technology's comments

Not really a book but the following post was very insightful, I go back to it frequently

https://sivers.org/ml

I think this is explained by Dan Ariely in his paper - "Procrastination, Deadlines, and Performance: Self-Control by Precommitment"

http://pss.sagepub.com/content/13/3/219.short

Procrastination is all too familiar to most people. People delay writing up their research (so we hear!), repeatedly declare they will start their diets tomorrow, or postpone until next week doing odd jobs around the house. Yet people also sometimes attempt to control their procrastination by setting deadlines for themselves. In this article, we pose three questions: (a) Are people willing to self-impose meaningful (i.e., costly) deadlines to overcome procrastination? (b) Are self-imposed deadlines effective in improving task performance? (c) When self-imposing deadlines, do people set them optimally, for maximum performance enhancement? A set of studies examined these issues experimentally, showing that the answer is “yes” to the first two questions, and “nO'’ to the third. People have self-control problems, they recognize them, and they try to control them by self-imposing costly deadlines. These deadlines help people control procrastination, but they are not as effective as some externally imposed deadlines in improving task performance.

The title is taken from the original New york post article.

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent - Isaac Asimov [1]

[1] http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov

Same here. Lost ~44 pounds without exercising. I just take a 10-15 minute walk 3-4 times a week and removed most of the processed foods from the diet, no meat, no eggs, very low sugar, became a vegetarian. So most of the impact came from changing my diet and not merely from exercising.

Good books on diet:

In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan

What To Eat, Marion Nestle

Eat, Drink and Be Healthy, Walter Willett

Mindless Eating, Brian Wansink

Why We Get Fat, Gary Taubes

You mean this ?

http://philosophyfaculty.ucsd.edu/faculty/wuthrich/teaching/...

+1

I live in asia and I'm a dropout. And now after some years of reading great books I found on amazon and other courses from the teaching company, I regret gotten a bad education. In my country the quality of teachers is not very good, plus the teaching is not holistic. The books they use to teach is just plain bad. The people you hang out with or befriend also influence your attitude and worldview. I find here in my country bad schools and colleges have students with either bad attitude or worldview. They were not smart.

Also I was also stuck in a kind of catch-22, I too had a bad worldview and lived in a bad neighborhood which further got worse when I tried to hang with not so smart people. How do you change yourself when your whole neighborhood and peer group have weird beliefs and worldview, its like hanging out with people from Afghanistan/Iraq or something.

It is my firm belief that everyone should study philosophy or humanities. Just to learn critical thinking and "how to think" part of it, without it all the other STEM subjects(science, tech, engineering, math) just doesn't connect well. Checking the beliefs and assumptions you hold dear to yourself is very important. Systems thinking is very important. Every subject interconnected to each other. Plus the type of people you hang out with is very important.

I think the article should also include the theory of "The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do" developed by Judith Rich Harris

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nurture_Assumption

• The assumption that child-rearing practices are responsible for how children develop is a myth of modern western culture. • Most socialization research ignores the effect of genetics and peer groups on personality and behavior. • Research into the results of different pa renting styles may confuse cause and effect; do parents spank difficult kids or do kids become diffi cult because they are spanked? • Human beings naturally form groups. They are social animals and excellent imitators. • Children learn by identifying with a peer group and imitating its members. • Peer groups are more influential than parents in determining children's behavior. • Among his or her peers, a child's goal is child success – not adult success. Negative peer influence may, for instance, undermine programs intended to fi ght juvenile delinquency. • The ability of parents to determine how children turn out is decidedly limited. • The family can become the peer group that affects a child, but that‘s rare. • Perhaps the most that parents can do to infl uence children's decisions and behavior is to choose a community or school where the peer group refl ects parental values.

The goal of a child is not adult success, but rather childhood success. Status in a peer group is a lynchpin factor in that success. Children do not seek to emulate their parents; instead, they want to be like their peers. This is why children consider the prospect of being held back in school as frightening. They lose membership in the group they know and must take the status of being misfi ts in a group they do not know.

Group forces may be responsible for the failure of certain programs intended to combat juvenile crime or to improve educational outcomes. It isn’t unusual, for example, for African-American boys to consider academic success as un-African-American – or even to scorn too-studious peers for “acting white.” Research shows that children are more likely to smoke if their friends smoke – but whether their parents smoke makes little difference. Some teen peer groups value criminal behavior, toughness and a willingness to take risks. Recidivism is particularly high among juvenile delinquents who are sent to programs where they live with other youthful offenders. This is to be expected, given the power of group norms. Small wonder, then, that the neighborhood where a child grows up can have a powerful determining infl uence on how it develops. A Danish study found that children adopted by criminals were only likely to become criminals themselves under one circumstance: growing up in a high-crime neighborhood.

