Category: Favourites

  • How Emotions Are Made

    Lisa Feldman Barrett

    Just when I thought I was getting some stability (in my thinking) on the free will vs determinism debate, here comes fresh food for thought. As per ‘How Emotions Are Made’, while the combination of genetic and environmental factors do determine our behaviour, free will has a definite play.

    The core theme of the book is a constructionist theory of how emotions are made, as opposed to a classic theory. The classical view assumes that each emotion has a unique ‘fingerprint’, as against the opposing view that variation is the norm. This has implications not just on how we physically manifest our emotions but on our understanding of how the nervous system operates as well. And finally, the classical view believes that emotions are inborn and universal. But the alternate view is that emotions are formed based on shared concepts, influenced by social reality and culture.

    The view of the brain as a tiered system (survival, emotion, cognition) is one of the first myths that the author breaks. Further, as opposed to being the result of a stimulus-response mechanism, emotions are a result of the brain simulating and predicting, based on a bunch of factors. What we call emotions – anger, fear, happiness etc- are concepts that get created and honed in the brain. Concepts, goals, words all help the brain frame any new stimulus it receives and then predict. By reframing concepts and looking at them more objectively, we can reshape what emotions are surfaced, and thus exercise free will.

    Towards the middle of the book, the author sets up the answer for “are emotions real” with the classic philosophical question of “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”. The answer is that both fall under the “perceiver-dependent” category. Emotions are thus, a social reality and become real because of collective intentionality and our ability to communicate using words.

    This understanding of emotions, and how much we control/are in control has implications on a lot of things ranging from our daily behaviour to the way the judiciary system works and how we deliver justice.

    ‘How Emotions Are Made’ is refreshing because of the alternate perspectives, all of which are backed by science. The author makes it a point to call out hypotheses where it’s not. The language is technical only when needed and explanations are lucid. In all, it is a fascinating book that has made me rethink a lot of what I thought I knew about myself and the world. Not an easy read, but absolutely worth the time. And that’s why it made it to my 2019 favourites.

  • The Power of Habit

    Charles Duhigg

    There is something meta about me reading this book. I have my own book-reading habits – genres, number of books on the to-be-read shelf, and such. It is an example of the fundamental premise of this book – cue, routine, reward. Under normal circumstances, I reckon that this book might have landed up on my list 3-5 years down the line. But thanks to my wife D, it not only got into my shelf, but gave me a favourite book as well! Same cue, changed routine, same reward – the exact process to lose a bad habit and pick up/better a good one!

    Towards the end of the book, the author quotes William James – “All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits – practical, emotional, and intellectual – systematically organized for our weal or woe, and bearing us irresistibly toward our destiny, whatever the latter may be.” As a creature of habits, I wholeheartedly agree. Habits form character, and character forms destiny.

    The book can be helpful to anyone seeking to improve the self, whether it is in life or at work. From losing weight to raising children to building great teams, the importance of habits (individuals) and routines (groups), and the fundamentals of changing/bettering them do not change. The author demonstrates that in separate sections dedicated to individuals, companies and societies. Michael Phelps’ habits and routines, Howard Schultz’s (CEO, Starbucks) processes that have transformed not just how the organisation works, but employees’ lives, and Martin Luther King’s successful civil rights movement, all showcase a pattern that can be used to radically alter trajectories.
    I think the success of the book is also due to the excellent storytelling that converts what could have been a dry subject to one that is not just enlightening but entertaining too! I suspect there is some understanding of a reader’s cue-routine-reward mechanism here, because I was hooked soon as I started! 🙂

    There are a couple of wonderful analogies for habits at the end of the book – both using water. It captures the essence of the book beautifully, and encourages us to believe that we can choose our path, and swim wherever we want to.
    Pick it up. Now!

  • The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

    William L. Shirer

    What a fascinating read! The second world war was one of the most defining events of the contemporary era, and The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich provides a fantastic view of what happened in Germany between 1930 and 1945, chronicling the ascendance of Hitler and the Nazi Party and its eventual demise.

    Hitler’s dream was to establish a Reich that would last a thousand years, though it finally managed just about a dozen. But in those few years, he managed to give the world the kind of shock it had probably never experienced before.

    The book actually begins much earlier, and traces Hitler’s early life, his disenchantment with the socio-political environment prevalent in Austria and Germany, and his entry into regional politics. Through smart thinking, astute use of the economic depression, a lot of outmaneuvering of politicians far bigger in stature than him, and quite some luck, he took himself to a position where the nation was practically begging him to seize control. It is amazing to see the number of instances long before he gained power when a small change would have led to a different history than the one we are familiar with.

    His baby steps into expanding Germany’s borders through cunning and then brute force, his affection for the largely ineffectual Mussolini, the poor judgment and horrendous miscalculations exhibited by the European powers, Stalin’s greed, all led to a state of affairs that made war inevitable. Germany dominated the early period, the Blitzkrieg tore through defenses, and it is astonishing to see how close they came to taking over all of Western Europe early in the war, in addition to Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Through the mid to late 30s, what is also evident is Hitler’s own iron will, determination and political astuteness using which he outplayed his opponents over and over. But in Stalin, he met his match, and he underestimated the man and his country’s military strength. A costly mistake.

    At some point, Hitler’s megalomania took over, and his downfall began. His allies, the Japanese, didn’t help the cause much by drawing the US into the war. He repeated history by disastrously opening two fronts in battle. He also misread the importance of North Africa and the Suez. But it is chilling to note that with a little patience and by sticking to strategic alliances, he might not have lost the war at all. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich also covers the role played by several inept leaders of the German armed forces in bringing and keeping Hitler in power, and their inability to stand up to the dictator, even as they realised that he was leading their country into disaster. Also described in detail are the several plots that were hatched to assassinate Hitler, including Operation Valkyrie.

    This is a commendable piece of work – not just for chronicling an important piece of history, but for the painstaking research that must have gone into it, and the control on a narrative with so many moving parts, all of which are important.

    At 1100+ pages and the smallest possible font, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is not an easy read. But if you have any interest in history, and the war that shaped the modern world, this is a book you should definitely invest in.

    The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

  • The Evolution of Everything

    Matt Ridley

    For a while now, I have believed that Darwin’s theory of evolution is the most paradigm-shifting idea to have emerged from a human mind. On a related thought journey, I have also shifted from determinism to free will and back to determinism, all in a few years. This book connects both these thoughts, and is fundamentally an argument for evolution and against creationism. It argues that change is incremental and emergent and has a momentum all of its own, as opposed to the idea that it is directed by a person or a metaphysical force like God. (more…)

  • The Paper Menagerie

    Ken Liu

    What is with these Chinese (/origin) writers? Ted Chiang’s “Stories of Your Life and Others” was the best collection of speculative fiction I had read. Then there was Liu Cixin’s “The Three Body Problem” trilogy that had a fantastic story arc even while retaining scientific accuracy. And now, Ken Liu, who had translated Liu Cixin’s work into English, and has also credited Ted Chiang as an inspiration for the last story in this book.

    All fiction, the author says in the preface, is about prizing the logic of metaphors over reality, which is irreducibly random and senseless. This is what I would call the DNA of the book, and teasing out the metaphors in some of the stories is what I considered the most exciting part of reading this book. Also mentioned in the preface is the author’s perspective that he does not pay attention to the distinction between fantasy and science fiction or genres in general, and a few stories serve as excellent examples. Good Hunting could be steampunk and fantasy, The Waves would be science fiction and fantasy, The Man who ended history could be historical fiction and science fiction. The genre is rendered irrelevant in the larger scheme of things. Everything is speculative fiction. (more…)