet even children recognize that tearing one into small pieces is an act of inconceivable stupidity. What makes a $20 bill actually worth twenty dollars? In the third volume of his best-selling Naked series, Charles Wheelan uses this seemingly simple question to open the door to the surprisingly colorful world of money and banking.

The search for an answer triggers countless other questions along the way: Why does paper money (“fiat currency� if you want to be fancy) even exist? And why do some nations, like Zimbabwe in the 1990s, print so much of it that it becomes more valuable as toilet paper than as currency? How do central banks use the power of money creation to stop financial crises? Why does most of Europe share a common currency, and why has that arrangement caused so much trouble? And will payment apps, bitcoin, or other new technologies render all of this moot?

In Naked Money, Wheelan tackles all of the above and more, showing us how our banking and monetary systems should work in ideal situations and revealing the havoc and suffering caused in real situations by inflation, deflation, illiquidity, and other monetary effects. Throughout, Wheelan’s uniquely bright-eyed, whimsical style brings levity and clarity to a subject often devoid of both. With illuminating stories from Argentina, Zimbabwe, North Korea, America, China, and elsewhere around the globe, Wheelan demystifies the curious world behind the paper in our wallets and the digits in our bank accounts.]]> 368 Charles Wheelan 0393353737 Rudisp 4 4.29 2016 Naked Money: A Revealing Look at Our Financial System
author: Charles Wheelan
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2020/10/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams]]> 34466963 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781501144318.

Neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker provides a revolutionary exploration of sleep, examining how it affects every aspect of our physical and mental well-being. Charting the most cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, and marshalling his decades of research and clinical practice, Walker explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood and energy levels, regulate hormones, prevent cancer, Alzheimer's and diabetes, slow the effects of aging, and increase longevity. He also provides actionable steps towards getting a better night's sleep every night.]]> 368 Matthew Walker Rudisp 5 4.37 2017 Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
author: Matthew Walker
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/10/06
shelves:
review:

]]> Blood, Sweat, and Pixels 34376766 Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Jason Schreier takes readers on a fascinating odyssey behind the scenes of video game development, where the creator may be a team of 600 overworked underdogs or a solitary geek genius. Exploring the artistic challenges, technical impossibilities, marketplace demands, and Donkey Kong-sized monkey wrenches thrown into the works by corporate, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels reveals how bringing any game to completion is more than Sisyphean—it's nothing short of miraculous.

Taking some of the most popular, bestselling recent games, Schreier immerses readers in the hellfire of the development process, whether it's RPG studio Bioware's challenge to beat an impossible schedule and overcome countless technical nightmares to build Dragon Inquisition; indie developer Eric Barone's single-handed efforts to grow country-life RPG Stardew Valley from one man's vision into a multi-million-dollar franchise; or Bungie spinning out from their corporate overlords at Microsoft to create Destiny, a brand new universe that they hoped would become as iconic as Star Wars and Lord of the Rings—even as it nearly ripped their studio apart.

Documenting the round-the-clock crunches, buggy-eyed burnout, and last-minute saves, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels is a journey through development hell—and ultimately a tribute to the dedicated diehards and unsung heroes who scale mountains of obstacles in their quests to create the best games imaginable.]]> 353 Jason Schreier 0062651242 Rudisp 5 4.21 2017 Blood, Sweat, and Pixels
author: Jason Schreier
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/10/06
shelves:
review:

]]> Politics for Beginners 35959533
Understanding politics is essential to understanding the world around us. That’s why Usborne are publishing Politics for Beginners, ideal for children (and adults) who’d like a no-nonsense, easy-to-understand guide to what politics is all about.

What is an election? Who gets to be Prime Minister or President? What does immigration mean? This essential introduction to politics for children answers all these questions and many more. Topics debated include capitalism, socialism and nationalism, terrorism, voting systems, free speech and human rights.

Includes:
- Simple explanations of BIG ideas
- Cartoons, comic strips and diagrams
- Debating tips
- Internet links
- Glossary and index]]> 128 Alex Frith 147492252X Rudisp 0 to-read 4.48 2018 Politics for Beginners
author: Alex Frith
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/06/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies]]> 20527133 Superintelligence asks the questions: what happens when machines surpass humans in general intelligence? Will artificial agents save or destroy us? Nick Bostrom lays the foundation for understanding the future of humanity and intelligent life.

The human brain has some capabilities that the brains of other animals lack. It is to these distinctive capabilities that our species owes its dominant position. If machine brains surpassed human brains in general intelligence, then this new superintelligence could become extremely powerful—possibly beyond our control. As the fate of the gorillas now depends more on humans than on the species itself, so would the fate of humankind depend on the actions of the machine superintelligence.

But we have one advantage: we get to make the first move. Will it be possible to construct a seed Artificial Intelligence, to engineer initial conditions so as to make an intelligence explosion survivable? How could one achieve a controlled detonation?]]> 352 Nick Bostrom 0199678111 Rudisp 2 3.86 2014 Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies
author: Nick Bostrom
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2020/06/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions]]> 25666050 A fascinating exploration of how insights from computer algorithms can be applied to our everyday lives, helping to solve common decision-making problems and illuminate the workings of the human mind

All our lives are constrained by limited space and time, limits that give rise to a particular set of problems. What should we do, or leave undone, in a day or a lifetime? How much messiness should we accept? What balance of new activities and familiar favorites is the most fulfilling? These may seem like uniquely human quandaries, but they are not: computers, too, face the same constraints, so computer scientists have been grappling with their version of such issues for decades. And the solutions they've found have much to teach us.

