Learn about health, history, and productivity
Bring out your inner talent!
Andrew Huberman is an American neuroscientist and podcaster. His podcast is called The Huberman Lab.
His book recommendations are an interesting mix. Most of them teach you about creativity and mastery. Others are about history, health, and productivity.
Let’s go.
Anyone can be a master.
How do some people become masters in a field while others get left behind?
This book tells us that creativity and excellence don’t come out of nowhere. It must be nurtured and built upon.
“The time that leads to mastery is dependent on the intensity of our focus.”
The author tells us that we enter a new field with excitement about what we can learn.
We are also afraid and confused. But if we focus, we attain fluency in the craft.
After fluency, we reach the level of practitioner. And then one becomes a master.
The key is to keep at it.
The author also focuses on The Apprenticeship and mentor-protégé relationship. He tells us about the importance of humility. i.e. Knowing that other people know more than us due to their experience and time spent in the field.
“Engaged in the creative process we feel more alive than ever, because we are making something and not merely consuming, Masters of the small reality we create.”
The book also touches on the development of social skills and how that can help one in attaining mastery.
Greene confirms what many have told us before. Mastery and talent are not earned through some lucky draw. It is earned through hard work and consistency.
Are metabolic issues behind brain disorders?
Are mental health issues due to metabolic disorders of the brain? This book says yes.
The author thinks that this theory will allow for the development of long-term healing plans instead of just symptom reduction.
“Do human cells have “drivers” making the cells stop and go? It turns out that they do.”
Metabolism isn’t just about weight and calorie burning. It includes all the processes that living things use to convert food into protein, cell membranes, and more.
The author argues that metabolic issues in brain cells can explain mental health issues.
Sadly, mental health issues are increasing in children. And this obviously is a cause for alarm. We need to do better.
Dr Palmer shares his findings. He observed improvements in his patients who were on the Keto diet for the treatment of obesity.
“From 2006 to 2017, rates of depression the US increased by 68 percent in children ages twelve to seventeen. In people ages eighteen to twenty-five, there was an increase of 49 percent.”
What the author says about treatment, i.e. diet, exercise, and sleep is just common sense to me.
As they say, you are what you eat.
A renewed look at time.
This book was originally published in German in 2006. A year later, its English translation was published.
I have talked about this book in detail here.
“Science still cannot say what time consists of, but we know why we feel it go by.”
The author will change your view of time and time management for the better.
He criticizes our over-reliance on external clocks while ignoring our bodies’ natural rhythm and cycle. There is no universal clock, even according to science.
Movement, memory, and emotions can change our perception of time.
“No matter how remarkable the moments of our life are, we fail to notice them if we are not receptive.”
The author also tells us about the relationship between age and time perception.
The book also reminds us to focus on ‘now’ and prevent our brains from jumping to the past and the future. The key is to focus on the task at hand. The more effort a task requires, the less distracted one is.
I am a fan of this book and highly recommend it to everyone. This book has made me implement practical changes in my life.
What is creativity and how to channel it?
Rick Rubin is a long-time music producer.
He has written this book to bring us his philosophy of creativity. Rubin considers creativity a way of life.
“Taking a wrong turn allows you to see landscapes you wouldn’t otherwise have seen.”
The author teaches us ways to acquire inspiration and motivation for creative work. He tells us that artists should attune themselves to the awe and wonder that exists everywhere.
Another theme of the book is the relationship between an artist, his/her art, and the universe.
Rubin tells us to minimize our effort on regular decision-making ideas. This is so we can free up mental energy for creative work.
“To be evaluated, ideas have to be seen, heard, tasted, or touched.”
This book also takes inspiration from Buddhist and Zen philosophies.
The life story of a peculiar neurologist.
Oliver Sacks was a British neurologist and author. This is his memoir.
The author takes us to his childhood home. Sacks grew up surrounded by science and medicine.
“I am very bad at factual exams, yes-or-no questions, but can spread my wings with essays.”
He tells us about his adventures and various experiences that shaped him into adulthood.
We also meet his various patients. With many of them, he has a relationship that goes beyond the doctor-client realm.
“Patients were real, often passionate individuals with real problems — and sometimes choices — of an often agonizing sort.”
The author formed a long-term relationship much later in life. We learn about his relationship with Bill Hayes.