To influence behavior and development, social programs should address groups rather than individual children or their parents. Groups transmit language, culture and values to children. It is noteworthy that historically black colleges produce the majority of prominent black intellectuals, and that girls seem to do better in science and math in all- girl schools than in co-ed schools. In a school with an all-black or all-female population, academic achievement is not defined as nonblack or unfeminine. Group norms do not discourage excellence.

Clearly, parents have a limited ability to influence children’s development. Socialization researchers have not demonstrated that such factors as birth order, spanking or parental education are responsible for how children develop. Genes and environment matter. However, in the long run, it is not the parental environment, but the peer group environment that really counts.

Parents can affect the development of children most directly through the influence they exercise over establishing a child’s peer group. Parents pick the neighborhood where the family will live, and often choose their children’s schools. All things considered, it is obviously better to select a neighborhood and a school where peer pressures are likelier to push your child in a good direction. Seek a school where students consider academic achievement desirable and admirable – and where members of the child’s ethnic group do not value academic failure. If possible, choose a vicinity where juvenile crime is rare or nonexistent. Of course, almost every neighborhood has its share of delinquency, and kids who are bent on defi ning themselves as delinquents will somehow manage to fi nd peers. However, degrees of delinquency differ from neighborhood to neighborhood, so it is important to recognize that choosing a neighborhood is a decisive step toward choosing a peer group.

Parents can help children do better within their groups, and this is crucial. Selecting a child’s name can be key. Parents who pick bizarre names can sentence children to ridicule and perhaps even victimization. If your child has skin problems, go to a dermatologist. If the child has crooked teeth, get them straightened. If the child has an obesity problem, address it. Group status matters deeply to children, and their self-esteem grows from group acceptance. Of course, group status also matters to adults. Many child-rearing and child-development fashions have spread only because groups defined them as desirable.

In the natural order of things, dominance happens. Parents are supposed to be the dominant members of families. They aren’t entertainers or playmates. Their job is to be in charge. In many societies, older siblings also have a dominant and caretaking role. Consider that the arrival of a young brother or sister displaces the older sibling as a center of attention. The middle-class American insistence on treating children equally means that the older sibling does not receive the perquisite that could soften the blow of this displacement – a degree of authority and responsibility. Sibling rivalry does not seem to happen in societies that allow older siblings to take their “rightful” place as bosses of younger siblings. Indeed, children tend to develop close alliances in such societies. Brotherhood and sisterhood really mean something.

The nurture assumption has been responsible for plenty of parental anxiety and distress. When children turn out badly, the nurture assumption says that it is the parents’ fault. But no evidence supports the nurture assumption. It’s a myth. So, parents should stop worrying and do the best job they can. However, this job includes recognizing their limits, and acknowledging the power and importance of peer groups. Children live and learn in groups. They adopt group norms. They try hard to be good members of their groups, to achieve status and recognition by the group’s standards. They learn, through the group, to be members of society. So, the most important contribution that parents can make to a child’s development may very well be the influence they wield in making certain groups available – or unavailable – for the child to join.

Good point.

There is a similar report by Harrison Group which surveyed 3,000 pentamillionaires ($5 million net worth) and found that almost all pentamillionaires made their fortunes in a big lump sum after a period of years.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/pf_article_103017.html

I've this book, and I'm in same situation as yours. Do u want to discuss more books on this context ? gtalk ?

Just saw this on the comments on VB:

"Can't imagine why they are one of the poorest countries on earth."

Agreed !

I would add this relevant idea by Matt Ridley from The Rational optimist (http://amzn.to/KvuK4S) :-

As long as human exchange and specialization are allowed to thrive somewhere, then culture evolves whether leaders help it or hinder it, and the result is that prosperity spreads,technology progresses, poverty declines, disease retreats, fertility falls, happiness increases, freedom grows, knowledge flourishes and the environment improves.

"You can't read your way to experience."

This reminds of a decision making book which are based on empirical observation and theory. Good if you want to know how to make decisions in ambiguity, uncertainty and other complex situations.

Streetlights and Shadows: Searching for the Keys to Adaptive Decision Making - Gary Klein

http://www.amazon.com/Streetlights-Shadows-Searching-Adaptiv...

I would add this one:

Decision Points - George W. Bush

http://www.amazon.com/Decision-Points-George-W-Bush/dp/03075...

Probably just by networking - no books.

I never liked founders at work, there's nothing in there which you could learn. Here's the rating which I would to the book just like what Derek sivers did 2/10 - http://sivers.org/book/FoundersAtWork . It just turns out Jessica and PG has tons of influence in hacker community that's why you here her book being recommended all the time.

Alternative : Try Venture capitalist at work by Tarang Shah

http://www.amazon.com/Venture-Capitalists-Work-Billion-Dolla...

