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comment by kleinbl00
kleinbl00  ·  3672 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: List yer favorite "Great Books" Hubski.

It's at the top of the list.

Confession - I've been pretty fucked up by this recently. I've read a bunch of cognitive psych books; How We Decide had some interesting stuff in it that sticks with you. A lot of it was kind of... out there, though. Nonetheless, it incorporated into my cosmology. Shit, some of it made it into the novel.

And now there's a flag on the play - shit's made up. How much of it? Who knows. Enough that Penguin pulped the book. So all those little anecdotes that make up my understanding of cognitive psych?

ALL under a cloud.

I probably should read this one next. I'm just feeling a little burned by pop psych at the moment.





user-inactivated  ·  3672 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Warning: flippant comment ahead.

    I've read a bunch of cognitive psych books;

    And now there's a flag on the play - shit's made up. How much of it? Who knows.

Perhaps we have found the hidden meaning of Jonah Lehrer's book.

kleinbl00  ·  3672 days ago  ·  link  ·  

There was a pretty good expose wherein Lehrer commented that he liked the rush of being read, while the author pointed out that for real journalists, the rush of being read without getting it right would be like a quarterback getting a Heisman trophy without playing football.

humanodon  ·  3672 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Uh-oh. Check out Kahneman's background-- as far as I've read, he's very well regarded in the field and has been for a long time.

kleinbl00  ·  3672 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Pretty sure he's the guy that taught Ariely. I downloaded it; in the goddamn preface I found two bits that Lehrer stole from him. Liking it already and I'm about an hour in.

humanodon  ·  3672 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I know you listen to a lot of audiobooks; did you get this one in audio too? I've never really done the audiobook so I wonder, do you find that it's as easy to retain the information as when you read? I'd imagine that it would take me some time to adjust.

kleinbl00  ·  3671 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Li'l secret - I retain information so well it's embarrassing. As in, has caused me chagrin at parties. People confuse it with intelligence. It's not.

Do I retain it as well as reading? Fair to say I do, but I had to think about it. I've read Rendezvous with Rama maybe three times; I've listened to it once. The experiences are comparable, except that reading I can do other shit at the same time (like set up 24TB worth of NAS).

I'm 1/6th through this book and I started yesterday. In the time it took me to ride my bike to AAA to pick up Aquarium tickets and drive into Hollywood and back, I've covered 4 hours of it. if I'd purchased it to read, I would have had to pick at it in the 10 minutes before I go to bed.

humanodon  ·  3671 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    Li'l secret - I retain information so well it's embarrassing. As in, has caused me chagrin at parties. People confuse it with intelligence. It's not.

I think I experience this kind of retention, though I don't think it's to the same degree. I think I have some idea of what you mean.

    if I'd purchased it to read, I would have had to pick at it in the 10 minutes before I go to bed.

This is what I'm doing. I've had it for a couple of weeks and I'm only on chapter 29. I downloaded Audible one time to get a copy of Samuel L. Jackson reading Go the F*k to Sleep. I think I'll give a bigger book a try next time around.

kleinbl00  ·  3671 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yeah, pick something better. They're worth it.