At the age of 75, Sacks returned to taking piano lessons.
This book is an exciting look inside the life of a unique and talented individual.
Why are our jaws different from our ancestors’ jaws?
The lesson of this book matches a lot with ‘Breath’ by James Nestor.
“The more you chew, especially in the childhood years, the stronger your jaw muscles become and the larger your jaws will grow.”
Our diets have changed. We have deviated from what our ancestors used to eat.
They ate a natural and tough diet due to which, their jaws were strong and wide. The jaws had enough space for teeth. They didn’t require procedures such as braces or wisdom tooth extractions.
Our movement towards an ‘industrial diet’ like soft bread, soups, etc, has triggered a pandemic. The pandemic of small mouths and crooked teeth.
“Changes in chewing changed human jaws and faces.”
Not only this, it has led to problems with our breathing and sleep.
The book suggests sticking to nasal breathing even when asleep, and chewing. The authors advise this, especially during childhood for good mouth development and oral posture.
This book is a need of the hour.
Navigating through the longitude.
Latitude is easy to determine. Sailors used the position of the sun, moon, and stars to determine it.
But longitude was another story. Landmarks were used to determine it. But out at sea, when no land can be seen, it caused multiple issues.
“One degree of longitude equals four minutes of time the world over, but in terms of distance, one degree shrinks from sixty-eight miles at the Equator to virtually nothing at the poles.”
One method was to sail to the right latitude and then follow the line home. This was called easting or westing. Clocks would help but the issue was that the clocks were not accurate.
However, the issue was a pressing one.
In 1714, the British parliament offered a reward for whoever offered a practical solution to the longitude problem.
The prizes were also offered by the governments of France, Holland, and Spain.
“Time is to clock as mind is to brain.”
In 1730, a self-taught clockmaker John Harrison attempted to solve this. He made a clock that would help ships know the time but also their position on the globe.
He created several versions of his clock, improving each time.
“In the wake of the Longitude Act, the concept of “discovering the longitude” became a synonym for attempting the impossible.”
His clocks were tested. After that Harrison got a major portion of the prize money offered.
This book tells us about a scientific discovery that changed marine navigation forever.
Living long and strong.
Peter Attia is a Canadian-American physician.
This book discusses the secrets to a long life.
“Poor or disordered breathing can affect our motor control and make us susceptible to injury, studies have found.”
The author tells us about the importance of protein and fats in our diet. He also tells us about the many benefits of exercise and sleep.
The author tells us about the various types of workouts and how each of them can benefit the goal of living a long and healthy life.
“We spend so much of our time in car seats, in desk chairs, at computers, and peering at our various devices that modern life sometimes seems like an all-out assault on the integrity of our spine.”
Taking care of emotional health is another important thing when it comes to living optimally.
Longevity isn’t how long you live. The quality of life also matters.
What does trauma do?
This book tells us about trauma. It also includes the author’s experiences with his trauma patients.
“Trauma changes our emotions; changed emotions determine our decisions.”
The author tells us that compassion, community, and humanity are important in helping someone recover.
Through compassion, humans care for each other. Through community, we inter-depend. Meanwhile, humanity binds the whole planet together.
When we are born, we can draw whatever path we want on our maps. These maps, once scribbled on by trauma, change everything.
“On a map untouched by trauma, we can draw paths almost anywhere we wish to go, explore life’s terrain, navigate the struggles and challenges of life, and eventually find our way home.”
Conti discusses the effects of trauma on brain chemistry. He also tells us that trauma patients stay alert and aren’t able to relax their bodies.
He also discusses various barriers to seeking help.
Work deeply, play deeply.
Newport tells us about the importance of deep work i.e. focusing while minimizing distractions.
“Two Core Abilities for Thriving in the New Economy
1. The ability to quickly master hard things.
2. The ability to produce at an elite level, in terms of both quality and speed.”
He also tells us about relaxing during downtime. Newport advises us not to check emails etc. in downtime. That prevents a person from relaxing on a deeper level.
In short, Newport’s philosophy is to work hard and play hard.
The author advises us to create deep work habits by adding routines and rituals that make us work with more focus.
“To simply wait and be bored has become a novel experience in modern life, but from the perspective of concentration training, it’s incredibly valuable.”
He also draws a distinction between busyness and productivity.
This is a productivity book that actually matters.
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