Welcome to the weekend,
I found some interesting links for this edition and I’m sharing a bit more of my thoughts than usual. Let’s get right into it.
This piece made the rounds of the “book loving” Internet, and I thought I’d quickly share my thoughts on it.
I don’t think Hanania is entirely wrong or right, but right and wrong on a few things. There are too many books, and most of them are not very good. Plenty of books could and should remain essays or articles. I also mostly agree with his theory that history books, culturally significant titles, and works of genius are usually worth reading in their entirety. It’s what I’ve based 90% of my own lifetime reading on, after all.
However, I take issue with the conflation of ‘wisdom’ with what he describes as ‘insight into modern issues,’ because wisdom deals with the deeper nature of humanity, not simply the surface level quandaries of daily life. Dismissing Aurelius or Aristotle because they weren’t well-versed in the scientific method entirely misses the point that each perceived tendencies of humans which had not previously been articulated. Humans have not meaningfully changed in the past 400 (or 2000) years – that is why wisdom gathered about human nature over the ages is still relevant. Humans remain the same selfish and gullible species they were when Aristotle represented the heights of human thought.
The larger point where I think Hanania goes astray is starting from the assumption that books are sheer sources of information, which they are not; and the idea that we simply take information and put it into our heads to store it, like a jar on a shelf, which has been shown false by numerous studies on learning and memory. The human brain is not a computer or a shelf, does not function like a computer or shelf, and we collectively, should stop with these comparisons. The books and literature worth reading are stories humanity passes along, something deeper and more human than mere information.
That said, the entire point of my monthly newsletter is to help folks navigate the ever-widening world of (mostly) non-fiction books, by recommending only those I consider worth my time and yours. The point is not reading just any book, but to read the best books on relevant topics and pass them along to likeminded people.
Upon breaking a 3,000 year old Egyptian vase.
“Uncle Sam wants you to donate books”. A quick look at how books were gathered and given to soldiers fighting in WWI.
A photogenic roundup of the most beautiful hikes in the world.
Since the emergence of the middle class, those with more money have continually pursued ways to signal they have more wealth than the guy down the street (or who lives a couple levels lower in the building). For centuries, this has been in the form of “Veblen goods”, whose namesake documented this trend; i.e., long, painted fingernails, hunting trophies, impractical footwear, and jewels – anything which shows the wealth of the wearer and creates social distance from the working-class. Today, this has arguably evolved into ‘stealth wealth’ which eschews labels, logos, and tell-tale signs of luxury. The subtlety signals wealth to those who know what to look for, but to everyone else, you just blend in. This piece looks at how that same idea applies to human vs AI language.
Currently reading: Stolen Focus by Johann Hari
Have a great weekend.
Image: Vienna, a View of the Church and Barracks in Mauer seen from Lange Gasse, by Carl Franz Michael Geyling. 1843. Austrian, 1814-1880.
