STRANDOMS: the stray and random thoughts
December 2023
Prof. S. Ramkumar
Education
My pick of books – 2023
These are the selected seven non-fictions, which I felt have the potential to make us realize what is really happening to us and the world. I have jotted few introductory lines for four.
How do we prepare ourselves with intuitions, insights, interests and passions to move ahead in life? What happens when life do not move as linear a predicted as we expected (which often it doesn’t). How do we tame self for the “rugged flexibility” to be back to stable in uncertainties, and how the stability cannot be the same as we aspire as it should have been as earlier. MASTER OF CHANGE talks effective enough to change you!
HIDDEN POTENTIAL is a book about inspiration not ambition. “Ambition is the outcome you want to attain. Aspiration is the person you hope to become”. The immense hidden potentials people possess can help in achieving greater things for self and the world. Growth is not about the genius you possess – it is about the character you develop. Character skills do more than help you perform at your peak – they propel you to higher peaks.
You can get introduced to the wave of AI and its possible impacts in the future in different walks of life in THE COMING WAVE. Get prepared. The coming wave is defined by two core technologies: artificial intelligence(AI) and synthetic biology. He introduces the term “pessimism-aversion trap”: the misguided analysis that arises when you are overwhelmed by a fear of confronting potentially dark realities, and the resulting tendency to look the other way.
OUTLIVE is the great and pragmatic outlook of a wonderful doctor, who discusses in detail about Medicine 3.0. 3.0 considers every patient as unique individual and pays more attention to maintaining health span and quality of life, among many other factors discussed. “…the goal of the new medicine – which I Call Medicine 3.0 – is not to patch people up and get them out the door, removing their tumours and hoping for the best , but rather to prevent the tumours from appearing and spreading in the first place. Or to avoid that first heart attack. Or to divert someone from the path to Alzheimer’s disease…” (OUTLIVE page 29)
A wonderful reading which can open up the wonderland for Alice.
MASTER OF CHANGE
Controlling disruptions in our life
We assume that events in our life – work, and personal – will roll on in a linear sequence. We wake up every day with a mental map of this expectation. This is “normalcy” to us. In reality this “normalcy” often gets disrupted. A struggle to reposition to the original situation ie. the normalcy-thought we live with, (sometimes called as stability in Change), may not happen.
Be prepared to accept the new situation as the “stability”, and move on. I have often mentioned in my writings about “expect the unexpected in life” and be prepared for this.
Recently I had the pleasure of reading a book, which I feel has similar ideas, built on research and analysis in a wonderful, unique and practical way.
Happiness and success as we decide, largely depends on the preparedness and action in times of disruptions, termed as “rugged flexibility” by Brad Stulberg in his recent book Master of Change.
The goal of rugged flexibility
“is to get to a favorable re-order; to maintain a strong core identity, but at the same time , to adpt, evolve and grow”. The “insight of impermanence may be scary at first but it is ultimately empowering”.
‘Master of Change’ offers a path (not road!) for embracing, and growing from life’s uncertainties. “Learning an entirely new way to conceive of and work with change –(rugged flexibility)- minimizes distress, restlessness and angst while promoting deep happiness and lasting fulfillment”
It is a book for anyone; which talks on “how to excel when everything is changing –including you”.
Connect to Change with this book!
THE HALF KNOWN LIFE
For me , to be honest”, a tour guide was saying to his group, outside in the courtyard in the early sunlight, “being here (in the Church of Holy Sepulchre in the City of Jerusalem) is so foreign. It’s not the place but the people who come here who give it truth.”
In the chapter on “The Holy City”, (one among the ten places he travelled across the globe) Mr. Iyer narrates the experience in the Holy Sepulchre.
One of the interesting observation that impressed me and intuitively pulled into some realms of insightful analogies , was this sentence by the guide who was with the tourists in Jerusalem.
“For almost 50 years, Pico Iyer has been roaming the world, mixing a global souls’ delight in observing cultures with a pilgrim’s readiness to be transformed.
In this latest book (2023) he brings together the outer world and the inner to offer us a surprising, original and beautiful exploration of how we might come upon paradise in the midst of our very real lives”.
In a broader and truthful way we are all travellers who visit earth (or world), starting the journey from birth. It is us (the people) who come here give the truth or meaning to the places.
Readers may recollect on how they have come upon paradise in the midst of their very real lives!!
My Other Top Books of 2023
The Coming Wave
Outlive
The Earth Transformed
