Mental Pivot #27: Books, Bets, Lady Bird
An idiosyncratic classification for books, “Thinking in Bets” by Annie Duke, and a riveting podcast series about Lady Bird Johnson and 1960s America.
There’s something that bothers me about the restrictive classification scheme we use for books. I’m talking about topical classification schemes like the Dewey Decimal system or the categories and subcategories you might find on the shelves of your local bookstore or on Amazon (e.g., history, politics, music, etc.).
Don’t get me wrong, these objective categories make sense and are useful. First, they help with discovery. A reader interested in medieval history books, for instance, knows where to look when browsing the stacks. Second, they set expectations between the writer and the reader; a fan of a murder mysteries knows that a book with that label will follow a set of genre conventions.
The downside to these categories is that they’re limited in what they communicate. I find myself wanting a complementary set of categories that captures and communicates a reader’s high-level response or experience with a book. These are more qualitative and subjective in nature—they highlight characteristics that subject-based systems cannot. Yes, user-generated book ratings and reviews exist, but those don’t express what I’m looking for, the former lacks specificity and the latter is too granular.
This post might be tilting at windmills, but here are a few of the categories I’ve been thinking about:
OK books with great ideas: A recent example, for me, was Think Again by Adam Grant (2021). I appreciated the message of the book, but didn’t enjoy the overall presentation or experience of the book. These aren’t bad books, but they might be better skimmed or consumed as a TED Talk. Nevertheless, these are books that explore ideas worth knowing.
Springboard books: These are a close-cousin to the preceding category. Springboard books aren’t great books per se, but they are great introductions to a topic. A good springboard book equips the reader with the basics and points the reader in the right direction for future exploration. Naked Statistics by Charles Wheelan (2013) and Philosophy the Basics by Nigel Warburton (2013) are two solid examples of this category.
Lifelong-companion books (aka re-readable books): These are books that I return to at different times in my life. They are rich in truth and meaning; successive readings benefit from the passage of time, changing perspective, and new insights. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (1922) fits this category (this post reminds me that a reread is overdue).
I’ll-never-forget-you books: Some books leave an indelible impression on you, no matter how long ago you read them. Wild Swans by June Chang (1993) is one example. It’s a biography about three generations of women who survived the tumultuous events of 20th century China. Historical events like the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution are things I would never want to live through, but I’m grateful to have learned about the harrowing experiences and lessons from the stories of others.
Slow-sipping books: These are books that are like a fine wine, the perfect mug of coffee, or a cup of warm tea. They are meant to be enjoyed deliberately at whatever pace you desire. They’re designed for thoughtfulness. I’ll dip in and out of theses sorts of books over an extended timeframe (sometimes non-sequentially too). Meditations by the Stoic Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (180 AD) falls firmly in this category.
Non-fiction that reads as well as fiction: These are page-turner non-fiction books with compelling stories and equally skillful prose. You’ll learn something interesting AND enjoy doing so in the process. Two exemplars are The River of Doubt by Candice Millard (2005, The story of Theodore Roosevelt’s scientific expedition down an uncharted Amazon river) and After the Prophet by Lesley Hazleton (2010, a history of the Shia-Sunni split in Islam).
Books that blow your mind: These are books that change the way you think about the world—books that introduce meaningful new ideas and possibilities into your life. Here are a few titles that impacted me whose lessons I still remember: Misquoting Jesus by Bart Ehrmann (2005, which opened my eyes to the complicated doctrinal history and transmission of the New Testament), The Geography of Nowhere by James Howard Kunstler (1993, which opened my eyes to the repercussions of land-use policy and single-use zoning in American cities), Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin (1992, a personal finance book which taught me the importance of time as a scarce and valuable resource and ways to think about valuing that time), and Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari (2011, which opened my eyes to the importance of shared cultural fictions that foster social cohesion and cooperation).
These categories—admittedly idiosyncratic—represent a sampling of the book experiences I’ve had as well as those I actively seek. Reflecting on these categories helps me appreciate the depth and range of the reading experience. I make it a goal to fill my reading list with books that end up in many of these buckets (as well as others not listed above).
I’d love to connect with you to learn more about your favorite books (particularly those that fall into the above categories). Hit me up with an email if you’re willing to share.
