Category: Compendium

Weekly Compendium (5.3.20)

What I’ve Been Reading Does Dystopian Fiction Increase Real Life Violence? Aeon This article explores the possibility that the recent popularity of dystopian fiction may increase our tolerance for violence in the real world. The authors conducted a series of experiments to determine if exposure to films such as Hunger Games affected how the participants viewed real-world situations. “What we found was striking. Even though they were fictional, the dystopian narratives affected subjects in a profound way, recalibrating their moral compasses.” It was an interesting read and brought up a number of questions. If this research demonstrates the impact of…

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Weekly Compendium (4.26.20)

What I’ve Been Reading The Act of Creation, Arthur KoestlerI discovered this book by reading an article on creativity. It is a great summary of Arthur Koestler’s work. I enjoyed the article so much I decided to dive into the full book, which is available for free online here. This tome is definitely not casual reading, I find myself having to read it in small chunks in order to absorb it. The work itself is divided into two books, one for the general audience, and the second for a more scientific audience. But even the first book can be quite…

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Weekly Compendium (4.19.20)

What I’ve Been Reading Tribes, by Seth GodinWhile I’ve been aware of Seth Godin for quite a few years, I only read his work recently. Late last year I read The Dip and then this past month Tribes. I struggled a little with his writing style and formatting, it seemed like a random collection of ideas. Each section might be a paragraph to a page long and do not connect together very much. While this makes it highly accessible, it also felt too broad. There were a few ideas that I wish he had spent more time exploring. But overall,…

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