Favorite Books of 2010

I tore through many great books this year, however it should be noted that while I took a massive amount of written notes during my readings, most of the "reading" was done via audiobooks. I've found over the last few years that my brain is such that I can understand things much more clearly (especially philosophical and scientific concepts) through audio rather than via text on a page. Whether you agree that this is "reading" or not is up to you. Either way, these are the books I "read" this year.

Where Good Ideas Come From - Stephen Johnson

A few years back I borrowed Stephen Johnson's book Emergence from the library, and while it proved to be only a very broad introduction to the subject, I thoroughly enjoyed his writing style and the ease of his exposition. More importantly, the book was my gateway drug into popular nonfiction.

Where Good Ideas Come From continues this trend as a brief but succinct and accessible work concerning the nature of innovation in a time when we are in grave need of it, both in this country and around the world. Many of his positions rang true for me, especially those that made references to complexity researchers I'd studied in depth earlier this year. He refers to theoretical biologist Stuart Kauffman's concept of the "adjacent possible" in terms of how certain innovations and technologies succeed only because of the distinct timing and environment in which they manifest.

Johnson also emphasizes the importance of nurturing and cultivating good ideas by resting and allowing them to grow slowly within your mind (what he calls the "slow hunch") rather than to sit alone in a dark room, steadily smacking your head against your desk. The most important aspects of such innovations are the connections we are able to make between seemingly disparate realms and disciplines. However, the only way to make these connections is by giving our minds a break and allowing ideas to swim around freely and interact with one another. This is why so many people have Eureka moments while in the shower or on long strolls through the park. Johnson argues that these seemingly recreational wanderings are just as crucial as the active crunching of numbers and concepts we perform within our official "work" zones. Amen, brother.

How We Decide - Jonah Lehrer

I can't believe how young this guy is for a writer that is so engaging, intelligent, and relevant. How We Decide happened to come out this year just as I was finishing up the excellent Proust Was A Neuroscientist, so I was able roll very naturally into it, offering me great continuity from one book to the other (yes, read both!). In one thread of How We Decide, Jonah Lehrer focuses on the human mind's tendency towards pattern recognition, and how our mistakes while trying to discern patterns in within an ultimately random chain of events can often get us into trouble. Take the phenomenon of a "hot" basketball player or a "hot" table at a Casino, and how each seems much more intentioned and meaningful than it actually is. Or how credit cards are specifically designed to take the pain out of purchases for consumers. I no longer use credit cards for this exact reason!!!

By contrast, the book also goes into great detail concerning the importance of intuition in making decisions, how the failure to answer strong intuitive insights and the deference to over-rationalization can often lead us to our peril. Lehrer uses the example of Royal Navy Lt. Cmdr. Michael Riley in the Persian Gulf War, who singled out a suspect radar blip to be shot down, with the looming possibility that it might be a friendly plane. After hours of agony, it was finally determined that the blip that was shot down had in fact been an enemy silkworm missile, which, had it hit its target, would have cost many lives and could very well have destroyed the USS Missouri. As Riley is quoted in the book: "There was something strange about this radar blip. It didn't feel like an A-6 [aircraft]."

Lehrer's conclusion is that both rationality and intuition are fundamental aspects of the human brain, and that without either we simply wouldn't function properly. HWD offers the reader a new middle ground that bridges the gap between these two aspects, providing substantial evidence for this argument by way of detailed case studies. A fascinating read.

The 4-Hour Workweek - Timothy Ferriss

This book changed my life, as it has so many others. I think the most striking thing about it is its simplicity. As you're reading, it makes you feel like you already know the things the book is telling you, as if this is the second time reading it. The difference is that this time you actually might act on the suggestions listed, as opposed to making up some excuse for why you can't be a happier person. "Oh, I love my job- the activity keeps me motivated." Really? Organizing files, writing emails that no one ever reads, holding epic company meetings that don't go anywhere? This motivates you? Ferriss likes to call this "professional wheel-spinning." I know quite a few of these types of people- in fact I used to be one of them. You say you are trying to make things more efficient? How about substituting efficiency for effectiveness? But in order to do this, you have to be very honest with yourself- something that we just aren't used to doing in this day and age.

We are so adept at creating false barriers to our own happiness- it's almost like a rite of passage in the United States. Well not anymore. 21st Century America is a different world than the one in which our parents grew up, with a focus that is shifting away from excessive financial bravado and the frantic emphasis on the delay of death, to one that values quality of life, human relationships, new experiences, multiculturalism, and living in the present, whatever it is you happen to be doing. The parable of The Investment Banker and the Mexican Fisherman says it all.

The Malcolm Gladwell Trilogy - The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers

Yep, I read all three this year. Gladwell is a genius, plain and simple. He's managed to approach several complex subjects and explain them in language that's understandable, eloquent and interesting. I think the more outrageous the claims he tries to make, the more I like him (he compares smoking to teen suicide in The Tipping Point). If I had to pick, I have to say that I liked The Tipping Point best, with Outliers as a close second. If you were to skip any of them, I'd probably skip Blink, reading Jonah Lehrer's How We Decide instead (reviewed above), but if you love the subject matter as much as I do, then Blink is an integral part of the equation. Overall this trilogy was very rewarding reading experience. I highly recommend the consecutive consumption of all three!

Mindsight - Daniel J. Siegel

Mindsight is a thorough account of the use of Eastern-influenced mindfulness meditation in Western psychological treatment. It focuses a substantial amount of attention on the human brain's amazing plasticity, which enables us to physically change its structure far into our lives through new experiences and its proper maintenance. Before Dr. Siegel's and other case studies (see also Norman Doidge's The Brain that Changes Itself) it was assumed that as we age, our brains actually lose their plasticity, and that the organ eventually becomes a kind of a read-only hard disk drive that we are unable to modify and so are permanently stuck in our ways. Siegel (and others) have proven otherwise in a this colossal breakthrough, pushing forward the cultural understanding of human psychology, while exhibiting the benefits of integrating Eastern philosophy into our everyday lives. He also wrote the best definition of mind that I have heard as yet in my studies: "Mind is a process that regulates the flow of energy and information throughout the body.” YES!!!

Other Notable Books I Read This Year:

The Nature of Technology - W. Brian Arthur
Cognitive Surplus - Clay Shirky
The Great Reset - Richard Florida
The Grand Design - Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow
The Virtue of Selfishness - Ayn Rand
The Post-American World - Fareed Zakaria
On Intelligence - Jeff Hawkins
The Brain that Changes Itself - Norman Doidge