Drabble Geeks

Geeks…Being Total Geeks.

Tag: books

It’s Elementary

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I am usually not a big fan of disjointed narratives. I want my story to be laid out to not jump around because it doesn’t keep me engaged all that much, especially when narrators go on unnecessary tangents. In this book, I didn’t mind at all. The narrator goes on a tangent about Sherlock Holmes, but I was completely there for it. It was so in character that I found it adorable instead of annoying like I usually would. The curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon was just too adorable of a book not to want to recommend.

This story follows Christopher, an autistic young boy, as he goes on an adventure to figure out who killed his neighbor’s dog. Considering the author’s background and comments from other people with children on the spectrum, I would say that this is an accurate portrayal of a child on the spectrum that felt completely human instead of alien, like some writers fail to do. I was cheering along with the kid and didn’t mind his tangents because they built him more as a real person instead of a caricature. Do note that the chapters are not in standard numerical order. The book starts on chapter two, as Christopher loves prime numbers, and since this was written like a journal, it was very fitting. I would definitely pick this book up and give it a try.

Up in the Clouds

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There are many views of what happens after we die, and while we might argue about what happens, there is something we should all believe in common: that our life on Earth matters. While the book The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom does show a view of life after death, that is not the important part of the book. Instead, the lessons the story tries to get across in the most important thing.

While this book may argue that those lessons can be learned after death, I feel great lessons should be learned in life. Everything is connected in a way, and you do not really know the entire story are some of the lessons to be learned. Your religious views do not matter here but do come in with an open mind to what is being taught. There is a sequel that I plan on getting around to within the next couple of weeks, but I wonder what lessons await me.

Be Your Own Fairy Godmother

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To be completely transparent, I watched the movie based on this only about a dozen times and then found out that there was a book attached. There is very much fairytale element that, in ways, could have been a lot better, especially given the title. The Cinderella Pact by Sarah Strohmeyer tries really hard at being a fairytale but fails in a couple of ways.

The story follows a woman named Nola who has an alter-ego named Belinda, who everyone just loves. Unfortunately for Nola, “Belinda” wrote a magazine column on losing weight, so Nola’s friends make a pact to lose weight once and for all. The typical story happens where love is maybe found if only Nola would stop lying. This is one of the few cases where I feel prepared to say that the movie is better than the book. The movie “Lying to be Perfect” takes out all the things that were just annoying: counting Weight Watchers points, shaming other women for their appearance and perceive sexual activities, and uninteresting random characters that get inserted into the story for… reasons.

It’s a cute little story that you can get invested in but won’t really take anything away from it. It’s pretty much a feel-good story about a woman who struggled with her sense of self-worth. I still say watching the movie is better, though.

Finding the Weird in Everything

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Why do teachers cheat? Why do real estate agents not sell your house for the best price? Why did crime rates suddenly dive-bomb in the 90s? These questions and more can be answered in Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. By looking at things as an economist and having large data sets, you can answer practically any question out there. Just be prepared to get answers you were no expected to reach. What does economics have to do with this? It’s about money, right? Actually, economists try to figure out why people do what they do: their incentive to do something.

I found this book really fascinating and got me to think about things in ways that I never had before about sine situations. It sounds utterly absurd at times, but as the authors dive deep into things, it makes complete sense, and you wonder why you never thought about it before. One word of caution when reading this book: abortion is a topic in this book. The authors speak on this in a historical context do not take a side in the debate. If you feel especially strong on the issue, I suggest skipping those sections. It is not necessary for the entire book. From the chapter titles, you can probably figure out where it is discussed.

Finishing the Rat Race

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Since it is still the beginning of the year, and I am still convinced that I need to be a better me, I have found another book on habits that I sat down and read. The thing that I really enjoyed about this book was the varying narratives that were found throughout. If you want exciting ways to look at habits, I would suggest The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg.

What I enjoy from reading this was both the personal aspects of habit-making and breaking and how businesses can use that information against us. One example is how Target can say if you are pregnant or not. The data behind that crazy story is revealed in this book. How did Febreze take over the world of cleaning supplies? That answer is here as well. By working through the various cues in our lives, we can figure out how to find the best places and get into new habits and weed out the bad. The stories are attention-grabbing and fascinating reads on how patterns make up our entire world, whether we realized it or not.

Along that Yellow Brick Road

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I decided that I needed a break from all of the heavy reading. I decided to go with a classic, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Like most movie remakes of books, the book had a lot more going on that could not fit into a feature length film. The movie also wholly misunderstands Oz as a country, and the book has a lot more blood in it.

Let me begin by saying that Oz isn’t a dream world. It’s a real place where multiple types of these supernatural creatures reside. Also, Dorothy is not a grown woman. In fact, I would say that she is no more than ten. For the most part, forget everything you know about the land of Oz from the movie because it’s completely wrong. The ruby slippers aren’t even ruby; they’re silver.

