What Have You Been Reading Lately?

[Joe Fulton]

My library keeps growing and the material has been quite varied, although as of late it has tended towards the fields of cognitive bias, belief and biotech.

So, with that here is what I've been reading lately...

Quantum Shift in the Global Brain - Erwin Laszlo

Interesting, but it there is much repeated from earlier works.  The central point is still valid...get involved and take responsibility!

Sex, Ecology, Spirituality:  The Spirit of Evolution, Second Ed. - Ken Wilber

I'm still kind of early into this very long book, but I like the logic, so far.  The writing style is easy to follow.

The Believing Brain:  From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies -- How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them - Michael Shermer

This is actually a quite amazing book.  It starts of with the story of some interesting experiments done with a psychiatric institution, solely to demonstrate how even health professionals can make skewed decisions in a closed environment.  He then goes on to relate stories of belief and the latest in neuroscience regarding how the brain handles belief.  It's a heck of a good read.

How We Know What Isn't So:  The Fallability of Human Reason in Everyday Life - Thomas Gilovich

Back to Cognitive Bias, and keeping in mind Michael Williams caution about abusing the concept, this book, written in the early 1990's is the source for everything that has followed in this burgeoning field.  It is amazing to see the very same cases cited here repeated virtually verbatim in most of the other major literature on the subject.  It is also a good way of seeing how far the field has evolved by comparing and contrasting with later writings.

The Spiritual Writings of Amir Abd Al-Kader (SUNY Series in Western Esoteric Traditions) - Michel Chodkiewiz

Abd Al-Kader is an absolutely fascinating individual, in war, peace and spirit.  This collection of writings clearly places him in the tradition of the Ibn El Arabi Sufi school.  Sufism holds a great deal of appeal to me, however sometimes (as is so when reading other "old" writings) it is very hard to get beyond the cultural idioms. 

Social Engineering: The Art of Human Hacking - Christopher Hadnagy, Paul Wilson

Hacking.  It makes you think of some teenager sitting in a room at the computer coming up with ways to make worms, viruses and malware.  Alas, the weakest link in computer security has two eyes, two ears, a nose and a mouth.  For those who would have read Aleister Crowley or other works on "Magick" this is virtually a modern day primer in the "arts", but instead of using incantations, this uses neuroscience as its grimmary.  Be warned, this book is not theoretical, it is imminently practical in nature...it's a cookbook.

 

This is what I have been reading.  What have you been reading?

[Michael A. Williams]

Just a quick note on the Michael Shermer book you're reading. One of the big problems with Mr. Shermer(and other reductionist/materialists) is that he doesn't apply the same skepticism and inquiry into his own belief system.

Of course, and others of his ilk, keep maintaining that their reality paradigm is the "absolute truth" and not just another system of underlying beliefs and assumptions.

[Joe Fulton]

Your religion is a religion...mine is not. 

Good point, Michael!

[John Rau]

Yes Joe, - Keeping up on social engineering is swell. For my bedtime reading I am now starting the 5th volume of Doris Lessing's series SHIKASTA (earth, broken). I have handled these books for almost 30 years - reading snips here and there as they passed thru my book dealing hands time and time and time again. Now, I am taking time to read them. It requires, for me, a bit of applied endurance to do so, as the series is, well, to my mind - heavy literature. Not a light read. But I am now very taken in by Lessing's fiction. This series is also of a theosophical flavor. Anyway, I reply here to your posting in part because as I start volume five I see that it will be related, of course, to social engineering. In the opening pages we see the creation of a hospital for -  Rhetorical Diseases.  Oh my.

I am reminded of "Telivison Children Fed" (1960's 70's - the Doors) , and  today, after hundreds of additional channels that people actually pay for - today .... PC Internet and also Social Site led .... delivering up in my offline world of contact with walk-a-day people, what seems to be on occasion an ever renewed breed of engineered folk. I hear often in the back of my head - Blavatsky's reported walking dead comments made in London as I move from sunrise to sunset making eye contact. Of course, there are those able to retain control over their (our) own attracted thoughts. As Lessing seems to point out  at the end of volume 4 in her series - an awareness of atmosphere may be paramount to a better way.