a remarkable power

I read this on Explore and fell in love with the idea.

visual impression

For the love of books and creativity.... and proof that characters exist in books as well as at Knopf.

perhaps...

My copy of E. O. Wilson's new book The Social Conquest of Earth just arrived, and I couldn't be happier. I have a huge love for Edward O. Wilson.

Here's the quick synopsis:

From the most celebrated heir to Darwin comes a groundbreaking book on evolution, the summa work of Edward O. Wilson's legendary career.

Where did we come from? What are we? Where are we going? In a generational work of clarity and passion, one of our greatest living scientists directly addresses these three fundamental questions of religion, philosophy, and science while "overturning the famous theory that evolution naturally encourages creatures to put family first" (Discover magazine). Refashioning the story of human evolution in a work that is certain to generate headlines, Wilson draws on his remarkable knowledge of biology and social behavior to how that group selection, not kin selection, is the primary driving force of human evolution. He proves that history makes no sense without prehistory, and prehistory makes no sense without biology. Demonstrating that the sources of morality, religion, and the creative arts are fundamentally biological in nature, Wilson presents us with the clearest explanation ever produced as to the origin of the human condition and why it resulted in our domination of the Earth's biosphere.

"There is no grail more elusive or precious in the life of the mind than the key to understanding the human condition." ... so begins the prologue.

Referencing this Paul Gauguin painting on which Gauguin wrote the famous title, "Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?" E.O. Wilson asks, will we ever be able to answer these questions, and answers with a resounding... perhaps.

the itch of an imminent insight

I am reading a super cool book, IMAGINE: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer. It is one of those books that I have highlighted more sections than not. 


One of my favorite bits is what the author calls "feelings of knowing", the times when our brain is sure that we know the answer if only we can keep thinking. Think of it as a tip-of-the-tongue moment. You run into an acquaintance and their name is... just give me a minute. Or the actor that is starring in that new movie... wait, wait... I've almost got it... We have all had that feeling where we are convinced that we know the answer.


So we keep thinking, because the next thought might be the answer.


And then, later, amid something else completely, we shout out "Kevin Bacon" in a moment of insight.


IMAGINE: How Creativity Works from Flash Rosenberg on Vimeo.

dreaming, doing, contributing

I just read 

Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think 

by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler.

The authors' opening anecdote of a goldsmith who brought an unusual dinner plate to the court of Emperor Tiberius has stayed in my brain.

The goldsmith proudly displayed to the Roman Emperor Tiberius a shiny plate he’d made from a new metal extracted from clay (aluminum) using a secret method only he understood.


The emperor was indeed impressed: He saw this new shiny metal as a possible threat to the value of his large gold and silver stockpiles, so instead of rewarding the goldsmith, he had him beheaded.


The authors’ point is that it's not about resources, it's about access. Eventually, aluminum became dirt-cheap, thanks to advances in technology and we now use it with a 'throw-away' mentality. 

History is littered with once rare resources made plentiful with innovation. Technology is a resource-liberating mechanism.

I keep coming back to the idea that creative ideas are our ultimate resource... and teaching our children how to nourish their creativity and curiosity, is the best way to prepare them to "liberate" that resource.

Abundance is about creating a world of possibility. A world where everyone's days are spent dreaming, doing, and contributing.

happy spring break

a prologue to now

Do you remember in The Tempest where Shakespeare wrote, "What's past is prologue." ?


Everything that has happened to you in the past has been a preparation for the wonderful life that lies ahead of you in the future. 


Remember the rule as Gandhi puts it: The future depends on what we do in the present. 

daring greatly

Brene Brown is the author of the fantastic book, The Gifts of Imperfection.
I read her book back in 2010 and fell in love.


This is her 2012 TED talk...


"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." ~Theodore Roosevelt

cooperation and evolution

"The most powerful force ever known on this planet is human cooperation — a force for construction and destruction.” 
~ Jonathan Haidt


Psychologist Jonathan Haidt asks a simple, but difficult question: why do we search for self-transcendence? Why do we attempt to lose ourselves?


Haidt is the author of The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion and the super awesome book, The Happiness Hypothesis.