This book came to me highly recommended by my mother, who is also a Kahlil Gibran fan. The author is Christian/Lebanese (like Kahlil), but resides in France and writes in French as such. Lebanon is one of the only nations in the Middle East where Christians and Muslims (somewhat) coexist…

Amusing Ourselves To Death With Politics Many who claim to care about politics or be involved with politics are actually slacktivists who just watch news and treat politics like it is sports; entertainment. The polarization of politics and media present a chicken-and-egg scenario of which came first, a polarized electorate, or polarized politicians. This book, as…

American markets have become less free due to decreased competition. They have returned more earnings to shareholders and put less money into investment. Investment spurs growth in the economy. Increased profit margins decrease other economic activity, such as buying, which has a ripple effect. Thus, this lack of competition in…

The Origin of the Term “Conspicuous Consumption” Society evolved from peaceful “savages” and competitive “barbarians.” Each of these historical groups has different characteristics that manifest in different ways in the modern classes. Veblen likens the leisure class, the rich, as the high-achieving descendants of barbarians, caught up in showing off “pecuniary” (financial) ability. They like games of…

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s highly useful interpretation of feelings, values and expectations Diagnoses loneliness as a cause of many of society’s social and health ails, from both a societal and biological perspective. A key takeaway is the subjective nature of loneliness as it pertains to social expectations — people with social expectations for group behavior in Ethiopia are significantly different than those…

Describes the process of a mass movement, which consists of the same/similar tactics and life-stages, irrespective of ideology. They start with an idea, usually coming from an intellectual, which is then picked up by a despot/fanatic/leader (preaching instant-gratification hope), and in a healthy state of events, eventually gets put into…

Impressions from 1998 (Middle School) and 2020 (Adulthood) Mom — thank you for saving absolutely everything I ever wrote… I think. 9/14/1998 Flowers for Algernon was a compelling story, up until the end. The author shows what it would really be like to be challenged. …

The “perversity-breeding neediness” of humans These are some of my favorite passages and quotes from this overarching somewhat history of humanity and ideas about it, the crux of which is that humans do in fact have something called a nature and are not just pieces of Play-Dough which can be wrought from the ground up…

“Pretending that some middle-ground nirvana can be reached if only we listen to the other side is counterproductive and a source of endless frustration” Similar to Haidt’s Righteous Mind in acknowledging people have “predispositions,” which the authors (three political scientists including the prolific John Hibbing) say are very much rooted…