Boundless Reads #87— Five #goodreads to Start Your Week
Greetings from Taipei where I've kicked off a journey of nomadic life. I'll be writing more about my journey as I progress, but in the meantime, here are your weekly reads.
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#1 Second Brain: Since reading Moonwalking With Einstein (a great book about a journalist becoming a memory champion), I've been more aware of the fact that our memories have gotten worse with the increase of more information. Over the last year, I've been trying to do something about this, focusing on how I can learn better. Two things have dramatically helped. First, the online MOOC Learning How To Learn, and second, using Evernote.
This article from Tiago Forte on "Evernote and the Brain: Designing Creativity Workflows" brings together reflections on what enables us to learn and how to incorporate that into Evernote. He does it in a way that is simple and does not create an additional "to-do" in your life.
#2 Synthesizing Information: Building on the last topic, Derek Sivers has a great post on synthesizing books down to simple directives ("do this") which could be taken as a way to develop your own wisdom framework.
#3 On Thinking Clearly: This essay is a great combination of good storytelling about a guy named Vaclav Smil and five principles on how to think more clearly. My favorite: don't ignore reality:
"Ever since, he’s held models of all kinds in contempt. ‘I have too much respect for reality,’ he says.“
#4 Taipei Trash: In doing some digging about why I couldn't find a trash can yesterday, I stumbled upon this essay from Eugene Wei on the history of the decision to eliminate trash cans helped Taipei dramatically reduce trash despite not having many alleys (like New York City).
"[Taiwan was] producing 3,296 tonnes per day and recycling only 5% of it. Today, they have reduced that number by more than 2/3, of which they recycle an impressive 55%."
#5 Forgotten Jazz Star: This beautiful story of Hazel Scott, one of the most successful Jazz performers, actors and TV hosts was swept up in the "red scare" in the 1950s and never again regained prominence.
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