Does more information mean we know less? 14 January 2011Last updated at 17:55 We pay a price for all the information we consume these days - and it's knowing less, says Alain de Botton. One of the more embarrassing difficulties of our age is that most of us have quite lost the ability to concentrate, to sit still and do nothing other than focus on certain basic truths of the human condition. The fault lies in part with our new gadgets. Thanks to our machines, of which we are generally so proud, the past decade has seen an unparalleled assault on our capacity to fix our minds steadily on anything. To sit still and think without succumbing to an anxious reach for a machine has become almost impossible. But we can't just blame the machines. The obsession with current events is relentless. Novelty The news occupies in the secular sphere much the same position of authority that the liturgical calendar has in the religious one. Continue reading the main story “Start Quote End Quote Fasting Machines dominate most homes Wisdom Elevate
Publishers Are Giving Away Bestsellers For Free - The Book Insider Book lovers know that you can never have enough books in your collection. With the growing popularity of tablets and eBooks, it’s now easier than ever to get tons of books without having to add any new bookshelves. In addition, there are several new companies that can help you build this collection without having to spend a fortune. BookBub’s free daily email notifies you about deep discounts on acclaimed and bestselling eBooks. History BookBub was founded in 2012 by a team of book lovers that previously worked in book publishing, book retailing, and online media. Free & Bargain eBooks The service works for all devices including Kindle, Nook, iPad, Google Play, Kobo and others. The Boy in the Suitcase ($1.99) – a New YorkTimes bestselling crime thrillerUndeniable Rogue (FREE) – A joyous romance by a New York Times bestselling authorMerle’s Door ($2.99) – a national bestselling true story by Ted Kerasote Curated Just For You How They Do It Conclusion
the discoursenotebook Fikir Atolyesi J.D. Moyer – sci-fi writer, beat maker, self-experimenter Has our relationship with nature changed? 21 January 2011Last updated at 17:48 Fear of ecological destruction causes us to pity and protect nature rather than oppose it, says Alain de Botton The environmental dangers that now face mankind put non-scientific philosophical types like me in an awkward situation. Nevertheless, maybe there is still a point in trying to reflect on, rather than simply solve our ecological dilemmas. We can begin by observing that there is nothing new for mankind about confronting the possibility of its own destruction. Power However, we have grown used to conceiving of our present environmental situation as unparalleled. Continue reading the main story “Start Quote Nature doesn't remind us that we are small, but rather provides chilling, awesome evidence of our size and strength ” End Quote We might do worse than to date our present ecological awareness to the moment when the two bombs exploded over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We have always known ourselves to be short-sighted and murderous. Mystery
How to Deconstruct Almost Anything Chip Morningstar, Electric Communities "Academics get paid for being clever, not for being right." -- Donald Norman This is the story of one computer professional's explorations in the world of postmodern literary criticism. I'm a working software engineer, not a student nor an academic nor a person with any real background in the humanities. It started when my colleague Randy Farmer and I presented a paper at the Second International Conference on Cyberspace, held in Santa Cruz, California in April, 1991. Randy and I were scheduled to speak on the second day of the conference. We retreated back to Palo Alto that evening for a quick rewrite. This bit of nonsense was constructed entirely out of things people had actually said the day before, except for the last ten words or so which are a pastiche of Danny Kaye's "flagon with the dragon" bit from The Court Jester, contributed by our co-worker Gayle Pergamit, who took great glee in the entire enterprise. Beginner: Intermediate:
Stefan Sagmeister: The power of time off “Let’s turn our office into a live video background for our company’s homepage” – as seen in the picture and live on stefansagmeister.com . “And, let’s take a year off every 7 years of our lives, in order to regenerate, experiment and spawn whole sets of new ideas”. Yay… uh, wait. What? “Every seven years, designer Stefan Sagmeister closes his New York studio for a yearlong sabbatical to rejuvenate and refresh their creative outlook. But, who the hell is Stefan Sagmeister? Stefan Sagmeister’s 20 commandements 1. Take a few minutes off and watch Stefan Sagmeister speaking about “The power of time off”. Head over to TED to watch more of Stefan’s speeches. Picture taken from sagmeister.com
Gretchen Rubin--The Happiness Project and The Four Tendencies No sex please, we're British: Alain de Botton on sex Stylist’s first sex survey revealed that 65% of you want more sex. Philosopher Alain de Botton explains what’s getting in the way… It’s rare to get through this life without feeling we are somehow a bit odd about sex – generally with a degree of secret agony, perhaps at the end of a relationship, or as we lie in bed frustrated next to our partner, unable to go to sleep. It’s an area in which most of us have a painful impression, in our heart of hearts, that we are quite unusual. None of us approach sex as we think we are supposed to, with the cheerful, sporting, non-obsessive outlook that we torture ourselves into believing other people are endowed with. It’s time to accept the strangeness of sex with humour and courage, and to start to talk about it with honesty and compassion. Work Life To begin with, and most innocently, the lack of sex within established relationships typically has to do with the difficulty of shifting registers between everyday work life and the erotic. Hidden Anger