In a dazzlingly interdisciplinary work, acclaimed author Brian Christian and cognitive scientist Tom Griffiths show how the algorithms used by computers can also untangle very human questions. They explain how to have better hunches and when to leave things to chance, how to deal with overwhelming choices and how best to connect with others. From finding a spouse to finding a parking spot, from organizing one's inbox to understanding the workings of memory, Algorithms to Live By transforms the wisdom of computer science into strategies for human living.]]> 368 Brian Christian 1627790365 Rudisp 2 4.12 2016 Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions
author: Brian Christian
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2020/06/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography]]> 17994 Fermat’s Enigma, Simon Singh offers the first sweeping history of encryption, tracing its evolution and revealing the dramatic effects codes have had on wars, nations, and individual lives. From Mary, Queen of Scots, trapped by her own code, to the Navajo Code Talkers who helped the Allies win World War II, to the incredible (and incredibly simple) logisitical breakthrough that made Internet commerce secure, The Code Book tells the story of the most powerful intellectual weapon ever known: secrecy.

Throughout the text are clear technical and mathematical explanations, and portraits of the remarkable personalities who wrote and broke the world’s most difficult codes. Accessible, compelling, and remarkably far-reaching, this book will forever alter your view of history and what drives it. It will also make you wonder how private that e-mail you just sent really is.]]> 432 Simon Singh 0385495323 Rudisp 5 4.29 1999 The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
author: Simon Singh
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at: 2020/06/30
date added: 2020/06/30
shelves:
review:

]]> The Art of War 99324 The Art of War is far from an anachronism—its pages outline fundamental questions that theorists of war continue to examine today, making it essential reading for any student of military history, strategy, or theory. Machiavelli believed The Art of War to be his most important work.]]> 247 Niccolò Machiavelli 030681076X Rudisp 3 4.10 1521 The Art of War
author: Niccolò Machiavelli
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1521
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2020/06/02
shelves:
review:

]]> The Alchemist 18144590 The Alchemist has become a modern classic, selling millions of copies around the world and transforming the lives of countless readers across generations.

Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago's journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, most importantly, following our dreams.]]> 182 Paulo Coelho 0062315005 Rudisp 3 4.01 1988 The Alchemist
author: Paulo Coelho
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1988
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2020/06/02
shelves:
review:

]]> Bullshit Jobs: A Theory 34466958 From bestselling writer David Graeber, a powerful argument against the rise of meaningless, unfulfilling jobs, and their consequences.

Does your job make a meaningful contribution to the world? In the spring of 2013, David Graeber asked this question in a playful, provocative essay titled “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs.� It went viral. After a million online views in seventeen different languages, people all over the world are still debating the answer.

There are millions of people—HR consultants, communication coordinators, telemarketing researchers, corporate lawyers—whose jobs are useless, and, tragically, they know it. These people are caught in bullshit jobs.

Graeber explores one of society’s most vexing and deeply felt concerns, indicting among other villains a particular strain of finance capitalism that betrays ideals shared by thinkers ranging from Keynes to Lincoln. Bullshit Jobs gives individuals, corporations, and societies permission to undergo a shift in values, placing creative and caring work at the center of our culture. This book is for everyone who wants to turn their vocation back into an avocation.]]> 335 David Graeber 150114331X Rudisp 3 4.03 2018 Bullshit Jobs: A Theory
author: David Graeber
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2020/06/02
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character]]> 5544
In short, here is Feynman's life in all its eccentric glory—a combustible mixture of high intelligence, unlimited curiosity, and raging chutzpah.]]> 350 Richard P. Feynman 0393316041 Rudisp 5 4.27 1985 Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character
author: Richard P. Feynman
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1985
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/05/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science (Fully Revised and Updated)]]> 7937510 “Explains our global economy in a way that is (gasp!) actually entertaining.”�Book Magazine

Finally! A book about economics that won’t put you to sleep. In fact, you won’t be able to put this bestseller down. In our challenging economic climate, this perennial favorite of students and general readers is more than a good read, it’s a necessary investment—with a blessedly sure rate of return. Demystifying buzzwords, laying bare the truths behind oft-quoted numbers, and answering the questions you were always too embarrassed to ask, the breezy Naked Economics gives readers the tools they need to engage with pleasure and confidence in the deeply relevant, not so dismal science.

This revised and updated edition adds commentary on hot topics, including the current economic crisis, globalization, the economics of information, the intersection of economics and politics, and the history—and future—of the Federal Reserve.

Also available: Naked Statistics ]]> 384 Charles Wheelan 0393337642 Rudisp 5 4.06 2002 Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science (Fully Revised and Updated)
author: Charles Wheelan
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2002
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/05/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[But How Do It Know? The Basic Principles of Computers for Everyone]]> 18276352
Years of writing, diagramming, piloting and editing have culminated in one easy-to-read volume that contains all of the basic principles of computers written so that everyone can understand them.

There used to be only two types of book that delved into the insides of computers. The simple ones point out the major parts and describe their functions in broad general terms. Computer Science textbooks eventually tell the whole story, but along the way, they include every detail that an engineer could conceivably ever need to know.

Like Baby Bear's porridge, 'But How Do It Know?' is just right, but it is much more than just a happy medium. For the first time, this book thoroughly demonstrates each of the basic principles that have been used in every computer ever built, while at the same time showing the integral role that codes play in everything that computers are able to do.

