(Very random) Thoughts at 4 a.m.
Marc Penn's Microtrends is one of last year's most hyped books. "Book" is slightly inaccurate. It's a book the same way a collection of remixes and b-sides is an "album" but the contents of Microtrends could just as well (and probably should) have filled a magazine or blog. No, I'm not a big fan of Penn's book. Every trendspotter struggles to paint a coherent picture with the many insights he or she collects. To dodge this challenge and publish random insights with the name "microtrends" as an alibi is...well...cheating.
But microtrends is a useful phrase to describe what goes through my head at 4 a.m. every morning. I'm taking the night shift with the kids and they're usually fed around this time.
4 a.m. is indeed mythical. Ingemar Bergman made a movie about it and at last year's TED conference, poet Rives recited a witty and uncanny poem about that particular time of day.
Thoughts seem to have a greater clarity in this twillight zone (my wife renamed it the twinlight zone for obvious reasons), which is probably why things seem a lot more desperate or scary if you're down but a lot more ingenius if you're feeling positive. I have some reasons to feel down since I miss this year's TED conference which begins later today. It just didn't seem right to go to California and listen to people ramble about global warming and how biology and business intertwine when we have two newborns at home. But I did just pay my TED membership fee for next year so in early 2009, I'll be in Long Beach, CA where the conference is moving to.
Back to thought fragments of 4 a.m., a.k.a. Microtrends. Here's a list of things that have crossed my mind during nocturnal endeavors in the past few weeks:
Here's what I've read over the past month (having infants does wonders for your reading habits) and what I thought about them:
Last summer, I read "Chasing Cool". This book gave me the exact sama feelings: "Wow, what a great premise!" followed by "What a shame they squandered the chance". There is a great book waiting to be written about the economics and business models of online piracy. But this book, claiming to show how "youth culture is reinventing capitalism" is pretty much justy an exposé of various cult movements. There is little analysis of any intellectual power and since the author never really defines capitalism, it's hard to see how it's being "reinvented". Avoid.
My good friend Niclas, a Strindberg-connoisseur of sorts, claims that most people only master one media. For example. Strindberg, a materful writer, was pretty much crap at speaking publicly. I remembered that quote when I read Sir Ken Robinson's book "Out of our minds". Sir Ken held one of the best speeches I've ever heard at TED 2006 so I had quite high expectations of this book. The disappointement was so much greater. This is a rushed piece of work lacking everything that made Sir Ken's speech so great. His on-stage persona is warm, witty, outgoing and passionate. His book reads like a (very dull) article in the McKinsey Quarterly. Avoid this one too.
The title of this book would probably make you run for the hills. Any book featuring the word "Happiness" in its title is usually a warning that plenty of sap and sentimentalism is coming right up (Daniel Gilbert's masterpiece "Stumbling on Happiness" was until I read this book the one exception to the rule). Jonathan Haidt's book is a wonderful odyssey into what earlier civilizations and religions thought about happiness and how these "hypotheses" can be scrutinized and re-evaluated using modern psychological and medical tools. Not only is the premise engaging, Haidt also writes beautifully. The extensive research never feels heavy and the academic intentions are given flavor by a personal perspective. A must-read!
Messrs Gladwell and Levitt spawned a litterary genre with Blink and Freakonomics. Call it "sexy science", it is characterized by an academically-scented title combined with an unusual appication of academic perspective. Tim Harford's The Logic of Life is one of these books. Using economic theories, Harford sets out to prove how seemingly irrational behavior and choices are, in fact, highly rational. And he succeeds. The book may not be as great as Blink or Freakonomics but it's a treat nevertheless. Read it and arm yourself for plenty of dinner conversations to come.
Finally, I read Michael Pollan's earlier book "The Botany of Desire". It's a wonderful book taking a plant's eye view of the world. Some of his ideas were summarized in last year's TED talk (yep, I do suffer from withdrawal syndrome). Now we know why potatoes are really the ones in charge.
But microtrends is a useful phrase to describe what goes through my head at 4 a.m. every morning. I'm taking the night shift with the kids and they're usually fed around this time.
4 a.m. is indeed mythical. Ingemar Bergman made a movie about it and at last year's TED conference, poet Rives recited a witty and uncanny poem about that particular time of day.
Thoughts seem to have a greater clarity in this twillight zone (my wife renamed it the twinlight zone for obvious reasons), which is probably why things seem a lot more desperate or scary if you're down but a lot more ingenius if you're feeling positive. I have some reasons to feel down since I miss this year's TED conference which begins later today. It just didn't seem right to go to California and listen to people ramble about global warming and how biology and business intertwine when we have two newborns at home. But I did just pay my TED membership fee for next year so in early 2009, I'll be in Long Beach, CA where the conference is moving to.
Back to thought fragments of 4 a.m., a.k.a. Microtrends. Here's a list of things that have crossed my mind during nocturnal endeavors in the past few weeks:
- "The Biology of Business" is a very good title. I must use it for something.
- iTunes don't charge 9 SEK or 99 cents for the product (the song) but for the service (easy, accessible and safe downloads of media)
- We’ve been groomed to seek more information all the time. The paradox: You may have already stumbled upon the answer you were seeking somewhere.
- Trendspotting is a) the pursuit of good ideas and b) the art of the possible
- Most of what we know is wrong. How so?
- What is "possible" changes constantly
- Second hand knowledge is inaccurate
- Knowledge is fleeting - We lie because we can – the effects may even be pleasant
- When women give birth, they are told to think in terms of "positive pain". That is a HUGE difference to what all other people are told. Excruciating pain is a warning signal that something is very wrong. To make women think in terms of "posivie pain" must surely make many of them act and think in strange ways.
- Brains are not build to react to information but to events.
- Interesting quote: "People who have something to say can't normally express themselves, but those who are good at expressing themselves don't normally have much to say!"
Here's what I've read over the past month (having infants does wonders for your reading habits) and what I thought about them:
Finally, I read Michael Pollan's earlier book "The Botany of Desire". It's a wonderful book taking a plant's eye view of the world. Some of his ideas were summarized in last year's TED talk (yep, I do suffer from withdrawal syndrome). Now we know why potatoes are really the ones in charge.
