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New Book!

10 October, 201710 October, 2017 ~ poorbjorn

New Book – New Topic.

Reading up on some light theory that might help me in my work as an Environment Artist in the games industry. Let there be light (and shadow, terminator, fill, translucency, caustics etc….)!

Light for Visual Artists: Understanding & Using Light in Art & Design

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One of my favorite parts of this book revolve around the topic of self-sabotaging our own creativity: —— 📝 “Some of the malevolent complexes’ favorite thieveries and punishments of women’s creativity revolve around promising the soul-self “time to create” somewhere of in the foggy future. Or promising that when one has several days in a row free, then the rumpus will begin at last. It’s hogwash.” —— This is just a way to suffocate the creative impulse further. —— Another great way of suffocating creativity is Only-iffing; Only if I had a such and such degree then my work would be decent. Only if I receive such and such thing... ——- Many put their talents in the back burner: ——- 📝 “I’ve seen women insist on cleaning everything in the house before they could sit down to write.... and you know it’s a funny thing about house cleaning... it never comes to an end. Perfect way to stop a woman.” 🧹 ——— How do you nourish and protect your creative life? And if you don’t; How do you procrastinate? 🤔 ——— (And yes! A Review of Women Who Runs With The Wolves is coming soon!) 🐺

Recall Britney’s 2008 breakdown, Clinton’s sex affair and the behavior Nixon’s behavior in the White House before his resignation? —— “When we experience those moments when people reveal their dark side, we see something come over their face; their voice and body language of altered— almost as if another person is confronting us, the features of the upset child suddenly becoming visible” - Robert Greene —— Carl Jung called it The Shadow. —— The Shadow consists of all the qualities we try to deny about ourselves and repress. You can try really hard to cover up these aspects but they will pop back up sooner of later. You can see glimpses of it showing from people in moments of stress. —— “You can throw out Nature with a pitchfork, but she’ll always come back.” —— Hiding The Shadow side of yourself takes energy. You must be adept to see when The Shadow is appearing in yourself and others. ——- The Shadow also tends to show more with age. “Later in life we tire of the masks we have been wearing, and the leakage is greater.” —— I’ve started to study Jung but I haven’t read up on the concept of The Shadow yet. What I’ve got from The Laws of Human Nature is an introduction that left me wanting to know more - What reading do you recommend on the Shadow and Shadow work? Let’s confront our dark sides! 🤔

Why should you know history? It tells you how we got where we are today. Why we believe what we believe, why we do what we do. By learning about the past you can also avoid repeating it’s mistakes —- and it’s f***ing fascinating! —- This book is ambitious in scope, the series (11 volumes) even more so; trying to summarize the history of civilization itself. This first book alone is 1184 pages. One of many reason to make break this book down to several micro reviews! —- My focus for this year will be Ancient Greece, but first I want to read up on the history leading up to it. —- The first part of the book talks about the economical, political, mental and moral elements needed for the establishment of civilization. —- 📝 “I do not have to think. I have plenty of meat”. Not planning for more than today in primitive life had its advantages. When planning for the future you pave the way for property and greed. —- 📝 Communism appears most commonly in the beginning of civilization. In times of dearth. Fear of starvation fuses the individual into the group. The dream Communism lurks in every modern society as a memory of a simpler and more equal life. “We remember its equality but forget the poverty!” —- 📝 About taxes: “It was better to pay bribe to one magnificent robber than to bribe them all.” —- 📝 Women not bearing children are shamed by men in societies that rely on high birth rates to compensate for high death rates. —- 📝 In primitive society delay between desire and fulfillment is not very long and therefore there is not need to idealize passion. —- 📝 “Where food is dear, life is cheap.” —- 📝 In simple days, men married for cheap labour and regular meals. —- 📝 Is it good to be a virgin or not upon marriage? What is shameful is totally dictated by culture. —- 📝 “Civilization is not imperishable. It must be required anew by each generation.” —- 📝 “Magic becomes science.” Magicians needed to give the supernatural a push by using natural means. Stuff that works for real.. 👩‍🔬 —- I’m excited to be a student of history again. The world I see everyday makes more and more sense after each chapter I read. 👨‍🎓 —— 5/5 - Photo credit: @cinefile_25 , @eruchdah

