Recent posts – Page 13

“Our program is the ‘story’ and the problem you are trying to solve the ‘idea'”

Charles Severance – Python for everybody

A highly recommended introduction to coding for aspiring data scientists, providing a rare mix of fundamentals and well-chosen practical examples.

One can obtain elegant mathematical insights without becoming overly formalistic

Paul Lockhart / Measurement

An elegantly narrated exploration of mathematics , heavily lening on our intuition for time and space (thereby defyingL.E.J. Brouwer‘s adaption of Kant).

Humans and the crops they grow are codependent

Michael Pollan – The botany of desire

To unlock creativity, make sure you get the culture right

Ed Catmull – Creativity, Inc.

The best quote is not from the author: “Quality is the best business plan” (John Lasseter, director of Toy Story).

Measurement = data-driven reduction of uncertainty

Douglas Hubbard – How to measure anything

A lot of Fermi-type deconstruction of drivers, Monte Carlo simulations, and value estimates .

The contemporary art market bubble is kept afloat by a handful of mega dealers

Michael Shnayerson – Boom

The metroric rise of art prices is a fascinating topic, but the author get a bit lost in his effort to ducoment each twist or turn in the lives of the secondary characters in his story.

In Western societies the uneducated are outcasts, which poses systemic threats for democracy

Paul Collier – The future of capitalism

The author’s recommended retun to a local solidarity may address the issue at hand, but will also pose significant threats for ‘diversity and inclusion’.

Thanks to the US phone monopoly, Bell labs could produce breakthrough technologies

Jon Gertner – The idea factory

The fascinating history of Bell labs illustrates how a long-term view is essential for technological progress.

There is magic in the chemistry of every day materials

Mark Miodownik – Stuff Matters

Skillfully composed , mind-blowing narrative at different scales.

Run your IT department like it is a factory

Gene Kim et. al. – The Phoenix project

The well-established template of ‘The Goal‘ applied to IT.

Thanks to technology, it becomes ever easier for fringe movements to topple the establishment

Moises Naim – The end of power

the book, written pre-Trump, pre-Brexit and pre-Cambridge Analytics, underemphasizes the risk of large-scale orchestration of fringe groups to undermine nation states; thereby making the author’s call for stronger institutions feels a bit besides the point.

The MBTI type indicator helps corporates to contain the impact of individuality in the workplace

Merve Emre-The personality brokers

MBTI is more fascinating than expected, from its amateurish origins and its lack of scientific underpinning to its unlikely longevity and commercial success.

Nine out of ten times, what seems to be a human error is actually caused by a faulty design

Don Norman – The design of everyday things

Elegant book full of fascinating examples of design thinking.

It requires concentration to complete complex, intelligent tasks

Cal Newport – Deep work

The need for concentration for though-intensive tasks is not disputed, but somehow the author (a university professor himself) structurally over-values academic work versus non-academic endeavours.

To disprove ‘Intelligent Design’, just note that one can very well exhibit intelligent behavior without actual intelligence

Daniel Dennett – From bacteria to Bach and back

Caleidoscopic overview of Dennett’s ideas, but it would benefit from an more thorough justification of its antropocentric perspective (compare: Frans de Waal).