Well I haven’t written anything in over a year but here we go! 🎶
How to Fail at (almost) Everything, Kind of the Story of My Life- Scott Adams
I always loved Dilbert, and the combination of awareness and awkwardness that he brings to a strip, so I was interested to see how the comic’s life was, surrounding Dilbert. I could never have imagined how much of a maelstrom happens to people…In my opinion, Scott Adams is a successful professional, by all accounts, standards and available metrics. With that in mind, it was insane to read his story of struggle inside these chapters about vocal dystonia, and literally losing his voice: “escape my cell, release the other prisoners, kill the warden, burn the building down”. Through persistence, drawing on resources as well as prior experiences, he manages to find individuals who have information and point him in the direction of progress. In this Herculean effort, Scott did in fact become one of the early successful case as well as using the book itself as a pedestal and loudspeaker to get the message out for anyone suffering from the condition! No longer can we say that we know nothing about Vocal Dystonia, thanks to Scott.
I think Dilbert is a great character because he reminds me of some engineer types that I know. These are types with the intelligence but awkwardness that comes with high levels of relative intelligence in a group, while being distanced from interacting on emotional levels (maybe for different reasons, but to the same effect). Dilbert was one of the later comics that we both found funny, probably for not too slightly different reasons. I would like to meet Scott Adams one day, just to hear his voice with a Stranger, albeit a stranger who is a massive fan!
For those searching for pragmatic solutions to life's problems, this is the book for you!
How to Read a Book - Mortimer Adler
Through Amazons digital library, I saw this book by Mortimer Adler; I never imagined that someone would write a book about how to read a book, let alone that it would be published! I figured I have a different reading style than others so I dive into the book and am surprised at how simple the structure is: there are only four levels of reading, apparently.
I was able to confirm my fluidity in the first three levels of reading almost immediately, pausing only for a moment on the syntax of a few main points. The most advanced form of reading was a bit of a challenge to confirm, but once I worked through the wording I started to wonder: does this confirm my style of speed reading books to be one of the most advanced known?This type of reading is called syntopical, combining the prefix “syn” (united; acting or considered together) with “topical” (a term to describe a rule or argument; subject of thought). Syntopical reading is where the reader approaches a string of thought, or body of work, by reading a handful of books simultaneously in order to extract more than just the authors of each individual book. Although improbable seeming, it is entirely normal to extract information as well as insights that were not present in each book, but rather the chorus of dissenting voices on a specific topic create a clarity after the fact.
As an aside, it was validating to read that I had taught myself how to do the most advanced form of Reading by myself! Through attempting to learn as much as possible, as quickly as possible, on the most important topics, I developed my own iteration of syntopical reading which has allowed me to surpass prior reading quantities. Historically, I had difficulty explaining my style of reading to more than a few people since internalizing and practicing the syntopical reading. In that span of time, I have read the following growing list of books- two finished every Friday for the past 12 months 💪. I have added the entire list at the bottom of the post. If you hate every individual letter that I’ve written but want to know more about learning, shoot me an email- Jon.Reynolds30@gmail.com smile
More to come: reading thoughts, cryptocurrency ideas, ramblings, and more. Tune in at 11!
- Jonathan, aka "Khaos"
The Completed List (12/18/17)
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