It cuts through all of the electronics and mathematics, and gets right to practical matters. Here is a simple part, see what it does. Connect a few of these together and you get a new part that does another simple thing. After just a few iterations of connecting up simple parts - voilĂ ! - it's a computer. And it is much simpler than anyone ever imagined.

'But How Do It Know?' really explains how computers work. They are far simpler than anyone has ever permitted you to believe. It contains everything you need to know, and nothing you don't need to know. No technical background of any kind is required.

The basic principles of computers have not changed one iota since they were invented in the mid 20th century. "Since the day I learned how computers work, it always felt like I knew a giant secret, but couldn't tell anyone," says the author. Now he's taken the time to explain it in such a manner that anyone can have that same moment of enlightenment and thereafter see computers in an entirely new light.]]> 221 J. Clark Scott 0615303765 Rudisp 5 4.48 2009 But How Do It Know? The Basic Principles of Computers for Everyone
author: J. Clark Scott
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/05/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dawn of the New Everything: Encounters with Reality and Virtual Reality]]> 23848323
Bridging the gap between tech mania and the experience of being inside the human body, Jaron Lanier has written a three-pronged adventure into "virtual reality," by exposing its ability to illuminate and amplify our understanding of our species. An inventive blend of autobiography, science writing, philosophy, and advice, this book tells the wild story of his personal and professional life as a scientist, from his childhood in the UFO territory of New Mexico, to the loss of his mother, the founding of the first start-up, and finally becoming a world-renowned technological guru. Understanding virtual reality as being both a scientific and cultural adventure, Lanier demonstrates it to be a humanistic setting for technology. While his previous books offered a more critical view of social media and other manifestations of technology, in this book he argues that virtual reality can actually make our lives richer and fuller. Dawn of the New Everything is ultimately a look at what it means to be human at a moment of unprecedented technological possibility, giving readers a new perspective on how the brain and body connect to the world.]]> 368 Jaron Lanier 1627794093 Rudisp 3 3.88 2017 Dawn of the New Everything: Encounters with Reality and Virtual Reality
author: Jaron Lanier
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2020/05/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cult of the Dead Cow: How the Original Hacking Supergroup Might Just Save the World]]> 42283862 The shocking untold story of the elite secret society of hackers fighting to protect our privacy, our freedom -- even democracy itself

Cult of the Dead Cow is the tale of the oldest, most respected, and most famous American hacking group of all time. Though until now it has remained mostly anonymous, its members invented the concept of hacktivism, released the top tool for testing password security, and created what was for years the best technique for controlling computers from afar, forcing giant companies to work harder to protect customers. They contributed to the development of Tor, the most important privacy tool on the net, and helped build cyberweapons that advanced US security without injuring anyone. With its origins in the earliest days of the Internet, the cDc is full of oddball characters -- activists, artists, even future politicians. Many of these hackers have become top executives and advisors walking the corridors of power in Washington and Silicon Valley. The most famous is former Texas Congressman and current presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke, whose time in the cDc set him up to found a tech business, launch an alternative publication in El Paso, and make long-shot bets on unconventional campaigns.
Today, the group and its followers are battling electoral misinformation, making personal data safer, and battling to keep technology a force for good instead of for surveillance and oppression. Cult of the Dead Cow shows how governments, corporations, and criminals came to hold immense power over individuals and how we can fight back against them.]]> 256 Joseph Menn 154176238X Rudisp 4 3.72 2019 Cult of the Dead Cow: How the Original Hacking Supergroup Might Just Save the World
author: Joseph Menn
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2020/05/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Under the Knife: A History of Surgery in 28 Remarkable Operations]]> 37821968
From the story of the desperate man from seventeenth-century Amsterdam who grimly cut a stone out of his own bladder to Bob Marley's deadly toe, Under the Knife offers all kinds of fascinating and unforgettable insights into medicine and history via the operating theatre.

What happens during an operation? How does the human body respond to being attacked by a knife, a bacterium, a cancer cell or a bullet? And, as medical advances continuously push the boundaries of what medicine can cure, what are the limits of surgery?

From the dark centuries of bloodletting and of amputations without anaesthetic to today's sterile, high-tech operating theatres, Under the Knife is both a rich cultural history, and a modern anatomy class for us all.]]> 357 Arnold van de Laar 1529353408 Rudisp 4 4.10 2014 Under the Knife: A History of Surgery in 28 Remarkable Operations
author: Arnold van de Laar
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2020/05/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold (Stephen Fry's Great Mythology, #1)]]> 35074096
This stunning book features classical artwork inspired by the myths, as well as learned notes from the author. Each adventure is infused with Fry's distinctive wit, voice, and writing style. Connoisseurs of the Greek myths will appreciate this fresh-yet-reverential interpretation, while newcomers will feel welcome. Retellings brim with humor and emotion and offer rich cultural context

Celebrating the thrills, grandeur, and unabashed fun of the Greek myths, Mythos breathes life into ancient tales—from Pandora's box to Prometheus's fire.

This gorgeous volume invites you to explore a captivating world with the brilliant storyteller Stephen Fry as your guide.]]> 416 Stephen Fry 0718188721 Rudisp 5 4.27 2017 Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold (Stephen Fry's Great Mythology, #1)
author: Stephen Fry
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/05/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down]]> 245344
For anyone who has ever wondered why suspension bridges don't collapse under eight lanes of traffic, how dams hold back--or give way under--thousands of gallons of water, or what principles guide the design of a skyscraper, a bias-cut dress, or a kangaroo, this book will ease your anxiety and answer your questions.

