Money: The Unauthorized Biography by Felix Martin
Mar 19, 2016, 10:34p - Book Notes - Economics
It has been a very long time since I last wrote a Book Notes entry (in fact, the last one was in 2007). During PhD grad school (2007-2015), I didn't write any Book Notes because I barely read books, as journal articles fully absorbed my attention. Now that grad school is finished, we've finished our move from Boston to Oakland, ... more »
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Ramaswamy
- Aug 29, 2017, 9:52p
Very detailed notes. Very helpful for me as I was writing the review of the book for my blog investments.manofallseaso s.com
Thank you
Ram
yt
- Mar 22, 2019, 10:48p
thank you so much for the notes!
helps a lot with my essay.
Kirk Carlson
- Aug 17, 2023, 10:52a
I skim through a portion of. It in a few areas. I guess that makes sense in my head. Definitely want to sit down and read through it all. Life has a wave. I don't know, setting the. Tone. I like the idea of continuing talks with you. Definitely like the idea of writing in my future rather than digging ditches and being dependent on other people. I also hope that i'm not crazy in making this statement. I will get to reading this in the next few hours and get back to you. But I'm really hoping that just in what I saw is that we continue talking for a while and eventually I continue to write and somewhere along the way. I've got a whole lot of money. That's gonna be coming in and taking care of my family. And everything, so. I know a whole lot of money can mean a lot of different things to a lot of people Thanks to a lot of different people, but if I'm right and you've been following me, then you know how I live and what money I'm used to. Forgive me for not editing voice. Recording
Kirk
- Aug 17, 2023, 3:07p
I never looked at it that way.I always looked at it like the government was bailing out these companies and we are all struggling and I guess I never thought about how much they print money to protect economy as a whole and how larger companies are in the position to spread it or at least keep people employed. I might need to read that again.
Where the Wasteland Ends
May 30, 2007, 12:53p - Book Notes
This Cinco de Mayo, as I sat in a church watching my cousin get married, I decided to start believing in God. Yes, I know, that sounds crazy and (more damningly) foolish. How can you just wake up one morning after 15 years of atheism and just decide to start believing in God?! I don't consider myself born-again, nor did ... more »
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omar
- May 30, 2007, 2:51p
i'll come back to the book notes when i have more time. but let me hit up your post.
i feel like you're going to have trouble with god belief if you view this as an experiment -- it's more of an experience. you're testing the waters? but as you said, you're not really testing, you've dived right in. but have you? can you really do that?
let me tell a small story. today, on the bart, i realized that i should just give some money to someone who's begging me for money.. why? well, i can give a little bit, and furthermore, i really believe that after so much rejection (since almost no one gives money) a ray of hope is available when someone stops and says "sure, hopefully this will help you." and tosses over some loot. i've been in situations where no one is listening to me, and that small recognition helps so much.
so, i'm thinking to myself, i'm going to do this. next time someone asks, i'll give them some money. not so hard.
i go outside the berkeley bart and start to walk towards campus. the crazy guy who is always on the corner doesn't seem to be there. but wait.. there he is, jumping into my frame of reference and i... i keep going.
i didn't give him anything. where's my fortitude?
you don't just start to believe in something. you slowly rework your mind into a different frame of reference.
finally, i have no idea what you mean by this:
"Because only through stories do we truly understand."
that's a new age statement.. pretty vacuous!
Grant
- May 30, 2007, 9:10p
"Because only through stories do we truly understand." is not new age at all. The Judeo-Christian tradition is rooted in this. The most famous books of the Old and the New Testment (the Pentateuch and the Gospels respectively) are mostly narratives.
nikhil
- May 30, 2007, 10:24p
omar: agreed - believing in god is an experience, 100%. but framing it as an "experiment" reassures my former self tremendously. it will take time, and i'm swimming in slowly, but the process is progressing.
Your comment just proved the truth of the assertion, "Because only through stories do we truly understand." To explain your position, you told a story about panhandling. And I understood your point better than I would have without the story.
So not vacuous at all!
omar
- May 30, 2007, 11:45p
i don't think we understand through stories.. i think we make hypotheses through stories and try them out in our real life. maybe this is just semantics.. but people think you can pick up a book and "get" something.. and that's just not the case in general. you have to experience. "because only through experience do we truly understand" is the better quote, in my mind.
i think this is an important difference. people read the religious books and they are like "yeah that's the stuff" but my own feeling is that story is a poor substitute for experience. sure, we can't experience everything, but that doesn't mean stories are at all adequate replacements.
