Four Books and an On-Line Course to Consider
Consider the following four books about technology, fitness, neuroscience and nutrition - and an on-line course (non-technical) about artificial intelligence.
“More from Less: The Surprising Story of How We Learned to Prosper Using Fewer Resources—and What Happens Next” (2019) by Andrew McAfee (principal research scientist, MIT Sloan School of Management) - presents an optimistic view of our future, driven by effective capitalism, technological progress, public awareness, and effective government.
Marc Benioff (Chairman and co-CEO of Salesforce): “McAfee lays out a compelling blueprint showing how we can support human life using fewer natural resources, improve the state of the world, and replenish the planet for centuries to come.”
Marc Andreessen (co-founder/general partner of Andreessen Horowitz): “McAfee conclusively demonstrates how environmentalism requires more technology and capitalism, not less. Our modern technologies actually dematerialize our consumption, giving us higher human welfare with lower material inputs. This is an urgently needed and clear-eyed view of how to have our technological cake and eat it too."
”Keep It Moving:Lessons for the Rest of Your Life" (2019) by Twyla Tharp. The author is s a world class choreographer. Her comments include:
"Age is not the enemy. Stagnation is the enemy. Complacency is the enemy. Stasis is the enemy...
" to move is the provenance of all living human beings.
"choose to make your life bigger. Opt for expression over observation, action instead of passivity, risk over safety, the unknown over the familiar. Be deliberate, act with intention. Chase the sublime and the absurd. Make each day one where you emerge, unlock, excite, and discover."
"Behave: The Biology of Humans at our Best and Worst” (2017) by Robert M. Sapolsky (professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University) - shares his views on how genes, neurons, hormones and other factors that influence our behavior.
New York Times: “The science comes with hipster humor … [the book] offers a wild and mind-opening ride into a better understanding of just where our behavior comes from. Darwin would have been thrilled."
Washington Post: ”an immensely readable, often hilarious romp through the multiple worlds of psychology, primatology, sociology and neurobiology to explain why we behave the way we do."
“The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted And the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, And Long-term Health” (2005) by Thomas Campbell and T. Colin Campbell – a data driven discussion supporting plant based diets - and perhaps some meat from sustainable sources.
Washington Post: “Reflects the profound changes that industrialization is bringing to diet and disease patterns in China, statistics that have had an impact on reevaluating dietary policy in the United States and worldwide.”
Robert C. Richardson (Nobel Prize Winner in Physics 1996, former Professor of Physics and Vice Provost of Research, Cornell University): “[the book] studies the relationship between diet and disease, and his conclusions are startling. The China Study is a story that needs to be heard.”
“AI For Everyone” (Coursera on-line course) by Andrew Ng (Co-founder of Coursera, an adjunct professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, founded “Google Brain” project, led Baidu's AI Group)
A “non-technical” course to help understand AI technologies, identify opportunities for its use and understand with AI can – and cannot do.