en-US Sat, 05 Apr 2025 11:45:54 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review7464674705 Sat, 05 Apr 2025 11:45:54 -0700 /review/show/7464674705 Todd gave 3 stars to Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything (Hardcover) by Daniel Goleman
bookshelves: environment-science, culture-politics
In Ecological Intelligence Daniel Goleman (American psychologist, author, and science journalist) makes the case that if the public were aware of the environmental, health and safety issues associated with the manufacture and use of consumer products, that they would purchase products that were less harmful. This would drive manufacturers to produce products that were better for the environment, leading to a virtuous cycle of improvement.

There are certainly historic examples of public pressure causing businesses to change their practices. The question is whether this can be broadly implemented for all manufacturing sectors based upon environmental considerations.

Personally, I’m skeptical. Some people will avoid products that they deem to be harmful to themselves (such as cigarettes), but the ‘environment� is an abstract concept for most. It’s also quite complicated to boil a product’s environmental impact down to a simple metric that the public can understand (Goleman provides several examples in the book, though none of them has caught on to any meaningful extent). Finally, there’s a large segment of the public that simply doesn’t care about the environment (about half of US citizens aren’t concerned about climate change for example).

Finally, I’ll just point out that Goleman’s solution relies on voluntary action by the public. I can’t think of a single example where voluntary action has solved any global problem ... ever. It has simply never worked in practice. A far better approach, with a proven track record of success is governmental regulation, though I suppose this would not make for a particularly compelling book. ]]> Review7437666293 Sat, 05 Apr 2025 11:25:28 -0700 /review/show/7437666293 Todd gave 3 stars to Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth (ebook) by Bart D. Ehrman
bookshelves: atheism-religion-philosophy, history
It may come as a surprise to many people, but we have no contemporaneous accounts of Jesus� life. In other words, no one that supposedly knew him ever documented anything about his life or deeds. In fact, the earliest accounts of Jesus� life were written 20 � 30 years after his death based entirely on oral traditions (aka hearsay).

Imagine an event that happened 20 years ago being passed along only through verbal means. Like a multi-decades long version phone tag, how much would the story reflect reality when it was finally written down by someone who had a vested interest in the story being written to reflect their own personal view decades later? Well � that’s what the bible represents, and as Bart D. Ehrman (professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) has documented in his other books, it can not be relied on as a historically accurate text.

Because the documentary evidence is so thin, it has caused some historians and scholars to question whether Jesus ever existed as an actual person at all. These are the ‘mythicists� and they believe that the story of Jesus is a work of mythology with no historical substance.

Ehrman disagrees with this view and his book Did Jesus Exist provides his rationale as to why he believes Jesus existed as an actual person. To make his argument he relies almost exclusively on the bible itself for proof (because, with very few controversial exceptions, that’s really all there is).

Personally, not being a Christian, I don’t have a stake in the matter, though I do think it’s an interesting question. I also enjoyed reading Ehrman’s arguments since they provide insight into how religious scholars use the evidence at their disposal to draw conclusions. Ehrman makes a decent case for a historical Jesus, though use of the bible as proof feels a lot like using Lord of the Rings to argue that hobbits really existed. For myself, I don’t feel like there is particularly compelling evidence to answer the question conclusively either way. ]]> Review6902822300 Sat, 05 Apr 2025 11:00:55 -0700 /review/show/6902822300 Todd gave 4 stars to Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI (Hardcover) by Yuval Noah Harari
bookshelves: environment-science
Nexus, by Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari discusses the political and social implications of information systems and, more specifically, how artificial intelligence (AI) may pose significant challenges for humans as the technology improves and becomes ever more widespread. The purpose of the book is to spur a discussion of these issues now so that safeguards can be put into place to help ensure that AI is used to benefit humanity rather than become a destabilizing force.

So � sure, it’s important to think about the implications of new technology prior to implementation. New technologies often result in unintended consequences.
- The internet was supposed to democratize knowledge. No one to my knowledge predicted it would proliferate bullshit instead.
- Social media was supposed to bring the world closer together. Instead it is destabilizing democracies and giving rise to totalitarianism around the world.
One should assume AI will result in similar negative outcomes, perhaps more so, given its sophistication.

