Having read The Crow Road a while back I reckoned I should sample some of Banks’ Science Fiction. So here I am – the previous novel was good – but away from what I would say was my “normal” reading – will be interesting to see how this stacks up (and whether I then go on to the subsequent volumes in the series.
George McConnell
Tell Me About It
One thing that has informed my worldview over recent years was the discovery that there exist a whole host of cognitive biases that cause us to mis-perceive everything we see, hear and think. In a previous post I linked to an article that listed no less than 58 of these – and I have a poster on my desk which lists 20. (note that these both originate from the same website)
Jumping To Conclusions
In the last few days I have seen two really good examples in social media of people bringing their own biases to discussions and replying to what they thought was written rather than what was actually written. In both cases it made them look just a bit foolish.
Fleshmarket Close
A return to the Edinburgh of Rebus after a bit of a gap. The familiarity of the setting undoubtedly helps draw me in – especially with this particular episode being so much in and around Grassmarket.
The Long Utopia
The next step (so to speak) in this rambling exploration of parallel worlds. Hope it is as interesting as the previous volumes.
Are We Less Smart Than We Think We Are?
I am often intrigued by the type of post that appear on Social Media that ‘shout’ “only the smartest can get this right” or “only people with high intelligence can do this”. My gut feel is that these were simply ‘click-bait’ – trying to draw you in with the promise of proving that you are ‘better’ than many.
Does Reality Matter?
One recurrent theme of my blog entries is the difficulty we each experience separating reality from fiction. I don’t mean that we are consciously deluding ourselves – although I expect that we all do that from time to time – rather that we simply lose track of what is real as against what is “made up”.
Gilead
This was a book that my daughter had to read as part of her university work and she suggested I might like it. It was unlike just about any other book I had read (although perhaps a sort of lightweight “Remembrance of Things Past“. As the story unfolded I did eventually become “hooked”. It was never going to be a real page-turner – but an enjoyable read – and it shone a light on many ‘difficult’ aspects of life – much bigger things, perhaps than the specifics introduced within the story.
Faking It
There is a bit of a furore about the perceived influence of so called fake news on the result of the US election. On the one hand this strikes me as extremely funny – on the other it is rather worrying (on a number of levels).
inSignificant
Not my usual sort of book, I guess – however it was fascinating how the author broke through his own ‘failings’ and found a way to be a great and loved teacher.