CxD #203: Year in Reading 🤓 + Lifespan: Why we age and why we don't have to MindMap 🧬
Character requires a receptive mind. A mind that is open to receiving new perspectives, ideas, stories, arguments, and mysteries. I know of no better process of prying open our minds and leaving them in that oyster-is-ready-to-eat-way than by reading.
For the public record, I’m aware and totally okay with showing my non-spring-chicken-age and increased crankiness here—with a HotRod cane to match—when I pound the table and complain that people don’t read like they used to, a fairly non-subjective fact based on observation of public spaces; and one which might explain the increasingly divided and argumentative and sick culture we Americans have created —
Good fences make good neighbors, as Robert Frost once wrote
—
This collapse of our collective imagination is in part why www.cxd.community is partly a thinly disguised front for a book club in which we have space to discuss some stuff we’ve been reading collectively.
But before getting to the new, I wanted to pay homage to the old of yesteryear. These are the books that I read in 2021 with only one that’s gone missing, A Place of My Own by Michael Pollen, which was a delight about the abstract theory of architecture and the reality of construction. I wrote about it CxD #186. Below is a visual of the books I read that haven’t gone into hiding:
I thought I’d take a 1 sentence stab about how they relate to character, if at all, and to what extent I recommend them:
To Kill a Mockingbird: The central character is a character study in character of the most integrated kind. The movie is kick-ass too.
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Reminds us that when we look for the meaning of life, we often start at the wrong end: it’s the questions that matter. The universe is the answer; what might we think to ask of it?
The Shape of Water: a salty Sicilian detective catches a murder case. But like Atticus in Mockingbird, he has a serious integrity problem and doesn’t take the easy way out. Can’t wait to read the next 20 in the series.
The Character Gap: We’re all a mix of “bad” and “good” and no one is made of pure virtue. Before you think of yourself as an 😇, see what the 😈 has to say.
The Psychology of Money: Money lights up our primal nervous system; you must be aware of your cognitive biases to master its enormous gravitational pull towards the irrational.
Money: Money is an entirely made-up story with a fascinating history. Why exactly do we trade the hours of our lives for this fiction? It’s worth knowing that answer deep-down.
The Bitcoin Standard: A problematic book but an excellent case for an alternate system to government-backed-trust-based-fiat currency. Helped me understand why so many people today see Bitcoin as an answer to some of our greatest political and societal problems. Some parts about the character of “hard” money versus “soft” money, so there’s a moral angle in here, too, though I don’t agree with much of the author’s view.
Metaskill: As AI/robots/machine-learning beginning doing lots of jobs better than humans can, what should we be learning? A huge endorsement of all things character-related.
Transcend: We need self-esteem, connection and safety to flout our boat. And exploration, love, and purpose to sail it. And a spiritual life to transcend and give meaning to all our nautical adventures.
Lifespan: Why we age and why we don’t have to: All about the science of reversing aging and slowing it down. It’s a shame to build all this character only to die too early since aging is a disease. Subscribers get a PDF of the mind-map I made of all the significant info I learned. Maybe worth the $5 to extend your life by 10 years?
Mindmap below, as well as the remaining synopses
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to CxD Newsletter to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.