Meditations & Observations: MY TOP 3 BOOKS OF 2018, review and recommendation.
2018 is now in rearview, as time moves in one direction, our memory of it will move in the other. I find it useful to review and codify the knowledge accumulated.
Many people have begun to ask me a similar question. A simple request of knowledge. I am humbled people would consider me for this, but due to the amount of times I am being asked, and repeating conversations, I am going to automate my response and conversations in this reviews and recommendations edition of M&O (meditations & observations- the name of the essay series).
TLDR : (click on titles for amazon links)
- The Evolution of Everything. — Matt Ridley
- The lessons of history. — Will & Ariel Durant.
- Finite and infinite games — James P. Carse.
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For reasons why I chose these three, read on.
Evolution of Everything
- The main “quake” book i read in 2018 was the evolution of everything, since reading it, it has been on my list for top recommendations. Often it’s my go to recommendation.
- It takes the whole notion of one mental model and expands it and extrapolates it.
- It stress tests this mental model to its extreme.
- In this case he takes the notion of darwinism and expands this notion of bottom up emergence and applies to almost everything he can think of.
- He does admit, that there will be areas where it fails to fit and i agree, this doesn’t apply to everything he tries to talk about. But nonetheless it really did change my mind.
Although he tackles many subjects through this lens, he also tackles in depth and very deep application the notion of evolution, which evolution which can then be used to explained complex systems like markets, human behaviour and innovation via emergence.
The lessons of History.
- The other book is a 100 page book by Will Durant and Ariel Durant.
- It goes through history, breezes through it, and it tries to condense and codify the lessons and knowledge gained.
- Some books like this are growth hacks, as they provide axioms that are time tested to be used in your own life.
- Fast knowledge gain and high density.
An even more abbreviated version in the form of a quote thread https://twitter.com/GRITCULT/status/1016638666725261312
“the only real revolutionaries are philosophers and saints”
- Will & Ariel Durant. -
Finite and infinite games.
- It’s more philosophical, written by a old priest, the book aims, and i think does well to change how you view the world.
- The new and burgeoning field of game theory is applied in this view. And carson brings in the notion of infinity games and infinite players, the book becomes almost a religious and transcendental piece of work.
- You may start to view life in a more optimistic and holistic way.
- It allowed me to enjoy my trolling in a playful way.
Even more abbreviated version in the form of a quote thread
https://twitter.com/GRITCULT/status/1033295905246654464
Three books, quality over quantity,
- Living in world of abundance — you dont want lists that go on forever.
- High k selection
- I select and prune my library so that it can last, be handed down to my descendants. Curation as creation, the combination of works as a meta work.
I have not being able to stop thinking about them.
- I have recommended all throughout the year after i had read em
- One on purpose
- I am thoroughly interested in biology
- One by chance
- I leave myself open to opportunity
- Keep plans themselves agile
- One by osmosis,
- So many people around me were playing infinite games.
I am only going to recommend these three books, because of their idea density. This means each page in the book will teach you something, they have high usable content to word amount, there is nothing wasted. If you hate fluff these three books, or rather these three collections of essays are great place to start. Of course they are not as nuanced as could be but that is not the aim of these books, they will touch over many subjects and areas and show you underlying mental models that guide both of them
All of these books are concerned with history and evolution. And there is a common theme between the books, that is that they both have picked out that the common denominator is humans, or a better word to explain many phenomena is biology. And what the key stone of biology is, is evolution. The other, infinite games builds on the homo ludo hypothesis, that humans evolved to play, to play games, with the burgeoning interest in how game theory can be applied to human behaviour it is a light introduction to some heavier concepts.
They are high impact quake books.
Books as art
- Books : crafted and refined, to be enjoyed, art = mirror, they help you see through a lens.
- I think art and enjoyment of art, one should cultivate, and become cultured about
- One thing I regret in this list is fiction, a mistake i will hope to rectify this year, but i do not feel i am not at a level i can put aside my learning as of yet, for that line of work, fiction, i focus on film, my first passion.
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