frustrat\ing books
nothing against individual authors.. i learned from reading from them.. and in assuming good, i’m imagining that they too want the world to be a better place. no doubt. frustrations are because they seem to model/perpetuate (because many read and hold them in esteem) all too clearly a societal epidemic.
[book images all link to amazon]
robert putnam’s bowling alone.. perhaps because from my perspective he’s juggling his definition of social capital so much. his assumptions of what civic engagement is too often bias his research/findings. ie: how to base a book/research on a civic engagement defined by how much people vote, if the voting process is part of the problem..
______________
eric schmidt’s new era…. perhaps because i expected someone of his vision/expertise – google – would see the web more clearly for what it is.. and its potential, rather than its doom. the book seemed a warning/recipe for fighting terrorism.. playing defense.. rather than ie: the offensive/positive starfish world
– – –
perhaps some explanation for this one:
http://wikileaks.org/google-is-not-what-it-seems/
_____________________
inquiry by stance and one other and willingham’s all frustrated me – like putnams.. in regard to assumptions made. ie: inquiry by stance is a great phrase.. but it was embedded in an assumed curriculum/agenda.
__________
i put Daniel Kahneman‘s thinking fast and slow in both places. i struggle/am frustrated with the vast amount of time/energy/smart people spent on studying how people react to money.. like money is a given to human nature..
_________
Moisés Naím‘s end of power. suggested by Mark Zuckerberg’s read list.. #1 on it in fact. quite a following.
we’re missing the center of the problem.. because we’re assuming man made constructs.
these three quotes capture my main frustrations.
yet the core promise of power – that it produces order – remains the heart of our consent.
to me it’s our manufactured consent.. that we need to be controlled/ordered.
[..]
Rethinking political parties, modernizing their recruiting methods, and retooling their organization and operations can boost their allure and make them more worthy of the trust of the societies they wish to govern.
this isn’t what we’re capable of today.. ie: systemic change is what we’re capable of …
[..]
it will not be top-down, orderly, or quick, the product of summits or meetings, but messy, sprawling, and in fits and starts. yet is ti inevitable. driven by the transformation in the acquisition, use, and retention of power, humanity must, and will, find new ways of governing itself.
on power – not so sure… but indeed – on the self-organizing ness
i guess that’s what i found most frustrating.. the end of power.. (sounded freeing).. seems to be an attempt to shift power (even though/if claims not)
_________
Reclaiming Conversation, Sherry Turkle – lots of good – esp on what good conversation is.. ie: on the groundhog day ness of it within community et al..
but frustrating in regard to 1\ misrepresenting/not-knowing capabilities of ie: texting; sm; uni/school ness.. 2\ gray research law… etc
_________
steven pinker‘s better angels.. nika‘s tweet expresses why:
Apparently, @sapinker banned me.
I must have criticized him. He probably bans everyone who disagrees, so he can live in a world that gets better every day! Poor @sapinker , “The Dawn of Everything” is going to ruin him! Should I feel compassion? https://t.co/sfTOmHSJ4u
Original Tweet: https://twitter.com/nikadubrovsky/status/1427601836811472911
I was much more enraged by his idiotic enthusiasm for maintaining the status quo, not only by himself turning a blind eye to the fact that the present is unbelievably cruel, 2/
but also by professionally convincing everyone that the world is getting kinder right before their eyes. That is why we should not change anything. 3/
_________
Causal Powers of Social Structure, Dave Elder-Vass – lots of great insight – esp on what we seem to be actually doing.. ie: letting past pressures form our beliefs.. and then so.. our days..
but frustrating because.. that’s the problem… and calling it voluntary compliance.. only perpetuates it.. we’re missing – science of people in schools ness.. and wilde not us law.. et al.. and so.. missing us..
