Book Choices to Read: Library Picks for February 2016

Not sure whether these are great books or lousy reads. But, keeping them in wishlist for my next visit to the local library.

1. Too Much of a Good Thing: How Four Key Survival Traits Are Now Killing Us
by Lee Goldman
– Is What Used To Help Us Now Killing Us? | Here & Now

2. Opening Skinner’s Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century Paperback
by Lauren Slater
a. Review: Opening Skinner’s Box by Lauren Slater | Books | The Guardian
b. Opening Skinner’s Box Causes Controversy – Association for Psychological Science

3. Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity
by David J. Kent
– Tesla Shrugged? Was John Galt Based on Nikola Tesla? | Science Traveler

4. The Geography of Genius: A Search for the World’s Most Creative Places from Ancient Athens to Silicon Valley
by Eric Weiner
– ‘Geography Of Genius’ Explores How Surroundings Influence Ideas : NPR

5. Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion
by Jay Heinrichs
– Thank You for Arguing – thank-you-for-arguing.pdf

6. Spinglish: The Definitive Dictionary of Deliberately Deceptive Language Hardcover
by Henry Beard , Christopher Cerf
– How to Speak in Spinglish | Vanity Fair

All-out strategic exchange. Nuclear war.

Bad citation. Plagiarism.

Delayering. Firing middle managers.

Expediting fee. Bribe.

Hands-on mentoring. Sexual relations with a junior employee.

Learning opportunity. A mistake or failure.

Maturity tracks. Wrinkles.

Negative net worth. Bankruptcy.

Outdoor citizens. The homeless.

Packaging agent. Grocery bagger.

Relational capitalism. Nepotism.

Semi-boneless. Contains bones.

Utensil-maintenance professional. Dishwasher.

Volume-related production-scheduling adjustment. A factory closing.

With all due respect. Go fuck yourself.

Zero-tasking. Doing absolutely nothing.

7. The Demographic Cliff: How to Survive and Prosper During the Great Deflation of 2014-2019
by Harry S. Dent Jr.
– Demographic Cliff Great Deflation – Harry Dent on How to Prosper in the Coming Downturn :: The Market Oracle :: Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting Free Website

8. Humans Are Underrated: What High Achievers Know That Brilliant Machines Never Will
by Geoff Colvin
– Humans are underrated – Fortune

9. Let’s Be Less Stupid: An Attempt to Maintain My Mental Faculties Hardcover
by Patricia Marx
a. Equal Parts Sarcasm, Silliness And Smarts In ‘Let’s Be Less Stupid’ : NPR
b. How Stupid and Old Are You? – The New Yorker

What Is Your Mental Age?

1. What’s the word for the stuff you sprinkle on your food but it’s not pepper? No, not salt, but like salt but supposedly better for you because it doesn’t have salt in it.

10. A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature’s Deep Design
by Frank Wilczek
a. A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature’s Deep Design by Frank Wilczek – review | Books | The Guardian
b. Frank Wilczek’s A Beautiful Question, reviewed.