The actual paper is here:

http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~dtg/DUNN%20GILBERT%20&%20WIL...

VaynerMedia - 373 Park Avenue South, Floor 9, New York, NY 10016

Community & Content Coordinator Location: New York, NY

Location: New York, NY Type: Full Time Min. Experience: Mid Level The Community & Content Coordinator works hand-in-hand with the Account Executive and serves as their more analytics and community oriented counterpart.

Who are you? Creative, comforted by the numbers, and centered in an unwillingness to maintain the status quo. We look for folks that are “good at the internet”.

The task at hand:

You will be assessing and solving complex brand challenges through a community and content lens relying on a sixth sense (and data) to encourage maximum engagement As an ardent protector of our methodology and ethos, you will constantly be called upon to give your ideas on what works, what doesn’t and why We’ll expect you to think like the brand, eat like the brand, and speak like the brand with a level of respect and dedication that is typically only found within a client organization Invest in popular culture and digital spaces to bring seemingly unrelated content ideas and concepts to bear (walking the walk is incredibly important to us) Translating an understanding of, and respect for, good user experience into innovative content from ideation to creation to assessment Act as a mentor, teacher and/or sounding board for the community managers and multi disciplinary team surrounding you

The Ideal Candidate has:

A Bachelor’s degree and 2-4 years of interactive experience working on digital / social strategies + campaigns, including some client-facing experience A deep love and respect for communities and the power that can be housed within them supplemented by a commitment to listen and adapt as they change An even temperament that will allow you to think clearly and communicate clearly in times when swift action (or the diffusing of potential issues) is imperative An innate curiosity and desire to determine how something works and then be driven to improve upon the original concept The ability to effectively collaborate with multidisciplinary project teams to enable all participants to feel equally invested in strategies and executions and keep everyone in the know and in a position to succeed A sparkling personality that will mesh well with the existing VaynerMedia family (we love smart people with a dash of quirkiness and humor) An insatiable curiosity and knowledge about all things social, web, and mobile The ability to write concisely and with a strong voice, without typo or delay with general editorial sensibilities An interest and comfort level in standing in front of a client or a room full of peers and giving their opinion or a presentation The uncanny ability to see opportunities and solutions in the face of a challenge An interest in math, data and analytics (if you were the one asleep in math class, we have other roles that might be of more interest to you)

http://careers.vaynermedia.com/apply/8WIzAX/Community-Conten...

===========================================================

Junior Designer

Location: New York, NY Department: Creative Type: Full Time Min. Experience: Entry Level

VaynerMedia is looking for a junior designer to join our in-house team full-time. We’re looking for someone who is passionate about design and social media and is comfortable working in a fast paced environment. You'll be working exclusively within the digital realm (no print work) and the portfolio you submit should reflect this.

Requirements: - Formal design schooling OR equivalent experience working professionally. - Strong typography skills and a ridiculous attention to detail. Also helpful to have experience with information and icon design. - Must know the ins-and-outs of Photoshop and the rest of the Adobe Creative Suite. - You'll be working with our clients and must be comfortable designing within the aesthetic and voice of their brands. You need to be good at taking in feedback and adapting accordingly. - Must have a startup mentality. We work hard and love every minute of it. You should also be comfortable working within an agency structure. - Must live in or near NYC or be willing to relocate.

Bonus points: - An understanding of UI/UX. - An understanding of the big social media platforms and their abilities/limitations (design-wise). - Experience working with developers and a basic understanding of the abilities/limitations of the major code languages. - Mild to major illustration skills. - An obsession with sports, music, or food.

Please include in your cover letter a link to your portfolio (if you do not have a link please attach with the cover letter). Please also include a few sentences on what you think is the best designed website or app out there, and why.

http://careers.vaynermedia.com/apply/kWHDVB/Junior-Designer....

tl;dr ?

Recently I started getting interested in math and science after connecting the dots using systems thinking. Several stuff in math is interrelated to different pieces within it. I didn't knew that at the time when I was in school. Yea I can become better at math, but I'm not sure if I should just focus on my strengths or improve my weakness i.e maths which can take alot of time. Maybe I can focus on things which will have big impact in my life ?

Yea I didn't had good instructure. I also changed alot of school during childhood, that may had changed curriculum alot of times and my basic math skills were messed up. Here in India they don't teach you much. Students here are more interested in getting that piece of certificate(graduation degree) and showing it to the employer rather than thinking about what to do with the knowledge they have. Sometimes they don't even have knowledge cuz they just do rote learning without connecting the dots or understanding the concepts.

I downloaded couple of ttc lectures, and they explain these stuff in a awesome way.

Well I'm specially not good at calculus, geometry, probability etc. I can do algebra and statistics after some practice.