___________
____________
Utopia for Realists, Rutger Bregman so close.. yet to me.. so many remaining/assumptions.. (ie: ubi.. it’s the measuring of transactions that’s killing us.. we have to disengage from money.. any form of m\a\p.. perhaps.. ubi as temp placebo..).. not to mention all his facts ness.. that seem pinker/mapfinder-ized whalespeak
____________
best part:
147
crowdsourcing creates intelligent machines, but not thru ai wizardry..intelligence derives from making use of the community..the advance here is not in intelligence in the conventional sense. it is in the power of connecting people
so let’s just focus on that.. ie: 2 convos
be\cause: hari addiction law.. opposite of addiction is connection
but too much put it on frustrating book list..
be\casue: based on too many ie’s/assumptions of man-made institutions – knowledge illusions (ie: money; production; measuring; et al)
_____________
so much good.. but also putting on frustrating book list.. thinking ie: approval econ et al.. is not going to cut a true alternative.. we gotta go .. no strings.. nothing to prove.. et al..
ie: hlb via 2 convos that io dance.. as the day..[aka: not part\ial.. for (blank)’s sake…].. a nother way
_____________
Tim O’Reilly‘s wtf .. we’re missing tech as it could be
_____________
George Monbiot‘s out of the wreckage .. same feel as wtf .. missing tech as it could be .. not going deep enough
_____________
Cathy Davidson‘s the new ed.. missing tech as it could be .. go deeper
wish we could talk
____________
Steven Johnson‘s wonderland.. great insight (the seeming premise that we need play and leisure is spot on).. but dangerous/frustrating book.. because it’s perpetuating the broken feedback loop.. of not us.. mostly by mis rep ing the ideas of play and leisure (which could get us to global equity).. with playing along and escape
maybe if more forthright on title.. (ie: how playing along made the modern world)..and more forthright on defn’s.. or.. if more forthright on modern world.. being sick/intoxicated/ineq
____________
Scale, Geoffrey West great insight (for me) on ie: solar as open system.. frustrating because (to me) basing writings on wrong fractal
_____________
Doughnut Economics, Kate Raworth.. great insight/visual.. of the problem.. ie: donut showing where sweet spot is.. (in hole for lacking personal resources.. beyond donuts for lacking planet resources).. but too much of suggested solutions are based on and assuming money/measure.. and too assuming it will take decades to change..
___________
New Power, Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms ..asks some good questions.. has some good insight.. frustrated that we can’t seem to imagine beyond money as os.. voting as infra.. et al
___________
Thinking in Systems, Dana Meadows ..great insight on systems.. esp loved meadows undisturbed law.. but didn’t seem to follow into other areas.. ie: tragedy of commons wasn’t an undisturbed system (which i think an authentic commons/commoning would be).. i see money/measure as disturbances.. and Dana didn’t seem to..
___________
Ted Dintersmith‘s what school could be.. the question needs to be what life could be.. he even has two chapters: 8 – doing (obsolete) things better and 9 – doing better things.. having supposed to‘s (aka: school.. no matter how nice) is obsolete.. doing better things.. entails letting go.. of the controls that have disturbed our ecosystem.. if we want to help oscar (everyone) .. that can’t be part\ial.. for (blank)’s sake…
___________
Factfulness by Hans Rosling.. love the man.. rip.. but too many #s describing humanity..what about first error (describing not us)..getting us to black science of people.. and what is fact.. ie: recorded death by war/disease .. non recorded death by suicide/homelessness/disease-of-heart.. (& non recorded homeless et al).. recent ie.. puerto rico’s 5000.. et al
___________
The Philosophical Baby, Alison Gopnik, great insight: young, frustrating: older missing science of people/whales ness aka: disturbance to ecosystem
___________
Andrew Yang, seems like a good heart.. but dang.. war on normal people.. way too frustrating of a read – ie: p 187
__________
Cathy O’Neil, weapons of math destruction.. ie: spot on many of the math myths/fobias.. et al.. using it as a control mech because most think they don’t/can’t understand and are too ashamed (or whatever) to admit so they just go along.. but not going deep enough on how tech could address our dilemma today.. not improve tests/evals/credit-scores.. rather.. help us to disengage from them all together.. judge\ing people.. is not ok.. it’s the poison we need to let go of
___________
Steven Johnson‘s farsighted.. mostly because it’s modeling the supposed to ness of school .. which is one of the major reasons we are stripped of our innate ability to decide things in the first place.. not to mention the decisions it requires/coerces us to assume are the essential decisions ie: if we just made one decision.. to set ourselves free.. judgement/money/war/policy/work/school .. would all become irrelevant
_____________
Community – the Structure of Belonging, Peter Block – great insight/heart.. but also frustrating..(ie: accountability ness.. inviting/forming ness of gatherings.. et al)
___________
The Gardener and The Carpenter, Alison Gopnik – mostly ch 4&5&6.. (rest frustrating ie: assumption of school et al while convincingly dissing it)
__________
Anand Giridharadas‘s winners take all – great insight.. but on this list because of ending.. ie: *‘its our job.. to make them do that, rather than working to weaken and destroy those institutions by thinking that we can effectuate change by ourself.. let’s start working to create the conditions to make those institutions better’ ..wondering if he meant to end with a solution that is fractal to the whole book.. dang.. it’s like it negates all the great insight into how we keep losing ourselves..