Matthew
- Jun 5, 2007, 12:40a
Hey, if there is no reality why not just jump off a cliff? It's about the same as what you are proposing (irrationalism) except it's a rare example of being more functional.
People believe in science because it works. Well, jump then. If you have second thoughts, maybe there is something more important than words like subjective, consciousness, machine, soul, spirit, voodoo, angel, god, demon, etc.
nikhil
- Jun 5, 2007, 10:18a
Hi Matthew,
Thanks for the comment.
I think I may have done a poor job of explaining my thoughts. Let me try again.
My contention is this: perhaps subjective reality is no more or less "real" than standard objective reality (some call *consensus* reality, since we can't really remove our subjective frames to be truly objective). I guess this is a strongly dualist notion, one that many scientists seem to have rejected. I'm not advocating irrationalism, nor am I advocating that the objective world is less "real" than the subjective world, and so doesn't matter.
More importantly, note an implicit assumption that you're making: that the physical world is purely an objective world. It's possible that the physical world comprises and enables both objective reality and subjective reality. In other words, I don't want to jump off a cliff because, not only will I lose access to objective reality, I'll lose access to the subjective one too (if my brain stops functioning). This is still a materialist perspective, but one that says that the material of the physical world gives rise to 2 realities, not just one. I think this is actually a pretty reasonable take, given that all of us seem to have such a strong sense of "I", of the truth of our own subjective experience. Further, it's possible that subjective reality has its own properties, which our imprecise use of language calls souls, spirits, gods, etc. And maybe there are other ways, asides from the brain, that subjective reality is able to affect objective reality?
I agree, science *works*, which is why it is so damn appealing. It's the foundation of much of our economic well-being, and it's able to do a lot of social good by inventing new technologies to resolve stagnating social conflict. I'm not advocating anti-science, just a more *open* perspective that recognizes how little we truly know and proposes that perhaps the subjective experience which seems so real actually is.
Of course, these ideas could be totally wrong (and likely are, like most ideas), but I don't think this perspective is irrational nor cynical of the objective world.
Matthew
- Jun 6, 2007, 12:41a
1. maybe we can't really get at the truth.
2. maybe x is true.
If you lose access to both maybe its because they are the same thing. Wait, yeah I am really sure they are. Because you cannot know "objectively" without existence and you cannot have experience without existence. Agh the allure...
One problem however. If the material world gives rise to two realities what does this mean? If by two realities you mean the objective world (roughly science and rationality) and subjective (religion and experience). It turns out a lot of what the religionists say have been tested and its wrong. Perhaps you mean another universe, not just another reality. Well, if their are other universes seperate from this one, they are found through subjective experience and have truth value...
Wow!
How can I get a ticket? Don't you just mean your imagination is real? I don't see anything wrong with this perspective at all; their are true statements about what you imagine. You just can't apply them to stuff like jumping off cliffs. If you have something else in mind, some other way of applying this dualism...
Let me know!
Matthew
- Jun 6, 2007, 12:44a
Just a clarification when i said this:
"If you lose access to both maybe its because they are the same thing."
I am referring to the dualist objective/subjective split in reference to what is knowable. As to assumption of the objective I do not mean absolute knowledge or certainty. That should help lots.
Matthew
- Jun 6, 2007, 11:50p
Another clarification. I don't see anything wrong with saying subjective experience is real. I remember reading somewhere how it's "bad" to think we can directly discern reality. Well, we can directly know subjective reality, not merely see differences between that old map/territory. In a sense, we are the territory. But, I don't see how this is going to let me live forever or solve the aids problem. Besides aren't you supposed to be an engineer?! Agh, but the notion of being two realities. Why just two? It's nonsense to say their are two different truths that are equally valid. Either my imagination is a good way to engineer the traits of two different species together or it isn't. Example: frog and deer dna spliced together.
Surely you mean something else?
nikhil
- Jun 7, 2007, 11:19a
Thanks for the further comments and the good points. This type of conversation is exactly what I was hoping to see on my blog.
OK, where to start... I have a lot to say, so I've bulleted my points.