Or Why Things Don't Fall Down is an informal explanation of the basic forces that hold together the ordinary and essential things of this world--from buildings and bodies to flying aircraft and eggshells. In a style that combines wit, a masterful command of his subject, and an encyclopedic range of reference, Gordon includes such chapters as "How to Design a Worm" and "The Advantage of Being a Beam," offering humorous insights in human and natural creation.

Architects and engineers will appreciate the clear and cogent explanations of the concepts of stress, shear, torsion, fracture, and compression. If you're building a house, a sailboat, or a catapult, here is a handy tool for understanding the mechanics of joinery, floors, ceilings, hulls, masts--or flying buttresses.

Without jargon or oversimplification, Structures opens up the marvels of technology to anyone interested in the foundations of our everyday lives.]]> 395 J.E. Gordon 0306812835 Rudisp 4 4.12 1978 Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down
author: J.E. Gordon
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1978
rating: 4
read at: 2020/05/01
date added: 2020/05/22
shelves:
review:

]]> Chaos: Making a New Science 64582 Chaos introduces a whole new readership to chaos theory, one of the most significant waves of scientific knowledge in our time. From Edward Lorenz’s discovery of the Butterfly Effect, to Mitchell Feigenbaum’s calculation of a universal constant, to Benoit Mandelbrot’s concept of fractals, which created a new geometry of nature, Gleick’s engaging narrative focuses on the key figures whose genius converged to chart an innovative direction for science. In Chaos, Gleick makes the story of chaos theory not only fascinating but also accessible to beginners, and opens our eyes to a surprising new view of the universe.]]> 352 James Gleick 0140092501 Rudisp 2 4.04 1987 Chaos: Making a New Science
author: James Gleick
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1987
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2019/10/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark]]> 17349
Casting a wide net through history and culture, Sagan examines and authoritatively debunks such celebrated fallacies of the past as witchcraft, faith healing, demons, and UFOs. And yet, disturbingly, in today's so-called information age, pseudoscience is burgeoning with stories of alien abduction, channeling past lives, and communal hallucinations commanding growing attention and respect. As Sagan demonstrates with lucid eloquence, the siren song of unreason is not just a cultural wrong turn but a dangerous plunge into darkness that threatens our most basic freedoms.]]> 459 Carl Sagan 0345409469 Rudisp 5 4.28 1995 The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
author: Carl Sagan
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1995
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/10/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress]]> 35696171
Is the world really falling apart? Is the ideal of progress obsolete? In this elegant assessment of the human condition in the third millennium, cognitive scientist and public intellectual Steven Pinker urges us to step back from the gory headlines and prophecies of doom, which play to our psychological biases. Instead, follow the data: In seventy-five jaw-dropping graphs, Pinker shows that life, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge, and happiness are on the rise, not just in the West, but worldwide. This progress is not the result of some cosmic force. It is a gift of the Enlightenment: the conviction that reason and science can enhance human flourishing.

Far from being a naïve hope, the Enlightenment, we now know, has worked. But more than ever, it needs a vigorous defense. The Enlightenment project swims against currents of human nature–tribalism, authoritarianism, demonization, magical thinking–which demagogues are all too willing to exploit. Many commentators, committed to political, religious, or romantic ideologies, fight a rearguard action against it. The result is a corrosive fatalism and a willingness to wreck the precious institutions of liberal democracy and global cooperation.

With intellectual depth and literary flair, Enlightenment Now makes the case for reason, science, and humanism: the ideals we need to confront our problems and continue our progress.]]> 576 Steven Pinker 0525427570 Rudisp 4 4.18 2018 Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
author: Steven Pinker
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/06/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)]]> 3 309 J.K. Rowling 0439554934 Rudisp 1 4.47 1997 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.47
book published: 1997
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2019/06/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories, Volume II]]> 22008520 Beeton’s Christmas Annual in 1887, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes has been one of the most beloved fictional characters ever created.

Now, in two paperback volumes, Bantam presents all fifty-six short stories and four novels featuring Conan Doyle’s classic hero—a truly complete collection of Sherlock Holmes’s adventures in crime!

Volume II begins with The Hound of the Baskervilles, a haunting novel of murder on eerie Grimpen Moor, which has rightly earned its reputation as the finest murder mystery ever written.

The Valley of Fear matches Holmes against his archenemy, the master of imaginative crime, Professor Moriarty.

In addition, the loyal Dr. Watson has faithfully recorded Holmes’s feats of extraordinary detection in such famous cases as the thrilling The Adventure of the Red Circle and the twelve baffling adventures from The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes.

Conan Doyle’s incomparable tales bring to life a Victorian England of horse-drawn cabs, fogs, and the famous lodgings at 221B Baker Street, where for more than forty years Sherlock Holmes earned his undisputed reputation as the greatest fictional detective of all time.]]> 737 Arthur Conan Doyle 0553212427 Rudisp 5 4.48 1986 Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories, Volume II
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.48
book published: 1986
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/06/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (Incerto)]]> 38315 Fooled by Randomness is a standalone book in Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s landmark Incerto series, an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty, probability, human error, risk, and decision-making in a world we don’t understand. The other books in the series are The Black Swan, Antifragile,and The Bed of Procrustes.]]> 368 Nassim Nicholas Taleb 0812975219 Rudisp 4 4.08 2001 Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (Incerto)
author: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2019/06/09
date added: 2019/06/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence]]> 34272565 How will Artificial Intelligence affect crime, war, justice, jobs, society and our very sense of being human? The rise of AI has the potential to transform our future more than any other technology--and there's nobody better qualified or situated to explore that future than Max Tegmark, an MIT professor who's helped mainstream research on how to keep AI beneficial.

