Category: Books

Read: Blink

Blink
Malcolm Gladwell; Penguin Group UK 2009

 

This is the second book I have read from Malcolm Gladwell, and in reading both Outliers and now Blink; I enjoy the direct fashion the author presents his subject matter. It is refreshing to read books that take a matter of hours to read and yet still leave me with a more introspection and analysis about the authors assertions.

In Blink, Gladwell discusses the importance of our initial judgements in any given situation and how we can refine and cultivate our initial thoughts into a tool for assisting our daily lives.   He also describes how our initial reactions and insight to a particular event can fail us, occasionally with disastrous consequences.

The book does a good job of leading the reader to understand their intuition is worth paying attention to and not discarding immediately.  It does so with enough warnings that the reader should walk away knowing that a understanding our initial reactions is key whether we can trust instinct in a particular moment.

Read: Outliers

Outliers
Malcolm Gladwell; Little, Brown and Co. 2008

 

The author present several background stories on several successful and famous people to demonstrate the argument success largely depends on people and circumstances assisting the central character of each story.

It is a very fast read and a good story for investigating the under-represented reasons behind the success of individuals comprising the stories.

Read Plan B v4.0

 

Lester Russell Brown; W.W. Norton 2009

 

Plan B is not to be read as an introductory guide to sustainability. This book is perhaps best read by an audience with at minimum a passing background in sustainable development, and renewable energy. Lester Brown’s book does provide a dearth of statistics and data as to why wind, solar, and Geo-thermal energy are necessary for our modern society.  Additional factors threatening our civilization are covered as well such as epidemics and over population.

Overall Plan B presents a wealth of statistical evidence for the change Lester Brown recommends. I unfortunately believe that it was likely better to read this book in its v1.0 iteration, as at that time most of these subjects would barely have been filtering into everyday conversation. Even with most of the data having been updated for the current versions, the overall argument for incredible change by 2020 seems too close in time to accomplish all the suggestions put forth.

I do recommend anyone interested in furthering their knowledge on changing our global dependence on coal, oil, and natural gas should read the latest version of this book. And for anyone else seeking to gain a detailed knowledge of potential sustainable advances for our civilization this is a great tool.