Harari provides considerable insight into the technology, but I feel like he missed an important point. By focusing exclusively on the technology itself, he overlooks the responsibility of humans in the proliferation of disinformation. The fact that flat-earthers exist can’t solely be laid at the feet of the internet. Human gullibility, lack of critical thinking and good ‘ol fashion stupidity certainly play a significant role as well. More importantly, these can be remedied to a certain extent through education. Perhaps we wouldn’t have to worry so much about AI convincing people to do dumb things if people weren’t so dumb to begin with.

I can certainly understand that Harari doesn’t want to deliver the tough message that significant portions of the public are ignorant. But overlooking this fact isn’t going make things better. ]]> Review6902822300 Sat, 05 Apr 2025 11:00:04 -0700 /review/show/6902822300 Todd gave 4 stars to Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI (Hardcover) by Yuval Noah Harari
bookshelves: environment-science
Nexus, by Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari discusses the political and social implications of information systems and, more specifically, how artificial intelligence (AI) may pose significant challenges for humans as the technology improves and becomes ever more widespread. The purpose of the book is to spur a discussion of these issues now so that safeguards can be put into place to help ensure that AI is used to benefit humanity rather than become a destabilizing force.

So � sure, it’s important to think about the implications of new technology prior to implementation. New technologies often result in unintended consequences.
- The internet was supposed to democratize knowledge. No one to my knowledge predicted it would proliferate bullshit instead.
- Social media was supposed to bring the world closer together. Instead it is destabilizing democracies and giving rise to totalitarianism around the world.
One should assume AI will result in similar negative outcomes, perhaps more so, given its sophistication.

Harari provides considerable insight into the technology, but I feel like he missed an important point. By focusing exclusively on the technology itself, he overlooks the responsibility of humans in the proliferation of disinformation. The fact that flat-earthers exist can’t solely be laid at the feet of the internet. Human gullibility, lack of critical thinking and good ‘ol fashion stupidity certainly play a significant role as well. More importantly, these can be remedied to a certain extent through education. Perhaps we wouldn’t have to worry so much about AI convincing people to do dumb things if people weren’t so dumb to begin with.

I can certainly understand that Harari doesn’t want to deliver the tough message that significant portions of the public are ignorant. But overlooking this fact isn’t going make things better. ]]> ReadStatus9235651785 Wed, 26 Mar 2025 14:04:29 -0700 /review/show/7437666293 Todd started reading Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth by Bart D. Ehrman
]]> ReadStatus9151608907 Wed, 05 Mar 2025 16:52:15 -0800 /review/show/6902822300 Todd started reading Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Noah Harari
]]> Review7365189240 Wed, 05 Mar 2025 07:11:06 -0800 /review/show/7365189240 Todd gave 3 stars to The Body Has a Mind of Its Own: How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do (Almost) Everything Better by Sandra Blakeslee
The Body Has a Mind of Its Own provides an overview of how your body maps onto your brain. This is crucial for motor control, balance and the feedback we get from the world through our senses, though we rarely notice it since these actions take place almost entirely subconsciously. It's only when something goes wrong that their importance is revealed.

Though the book is a bit dated, it provides a decent overview of the science of body maps. I found the section related to dystonias particularly interesting. ]]> Review6902824285 Tue, 25 Feb 2025 10:58:23 -0800 /review/show/6902824285 Todd gave 3 stars to Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments (Harvest Original) by Alex Boese
Elephants on Acid is a moderately interesting summary of 'bizarre experiments' conducted in the name of science (some of them important, some ... not so much). I suppose they stand as a testament to human curiosity about the world, but I'm not sure it makes much difference to our species to know that mothers think their baby's poop smells better than that of a stranger. ]]> ReadStatus9099008723 Fri, 21 Feb 2025 08:10:49 -0800 /review/show/7342119267 Todd wants to read Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work by Paul Babiak
]]> Review7143893513 Thu, 23 Jan 2025 11:06:53 -0800 /review/show/7143893513 Todd gave 2 stars to The Kraken Wakes (Mass Market Paperback) by John Wyndham
bookshelves: fiction
I'd characterize The Kraken Wakes as a subpar effort by John Wyndham. What's more I found the book somewhat oppressive. ]]>