How can we grow our prosperity through automation without leaving people lacking income or purpose? What career advice should we give today's kids? How can we make future AI systems more robust, so that they do what we want without crashing, malfunctioning or getting hacked? Should we fear an arms race in lethal autonomous weapons? Will machines eventually outsmart us at all tasks, replacing humans on the job market and perhaps altogether? Will AI help life flourish like never before or give us more power than we can handle?

What sort of future do you want? This book empowers you to join what may be the most important conversation of our time. It doesn't shy away from the full range of viewpoints or from the most controversial issues--from superintelligence to meaning, consciousness and the ultimate physical limits on life in the cosmos.]]> 384 Max Tegmark 0451485076 Rudisp 2 4.02 2017 Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
author: Max Tegmark
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2017
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2019/06/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst]]> 31170723 Why do we do the things we do?

More than a decade in the making, this game-changing book is Robert Sapolsky's genre-shattering attempt to answer that question as fully as perhaps only he could, looking at it from every angle. Sapolsky's storytelling concept is delightful but it also has a powerful intrinsic logic: he starts by looking at the factors that bear on a person's reaction in the precise moment a behavior occurs, and then hops back in time from there, in stages, ultimately ending up at the deep history of our species and its evolutionary legacy.

And so the first category of explanation is the neurobiological one. A behavior occurs—whether an example of humans at our best, worst, or somewhere in between. What went on in a person's brain a second before the behavior happened? Then Sapolsky pulls out to a slightly larger field of vision, a little earlier in time: What sight, sound, or smell caused the nervous system to produce that behavior? And then, what hormones acted hours to days earlier to change how responsive that individual is to the stimuli that triggered the nervous system? By now he has increased our field of vision so that we are thinking about neurobiology and the sensory world of our environment and endocrinology in trying to explain what happened.

Sapolsky keeps going: How was that behavior influenced by structural changes in the nervous system over the preceding months, by that person's adolescence, childhood, fetal life, and then back to his or her genetic makeup? Finally, he expands the view to encompass factors larger than one individual. How did culture shape that individual's group, what ecological factors millennia old formed that culture? And on and on, back to evolutionary factors millions of years old.

The result is one of the most dazzling tours d'horizon of the science of human behavior ever attempted, a majestic synthesis that harvests cutting-edge research across a range of disciplines to provide a subtle and nuanced perspective on why we ultimately do the things we do ... for good and for ill. Sapolsky builds on this understanding to wrestle with some of our deepest and thorniest questions relating to tribalism and xenophobia, hierarchy and competition, morality and free will, and war and peace. Wise, humane, often very funny, Behave is a towering achievement, powerfully humanizing, and downright heroic in its own right.]]> 790 Robert M. Sapolsky 1594205078 Rudisp 4 4.39 2017 Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
author: Robert M. Sapolsky
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2019/06/09
date added: 2019/06/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes]]> 180995 200 Thomas Cathcart Rudisp 4 3.75 2007 Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes
author: Thomas Cathcart
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/03/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death]]> 38212121
“Doughty chronicles [death] practices with tenderheartedness, a technician’s fascination, and an unsentimental respect for grief.â€� ―Jill Lepore, The New Yorker Fascinated by our pervasive fear of dead bodies, mortician Caitlin Doughty embarks on a global expedition to discover how other cultures care for the dead. From Zoroastrian sky burials to wish-granting Bolivian skulls, she investigates the world’s funerary customs and expands our sense of what it means to treat the dead with dignity. Her account questions the rituals of the American funeral industry―especially chemical embalming―and suggests that the most effective traditions are those that allow mourners to personally attend to the body of the deceased. Exquisitely illustrated by artist Landis Blair, From Here to Eternity Ěýis an adventure into the morbid unknown, a fascinating tour through the unique ways people everywhere confront mortality. 45 illustrations]]> 256 Caitlin Doughty 0393356280 Rudisp 4 4.30 2017 From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death
author: Caitlin Doughty
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/03/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot, #10)]]> 853510
One of the passengers is none other than detective Hercule Poirot. On vacation.

Isolated and with a killer on board, Poirot must identify the murderer—in case he or she decides to strike again.]]> 274 Agatha Christie 0007119313 Rudisp 5 4.22 1934 Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot, #10)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1934
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/03/13
shelves:
review:

]]> The Art of War 10534 170 Sun Tzu Rudisp 4 3.98 -400 The Art of War
author: Sun Tzu
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.98
book published: -400
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/03/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software]]> 44882
Using everyday objects and familiar language systems such as Braille and Morse code, author Charles Petzold weaves an illuminating narrative for anyone who’s ever wondered about the secret inner life of computers and other smart machines.

