meta learning

Books of June

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enter site The Swedish Presidency of the EU came to a grand finale this month, with lots of work, controversies, trips abroad and high level meetings and summits – and a bizzare episode which saw me taking a whizz in a small bathroom while the Swedish prime minister was brushing his teeth over the sink next to me. Such are the vagaries of life as an interpreter, I suppose.

None of it distracted me from my reading, however. Four books made it onto my list this month:

watch Bad Science (Goldacre) – an eye opener on the shortcomings of media, Big Pharma, snake oil merchants and others with regard to how scientific data is used and abused. (4.5/5)

get link Dollars and Sense (Ariely) – on money management. I honestly cannot remember a single thing that this book taught me. The title is probably the best thing about it. (2/5)

https://www.marineetstamp.com/pzw12i7ol The Art of Learning (Waitzkin) – an autobiography more than anything, it charters the author’s path from chess wunderkind to martial arts champion. Some interesting insights into meta learning. (3.5/5)

go Pathogenesis (Kennedy) – This was gifted to me, and I loved it! How germs have shaped the course of history. Insightful, surprising, learned and easy to read – everything a book should be! (5/5)

And now, finally, holidays! Time to do some serious reading…! 😄

Books of May

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Well, it’s the first of June, and it feels like summer has been here for weeks already. I keep trying for four books per month in order to get one read every week, and I don’t quite manage every month, but this time I did. Hopefully long, light June evenings on the terrace will help me improve, but for now, here are the titles I read last month:

https://www.brigantesenglishwalks.com/72vglm5qzlm Poltava (Englund) – the first book I’ve read in Swedish for a while, and what magnificent Swedish! It describes the destruction of the Carolinian army in Ukraine in gory detail, but also provides a look at the psyche of people back in early 1700’s, and how foot soldiers can be made to make the ultimate sacrifice for little or no reason. Seemed topical. follow site 4.5/5

go here Under the skin (Villarosa) – a harrowing, unflinching look at what it means to be Black/Brown in the US, specifically in regard to health care, and with special attention to the compounding effects of intersectionality. Not an easy read. I knew it was bad, but not that bad. click 4/5

https://geolatinas.org/woog7vv0an0 A Thousand Brains (Hawkins) – an interesting insight into the brain and how it functions, this also offers an exposé of what intelligence is, and what it can mean for our species. Fittingly, it’s thought-provoking. click 4.5/5

https://www.mreavoice.org/r04gtossj1c Learning in the zone (Magana) – this book purports to describe habits of meta learning. It does not. This is the worst jumble of pseudo-scientific goobledigook I have ever had the bad luck of encountering. Awash with cryptically contorted nonsense-statements and with precious little on offer in terms of actual advice, this book serves one purpose only: providing a zero on the scale on which to measure good books. enter site 0/5