MORE INFLUENTIAL BOOKS

A fun little continuation of Influential Books.

Please note that many books have 2 ISBNs, a 10-digit and a 13-digit, which may be and often are completely different. Be aware that I have taken the 13-digit version and taken off the first 3 digits (978). In a few cases when I couldn’t find the ISBN I’ve listed the ASIN, which contain letters as well as numbers.

Listed in no particular order: 

Repost: Everyone’s Missing the Obvious About the Declining U.S. Birth Rate

(Reposted from https://hurnpublications.com/2019/01/28/everyones-missing-the-obvious-about-the-declining-u-s-birth-rate/)

Everyone’s Missing the Obvious About the Declining U.S. Birth Rate

The Plow: Origin of Sexism?

Sarvodaya

You read that correctly. There have been all sorts of theories as to why discrimination towards women seems so pervasive and near-universal, and from where it comes from to begin with. But a crude farming tool is by far the most interesting and unexpected origin. As the Economist – my most cherished and regularly read source – recently reported, a team of economists, of all people, set out to prove that the adoption of the plow coincided with a change of attitudes towards women that persists to this day.

Specifically, a move towards large-scale and labor-intensive agriculture – defined by the adoption of the heavy plow – created an economic system in which one’s physical strength and endurance became a major basis for productivity, and they key to society’s survival. Men were naturally more adept in this new function, and from this crucial role they would subsequently come to dominate…

View original post 848 more words

The weakness of strength

This will be effectively a Philosophical/ Theological Musings Part 7, and probably my most counterintuitive post ever.

Recently I was contemplating (as you can tell I often do) what strength is and what it’s done for me. All my life I’ve highly valued strength, the ability to persevere and survive hardship, and especially physical strength which I’ve heavily relied on to get me through.

YEEEEEEEEEEAH!!!!!!!!!

For most of my childhood I’ve also believed that emotions are weaknesses. Since my teens I’ve been training myself to ease up on that, to the point that I can distinguish positive from negative ones and can have some degree of knowledge of what makes me happy and sane.

However,

Third time lucky!

A few weeks ago (2-9/11/2017) I was in Gambia – and I absolutely loved it! To be sure, it’s not my first time in Africa. I’ve been to