“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” – Ben Franklin --------------------------- The morning hours are very focused. The brain is recharged and there are no distractions. No phone calls, no children running around, no meeting or unforeseen events to attend. Imagine having done 10k running, 30 min mediation and completed the most important task of the day before the rest of the world has taken their first zip of the morning coffee. That’s what we are trying out in this experiment! ----------------------- The Lab Report - 007 - “Rise Early" ----------------------- @BenLaing2 asked me if I would like to join him and a group of peps for a challenge; A challenge to rise at 05:30 am for 66 days straight. ----------------------- Short term effects: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ------------------------ - It will take a while to get used to going up on time if you are a converting night owl. - Motivation be unreliable until established a proper morning routine or if you don’t have a strong “Why” for rising early. - You will immediately feel the momentum building up as task are getting checked off. ------------------------- Long term effects: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ------------------------- - 2 extra focused hours each day for 5 years; that’s 3650 hours of effort you can put towards whatever you find most worthwhile in life. - You will grow to love the tranquility of the dark hours. - I have a family of deer I see during my morning run. It had become a nice ritual to say hi to them. --------------------------- Sustainability: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ -------------------------- - Weekends pose an extra challenge since there is an cultural expectation that we should stay up later then. - This lifestyle is not compatible with late nights, which could be considered a loss. - You have to go to bed early for this routine to be sustainable. --------------------------- FINAL VERDICT: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ --------------------------- I never made the full 66-days, but did two good runs of 30(ish) days in a row. Going up early has given me much joy and fulfillment. I love it! ---------------------- What morning routine do you have, and what is the morning routine that you wished you had? 🤔

I knew nothing about this book going in, except that it is a classic and probably written by an American. —— I could have read up on why it is considered a classic and why it has stood the test of time before I started to read it and write about it here. But I didn’t. I enjoy to be thrown into an experience not knowing what to expect - to approach books with a Beginners Mind, so to speak. After posting this I will read up on the history of the book, it’s impact and it’s cult status. —- Swipe for synopsis 👉 —- 📝 “When I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I was not supposed to do anything that requires me to wear pants.” said Jean-Louise. Girls where expected play with tea sets and be a sunshine to others. —- 📝 The chapter about when the kids where tasked to read for the malignant dying morphine addict, Mrs. Dubose, really struck a cord with me. —- 📝 To kill a mocking bird is to destroy innocence. —- My guess is that what makes this book special is the way it challenges gender stereotypes and how it shines a light on prejudices regarding race and class. But maybe even more striking is the beautiful way in which it is written and how it takes you to another time and place. —- It’s a great book, but I wouldn’t consider it mandatory reading for my purposes, which is to get a deep understanding of the human condition and what constitutes reality. —— 3/5 —— Have you read it? What classics are you intending to read this year? 🤔

Social media companies needs us to keep returning to them and to make this happen they collect data about us. That data is used to give us more of what engages us the most and in that way creating wealth for the platforms. —- The problem is that what engages us most are content that evokes fear, anxiety and outrage. And that’s what we get! —- 📝 BUMMER Platforms: Service like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are “driven by a business model in which the incentive is to find customers ready to pay to modify someone else’s behavior.”. —- 📝 A key point to remind yourself about: For services like a Facebook, we are the product, not the customer. —- 📝 We talk to our BUMMER connected products like they where humans, but it works even better if we do it in a way that makes you behave more like machines. (I.e. me interacting with my Google Assistant 😂) —- 📝 Podcasts are still not BUMMER. They are made by real people that are known to the listener. They are build on a sense of personality and context. It’s also harder for the listener to jump from one audio snippet to the next. —— ⚖️ VERDICT: This short book only scratched the surfaces of the problematical issues social media brings to the table but does so in a good way! —— If you want to get more depth with social media, clickbaiting and algorithms then read these books: —— 📖 Trust me I’m lying - Ryan Holiday. Media manipulation and Fake news. —— 📖 21 Lessons for the 21st century- Y. Harari How to live in a society of algorithms. —— 📖 The Shallows: What the internet is doing to our brains - Nicholas Carr How the internet is changing the way our brains works. —— 📖 So you’ve Been Publicly Shamed - Jon Ronson Social media and the renaissance of public shaming. —— What book would you add to the list above? 🤔 —— 3/5

