2) The Building Blocks of Life (or something like it)

"Human ingenuity may make various inventions...but it will never devise any inventions more beautiful, nor more simple, nor more to purpose than Nature does; because, in her inventions, nothing is wanting and nothing is superfluous."

You know who said that?  An old friend of mine, you may have heard of him.  He goes by the name of Leonardo da Vinci.  We called him Leo for short.  I called him fuck-face whenever he ditched us at the bar and left us with the tab (you still owe me 87 Ducats, Leo!).  Basically, what that drinking-and-ditching son-of-a-bitch is talking about is Nature reveals its symmetry in its shapes (from the microcosm to the macrocosm), and it operates in extreme efficiency.  That's where I was going with the Donald video, but what's highlighted there is only the start of it.

So, with no ado further, I give to you the nextest and bestest book to peruse:

A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe
by Michael S. Schneider
http://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Guide-Constructing-Universe-Mathematical/dp/0060926716/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296761973&sr=1-1
http://www.constructingtheuniverse.com/

First off, I know what your thinking - this is either my pen name and I'm shamelessly plugging my own book, or this is my relative and it's shameless nepotism at its shameless worst (shamelessly, I might add).  Let me assure you, there is no way I had the capability or capacity to author this indispensable tome, and I am in no way, shape, or form related to the author himself (hey, Uncle Mike! See you at Thanksgiving!).

That being said, this fucking thing is the bee's knees.  I'm wholly ill-equipped to even begin to describe the sheer amount of comprehensive knowledge this sucker covers...so I won't.  Just fucking read it, simple as that.  Take a listen to an interview with the author at the end of this post if you want some further details.  But, before I get to that, here's another bit of mind-numbing awesomeness the author of this book demonstrates:

Fucking crazy, right?!  I'll say this, in an effort to keep this thing short and sweet - this is probably the most important book out of them all.  It connects so many things in our world/life, it's staggering.  The seemingly disconnected neurons in your brain will finally link together (everyone read Book 1, right?), you'll realize things/we are more connected than previously thought, and you will be awash in a wave of awesome wonder.

And, on that sickeningly saccharine note, I'm out.


D

There's No Business Like Food Business

Recommended watch:

Food Inc.
http://www.amazon.com/Food-Inc-Eric-Schlosser/dp/B0027BOL4G

1) Brains Rule

Sorry for the delay, gang (of none)!  Given that my primer post was a veritable novella, I thought it best to just direct you to the books to read and get the hell out of the way (with a short description as to why I think it's important...and it will be short, I promise...hopefully).  With that said, the first book to feast on is:

Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School
by: John Medina
http://www.amazon.com/Brain-Rules-Principles-Surviving-Thriving/dp/0979777747/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

It's a book that helps you understand how we learn (which in turn will help you learn and understand what you're reading even better, which will lay the groundwork to help understand/retain some of the info/concepts in this book, and the books that follow...understand what I'm saying?).  It's an awesomely vicious cycle (ed: viciously awesome cycle?) of brain fruition and fortification.  In other words, it's exponentially beneficial to the learning process, and, what I consider, makes for a solid base on this knowledge pyramid.

As an added bonus, the author is an extremely witty, insightful guy and his writing is very accessible (unlike the author of this post).  He makes complex subject matter (neurons/synapses/synaptic clefts...trust me, they aren't as dirty as they sound) easily digestible, and does so in a fun way.

You can check out his website, along with the "rules," here:

http://www.brainrules.net/
http://www.brainrules.net/the-rules

See, short post, right? (note to self: limiting parentheticals would probably be a good idea to shorten post length...note to self: fuck you, previous note to self).





D