Nope, still not dead
Sep. 13th, 2013 10:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
justalurkrI feel like I owe reviews on "The Righteous Mind" and "The Gifts of Imperfection," but do not currently have the bandwidth for the full, gushing positive reviews they deserve.
"The Righteous Mind" -- my takeaway was that the need to be right sits next to some very old survival wiring. You're going to have a hard time persuading people from beliefs that far from the rational centers of the brain, but if try you must, start with common ground. Yes, we all have some common ground with all other carbon based life forms. The away we're all supposed to take had to do with going from "can't we all just get along?" to "can't we all just disagree more productively?" with tools to do that. Useful book in the current political climate. Also contained an explanation and the author's critique of The New Atheists.
"The Gifts of Imperfection" -- totally not what I thought it was going to be. Nearly stopped listening after the intro, which made it sound way more touchy-feely, New Age shed-your-shame than my cerebral self is comfortable with. HOWEVER, the stories the author tells on herself to get the points across are worth the price of admission for other cerebral types and if you happen to be into touchy-feely, shed-your-shame kinds of things, this books is life affirmingly up your alley while remaining grounded in research as hard as sociology gets. Primarily about owning your story and living whole-heartedly, with 10 convenient guideposts for how to get there. Favorite quote (from memory, may not be exact) "Cruelty is cheap, easy and rampant; especially in our technological world." I have actually purchased the e-book to track my progress on the guideposts.
"The Righteous Mind" -- my takeaway was that the need to be right sits next to some very old survival wiring. You're going to have a hard time persuading people from beliefs that far from the rational centers of the brain, but if try you must, start with common ground. Yes, we all have some common ground with all other carbon based life forms. The away we're all supposed to take had to do with going from "can't we all just get along?" to "can't we all just disagree more productively?" with tools to do that. Useful book in the current political climate. Also contained an explanation and the author's critique of The New Atheists.
"The Gifts of Imperfection" -- totally not what I thought it was going to be. Nearly stopped listening after the intro, which made it sound way more touchy-feely, New Age shed-your-shame than my cerebral self is comfortable with. HOWEVER, the stories the author tells on herself to get the points across are worth the price of admission for other cerebral types and if you happen to be into touchy-feely, shed-your-shame kinds of things, this books is life affirmingly up your alley while remaining grounded in research as hard as sociology gets. Primarily about owning your story and living whole-heartedly, with 10 convenient guideposts for how to get there. Favorite quote (from memory, may not be exact) "Cruelty is cheap, easy and rampant; especially in our technological world." I have actually purchased the e-book to track my progress on the guideposts.