It’s a cleverly illustrated and eminently comprehensible story—and along the way, you’ll discover you’ve gained a real context for understanding today’s world of PCs, digital media, and the Internet. No matter what your level of technical savvy, CODE will charm you—and perhaps even awaken the technophile within.]]> 396 Charles Petzold 0735611319 Rudisp 4 4.40 1999 Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software
author: Charles Petzold
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/03/13
shelves:
review:

]]> Professional Idiot: A Memoir 10846421 Jackass movies, there was little that Stephen "Steve-O" Glover wouldn't do. Whether it was stapling his nutsack to his leg or diving into a pool full of elephant crap, almost nothing was out of bounds. As the stunts got crazier, his life kept pace. He developed a crippling addiction to drugs and alcohol, and an obsession with his own celebrity that proved nearly as dangerous. Only an intervention and a visit to a psychiatric ward saved his life. Today he has been clean and sober for more than three years.]]> 336 Stephen "Steve-O" Glover 1401324339 Rudisp 4 4.06 2011 Professional Idiot: A Memoir
author: Stephen "Steve-O" Glover
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/03/13
shelves:
review:

]]> Body Language For Dummies 2353851 309 Elizabeth Kuhnke 0470512911 Rudisp 4 3.48 2007 Body Language For Dummies
author: Elizabeth Kuhnke
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/03/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship]]> 3735293 Noted software expert Robert C. Martin presents a revolutionary paradigm with Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship . Martin has teamed up with his colleagues from Object Mentor to distill their best agile practice of cleaning code on the fly into a book that will instill within you the values of a software craftsman and make you a better programmer but only if you work at it.
What kind of work will you be doing? You'll be reading code - lots of code. And you will be challenged to think about what's right about that code, and what's wrong with it. More importantly, you will be challenged to reassess your professional values and your commitment to your craft.
Clean Code is divided into three parts. The first describes the principles, patterns, and practices of writing clean code. The second part consists of several case studies of increasing complexity. Each case study is an exercise in cleaning up code - of transforming a code base that has some problems into one that is sound and efficient. The third part is the payoff: a single chapter containing a list of heuristics and "smells" gathered while creating the case studies. The result is a knowledge base that describes the way we think when we write, read, and clean code.
Readers will come away from this book understanding

� How to tell the difference between good and bad code
� How to write good code and how to transform bad code into good code
� How to create good names, good functions, good objects, and good classes
� How to format code for maximum readability
� How to implement complete error handling without obscuring code logic
� How to unit test and practice test-driven development

This book is a must for any developer, software engineer, project manager, team lead, or systems analyst with an interest in producing better code.]]> 464 Robert C. Martin 0132350882 Rudisp 0 to-read 4.36 2007 Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship
author: Robert C. Martin
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/03/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Automate the Boring Stuff with Python: Practical Programming for Total Beginners]]> 22514127
In "Automate the Boring Stuff with Python," you'll learn how to use Python to write programs that do in minutes what would take you hours to do by hand no prior programming experience required. Once you've mastered the basics of programming, you'll create Python programs that effortlessly perform useful and impressive feats of automation to: Search for text in a file or across multiple filesCreate, update, move, and rename files and foldersSearch the Web and download online contentUpdate and format data in Excel spreadsheets of any sizeSplit, merge, watermark, and encrypt PDFsSend reminder emails and text notificationsFill out online forms

Step-by-step instructions walk you through each program, and practice projects at the end of each chapter challenge you to improve those programs and use your newfound skills to automate similar tasks.

Don't spend your time doing work a well-trained monkey could do. Even if you've never written a line of code, you can make your computer do the grunt work. Learn how in "Automate the Boring Stuff with Python.""]]> 479 Al Sweigart 1593275994 Rudisp 4 4.29 2014 Automate the Boring Stuff with Python: Practical Programming for Total Beginners
author: Al Sweigart
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/03/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Grokking Algorithms An Illustrated Guide For Programmers and Other Curious People]]> 22847284
Grokking Algorithms is a disarming take on a core computer science topic. In it, you'll learn how to apply common algorithms to the practical problems you face in day-to-day life as a programmer. You'll start with problems like sorting and searching. As you build up your skills in thinking algorithmically, you'll tackle more complex concerns such as data compression or artificial intelligence. Whether you're writing business software, video games, mobile apps, or system utilities, you'll learn algorithmic techniques for solving problems that you thought were out of your grasp. For example, you'll be able to:
Write a spell checker using graph algorithms
Understand how data compression works using Huffman coding
Identify problems that take too long to solve with naive algorithms, and attack them with algorithms that give you an approximate answer instead
Each carefully-presented example includes helpful diagrams and fully-annotated code samples in Python. By the end of this book, you will know some of the most widely applicable algorithms as well as how and when to use them.]]> 256 Aditya Y. Bhargava 1617292230 Rudisp 5 4.41 2015 Grokking Algorithms An Illustrated Guide For Programmers and Other Curious People
author: Aditya Y. Bhargava
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/03/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking]]> 8520610 The book that started the Quiet Revolution

At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over working in teams. It is to introverts—Rosa Parks, Chopin, Dr. Seuss, Steve Wozniak—that we owe many of the great contributions to society.Ěý

In Quiet, Susan Cain argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so. She charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal throughout the twentieth century and explores how deeply it has come to permeate our culture. She also introduces us to successful introverts—from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions. Passionately argued, superbly researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how they see themselves.

Now with Extra Libris material, including a reader’s guide and bonus content.]]> 333 Susan Cain 0307352145 Rudisp 4 4.07 2012 Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
author: Susan Cain
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/03/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Think Like a Data Scientist: Tackle the data science process step-by-step]]> 31670583 Think Like a Data Scientist presents a step-by-step approach to data science, combining analytic, programming, and business perspectives into easy-to-digest techniques and thought processes for solving real world data-centric problems.


