Tag: books

The Book I Read Last Year that Had the Greatest Impact on Me


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It was September 2019. I had had difficulty ploughing through Richard Wright’s book, Why Buddhism is True. And I had recently “read” When Things Fall Apart (by Pema Chödrön) — which I found helpful in some respects, but also repetitious and lacking in rigour. So it was that the science journalist, Peter Brems, recommended to me the book, Thoughts Are Not the Enemy: An Innovative Approach to Meditation Practice, suggesting it was very different from Wright’s and quite worth the read.

Peter is very knowledgeable about meditation and cognitive science… so I took up his latest recommendation. Continue reading The Book I Read Last Year that Had the Greatest Impact on Me

Surfing Tips: Using Text Expansion Utilities and Launchers to Quickly Access Project Documents

I’ve blogged about this before, but given that the Surf Strategically principle of my recently published e-book contains many tips on the subject, I thought the following would be worth repeating.
Continue reading Surfing Tips: Using Text Expansion Utilities and Launchers to Quickly Access Project Documents

Distraction-Free Information Processing: The “Surf Strategically” Principle of Cognitive Productivity with macOS

The Information Cornucopia we call the web is a source of knowledge that can make us more effective. It is also a potential drain on the brain’s most precious resource, short-term awareness (which some people call “attention”).
Continue reading Distraction-Free Information Processing: The “Surf Strategically” Principle of Cognitive Productivity with macOS

2018 “Celebration of SFU Authors”

I know I am not the only SFU author who, while writing his or her book, looks forward to the annual “Celebration of SFU Authors” event.

The event is always held on the 7th floor of the SFU library, which is of course atop one of the world’s most beautiful cities.

The event is an opportunity to encourage academic dialogue and ensure that works by SFU Authors are available to the University community through the Library’s collection.

I appreciate the university’s encouragement, and the opportunity to mingle with other authors.

Continue reading 2018 “Celebration of SFU Authors”

What Inspired Mrs. Robinson and Other Songs in The Graduate?

There must be a thesis on this somewhere: How did Simon & Garfunkle’s soundtrack to The Graduate come to be what it became? I don’t mean the administrative part. I mean: what was the specific assignment S&G received? What were the constraints? And more interestingly, how did S&G translate this assignment into the masterpiece they created? Continue reading What Inspired Mrs. Robinson and Other Songs in The Graduate?

How Do You Judge the Helpfulness of Information? And Why Does This Matter?

One of the few beneficial side-effects of the 2016 American federal elections, in which Donald Trump was elected President, is that thinking people are more aware than ever of threats to knowledge. Post-truth has entered dictionaries. We complain about fake news. We point fingers.

Assessing sources of information has always been one of the most difficult cognitive challenges thinking-people face. I discussed this topic at length in my first book. Yesterday, I published an additional chapter of my new book that deals extensively with this issue. It is the third of seven principles of Cognitive Productivity with macOS®: 7 Principles for Getting Smarter with Knowledge:

Assess Analytically

Continue reading How Do You Judge the Helpfulness of Information? And Why Does This Matter?

First Installment of Cognitive Productivity with macOS® Published on Leanpub!

I’m pleased to announce the publication of the first installment of Cognitive Productivity with macOS®: 7 Principles for Getting Smarter with Knowledge, which is now for sale on Leanpub!

This book is based on Part 3 of Cognitive Productivity. Whereas Cognitive Productivity contains only text and images, I’ve recorded over 70 screencasts for this new book. Continue reading First Installment of Cognitive Productivity with macOS® Published on Leanpub!