- You talk about how religion has been proved wrong time and again. Clearly this is true, but what I think you may be missing is that the literal interpretation of religious mythology is not the correct one. These mythologies are simply stories meant to communicate a point. Many are inspired by true events (I'm pretty sure Jesus and the Buddha existed) and many aren't. But that's not the point. Objective truth is not what matters in religious, subjective experience. What matters is communicating an idea (which exists in the subjective world) in the most persuasive way possible, communicating it as Truth.
- Of course, science is not infallible either - it turns out that a lot of what science has claimed has turned out to be wrong. Though we still have a sense progress, which is true. We're making progress in understanding the objective world via science.
- What does a scientific theory of consciousness even look like? I'm hoping to study the neural correlates of consciousness in neuro grad school, but honestly, I don't have a good idea. Can you even conceptualize what a scientific explanation of consciusness would even remotely look like? If you can, do tell :) Nagel sums this up most clearly in his famous "What is it like to be a bat?" -> http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/nagel_nice.html
- Perhaps understanding consciousness is beyond our comprehension - but if something is beyond our comprehension, is it even possible to recognize this and move on? Or are things that are truly beyond our comprehension also beyond knowing that they are beyond our comprehension? There are likely topics in both categories, and how consciousness "works" may be in one of them. A conscious appreciation of a play is beyond my dog Zoe, beyond both her ability to understand and beyond her ability to recognize that there even is something *there* to be understood.
- On the map/territory distinction: I think our subjective experience is still just a small exploration of what exists in subjective reality - our individual experiences aren't independent realities, but access a single shared reality, the world of concepts, ideas, beliefs, emotions. So, in a sense, each of our subjective experiences is just a small square on the map - all of our maps overlap somewhat to produce something larger, yet there is territory that is not currently mapped by any one that exists beyond the union of all subjective experiences. As time progresses, more of that "no man's land" is explored by subjective experience. Also, each individual likely contains in their own experience territory that no one else has access to.
- If there is a strong connection between the subjective and the objective, it's possible that AIDS and dying could be resolved through subjective means. Here's how. There is an infinite expanse of possible actions and movements for each person, yet we each have a profound sense of free will. Free will could be a delusion, but it could also be the point at which the subjective connects to the objective. God could be the motive force that can guide our wills, guiding us to decide to do experiment X instead of experiment Y. If experiment X leads to an insight in AIDS treatment, where did that insight come from? Did it come from the objective world, or the subjective one? In this story, it clearly came from the subjective. I think an influence in this way is possible, perhaps even probable. The real question is, how can we distinguish between these 2 methods of action, the first being a subjective motive force and the second being an objective result of cause and effect?
- Engineer I am :) Software, hardware, products, and services build can I. But how is it that I can even do that? How is it that I even choose which projects to work on? Where do my preferences come from? Why do I feel so distant from the objective world of cause and effect in the creative process of engineering?
- I don't know why there are only 2 realities. Maybe there are more, but I don't know. 2 realities is what I've experienced, that's all.
Looking forward to your response.
random-reader
- May 29, 2009, 5:44a
Let me thank you profusely for breaking Roszak down for me. His writing style is too flowery for my tastes and so I find it rather difficult to digest his work. You've done a great job at helping me understand him better :) Thanks lots!
p.s. You've got a beautiful writing style; this is such an eloquent piece!
Top 11 Books
Jan 10, 2007, 11:52p - Book Notes
A few people have asked me for book recommendations, so here goes (in no particular order):
• The Greening of America - my notes
• Your Money or Your Life - taught me how to know when I had enough money
• A People's History of the United States - must read to get a truer understanding of United States ... more »
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Buzz
- Jan 11, 2007, 9:30a
Eric Drexler, Engines of Creation
Steve
- Jan 18, 2007, 7:32p
Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice
Chris Anderson, The Long Tail
Bong
- Jan 22, 2007, 6:00p
...thanks for the fab reading referrals last week.
charles
- Feb 10, 2007, 4:02a
Do your blog readers want a progress report on the transformation that I called the greening of America? It is happening right now. but under the radar. In 300 words or less. Charles
Book Notes: Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Jan 8, 2007, 11:42a - Book Notes
Here's a collection of quotes from Notes from the Underground, a short 91-page novella. The book is broken into two halves, and I found the first half (a philosophical pondering) much more interesting than the second (a plot involving school-time enemies and a prostitute).
