Tag: Books

There are many wonders of the modern world. Which matters most to us depends on our individual preferences. To me, the easy access to the written word is a miracle that was not available even a generation ago.

Sure there were books in the past but access was costly in terms of time and money. Today, most of us have broadband internet connections. That means not only text but vast quantities of quality audio, video, text and graphics are at our fingertips, on our computers and smartphones.

What’s more, the marginal cost of all that awesome stuff is near zero. There’s more material being added every hour than one can consume in an entire lifetime. Time and attention is the scarce resource, not material. Continue reading “Benjamín Labatut – When We Cease to Understand the World”

A few weeks ago, my friend Rajesh pointed me to a list titled, “20 Books You Should Read in Your 20s.” I didn’t like the list; some of the books were too heavy for the average 20-something-year old. Certainly, as a specialized reader, a 20-year old could read many of them but not as a general reader.

It occurred to me that lists like that could not be very useful for the general public, anyway. We all have distinct preferences and interests. That implies, list of books have to be tailored to fit the person. I asked myself, what would the list have looked for a 20-something-year old me? Here is that list. Continue reading “Twenty Books”