About the Technology

Data collected from customers, scientific measurements, IoT sensors, and so on is valuable only if you understand it. Data scientists revel in the interesting and rewarding challenge of observing, exploring, analyzing, and interpreting this data. Getting started with data science means more than mastering analytic tools and techniques, however; the real magic happens when you begin to think like a data scientist. This book will get you there.


About the Book

Think Like a Data Scientist teaches you a step-by-step approach to solving real-world data-centric problems. By breaking down carefully crafted examples, you'll learn to combine analytic, programming, and business perspectives into a repeatable process for extracting real knowledge from data. As you read, you'll discover (or remember) valuable statistical techniques and explore powerful data science software. More importantly, you'll put this knowledge together using a structured process for data science. When you've finished, you'll have a strong foundation for a lifetime of data science learning and practice.


What's Inside

The data science process, step-by-step
How to anticipate problems
Dealing with uncertainty
Best practices in software and scientific thinking
About the Reader

Readers need beginner programming skills and knowledge of basic statistics.


About the Author

Brian Godsey has worked in software, academia, finance, and defense and has launched several data-centric start-ups.]]> 328 Brian Godsey 1633430278 Rudisp 4 3.77 Think Like a Data Scientist: Tackle the data science process step-by-step
author: Brian Godsey
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.77
book published:
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/03/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data]]> 17986418 Naked Statistics, the right data and a few well-chosen statistical tools can help us answer these questions and more.
For those who slept through Stats 101, this book is a lifesaver. Wheelan strips away the arcane and technical details and focuses on the underlying intuition that drives statistical analysis. He clarifies key concepts such as inference, correlation, and regression analysis, reveals how biased or careless parties can manipulate or misrepresent data, and shows us how brilliant and creative researchers are exploiting the valuable data from natural experiments to tackle thorny questions.


And in Wheelan’s trademark style, there’s not a dull page in sight. You’ll encounter clever Schlitz Beer marketers leveraging basic probability, an International Sausage Festival illuminating the tenets of the central limit theorem, and a head-scratching choice from the famous game show Let’s Make a Deal—and you’ll come away with insights each time. With the wit, accessibility, and sheer fun that turned Naked Economics into a bestseller, Wheelan defies the odds yet again by bringing another essential, formerly unglamorous discipline to life.]]> 304 Charles Wheelan 039334777X Rudisp 4 3.96 2012 Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data
author: Charles Wheelan
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/03/13
shelves:
review:

]]> Make Your Own Mandelbrot 22171823
Mathematics can be fun, exciting, surprising, and stunningly beautiful. But too few people ever experience this, associating it instead with boring and apparently pointless exercises in trigonometry and solving equations.

This guide will take you on an emotional journey, starting from very simple ideas, and exploring some surprising and intricately beautiful behaviors of the very simple mathematics that underlies the famous Mandelbrot fractal. You won't need anything more than basic school mathematics.

Part 1 is about ideas. It introduces the mathematical ideas underlying the Mandelbrot fractal, gently with lots of illustrations and examples.

Part 2 is practical. It introduces the popular and easy to learn Python programming language, and gradually builds up a program to calculate and visualise the Mandelbrot fractal.

Part 3 extends these ideas. It reveals the related Julia fractals, creates 3-dimensional landscapes and shows how even more interesting images can be made using mathematical filters.

The fractal image on the cover of this book is created using only the ideas and code developed in this book.]]> 134 Tariq Rashid Rudisp 4 3.84 2014 Make Your Own Mandelbrot
author: Tariq Rashid
name: Rudisp
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/03/13
shelves:
review:

]]> Make Your Own Neural Network 29746976
Neural networks are a key element of deep learning and artificial intelligence, which today is capable of some truly impressive feats. Yet too few really understand how neural networks actually work.

This guide will take you on a fun and unhurried journey, starting from very simple ideas, and gradually building up an understanding of how neural networks work. You won't need any mathematics beyond secondary school, and an accessible introduction to calculus is also included.

The ambition of this guide is to make neural networks as accessible as possible to as many readers as possible - there are enough texts for advanced readers already!

You'll learn to code in Python and make your own neural network, teaching it to recognise human handwritten numbers, and performing as well as professionally developed networks.

Part 1 is about ideas. We introduce the mathematical ideas underlying the neural networks, gently with lots of illustrations and examples.

Part 2 is practical. We introduce the popular and easy to learn Python programming language, and gradually builds up a neural network which can learn to recognise human handwritten numbers, easily getting it to perform as well as networks made by professionals.

Part 3 extends these ideas further. We push the performance of our neural network to an industry leading 98% using only simple ideas and code, test the network on your own handwriting, take a privileged peek inside the mysterious mind of a neural network, and even get it all working on a Raspberry Pi.

All the code in this has been tested to work on a Raspberry Pi Zero.]]> 224 Tariq Rashid Rudisp 5 4.35 2016 Make Your Own Neural Network
author: Tariq Rashid
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/03/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe: How to Know What's Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake]]> 38485991 An all-encompassing guide to skeptical thinking in the popular "The Skeptics Guide to the Universe" podcast's dryly humorous, accessible style.

