Blink

I read Blink over break. It dealt with different aspects of rapid cognition. One interesting idea in the book is the idea that tall people have a distinct advantage in becoming a leader in society. Americans have an unconscious preference for tall people in leadership roles. I also felt this push throughout my life to become a leader in several areas of my young life. Being a tall child, I now more clearly understand this urging to put me in leader roles.
I can also use an idea toward the end of the book for my Sociology project. The idea of being temporarily autistic due to a high heart rate will be useful in my report on sports.

I enjoyed this project because it got me to read more than I would have without the project. I believe I have exhibit a behavioral change due to this project. I will not continue to blog, but I will definitely continue read, primarily about Sociology and Psychology. I read a tad more than I expected during this project.

TOTAL READING TIME: 90 hr.

Page: Complete 263 Pages

What The Dog Saw: Conclusion

The rest of the book had a couple interesting articles, as well as a few average articles. The article on the homeless people reminded me of the global warming chapter in Super Freakonomics. It restated the idea that we often look for the more complex and expensive solutions to our problems when simpler solutions would suffice quite well. The other article I enjoyed was the article on choking v. panicking. Choking is thinking too much, panicking is thinking too little.
Goal: Read most of Blink over break.

TOTAL READING TIME: 80 hr.

Page: Complete 410 Pages

What The Dog Saw

I read through the first of three sections he has in his book. The first article about the kitchen inventor was pretty boring. The ketchup article was interesting. I learned that ketchup caters to all of the taste receptors on the tongue. I do love ketchup. The third article about the smart investor who didn't take chances was nothing extraordinary. The one about hair color was also a bit of a snoozer. The last two were the most interesting. The article about the Pill was intriguing since the primary inventor was a devout Catholic. When I think of the Pill, I think of loose college women who use it as a prevention to pregnancy while having multiple sexual partners. I don't think of Catholics using the Pill to help with their "rhythm" method. The article also talks about the new health benefits of the Pill. I can see how it is a controversial topic in our church because it's common sense that the main reason people take the Pill is not to ensure reduced chances of getting cancer. It was a thought-provoking section. The last article was about "The Dog Whisperer". I've seen the show, and I've also seen parodies of the show = both enjoyable. The idea of body language and "phrasing" is an interesting topic to me. Good stuff.

TOTAL READING TIME: 73 hr.

Page: 149

The Tipping Point

I enjoyed reading this book. It dealt with three fairly simple factors responsible for starting epidemics: The Law of the Few, Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context. In the chapter on stickiness, Gladwell mentions an experiment done in which students were given pamphlets on tetanus shots in which it was most effective, or "sticky", to give directions along with fear inducing pictures. This experiment was also mentioned in The Social Animal in the chapter on persuasion. His conclusion was that persuasion is most effective with specific directions along with fear. This conclusion can be explain by Gladwell's stickiness explanation. Another experiment cited by Gladwell was the experiment in which a prison is simulated in a basement to see how volunteers would act in the environment. This experiment was also talked about in The Social Animal as well.

Gladwell brings up the idea that humans can, on average, retain up to about six or seven (7-number of God, coincidence? I think not) things in a certain area of information at a time, such as phone numbers, tones, or sizes of dots. I thought of Outliers, in which it talks about Asians being able to remember numbers and add better than Americans because of the shortness of their numbers in the system.

TOTAL READING TIME: 67 hr.

Page: Complete 259 Pages

I Am America (And So Can You!)

Just got done reading this book, which I borrowed from the lovely, baby-face, Josh Trapp (hold your applause til the end. Thank You). It was written by Stephen Colbert. It was a funny and entertaining book; twas a fun and humorous read. The book is just a long segment of his TV series, along with all the commentary on his own writing in the margins, expressing viewpoints along the lines of an extreme conservative, Christian Republican.

TOTAL READING TIME: 59 hr.

Page: Complete 223 Pages

Last Words: Conclusion

The class this book most relates to is probably Religion due to the fact that Carlin has a specific routine called "There Is No God". In his routine, he points out that religion is one of the biggest scams of all time. To a point there is some truth to this. I believe the Bible to be completely true, but the steps certain churches take to get money to do things irrelevant to spreading the Word is ridiculous. This is not limited to the Christian churches. Some churches get so far and extreme that they provide comics like George Carlin reasons to question the sincerity and truth of that religion. Ironically, he grew up a Catholic, a church that is founded on irrelevant relics and works that are ridiculous.

TOTAL READING TIME: 52 hr.

Page: Complete 293 pages

Last Words

I've read to the point in his life when he is a very famous comedian on several well known variety shows like The Ed Sullivan Show. The only problem is that he is completely sick and tied of the superficial and utterly fake behavior of everyone that he deals with on these shows. He doesn't want to have staged conversations with people during the show to give the appearance of friendship with someone he doesn't even like. Along with this problem, his wife has started drinking because of his extended absences, just as their child is under three years old. In his own words, "I was on a treadmill to nowhere. Without a clue how to get off."

This story so far had me thinking how George Carlin was going to change comedy. He is known for being edgy on politics and what not without having any inhibitions on what he said. At the point in the book I am in, he is in the middle of a pleasant, pleasing routine to make his money: selling-out. After the chapter I just read, I felt a change in the winds, directing his path in a new direction. So the song I thought of was "Wind of Change" by The Scorpions (great song and band). Enjoy


http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=0yQeSKa4RsU&pop_ads=0


TOTAL READING TIME: 48 hr.


Page: 137