Search Results for: how the mind works

Links and Comments: World maps; religions as movies; movie physics; flat-earthers; Trump and his followers; webs v walls; wrong about the future; negativity bias

Posted on Wednesday 17 August 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Catching up. Washington Post: Six maps that will make you rethink the world. I’ve always been fascinated by these sort of ‘alternate history’ maps. Khanna is the author of the new book “Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization,” in … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Friedman on historical change, why evangelicals like Trump, Paulos on math and biography, Gawande on science, the case against reality

Posted on Wednesday 22 June 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Today in NYT, Thomas L. Friedman: Another Age of Discovery. Friedman lets Ian Goldin, co-author of a book about the lessons we can draw from the period of 1450 to 1550, i.e. a period of extraordinary change. Then: Gutenberg undermined … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Culture, Mathematics, Science | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Friedman on historical change, why evangelicals like Trump, Paulos on math and biography, Gawande on science, the case against reality

Reading In and Around the Bible: Hebrews, James

Posted on Monday 20 June 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Next set of Biblical commentary. See Part 1 about sources used — NRSV, Asimov, Miller, KJV via Wells. List of previous posts: Intro and sources used (Oxford’s edition of the New Revised Standard Version, the King James Version via Wells’ … Continue reading →

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Sean Carroll Interview

Posted on Sunday 8 May 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Phil Torres talks to Sean Carroll, author of a book coming out Tuesday that I’m greatly looking forward to, The Big Picture Salon: “The evidence is pretty incontrovertible that he doesn’t exist”: Stephen Colbert’s favorite scientist on the universe, naturalism … Continue reading →

Posted in Cosmology, Meaning, Science | Comments Off on Sean Carroll Interview

Reading In and Around the Bible: Acts

Posted on Thursday 21 April 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Latest set of notes on my readings, for the first time in my life, of the books of the New Testament, reading as a non-believer, inclined to skepticism, often to simple bemusement. The history of the world of supernatural claims … Continue reading →

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Rereading HOW TO READ A BOOK

Posted on Tuesday 1 March 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Is this book anywhere near as commonly known as, say, THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE? I have the impression it was widely known at some point, and my 1972 revised edition is subtitled “the classic guide to intelligent reading” – the … Continue reading →

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Gilovich, 2, part 1

Posted on Wednesday 24 February 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

The new book by Thomas Gilovich (author of the 1991 volume HOW WE KNOW WHAT ISN’T SO: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life, just discussed here) and coauthor Lee Ross is THE WISEST ONE IN THE ROOM: How … Continue reading →

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EO Wilson, Consilience, 3

Posted on Saturday 23 January 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Third post about Edward O. Wilson’s 1998 book Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge. (first post; second post) Chapter 4, “The Natural Sciences”, focuses on the nature of science and how scientists actually work. The great divide among cultures on Planet … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Narrative; the Limits of Rationality

Posted on Saturday 23 January 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

I seem to have not yet mentioned yet another essay about how narrative is taking over the world. James Murdoch (CEO of 21st Century Fox) a couple weeks ago in Time Magazine: Storytelling—both fiction and nonfiction, for good and for … Continue reading →

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EO Wilson, Consilience, 2

Posted on Saturday 16 January 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Second post about Edward O. Wilson’s 1998 book Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge. (first post) Chapter 2, “The Great Branches of Learning”, seems a bit off the mark since it doesn’t address those branches directly. Wilson says the Enlightenment thinkers … Continue reading →

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