bgdn.me

A personal blog.

Books


  • Thu 20 January 2022
  • Books

The Distracted Mind by A. Gazzaley and L. D. Rosen

In their book, Adam Gazzaley and Larry D. Rosen explain that our cognitive control abilities required to accomplish goals have not developed to the same degree as our executive functions used for goal setting. We have limitations in distributing and sustaining attention, working memory capacity and fidelity, and in managing …

  • Tue 24 August 2021
  • Books

Finding Darwin's God by Kenneth R. Miller

A molecular biologist and Roman Catholic at the same time, Kenneth R. Miller, sets out to answer the question: Can evolution and God coexist? To begin with, he explains the basic principles of the evolution theory and provides some scientific evidence in support of its validity. Then, he goes on …

Why We Do What We Do by Edward Deci

In his excellent book Why We Do What We Do, based on empirical research, Edward Deci shows that intrinsic motivation is much more effective than extrinsic motivation. Contrary to the behaviorist dogma, self-motivation underlies successful learning, creativity, responsibility, healthy behavior, and long-lasting change. It comes from innate psychological needs. The …

  • Fri 02 April 2021
  • Books

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

In this unusual non-fiction book, full of metaphors and insights, Steven Pressfield argues that each of us has a specific work to do. It might be writing, painting, starting a business venture, etc. The work can be recognized by the fear it causes in us. The greater the fear, the …

  • Sun 28 February 2021
  • Books

The Data Loom by Stephen Few

Stephen Few, who has written excellent books on visualizing numerical data, focuses on data sensemaking in this book. The author argues: mastering modern analysis tools is not enough to understand the data; we still need to train the thinking skills. Most important of these are critical and scientific thinking skills …

  • Tue 16 February 2021
  • Books

Deep Work by Cal Newport

In this book, Cal Newport shows that cognitively demanding intellectual work, that is deep work, is extremely valuable and rare at the same time. This includes rapid acquiring of new skills and gaining complex knowledge, as well as producing at a high quality level. If we prioritize this kind of …

  • Thu 16 January 2020
  • Books

Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

In Digital Minimalism, Cal Newport argues that, through sophisticated algorithms exploiting our psychological features, social media and Internet services have successfully grabbed our attention and made us dependent on them, forcing us to spend a huge amount of time there. The situation has been especially exacerbated with the advent of …

  • Wed 05 September 2018
  • Books

How to Make Meetings Work!

UPDATED: 12 Oct 2020 Here's my mindmap on the very helpful book "How To Make Meetings Work!" by David Straus and Michael Doyle. Click the image to open a mind map hosted on the XMind website. Or save the image as a file on your local disk. Steps to a …

PMP Exam Prep by Rita Mulcahy

Below is my summary on the "PMP Exam Prep - Eight Edition" book by Rita Mulcahy. I didn't read this book to pass the exam (still in my plans). I read it to understand the principles of the Project Management. And it helped a lot. Project Management Process Project life cycle …

The Phoenix Project

I added this book to my reading list after attending a talk by Matt Moore, chairman of TEAM International, when he was in Kharkiv. He recommended that book. Into a month or so, my colleague suggested "The Phoenix Project", too. As such, I decided to listen to audio version of …