Overall, I highly recommend this book (and you can read it for free online). It ... more »
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Buzz
- Jan 8, 2007, 12:59p
You can read it free online, but the best translation is the one by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky
Book Review: The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs
Jan 5, 2007, 12:34a - Book Notes
The Death and Life of Great American Cities - Jane Jacobs
This book had been on my list of books to read since I started keeping one a few years ago. I'd heard about it in countless places, and after seeing 2 references to it in Adbusters, I figured it was about time I bought it. I got it ... more »
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Buzz
- Jan 5, 2007, 12:49p
From what I hear, Jacobs is practically revered in Canada. My dad owns multiple copies of this book and makes a point of giving one to anyone he comes across who happens to have some sway in LA politics. Hollywood is a good example, for instance, of how not to organize a city.
Neha
- Jan 5, 2007, 5:56p
The first few paragraphs of your analysis are interesting, but after that I decided that I really disagree with Jacobs, particularly her list of forces that cause decline in cities.
She seems very pro status quo, citing "competition driving out older businesses" as a reason -- I see exactly the opposite happening in my area of the east Mission. This is an area in great need of new restaurants, bars, and shops for all the yuppies moving in, but instead we have perpetually empty hair salons and bad shoe repairs shops. I have never understood how these places afford their rent, but its clear to me that driving them out would only benefit the community and their existence only furthers stagnation.
Anyway, your summary was really interesting! My town in Illinois has a requirement that every property be on no less than 5 acres -- we're beyond a suburb of Chicago, I think the term they use now is exurb. I don't know a single neighbor.
Buzz
- Jan 6, 2007, 2:06p
"People were proud of them [civic centers], but the centers were not a success. For one thing, invariably the ordinary city around them ran down instead of being uplifted."
One problem that emerges in the rise of cities is that the financial incentives of concentrating office buildings and commercial centers crowds out residentials. As a result, downtown areas are bustling with commerce during the day and become ghost towns at night when all the middle class businessmen flee the depressed inner city for their homes in the affluent suburbs. Without local residents investing in keeping the city livable, crime and poverty result.
nikhil
- Jan 8, 2007, 9:41a
Neha,
Thanks for leaving a comment :)
A few things:
1) I think I may have miscommunicated Jacobs's intent. She actually is not pro status quo - she is pro gradual change rather than what she calls the "cataclysmic" change that changes too much too quickly and never lets a real community settle in.
2) Regarding "competition driving out older businesses": Jacobs sees competition as generally a good thing, except when it leads to monotony, which she views as the antithesis to diversity. For example, the Promenade in Santa Monica went from nothing in the 80s to being one of the most popular malls in SoCal. It is still a great, diverse place, largely due to the street performers and retail carts. However, it's diversity declined as big-name brands took over as they saw the popularity of the location rise. I'm not sure about the details of acquiring space in the Promenade, other than that it is controlled by the city rather than a private developer, so they may have some restrictions in place to maintain diversity (it's still very diverse).
3) I suspect the lack of change in your area of the Mission is due to rent-control. I view rent-control as a good thing, not only because it prevents gentrification and the associated displacement of poorer people, but because it reduces the speed of change, allowing a community to solidify. To build a new development one needs to wait awhile for the space to open up, which supports the creation of a real community. I disagree with your statement that "driving them [older retailers] out would benefit the community" - it may benefit the yuppie community, but about the older, poorer, more entrenched Hispanic community? Would it benefit them?
Thanks again for the thought-provoking comment.
omar
- Jan 8, 2007, 6:23p
i have a lot of comments but one that just struck me and needed immediate typing:
would mixed-zoning ideas make projects in corporations possibly run more smoothly? think of the random corporation as zoned into legal, corporate, engineering, management, etc etc.. often the communication between groups working on the same project occurs at team meetings or over email. of course, positioning people in the same place is hard if people work on multiple projects, which is often true. but then again i wonder how effective it is for people to be spread across many projects, unless you're higher up in the management chain.
anyway, i feel like having the whole "work community" of a project near each other might measurably improve the project outcomes.
anyway, just an idea, and one i'm sure others have had.
Buzz
- Jan 9, 2007, 1:47p
Another thing to consider, one that is not fully anticipated by Jane Jacobs' important book, is the effect that improved communication technologies will have in bringing people from diverse geographic regions into direct virtual proximity.
