<title>Educated</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/educated/</link>

<pubDate>Thu, 17 Feb 2022 09:51:11 -0500</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/educated/</guid>

<description>thinking for yourself I recognized myself a little in this book, not in the events, severity, or locations but in the path to being &ldquo;educated&rdquo; in the sense that Westover intends. I&rsquo;ll try to convey what that sense is with some quotes from the book. The first moment is after she takes a class on American history at BYU. She returns home and gets her face dirty while working, and her brother calls her a N&mdash;r, a joke he had made many times before.</description>

<title>Cratylus</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/cratylus/</link>

<pubDate>Sun, 16 Jan 2022 15:11:14 -0500</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/cratylus/</guid>

<description>In this dialog Hermogenes comes to Socrates to discuss Cratylus&rsquo; view of the nature of names, whether they are true to the objects they represent or are just conventional. Hermogenes believes that names are purely conventional, while Cratylus believes the opposite. Socrates falls somewhere in the middle: I quite agree with you that words should as far as possible resemble things; but I fear that this dragging in of resemblance, as Hermogenes says, is a shabby thing, which has to be supplemented by the mechanical aid of convention with a view to correctness; for I believe that if we could always, or almost always, use likenesses, which are perfectly appropriate, this would be the most perfect state of language; as the opposite is the most imperfect.</description>

<title>Crito</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/crito/</link>

<pubDate>Mon, 27 Dec 2021 14:05:02 -0700</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/crito/</guid>

<description>In this dialogue Crito comes to Socrates who is in prison waiting to be executed by the state. Crito has come to convince Socrates to come and escape with him. Crito&rsquo;s escape plan will not cause great inconvenience for any of Socrates&rsquo; friends, and he would be able to live well in Thessaly. Socrates ends up convincing Crito that it would be wrong for him to escape. &ldquo;the opinion of the many&rdquo; CRITO: But you see, Socrates, that the opinion of the many must be regarded, for what is now happening shows that they can do the greatest evil to anyone who has lost their good opinion.</description>

<title>Apology of Socrates</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/apology/</link>

<pubDate>Sun, 26 Dec 2021 13:40:45 -0700</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/apology/</guid>

<description>I&rsquo;m starting a course of foundational texts in philosophy with a friend of mine, and this is the first one we&rsquo;ve read. Socrates is often considered a founder of Western philosophy, and it was easy for me to see in the text some common philosophical themes I&rsquo;ve been exposed to growing up in the West. the fear of death is irrational Socrates argues that the fear of death is irrational from two perspectives: one, that what happens after death cannot be bad; and two, that a righteous person needs to be more concerned with whether he is doing right or wrong than whether death occurs or not.</description>

<title>The last speakers: the quest to save the world's most endangered languages</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/last_speakers/</link>

<pubDate>Mon, 31 May 2021 08:29:00 -0600</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/last_speakers/</guid>

<description>This book argues that language loss is always bad, but that we can do something to save it. While the stories in the book leave me feeling like every language lost is a terrible cost, I think it&rsquo;s inevitable as our species merges into a global society due to technology. I think we ought to prioritize the proper treatment and respect of marginalized and alternative cultures, including their languages and how these cultures want to maintain them.</description>

<title>The seven principles for making marriage work: a practical guide from the country's foremost relationship expert</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/seven-principles-for-marriage/</link>

<pubDate>Wed, 26 May 2021 06:52:44 -0600</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/seven-principles-for-marriage/</guid>

<description>Better communication doesn&rsquo;t really solve marriage problems. It has a low success rate, and that makes sense because there are plenty of marriages that yell and dispute. Disputation is not a sign of an unhealthy marriage. You&rsquo;d have to be really magnanimous to take criticism about you, even if presented as softly as possible. Personality does not make a marriage incompatible. People can be friends but have very distinct personalities. Handle each other&rsquo;s strange side with caring and respect, as you would a friend.</description>

<title>Harry Potter and the methods of rationality</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/hpmor/</link>

<pubDate>Thu, 20 May 2021 07:25:00 -0600</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/hpmor/</guid>

<description>Spoiler warning: no plot held back in this review. science is at least as beautiful as magic In chapter 7 Harry introduces Draco to the beauty of scientific advancement, and it actually moved me to tears. You should read the whole thing, but here are some of the best quotes: &ldquo;Anyway,&rdquo; Harry said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m saying that you don&rsquo;t seem to have been paying much attention to what goes on in the Muggle world.</description>

<title>Planted: belief and belonging in an age of doubt</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/planted/</link>

<pubDate>Sun, 18 Apr 2021 10:21:00 -0600</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/planted/</guid>