It's intimidating to realize that we live in a world overflowing with misinformation, bias, myths, deception, and flawed knowledge. There really are no ultimate authority figures-no one has the secret and there is no place to look up the definitive answers to our questions (not even Google). But, by thinking skeptically and logically, we can combat sloppy reasoning, bad arguments and superstitious thinking. It's difficult, and takes a lot of vigilance, but it's worth the effort.

In this tie-in to their incredibly popular "The Skeptics Guide to the Universe" podcast, Steven Novella, MD along with "Skeptical Rogues" Bob Novella, Cara Santa Maria, Jay Novella, and Evan Bernstein will explain the tenets of skeptical thinking and debunk some of the biggest scientific myths, fallacies and conspiracy theories (Anti-vaccines, homeopathy, UFO sightings, etc.) They'll help us try to make sense of what seems like an increasingly crazy world using powerful tools like science and philosophy. THE SKEPTICS' GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE is your guide through this maze of modern life. It covers essential critical thinking skills, as well as giving insight into how your brain works and how to avoid common pitfalls in thinking. They discuss the difference between science and pseudoscience, how to recognize common science news tropes, how to discuss conspiracy theories with that crazy coworker of yours, and how to apply all of this to everyday life.

So, are you ready to join them on an epic scientific quest, one that has taken us from huddling in dark caves to stepping foot on the Moon? (Yes, we really did that.) Like all adventures, this one is foremost a journey of self discovery. The monsters you will slay and challenges you will face are mostly constructs of your own mind. With the SKEPTIC'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE, we can do this together.]]> 448 Steven Novella Rudisp 5 4.38 2018 The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe: How to Know What's Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake
author: Steven Novella
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/03/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind]]> 23692271 512 Yuval Noah Harari Rudisp 5 4.33 2011 Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
author: Yuval Noah Harari
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/03/13
shelves:
review:

]]> The Selfish Gene 61535 360 Richard Dawkins 0199291152 Rudisp 5 4.15 1976 The Selfish Gene
author: Richard Dawkins
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1976
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/03/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow]]> 31138556 Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future, and our quest to upgrade humans into gods.

Over the past century humankind has managed to do the impossible and rein in famine, plague, and war. This may seem hard to accept, but, as Harari explains in his trademark style—thorough, yet riveting—famine, plague and war have been transformed from incomprehensible and uncontrollable forces of nature into manageable challenges. For the first time ever, more people die from eating too much than from eating too little; more people die from old age than from infectious diseases; and more people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers, terrorists and criminals put together. The average American is a thousand times more likely to die from binging at McDonalds than from being blown up by Al Qaeda.

What then will replace famine, plague, and war at the top of the human agenda? As the self-made gods of planet earth, what destinies will we set ourselves, and which quests will we undertake? Homo DeusĚýexplores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century—from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution. This isĚýHomo Deus.

With the same insight and clarity that made Sapiens an international hit and a New York Times bestseller, Harari maps out our future.

]]> 450 Yuval Noah Harari Rudisp 4 4.19 2015 Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow
author: Yuval Noah Harari
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/03/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[21 Lessons for the 21st Century]]> 38820046 In Sapiens, he explored our past. In Homo Deus, he looked to our future. Now, one of the most innovative thinkers on the planet turns to the present to make sense of today's most pressing issues.

How do computers and robots change the meaning of being human? How do we deal with the epidemic of fake news? Are nations and religions still relevant? What should we teach our children?

Yuval Noah Harari's 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is a probing and visionary investigation into today's most urgent issues as we move into the uncharted territory of the future. As technology advances faster than our understanding of it, hacking becomes a tactic of war, and the world feels more polarized than ever, Harari addresses the challenge of navigating life in the face of constant and disorienting change and raises the important questions we need to ask ourselves in order to survive.

In twenty-one accessible chapters that are both provocative and profound, Harari builds on the ideas explored in his previous books, untangling political, technological, social, and existential issues and offering advice on how to prepare for a very different future from the world we now live in: How can we retain freedom of choice when Big Data is watching us? What will the future workforce look like, and how should we ready ourselves for it? How should we deal with the threat of terrorism? Why is liberal democracy in crisis?

Harari's unique ability to make sense of where we have come from and where we are going has captured the imaginations of millions of readers. Here he invites us to consider values, meaning, and personal engagement in a world full of noise and uncertainty. When we are deluged with irrelevant information, clarity is power. Presenting complex contemporary challenges clearly and accessibly, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is essential reading.]]> 372 Yuval Noah Harari 0525512179 Rudisp 5 4.15 2018 21 Lessons for the 21st Century
author: Yuval Noah Harari
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/03/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion]]> 28815
You'll learn the six universal principles, how to use them to become a skilled persuader—and how to defend yourself against them. Perfect for people in all walks of life, the principles of Influence will move you toward profound personal change and act as a driving force for your success.]]> 320 Robert B. Cialdini 006124189X Rudisp 5 4.21 1984 Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
author: Robert B. Cialdini
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1984
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/03/13
shelves:
review:

]]> Thinking, Fast and Slow 11468377 Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities—and also the faults and biases—of fast thinking, and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behavior. The impact of loss aversion and overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the challenges of properly framing risks at work and at home, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning the next vacation—each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems work together to shape our judgments and decisions.

Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives—and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Thinking, Fast and Slow will transform the way you think about thinking.]]> 499 Daniel Kahneman 0374275637 Rudisp 5 4.17 2011 Thinking, Fast and Slow
author: Daniel Kahneman
name: Rudisp
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/03/13
shelves:
review:

]]>