Culture

Title: The Imagination Machine: How to Spark New Ideas and Create Your Company’s FutureAuthor: Martin Reeves and Jack FullerPublisher: Harvard Business Review PressPublishing Date: June 8, 2021Pages: 224 (Paperback)ISBN: 978-1647820862 Creativity touches on something close to the heart of humanity. It’s not what makes us human, but it is a distinctive…

Title: The Power of Regret: How Looking Back Moves Us ForwardAuthor: Daniel H. PinkPublisher: Riverhead BooksPublishing Date: February 1, 2021Pages: 256 (Hardcover)ISBN: 978-0735210653  I have a playlist of memories that I can summon at will. Sometimes my brain hits “play” on the playlist even when I don’t tell it to: that…

Title: Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life Author: Luke BurgisPublisher: St. Martin’s PressPublishing Date: June 1, 2021Pages: 304 (Hardcover)ISBN: 978-1250262486 Why do you want what you want?   We often take our desires as a given, and philosophers like James K.A. Smith argue that our desires actually make up the core…

Title: The Tyranny of MetricsAuthor: Jerry Z. MullerPublisher: Princeton University PressPublishing Date: February 6, 2018Pages: 240 pages (Hardcover)ISBN: 978-0691174952 “Any measure used for control is unreliable.” This is author Jerry Muller’s summary of Goodhart’s Law, and it captures the spirit of this excellent cautionary book. Muller’s book deals with a phenomenon he…

Title: The Redemptive Self: Stories Americans Live ByAuthor: Dan P. McAdamsPublisher: Oxford University PressPublish Date: February 4, 2013Pages: 400 pages (Paperback)ISBN: 978-019996975 For the past few years, I have found myself wandering into the world of psychology, curious as to what the significant developments in that field might offer for contextualizing…