<description>(My own thoughts appear as sidenotes or in italics, to distinguish from the author&rsquo;s thoughts.) Richard Bushman categorizes those who leave the church into two broad categories: those who feel &ldquo;switched off&rdquo;, and those who feel &ldquo;squeezed out&rdquo;. Mason summarizes the switched-off group as those who encounter troubling information about church history or doctrine, and as they discover more information they become jaded by it until they can no longer see the good the church does for them or for others.</description>

<title>The life-changing magic of tidying up: the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/life-changing-magic/</link>

<pubDate>Wed, 31 Mar 2021 21:21:04 -0700</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/life-changing-magic/</guid>

<description>This book was my first real exposure to minimalism, and it completely changed how I feel about the possession of objects. It was super fortunate that my wife and I listened to it together on a road trip, and became equally enthralled with the idea of dumping all of our excess clutter. all at once We have excess clutter because of a fundamental problem with the way we deal with possessions.</description>

<title>The smartest kids in the world</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/smartest-kids/</link>

<pubDate>Tue, 30 Mar 2021 07:00:00 -0700</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/smartest-kids/</guid>

<description>The PISA test tests common senses reasoning. The countries that did best on the test were a surprise to everyone. Finland, South Korea, and Poland were all standouts in their own ways, and Ripley compares the policies and learning environments in these countries with those of the US to determine why the US is falling behind, especially in math and science. We talk a lot about parent involvement in the US, but the US actually has above average parental involvement.</description>

<title>The infinite Atonement</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/infinite-atonement/</link>

<pubDate>Tue, 30 Mar 2021 06:30:00 -0700</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/infinite-atonement/</guid>

<description>These notes are made while reading this with a Mormon theological background, so I skip noting some of the basic Mormon doctrines about the Atonement that he teaches. The Atonement is the central doctrine of Christianity. All scripture should be at least partially focused on it, and we&rsquo;re invited to &ldquo;speak of the atonement of Christ, and attain to a perfect knowledge of him&rdquo; (Jacob 4:12). What is the significance of the Atonement?</description>

<title>How not to diet: the groundbreaking science of healthy, permanent weight loss</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/how-not-to-diet/</link>

<pubDate>Wed, 03 Mar 2021 07:00:37 -0700</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/how-not-to-diet/</guid>

<description>I read this book with Irresistible and the Social Dilemma on my mind, so I have a lot of notes here about addiction and big business. Just like everything else, capitalism has screwed over our diets by giving companies the incentive to put shareholders above customers. Food companies employ lobbyists to keep subsidies on sugar/corn syrup/meat, and keep a stranglehold on public organizations. They buy billions of dollars of ads to communicate the message that it&rsquo;s laziness that has caused the obesity epidemic and to push their products that appeal to the unconscious desires of our brains to produce artificial hunger.</description>

<title>The gene: an intimate history</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/the-gene/</link>

<pubDate>Fri, 22 Jan 2021 06:14:58 -0700</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/the-gene/</guid>

<description>These are notes I made after finishing the book, so they&rsquo;ll be more heavily weighted toward concepts discussed near the end. The first half of the book was primarily dedicated to a history of genetic research, which I think helped the reader understand the issues discussed in the latter half. playing God It seems like our identity derives from a complicated combination of genes and chance environmental effects. Part of our strength as a species has been our natural variation, and to begin editing the genome is to assume that we can do it better than evolution has done up until this point.</description>

<title>Faith is not blind</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/faith-is-not-blind/</link>

<pubDate>Mon, 18 Jan 2021 08:11:23 -0700</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/faith-is-not-blind/</guid>

<description>Elder Hafen struggled as a missionary with the concept of knowing versus believing: he felt he believed it was true, but not that he knew it. On the mission he felt pressure to bear testimony with the word &ldquo;know&rdquo;, but he chafed at that. In this book, Elder Hafen hopes to discuss the complex boundaries between believing and knowing, Richard Bushman, a prominent LDS historian, found himself in a similar situation.</description>

<title>Tools and weapons: the promise and peril of the digital age</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/tools-and-weapons/</link>

<pubDate>Thu, 03 Dec 2020 20:58:02 -0700</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/tools-and-weapons/</guid>

<description>I started taking notes later in the book. There were lots of good insights in the first half. Sorry! broadband access Getting the internet to rural communities is a big deal for the rural economy. Just like electricity, it&rsquo;s something that needs government support because there isn&rsquo;t the economic incentive for ISPs to reach some of these locations. ethical AI The focus on AI now is not just a fad, but a convergence of several trends that have made AI the next logical step: the increased computational resources, flexible access to compute through the cloud, etc.</description>

<title>Blink: the power of thinking without thinking</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/blink/</link>

<pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2020 20:44:48 -0700</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/blink/</guid>

<description>Our subconscious not only manages bodily systems but also performs processing of features in our experience that our conscious does not have time to process. This has been proven in lots of experiments where people have been given subconscious cues to help them solve problems, but the people are unaware of this and make up answers when asked to explain how they came to conclusions. It&rsquo;s important to trust these judgments that seem to come out of nowhere, but if we try to explain them we&rsquo;ll start trying to provide rational answers, which can be totally false or misleading.</description>

<title>A short history of nearly everything</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/short-history-nearly-everything/</link>

<pubDate>Wed, 07 Oct 2020 11:19:03 -0600</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/short-history-nearly-everything/</guid>

<description>We are extremely lucky to be here, and even more lucky to be able to appreciate it. Let&rsquo;s not waste it.</description>

<title>The moment of lift: how empowering women changes the world</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/moment-of-lift/</link>

<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2020 05:25:38 -0600</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/moment-of-lift/</guid>

<description>This book is about empowering women by giving them the freedom to make their own choices and speak for themselves. She said some important things about stigma in society. She talked specifically about the stigma of not talking about birth control, but she made general statements too. It&rsquo;s each person&rsquo;s responsibility to work against stigma and stop the human tendency to cast out others. I need to spend more time thinking about my own stigmas and biases, so that I can help those who are marginalized.</description>

<title>Naked economics: undressing the dismal science</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/naked-economics/</link>

<pubDate>Sun, 30 Aug 2020 06:46:49 -0600</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/naked-economics/</guid>

<description>An important question is how much we need to fight income inequality. Is it fair to have 35% growth in the upper class and 3% growth in the lower class? Where is a good balance? We have grown a lot richer since the Industrial Revolution, because we&rsquo;ve become more productive. Wealth is not a zero-sum game. Globalization is good because it allows us to buy cheaper, better products. We can offset short-run job loss by paying or giving human capital to those who lose their jobs to globalization Policies often don&rsquo;t do what we intend them to do, because they change people&rsquo;s decisions for the involved choice.</description>

<title>The faith of a scientist</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/faith-of-a-scientist/</link>

<pubDate>Sun, 30 Aug 2020 06:46:49 -0600</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/faith-of-a-scientist/</guid>

<description>Scientific thinking and religion go hand in hand, and help refine and give purpose to each other. Descartes&rsquo; approach wasn&rsquo;t as good as Newton&rsquo;s. Descartes relied on the soundness of his own reasoning. &ldquo;The erroneous conception that revelation ended with the apostles promotes the misconception among sectarian religions that the Gospel is complete and that with a liberal admixture of human wisdom, all will be crystal clear.&rdquo; God places messages in everything.</description>

<title>Weapons of math destruction: how big data increases inequality and threatens democracy</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/weapons-of-math-destruction/</link>

<pubDate>Sun, 30 Aug 2020 06:46:49 -0600</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/weapons-of-math-destruction/</guid>

<description>In fact, I saw all kinds of parallels between finance and Big Data. Both industries gobble up the same pool of talent, much of it from elite universities like MIT, Princeton, or Stanford. These new hires are ravenous for success and have been focused on external metrics&ndash;like SAT scores and college admissions&ndash;their entire lives. Whether in finance or tech, the message they&rsquo;ve received is that they will be rich, that they will run the world.</description>

<title>Essentialism</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/essentialism/</link>

<pubDate>Sun, 23 Aug 2020 07:47:12 -0600</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/essentialism/</guid>

<description>The main character of the first story slowly changed his attitude toward demands on his resources. &ldquo;Can I actually fulfill this request, given the time and resources I have?&rdquo; &ldquo;Is this the very most important thing I should be doing with my time and resources right now?&rdquo; &ldquo;Just because I was invited didn&rsquo;t seem a good enough reason to attend.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s important to pursue &ldquo;less but better&rdquo; in a disciplined way.</description>

<title>Increase in learning: spiritual patterns for obtaining your own answers</title>

<link>https://kylrth.com/book/increase-in-learning/</link>

<pubDate>Wed, 20 Nov 2019 10:14:43 -0700</pubDate>

<guid>https://kylrth.com/book/increase-in-learning/</guid>

<description>Chapter 1 We are give the opportunity to have the Spirit as a constant companion! To take advantage, we need to sincerely desire it, invite it through action, and be worthy of it through obedience. Chapter 2 Knowledge is the accumulation of facts. Understanding comes when we apply our hearts to knowledge, which lets the Holy Ghost testify to us of the truthfulness of it. Understanding comes by revelation. &ldquo;Intelligence is the righteous application of knowledge and understanding in action and judgment.</description>