Now, there are 15 books in the Wizard of Oz series. I counted. I plan on going through every book in giving my thoughts on it and see how the world revolves as it goes on. I know that there a couple more movies out there that take place and Oz, and I want to see how those fit into the storyline. I have watched a Disney version based on the fourth book, and so far, that seems to be the most accurate to the series. I can’t wait to see what I’ve been missing by only watching one movie.

Bad, Science!

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As we look toward the future, we must also look to that past to make sure that we do no back the same mistakes, especially when we talk about it from an ethical perspective. We do not want to cause harm, but we also want people to understand what we are saying as scientists, or at least that is what I was always told. Then I bumbled my way into reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

This is one of the stories of science going wrong. As someone involved in science, I believe that these are things that must be discussed to not happen again. The story starts with how the first-ever human cell line was discovered and then is a train wreck from there. This book goes into the African American population’s distrust of the health care system, which stems from racism and lack of science literacy. It takes this abstract idea that most people have about the ethics behind science and then makes it much more real by adding a face. If you are interested in science in any way, I would consider this a must-read. We have to learn from the past mistakes to make significant innovations in the future.

Two Sides of the Same Coin

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I feel pretty comfortable saying that this past month has been crazy, specifically in the United States, and fraught with tension. Whenever I’m confused about things, I try to turn to books because what else is there to do. I turned to social psychology to maybe explain some things to me. That lead to me reading The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil by Philip Zimbardo. If this name sounds familiar, he was the principal investigator of the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment.

This book goes through every step of the prison experiment from opening day to when Zimbardo was convinced to close the doors. Not only this, Zimbardo discusses every step in the slow descent of his guards and prisoners in playing their roles. It also walked through the real-world example of abuses in American prisons across the world built for the War on Terror. Instead of just blaming the “bad apples,” this book accuses the barrel those “apples” are found in, blaming the system that sets the rules in place and gives no actual oversight. In other words, this book does a great job of explaining what is going on in today’s world and how to prevent oneself from being brainwashed by these systems. But before reading, I must warn you of trigger warnings, and I must say every single trigger warning imaginable. If you get offended by anything, this might not be the book for you, no matter how important I feel reading it is.

Why You Do What You Do

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Want to know why you do something eagerly but drag your feet on other things? It’s because you have specific motivation themes that guide what you do. In fact, everyone has 27 different themes of motivation in a particular order. To find out all about yours, I suggest reading The Motivation Code: Discover the Hidden Forces That Drive Your Best Work by Todd Henry after taking the assessment. The assessment is completely free, and it will tell you your top three themes in order. This assessment will take about 30 minutes to complete, so be prepared to take the time to fill it out. After that, you can pay for a more in-depth analysis of your results and all your themes in order. I am also thinking about making a small “cheat sheet” for those who do not want to read the entire book with each theme’s main takeaways.

Going to read this book, I had no clue what the book would tell me, which I feel is the best way to read this book. After finding my motivation themes, I felt ultimately attacked. Besides telling you just how you work under your motivation theme, it suggests ways of working with other motivation themes and giving both sides of the coin. This is an excellent resource for just a personal assessment or figuring out ways to get the most out of your team. The information is expansive and very useful, no matter what you do.

Because You’re Always On That Phone

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In continuing to be somewhat helpful in keeping to your New Year Resolution, I would suggest reading Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport. If you read my reflection on my first semester in grad school, you’ll know that I was not the biggest fan of his writing style because it came across as elitist. This go around, there are inserts from a lot of different everyday people, which I appreciated. It was easier to connect with Newport as a reader.

Why am I suggesting this book? Unfortunately, if we spend a lot of time mindlessly scrolling through our phones, we will not get the things we want to get done. It isn’t that surprising when social media companies engineer their platforms to be as addicting as possible. I have, in fact, implemented some of Newport’s techniques. Other than messaging applications, I have taken all social media off of my phone. No Facebook, no Twitter, no Reddit. The only way I can get on these websites, per my rules, is on my personal computer. When there are times where I don’t need to be on my phone, I usually put it away (such as waiting in grocery lines) and put it on “Do Not Disturb” and get to work. The only time that I get on my phone during that time is to take photos of something or change whatever I’m listening to on Spotify. The one thing that keeps me from completely separating myself from my phone a lot of the time is mobile games. I have this thing with merging and idle games for whatever reason. I love them. I’m currently trying to choose between my favorites and only keeping those on my phone. It’s taking a bit, but I’m doing it.

If you have any tips for staying off your phone at different times, I would appreciate reading them, and I’m sure others would as well.