I am not sure why this thread was closed (it seems thread starter wanted to):
http://www.traderji.com/words-wisdom/93353-life-changing-books-4.html
I do believe in the incredible power of books to change a man's life.
Even a single new idea is good enough to bring great changes in the persons mind and world!
Eg: Darwin's simple idea of evolution, radically changed every field (engineering, medicine, finance, politics etc. ) it touched.
So am starting the thread again... we will focus on interesting books, why you see it as cool and what's the change it has brought in you and other info.
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1) what's the book:
Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the fuel and fire of thinking
Douglas Hofstadter and Emmanuel Sander
2) why its cool:
This book explains the core of thinking process which we often take it for granted (like gravity).
3) what changes it has brought in me:
some new definition of intelligence.
Usually I thought intelligence as having big IQ or solving big/complex problems but still the definition is not fine tuned. This book suggests:
"Intelligence is capturing the essence of things, ignoring the noise and acting on the essence"...
what differentiate an intelligent general and the dumb ones?
The ability to grasp the essence of the situation and acting on it without getting swept away from noise! Well that applies to traders too! This is true with expert and novice in any field!
Intelligence is also 'connecting the dots' seeing the invisible things...
Now how to get there? Its through analogies, metaphors and categorizations!
I have always thought analogies and metaphors as 'poetic' things or at best crutch to understand complex things and nothing more than that.
But the book explains how analogies are the very core of all thinking process not a cosmetic thing or temporary learning wheels, it's the engine!
4) other info:
it has plenty of historical examples from Galileo, Einstein, Archimedes and history of math equations, stories of creative thinkers who made break throughs and lots of interesting tidbits... you can also watch the author's awesome talk in youtube, search "Douglas Hofstadter"
Interestingly metaphors are extensively used in psycho therapy too (google/youtube: ACT Therapy), first I thought this is juuuuuuuuuuust too much of story telling.
Analogies and Metaphors make opaque object into understandable thing. This opaque thing could be our behavior (anger/addiction etc) or motion of planets!
Waking up to the power and working of analogies is the first step in opening a persons third conceptual eye.
With this conceptual eye we have made cognitive leap no animals can ever dare, we tame subatomic particles to path to mars!
http://www.traderji.com/words-wisdom/93353-life-changing-books-4.html
I do believe in the incredible power of books to change a man's life.
Even a single new idea is good enough to bring great changes in the persons mind and world!
Eg: Darwin's simple idea of evolution, radically changed every field (engineering, medicine, finance, politics etc. ) it touched.
So am starting the thread again... we will focus on interesting books, why you see it as cool and what's the change it has brought in you and other info.
-------
1) what's the book:
Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the fuel and fire of thinking
Douglas Hofstadter and Emmanuel Sander
2) why its cool:
This book explains the core of thinking process which we often take it for granted (like gravity).
3) what changes it has brought in me:
some new definition of intelligence.
Usually I thought intelligence as having big IQ or solving big/complex problems but still the definition is not fine tuned. This book suggests:
"Intelligence is capturing the essence of things, ignoring the noise and acting on the essence"...
what differentiate an intelligent general and the dumb ones?
The ability to grasp the essence of the situation and acting on it without getting swept away from noise! Well that applies to traders too! This is true with expert and novice in any field!
Intelligence is also 'connecting the dots' seeing the invisible things...
Now how to get there? Its through analogies, metaphors and categorizations!
I have always thought analogies and metaphors as 'poetic' things or at best crutch to understand complex things and nothing more than that.
But the book explains how analogies are the very core of all thinking process not a cosmetic thing or temporary learning wheels, it's the engine!
4) other info:
it has plenty of historical examples from Galileo, Einstein, Archimedes and history of math equations, stories of creative thinkers who made break throughs and lots of interesting tidbits... you can also watch the author's awesome talk in youtube, search "Douglas Hofstadter"
Interestingly metaphors are extensively used in psycho therapy too (google/youtube: ACT Therapy), first I thought this is juuuuuuuuuuust too much of story telling.
Analogies and Metaphors make opaque object into understandable thing. This opaque thing could be our behavior (anger/addiction etc) or motion of planets!
Waking up to the power and working of analogies is the first step in opening a persons third conceptual eye.
With this conceptual eye we have made cognitive leap no animals can ever dare, we tame subatomic particles to path to mars!
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