_________
On Violence, Hannah Arendt – also frustrating parts (racism)
__________
huge to attachment et al.. but found in rereading hold on to kids – a very frustrating read
__________
Clean & High, David Sheff, Nic Sheff (little frustrating on suggestions/measures – seeing a nother way)
_________
Age of Surveillance Capitalism, Shoshana Zuboff .. good first half ish.. then huge mix of frustrating..
___________
Behave, Robert Sapolsky.. good start.. learned word: ethology.. then mostly frustrating.. in my mind – not ethological.. but rather.. looking at whales in sea world
________
Econ of Cities – Jane Jacobs – mostly frustrating.. because so close to change we need.. (and so listened to).. but missing deeper problem.. so .. perpetuating the spinning of our wheels..
__________
holy cow.. world w/o work by daniel susskind may top the list.. ie: free us up to shackle us in diff way.. leisure policies et al
__________
Rutger Bregman‘s humankind – so close/brave.. but not enough.. part\ial is still cancer.. for (blank)’s sake..
__________
Tyson Yunkaporta’s sand talk – high recommend by ‘game b’ ers.. so was excited they were looking to indigenous ness.. but didn’t seem indigenous to me.. too much focus on knowledge and training (aka: people not being enough) ..
we won’t ‘save the world’ (subtitle) if we don’t org around the deeper needs/desires.. that 8b of us already have in us.. which ty even writes about.. the ‘already in us ness’.. but then had steps to getting to there.. ie: from ancestors.. learning techniques for remembering.. et al.. rather than creating conditions for us to see ‘what men and women would transform into outside of captivity’ (p 199) – we need to get us out of sea world first – otherwise.. we have no idea..
__________
kirkpatrick sale’s human scale revisited – so many assumptions (and even said in condescending ways if you didn’t buy in) about human scale.. ie: democracy, work, ed, and other nice-sounding subtitles that are actually just more of people telling people what to do
__________
sarah kendzior‘s hiding in plain sight was so revealing/touching/brave.. but the epilogue.. so very very frustrating.. just perpetuating what the book abhorred..
__________
larry crabb’s understanding people.. good in that i’ve not seen someone focus on two points before (his hollow core – for maté basic needs – even though i think he’s off on the 2nd one – authenticity over impact).. we have to go/get deep enough.. but so frustrating in that he then lays out all the guidelines/rules/assumptions/judgements.. that i thought he was saying aren’t the way to go.. at that aren’t deep enough
__________
james paul gee‘s what is a human – mostly because he’s describing/assuming whales in sea world (aka: not legit free human beings) through out the book.. he does hone in on ‘distinctiveness’ and ‘belonging’.. which is huge.. ie: maté basic needs (authenticity and attachment) as essence of human being.. and what we need to org/infra around.. if we want to set/keep us all legit free
__________
upon re readings.. michael hardt and antonio negri‘s declaration – esp around p 67 on intellect ness
__________
upon re reading.. david korten‘s change the story.. mostly because he didn’t
__________
3rd time around for steven johnson‘s emergence (book).. added page: emergence as whalespeak.. seeing his book/insight/verbiage/following.. and following-books (see above).. as why we keep perpetuating tragedy of the non common.. why we keep missing the adjacent possible.. because we keep cancer-ing organism as fractal.. we keep trying to machine us
__________
john dewey.. esp democracy and ed.. oi oi oi
__________
___________
__________
__________
be you. 