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Chapter 6: How not to Die

We live in an age where diseases have become extremely prevalent. Whether it be cancer (in its varied forms) or psychological diseases (from depression to OCD to psychosis), we find ourselves searching for answers of all kinds. Each one of us has a loved one that is fighting a battle against disease. In the first part of the book titled "How not to die", Dr Michael Greger talks about how we can prevent and fight many of these diseases. Each chapter is dedicated to a particular type of disease or talks about a specific organ that helps keep us alive and running. The second part of the book talks about the solutions; various foods to add to your diet.  Normally I would talk about a specific chapter of the book and how it connects to other ideas elsewhere. However, as I read the book and looked at what Dr. Gregor advises elsewhere (on YouTube and his website), the common theme he advocates is to switch from animal based diets (meat, dairy, fish, eggs) to a plant based diet. This...
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Chapter 5: 12 Rules for Life

In the book “ 12 Rules for Life ”, Ph.D clinical psychologist and YouTube sensation Jordan Peterson talks about lobsters and standing straight.  As you journey with him through his life experiences and his ideas of what the world is, you come to appreciate the effort he has put in. In the first of 12 rules, he starts by talking about lobsters. How lobsters have been around since a time even before the dinosaurs and how the lobster is our earliest ancestor. How we inherit the mental circuits ( and behaviours) of the lobster nervous system.  He then goes on to discuss how humans (and other animals) see Success and Failure. What kind of mental infrastructure is reflected in cases of Success and Failure. He talks about how a successful animal (one that is big, strong, attractive) differs in mental chemistry and circuitry over one that has failed. Between these two indicators of success and failure, lies the animal kind. It is a range from 1 to 10.  He then goes on to talk abo...
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Chapter 4 : FEED

In the book "Rewire Your Brain" , John Arden mentions a method to rewire your brain to be more healthy. The acronym FEED involves 4 steps towards better mental health.  F - Focus E - Effort E - Effortlessness D - Determination As one goes through the book, he mentions various steps. Starting with a basic understanding of brain anatomy, he moves forward with practical steps! Such practical steps include cultivating memory, fueling your brain (with food), exercise, sleep, social exposure. He also moves into the spiritual domain by discussing resiliency, wisdom and most importantly, a mindful attitude. Let us take each letter of the acronym. F- Focus Focus involves paying attention. In today's world we are either constantly distracted or pay attention to media that is meant to turn you into an addict. Paying attention opens the doors towards better concentration on tasks that require a deeper understanding. This improves the health of the brain, namely the frontal lobe whic...
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Chapter 3: Paths to the Highway

"Innocence is the child, and forgetfulness, a new beginning, a game, a self-rolling wheel, a first movement, a holy Yea." - The Three Metamorphosis, Thus Spake Zarathustra Written in 1995, "The Road Ahead" was by it's very name a prophecy. A practice in making inferences and expanding our imagination; while educating us about the apparent "magic" of computing and networks.  Serving multiple functions this book is gripping from page one. Unlike most academics and futurism fanatics, Bill Gates was fully invested in the subjects he was talking about. And what comes out as the most basic of insights from this book is that we all are affected and must be deeply invested. This is a snowball that is still rolling. In Chapter 5 "Paths to the Highway", the Gates of 1995 imagines today's semantic systems and the underlying principles that would (and do) support them. He imagines machines talking to each other on "software pl...
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Chapter 2: Our Delusion

 As a fan of Michael Crichton (1942-2008), I am tempted to include him in this blog. And this is one temptation that's worth taking a bite at. Let me share a bit about this author before we move on to the chunk of the matter. A student of science himself (  Biological anthropology & medicine (.M.D.) ), Crichton wrote extensively on possibilities that would soon become a reality. He is most famous for writing the novel Jurassic Park which later got made into a movie. My personal favourites of his novels include Sphere, The Lost World and The Andromeda Strain.  Having read most of his novels a long time ago, the ideas that remain stand out in contrast to the rest of the narrative.  One of these ideas that has been modern man's popular belief that he is not a part of Nature; that Man stands separately, as a controller of Nature rather than a "flowering" of it.  In today's times when climate change and extinction of species has become a topic...
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Chapter 1: Keep your Perspective

In the book " Being Authentic ", Ric Giardina talks about keeping your perspective (C17). In this chapter he talks about how most of us take life too seriously and how our lives today are centered around the workplace. Giardina then goes on to reference a dialogue between Diogenes the Cynic and Alexander. When I read this parable (insightful as it is), my mind went back to a similar dialogue (albeit not the same) between Alexander The Great and an Indian mystic/yogi. This story is mentioned by Devdutt Pattanaik in this post : Alexander, the Great, after conquering Persia found there, what he called a gymnosophist , or a naked wise man. He was perhaps a Jain muni or perhaps a yogi, who sat on a rock and meditated all day and gazed at the stars all night. “What are you doing?” asked Alexander. “Experiencing nothingness,” answered the gymnosophist. Then the gymnosophist asked, “What are you doing?” Alexander replied, “I am conquering the world.” Both chuckled an...
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