Book Notes: The Greening of America by Charles Reich
Dec 3, 2006, 4:06p - Book Notes
The Greening of America - Charles Reich
This is one of the best books I've read in the past several years. Written in the '70s by a Yale Law professor, this book documents the ongoing social revolution and predicts that it will overturn the established social fabric and breed a new form of human consciousness. Unfortunately, its predictions weren't realized ... more »
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omar
- Dec 4, 2006, 10:57p
you might as well just transcribe the entire book.. i hope charles knows you're trying to pir8 his labor! ;)
there are a lot of good quotes here. it actually feels very hippie-ish. maybe i'll put a hold on the book at the library.
now as to this quote:
- “Work can be pleasant, satisfying, and free, without making man feel that he has done anything worthwhile with his life - that he has lived greatly. And so the ultimate question concerning work is this: how can it be heroic? What does it mean to be heroic, and how can this be translated into contemporary terms?”
i have problems with it. what is "worthwhile?" and why is heroism even the right word (he later calls a heroic quest a "quest for consciousness.")? i don't know why this word is used... for instance, a hero must be a hero to someone (maybe the individual). i feel like looking for heroes puts us into the possible realm of worship, and i find that heroism is a simplifying cover that we wrap around someone in order to help us understand a phenomenon. however, is that cover doing productive work?
omar
- Dec 4, 2006, 11:02p
oh and one more thing..
"Wisdom is the one commodity that is unlimited in supply."
while this may be true, it's not really the point. access is what is important.. even if wisdom is infinite, who has access to it? how do you get it? i think there's a lot of training that can go into developing skills to better gain wisdom. that training is often times not free, and not cheap (monetarily, or measured in units of time and experience, etc..). how are we capable of becoming wise? how does it happen? those seem like important questions.
nikhil
- Dec 6, 2006, 12:37a
hmm, i did send him an email about this post, and he hasn't responded...maybe he is pissed off about the profuse citations...
"heroic" technically means "brave" or "courageous", but i don't think that's the intended definition here. here i interpreted the word to mean "honorable" and "noble" - work should make a man feel like he's done something worthwhile, that he's lived greatly and nobly. and the question he poses to the audience is how to invigorate modern work with that feeling.
on your second point: talking about access to wisdom i find to be a dubious endeaver. wisdom is less about the knowledge itself and more about the experiences that acquired the knowledge, the effort and context in which the knowledge accrued. anyone can extract the "wisdom" by citing a few portions of a book, but can one really gain wisdom by reading these Cliff notes? i doubt it - i find that it's the time spent with a subject that *is* wisdom, not just the end result of that study. the experience provides first principles that one can be confident enough to use - knowledge of the principles alone does not suffice.
charles a reich
- Dec 8, 2006, 12:44p
I will be happy to exchange observations with readers as to how my ideas of 37 years ago look from the vantage point of today. One of the themes in Greening is self deception by an entire society which prefers myths to the realities of its own actions. I wonder what today's readers think about social mythology!
omar
- Dec 8, 2006, 3:07p
oooh cool charles reich right here! i don't have time to respond to nikhil's comments, but i will say that i'm going to grab the book and give it a read before i say much more.
as to my point on wisdom: i agree that it's not something you can just get by reading a book, but i think you can be trained to make yourself more reflective and better able to parse out some wise nuggets from interactions with some training. granted, i think becoming an expert at gaining wisdom isn't the same as becoming an expert in mathematics, but nevertheless i think some training can help.
Con IV
- Jun 30, 2017, 3:57p
San Francisco...1968-72...An 'Epic' of sorts....
'...
Book Notes: Copyright's Highway by Paul Goldstein
Oct 7, 2006, 3:01p - Book Notes
Copyright's Highway: From Gutenberg to the Celestial Jukebox by Paul Goldstein
I read this book as a senior in college and originally wrote these notes on Dec 12, 2001. Technology was wreaking havoc on the music industry, and Dave and I were voraciously consuming as much knowledge as we could about how the industry ticked. Artists were getting screwed by ... more »
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Everybody Just Wants To Bounce Their Ball
Jun 20, 2006, 12:40a - Book Notes
2 weeks ago, I picked up Awake at Work with the hope that it would ease my anxiety at work and make me feel more alive in my life.
Suprisingly, it has.