Kleins theory is that fundamentalist capitalists pray on disaster stricken countries to take advantage of the chaos to sell out the public sector. —— 📝 Disaster capitalism: “Orchestrated raids on the public sphere in the wake of catastrophic events”. —— 📝 Laissez-faire: A economic system with a minimum or no interference by government. —— 📝 When the government buys homeland security services from the private sector... Isn’t it in the companies interest to keep the war on terror going? Maybe even encourage terrorism? Is homeland security turning into a powerful sector invested in continued violence? —— 📝 “Conservatives don’t make great government, because if you believe that you are called upon to do is wrong then you are unlikely to do it well.” Hmm.. interesting take on it 🤔. —— 📝 One third of Americans think that the government had a hand in, or did nothing to prevent, the 9/11 attack’s. —— ⭐️ TAKEAWAY: The problem with Milton Friedmans take on free market capitalism was that voting citizens don’t actually want any of those neoliberal policies. Times of disaster and crisis are great opportunities to slip though policies that otherwise would be rejected by the people. People in shock are less likely to put up a fair fight. —— ⚖️ VERDICT: I did not like this book. I wanted to be educated but I felt that I was propagandized instead. Maybe I was I disengaged because I don’t need to be convinced that laissez-faire capitalism is a problematic proposal, just like full blown communism would be on the opposite side of the spectrum. Maybe it was what I experienced as the rant style of writing and lack of nuance... —— Would you rather live in a communist society or a laissez fairer free market society? 🤔 —— 2/5 —— Photo credit: @robparrett

For a long time depression and anxiety has been believed to be caused be a chemical imbalance in the brain and the solution a lifetime of pill popping. Hari challenges this idea, both the cause and the solution. ____ His research shows 9 very different causes for depression - Disconnection from... 1. Meaningful work 2. Meaningful values 3. Other people 4. Status and respect 5. Childhood trauma 6. The natural world 7. A hopeful and secure future 8. & 9. The real role of genes and brain changes. —— 📝 “You are not a machine with broken parts you are an animal whose need have not been met.” —— 📝 When asked how many friends people have, “zero” is the most common answer. —— 📝 Anxious and depressed people are prone to gaming addiction. Games have groups and teams, clear goals, and provides a sense of control. —— 📝 Anti depressant Companies (who often finance studies) only publish what makes their product look good. Just like when we take selfies, we discard the double chins and post the one where we look ace! 🤳 —— 📝 The more people value things, the more likely they are to be depressed. —— 📝 Obesity and loneliness are equally deadly. —— 📝 Studies show that depression is in fact to a significant degree a problem not with your brain but with your life. —— ⭐️ TAKEAWAY: I have not been depressed myself (I don’t think?) but like most people I have had periods that has been darker and more anxious than others. Reconnecting to the 9 areas pointed out by Hari definitely improved things for me. Whether it was starting to run in nature (6.), Meditation (5.), read books (2.) or work on this Insta account (1. & 3.). Unfortunately “Reconnection” is not as commercially lucrative and easy to package into a product as antidepressants. —— We all have people around us, friends or family members, that suffer from depression. Reading this book helped me gain a deeper understanding why modern society is a breeding ground for mental disorders. —— This books is a serious contender for Book of the Year for me - and it’s only beginning of February. ❤️ —- What actions and habits in your life protect you from depression and anxiety? 🤔 —— 5/5 —— Photo credit: @thelavinagency

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5 Outstanding Books this Year
A Guide to Quality Reading – Life is Too Short for Bad Books!
Favorite Books of 2016
Lab Reports – Life is an Experiment
Reading List 2016
Reading List 2017
Reading List 2018
Reading Lists
Top 10 Books of 2017

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Blog posts
Top 10 Books of 2017
Reading Lists
Reading List 2018
5 Outstanding Books this Year
Lab Reports – Life is an Experiment

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