Articles tagged as "book-reviews"

With the ubiquity of “social” sites in 2023, it is easy to forget that the world did not always operate with an omnipresent online mirror as a backdrop. To get to where we are today, the internet, and the behaviours adopted by society since its advent, had to take shape one piece at a time. Extremely Online by Taylor Lorenz is the story of that journey, making it a great read to see repeating cycles of platform booms and busts that have delighted users, tormented creators, and lead to the birth of many techno-billionaires.

Every week, it seems like there is a new book published on how we can do better. “Stolen focus” by Johann Hari says that the solution is to get rid of distractions. “Atomic Habits” by James Clear lays out concrete methods for how we can accomplish the things we set out to achieve. “How Not to Give a F*ck” by Mark Manson offers relief by positing that none of this matters anyway in the face of death, and so the solution is to stop caring altogether. These books are all popular, enjoyable, and offer valuable insight, however I was looking for something more fundamental and grounded in science. As someone who is approaching a life milestone and exiting graduate school, I wanted to see if the lessons of others could teach me anything about what I should plan to do next.