For awhile now I've been feeling as if my consciousness has been asleep. I feel that the days are just passing by and, though I am ostensibly awake, ... more »
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omar
- Jun 22, 2006, 1:11a
if you like the mindfulness stuff, you should read Jon Kabat-Zinn, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Kabat-Zinn
he is a major pioneer on the subject in the west, and has written some great books on it (and has some audio tapes). my sister is into it and finds that mindfulness meditation has improved her life...
ps did anyone ever tell you that the pithy post is the read post? ;)
nikhil
- Aug 18, 2007, 3:57p
here's a video interview with Kabat-Zinn (which I'm planning to watch but haven't seen yet): http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/370/
Book Notes: My Inventions - Autobiography of Tesla
Mar 4, 2006, 12:00p - Book Notes
Last week, Dave piqued my interest about Tesla, so I decided to read his autobiography, which is available online for free. Tesla was an amazing inventor, "at one point creating an earthquake which shook the ground for several miles around his New York laboratory. He also devised a system which anticipated worldwide wireless communications, fax machines, radar, radio- guided ... more »
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Brief Guide to Persuasion from Power of Persuasion
Feb 6, 2006, 9:04p - Book Notes
OK, so the Book Notes I posted yesterday were way too long, so long that I can't even keep track of all the things I should be doing differently after reading that book. So, here's the concise version for those who didn't get through the previous long-winded post.
PERSUASION STRATEGY
1) Use the contrast principle and anchoring
- e.g. TV ... more »
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Roy
- Feb 7, 2006, 7:20a
Interestingly, from this more concise version I realize that the main focus of the persuasion in the book is persuasion in sales. I hadn't realized that from your previous post. I wouldn't be as interested in learning about sales tactics, but I bet it would be useful in a) being a smarter consumer and b) applying those methods of persuasion to other aspects of life and business. So, I'm still going to add it to my reading list.
Book Notes: The Power of Persuasion by Robert Levine
Feb 5, 2006, 11:20a - Book Notes
The Power of Persuasion - Robert Levine
Dave got me this book for my birthday last year, and I finally got around to reading it several months ago. The Power of Persuasion is an excellent book that I highly recommend if you're interested in improving your persuasion skills and increasing your awareness of the techniques frequently used to persuade you ... more »
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Roy
- Feb 5, 2006, 9:04p
Sounds like an interesting book. I think I'll check it out.
Book Notes: On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins
Aug 29, 2005, 2:22a - Book Notes
On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins
On Intelligence is a brilliant book that proposes what I like to think of as a "grand unifying theory" for how the brain works. I highly recommend the book to anyone who has any interest in the brain. Notes from the book:
- Redwood Neuroscience Institute is the research institute Hawkins started in 2002 to ... more »
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Gokul Rajan
- Nov 15, 2010, 8:44a
wonderful! this is one of the best articles here... i dunno why there are no comments on this!! I'm gonna get a copy of this book asap! thanks! BTW i'm a first year UG stud... just finished high school.. and i'm not much into mathematics.. so is this worth reading for a stud like me? or is the level of the book too high? just wanna know if i can comprehend the things...
nikhil
- Nov 15, 2010, 6:16p
Hawkins writes this for the non-mathematician with an interest in the brain, so it'll probably be perfect for you. Go for it.
Book Notes: Don't think of an elephant! by George Lakoff
May 1, 2005, 9:05a - Book Notes
Don't Think of an Elephant! by George Lakoff
I read this book while in India, and it has definitely given me a new perspective on American politics and the present divide between progressives and conservatives. I highly recommend it, and it's really short (only about 100 pages). Notes from the book:
- "Thinking differently requires speaking differently" (xv). This is ... more »
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Bill
- Nov 29, 2005, 12:18p
I respect Lakoff for his work with Johnson on metaphors and embodied philosophy. That is brilliant work.
Lakoff's little side journey into politics is nothing more than political masturbation for the already convinced--otherwise known as "preaching to the choir." Any writer who is capable of passing high school composition could write a superior work, placing "liberals" in the disadvantageous straw man position in which Lakoff places conservatives.
I passed through the leftist camp years ago, brushed briefly past the US conservative base, landing in the individualist libertarian/anarachist camp. Right now I owe none of those groups any loyalty and feel contempt equally for all political (and religious) persuasions. Lakoff is just another true believer, politically speaking. Trivial, banal, pedestrian.
student
- May 16, 2018, 3:41p
helped with homework
Jeff
- Jul 8, 2018, 11:12p
Really helpful summary of important work.