Now onto the updates…
What’s New on the Blog:
Book Notes: “Thinking in Bets” by Annie Duke
This is a book about embracing a probabilistic mindset and improved decision-making. Duke applies the definition of bet broadly: a bet is any decision, based on our beliefs, that results in the rejection of other possible choices or courses of action. Under this definition, every decision is a bet. Selecting a career is a bet, buying a house is a bet, deciding on what to order at a fancy restaurant is a bet. In most cases, Duke argues, we are not betting against other people, we are “betting against all the future versions of ourselves that we are not choosing. We are constantly deciding among alternative futures.” Since we base our bets on our beliefs, the quality of these bets is contingent on the quality of our beliefs. The latter, as the author asserts, can be changed for the better.
As a professional poker player, Duke uses the lessons from the game of poker as a case study in probabilistic thinking and dealing with uncertainty. Nassim Taleb covers similar ground in Fooled by Randomness vis a vis the investment markets. Both are good reads, but Duke’s is far more accessible.
Here’s an hour-long talk Duke gave at Google about her book in 2018 if you want to learn more about her ideas without reading the book.
Articles:
Could You Learn Every Subject?: Learning enthusiast Scott Young explores what it would take to become a polymath with a basic understanding of “every major intellectual area.”
Everyone Is Beautiful and No One Is Horny: Insightful socio-cultural critique that considers the changing physical and erotic aesthetic in contemporary film vis a vis the 1980s-1990s. If art is a mirror, what do these changing cinematic ideas say about us today?
Excel Never Dies: Only Packy McCormick can make an article about the history, influence, and innovation of Microsoft’s venerable spreadsheet application not boring.
The Internet Doesn’t Have to Be Awful: “Even as our polity deteriorates, an internet that promotes democratic values instead of destroying them—that makes conversation better instead of worse—lies within our grasp.”
Stoic Investing: Darious Foroux makes a case for adopting Stoic ideas—like emotional detachment and not worrying about things outside our control—to make better financial decisions.
Tech Addiction Is the New Reefer Madness: Nir Eyal pushes back against the prevailing narrative that technology is turning us all into thoughtless zombies.
That Is Not How Your Brain Works: Neuroscientist Lisa Fieldman Barrett dispels scientific myths and outdated beliefs. These myths include the idea that specific parts of the brain have specific psychological tasks, the stimulus-response model, and the persistence of Cartesian dualism in our worldview (aka the mind-body split).
What Is Life? Its Vast Diversity Defies Easy Definition: “Scientists have struggled to formulate a universal definition of life. Is it possible they don’t need one?”
Podcasts
In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson: Lady Bird (1912-2007) documented her experience in the White House in her extensive audio journals. She started her audio recordings after the 1963 JFK assassination and continued throughout her husband’s term as President. Archival audio figures prominently into the narrative and is riveting. What emerges is a fascinating political partnership with her husband Lyndon B. Johnson (36th President of the USA) and her mostly overlooked role as a trusted advisor and influential member of the administration in the tumultuous 1960s. This is a new 8-part mini-series (not all episodes have been released)—the first three episodes are top-notch.
Invest Like the Best: Jack Clark: Patrick O’Shaugnessy interviews Clark, a D1 collegiate rugby coach, whose career winning percentage over three decades is over .900 (an incredible win rate). The two discuss team-building, shared values, leadership, and challenges of scaling corporate culture.
People I Mostly Admire: Robert Sapolsky: Host Steven Levitt converses with neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky (author of Behave) about primate field research, criminal justice, human nature, and free-will.
Odds & Ends:
The Small Web Is Beautiful: Ben Hoyt’s comprehensive overview of one of my favorite topics. The small web is about hand-crafted websites, meaningful content, simple interfaces, and lightweight bandwidth demands (among other things). It’s an aesthetic and philosophy that the commercial internet has largely forgotten.
Some NFT followup from last week’s newsletter:
A Critique of Cryptoart (Beyond just Environmental Issues) by Everest Pipkin (Shoutout to reader TB for the recommendation).
Beeple NFT Sells for $69.3 Million: This is the most expensive digital art sale to date. The NFT frenzy continues.
NFTs Are a Dangerous Trap by Seth Godin.
Owltail offers useful podcast discovery tools. I particularly like their curated podcast recommendations which provide short annotations for individual episodes (a quote, three key points, background on the guest if it’s an interview episode). It's a useful format.
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Thanks for the book lists. A lot of books that made your most amazing list that I'd never heard of. Did you read "pachinko" similar concept of following three generations but instead North Koreans who emigrated to Japan, but a super deep book about life and the flow of struggles we go through.
Also Annie Duke was on my podcast by the way. Fun lady 🙃
https://syncify.fm/podcast/growth-mindset-podcast-WR4CK1Oi/162-making-bets-that-pay-off-annie-duke-author-speaker-and-decision-strategist