Book Reviews, Comments & Stories, Quotes, & Poetry & More
"Connections and Why They Matter"
Most of what happens in our life will spark a connection. Life connects with what has been found in books. Books connect with what happens in life. Use the connections to help you see more clearly. A love of reading and writing is what motivated the creation of this blog. Thank you for coming to the blog.
Reviewed by DECILLIS: A writer, editor, reviewer, and researcher with a Ph.D. in literature, with a specialty in narratology
This is a somewhat atypical philosophical book that uses a combination of poetry and personal anecdotes to discuss free will versus determinism. Although not structured like a typical spiritual self-help book, the series of discussions - loosely concatenated - is nonetheless thought-provoking and draws on various sources. The language is polished, and there are nearly no errors, though there is at least one instance of repeated text.
There is, in effect, one core question - the question of free will, causality, and determinism. The text circles this question in multiple ways; fundamentally, it’s an unanswerable question, and the conclusion acknowledges that there isn’t a firm answer in the text. However, just because something can’t be answered definitively doesn’t mean humans won’t spend much time trying to figure it out. It’s a reasonably central principle affecting one’s worldview, so thinking about it seems a worthwhile use of our time.
The book is an exciting validation of the art form of memoir as a means of exploring and experiencing the world. Likewise, the anecdotes taken from the author’s life are not centered on major epiphanies or milestones in his path to the present but on events that can be used as starting points for discussion. It’s an interesting approach, especially given the initial discussion about how people reshape the narratives of their lives over time.
Overall, the text is not quite what I expected, but it’s a thoughtful discussion of some thorny existential issues, which leaves the reader with some broad action items for living a more fulfilling life.
Everything in life changes, even our perception of our past. This book combines one’s man’s story and his remarkable shift in perspective over time. (Are Black Swan Effects random?
Even if an event considered a “Black Swan Effect” was random, when you look back at your own life story, you would see it did impact you and would likely cause you to see things differently.
Does that mean the law of attraction isn’t the source of all you are? Black swan events are unpredictable events beyond what is typically expected of a situation and have potentially severe consequences.
Black swan events are characterized by their extreme rarity, severe impact, and widespread insistence. They were evident in hindsight.