Rosie
- May 19, 2019, 7:40a
Awesome summary. Thanks a lot
Synopsis: Charles Wheelan - Naked Economics
Dec 4, 2003, 10:45p - Book Notes - Economics
Charles Wheelan - Naked Economics
* Free international trade can improve the standard of living of the trading countries
* Assumption #1: Individuals act to make themselves as well off as possible. However, maximizing utility is not the same as living selfishly
* Assumption #2: Firms attempt to maximize profits
* Concern for the environment is a luxury good
* ... more »
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Anonymous
- Dec 12, 2007, 1:58p
thx
naidni
- Aug 16, 2009, 6:24p
very helpful, thanks bro.
Alex
- Sep 28, 2009, 2:43p
This is great! Thanks!
Anonymous
- May 16, 2010, 9:03p
thanks
Anonymous
- May 24, 2010, 5:32a
thanks so much!
tao
- Jun 8, 2010, 8:08a
this book is such a waste of time
Anonymous
- Jun 15, 2010, 2:11p
very nice
YellowAndPinkYoshi
- Nov 28, 2010, 7:55a
Cheers!
Anonymous
- Jan 2, 2011, 4:59p
thanks
Megan
- Jan 27, 2011, 6:43p
Thanks this helped a lot because I just can't handle reading a book that reads like a textbook.. This was much easier to understand. Wish me luck on the quiz! Haha.
Anonymous
- Mar 14, 2011, 7:27p
Mr. Wheelan furnishes us, or at least Africa, with a solution to the black rhinoceros extinction crisis: privatize. This, in his judgment, is the best alignment of incentives, if the intention is to save the black rhino. The price of the black rhino horn is considerable, and so there is an incentive to get the horn. This incentive outweighs any environmental or ecological concern. Government restrictions on black rhino hunting are far too insufficient. You cannot repress such incentives by these artificial and underwhelming means. How do counterbalance high demand with the inevitability of extinction
Mitch
- Apr 10, 2011, 9:34p
Great synopsis. Thanks for the contribution!
Anonymous
- Aug 20, 2011, 2:06p
Ho tanks bah needed this for AP Econ
titilola
- Aug 20, 2011, 4:19p
thank a lot this rlly helps. i couldnt understand what the book was talking about. but
now i do
Anonymous
- Sep 15, 2011, 6:49p
thank you!!!!
Anonymous
- Oct 23, 2011, 4:51p
Life saver!!! Thank you
Anonymous
- Oct 23, 2011, 9:20p
Life was rough out here. U needed this one. hahaha thnx
Anonymous
- Jan 17, 2012, 7:41p
I LOVE YOU. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Anonymous
- Jan 22, 2012, 2:13p
You just saved my ass!
anonymous
- Mar 22, 2012, 6:09p
paper due in 20 minutes... you just SAVED ME. The book was gibberish to me
Anonymous
- Jun 7, 2012, 9:09a
This awesome! you just definitely saved my Ap grade!
Anonymous
- Apr 17, 2013, 3:24p
You read this in AP?! I had to read it in freshman honors intro to economics!
Chalres Wheelan
- Aug 5, 2013, 11:39a
Thank you for reading my book
Anonymous
- Sep 3, 2013, 1:55p
You spelled your name wrong... ^ ;)
Anonymous
- Oct 9, 2013, 10:46a
what are wheelans seven arguments in favor of free trade?
Anonymous
- Nov 10, 2013, 6:06p
you make the IB Diploma so possible my friend, cheers
Anonymous
- Dec 15, 2013, 7:07a
The book made so much sense but I can never put things into the correct wording. This helps so much for my book report due tomorrow and the journals with it!
Minnehaha Academy, MN Class of 2014
- Dec 15, 2013, 7:14a
Just want Mr. Wheelan to know that I have never understood or cared a whole ton about economics but reading his book has made it make so much more sense and I cannot wait to take college economics. I read your book as a senior in high school and I think my econ teacher likes to teach it because it makes us understand what he is teaching us.
Anonymous
- Nov 23, 2015, 5:46p
what are wheelans seven arguments in favor of free trade
Pop quiz: Naked Economics Introduction
- Sep 10, 2018, 7:52p
What is the one promise offered in the introduction?
lxbfYeaa
- Jul 6, 2024, 12:25p
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