Why is it that some people are more curious than others? Is it because of our parents or our biology? Do we get more or less curious as we get older? Why is this? These are the questions that Ian Leslie seeks to answer in Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends On It. Some of the book is anecdotal but most of it delves into the science and sociological factors … [Read more...]
Dataclysm by Christian Rudder (Book Review)
Did you know that women judge men more harshly on their looks than they do us? Or that universally attractive people are hit on less? I didn't, either, until I read Dataclysm by Christian Rudder, founder of the dating website OKCupid. Using cold, hard data to identify trends and differentiate between what people say they want versus what they actually want, Rudder has … [Read more...]
How to Make Your Product Go Viral
Have you ever wondered why some things go viral? Jonah Berger did and his research culminated in his book, Contagious. If this sounds like a familiar concept then you probably read Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point. In Tipping Point, Gladwell attributes the viral spread of information/products/ideas to three types of people; mavens, connectors, and salespeople. In Contagious, … [Read more...]
The Reality of ‘When Science Goes Wrong’
When I first picked up this book I immediately went to Goodreads to see what other people thought. One of the biggest complaints is that it was too "sciency" or technical, which baffled me because it's about science going wrong. That's right - science. Of course it is going to have some scientific jargon! A chapter about hurricanes would be incomplete without a mention of the … [Read more...]
Shh! ‘Quiet’ is Just Okay
I know I'm a few months late, but I finally jumped on the Quiet (by Susan Cain) train. I had to wait for it to become available through the library, but that's okay because it was mostly worth the wait. Not that I enjoy waiting, though, because I fall on the extrovert side of the spectrum. But, I also take a lot of things personally, so technically I think I'm a sensitive … [Read more...]