Changing Edumacation

3) Masterbreather

Pop quiz - what are you doing right now, what will you be doing five minutes from now, what will you be doing five years from now, and what will you be doing in between the pulls of whiskey you down in trying to forget you ever stumbled across my piece-of-shit blog?  If you answered 'having sex,' you deserve some kind of medal.  If, on the other hand, you answered 'breathing,' it's more of what I had in mind (although, you'll likely be doing plenty of the latter if you're engaging in the former).

Point is, we breathe a shit-ton, but take it completely for granted.  Your mood is linked to your breath - when you're in a panic, it's usually shortened.  Your health is linked to your breath - when you're sick, it's usually "blocked" in some way.  Your not dying is linked to your breath - when you're dead, you don't do it.  We enter this world with a big gulp of air (a great inhalation), and leave it with one final exhalation (Fun Fact: it's where the term "expire" comes from...Not Fun Fact: it still means you're dead)...and it's up to us to get the most out of it in the in-between.

That being said, this book is an absolutely fantastic exploration of the importance of breath, how it's viewed throughout various cultures, and what you can do to strengthen your own:

The Miracle of Breath
by: Andy Caponigro
http://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Breath-Mastering-Healing-Experiencing/dp/1577314786

As a bonus, this is another book replete with mythology, personal anecdotes, and practical ways to apply it's practices in your day-to-day.  Highly recommended.  Don't take my word for it, just ask Anna Nalick:

License to Drive (or, Accentuate the Empathy)

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

Take a Look, It's in a Book

Hello, one person that will most likely read this blog (i.e. mom), and welcome to, what I hope will be, a literary journey of intellect, entertainment, and enlightenment (i.e. brain gain).  Just to give you a quick background about who I am, I’m the guy who’s writing this blog – glad we got that out of the way.

In this blog, I’m going to recommend a series of books (10, to be exact…possibly 13, to be less exact), that I believe will enhance your world view (a stop-gap until we all have cyborg eye implants), and possibly shine a light on things you may already innately know (just consider me your flasher…I mean, flashlight). 

Many of these books can be found at your local library, all are available for purchase via Amazon (ebook or book-book), and some might be available for a “five-finger” download (note: my fake lawyer stresses that you do not illegally download these books, I happen to agree).  Chances are you’ll enjoy these books enough to want to add them to your personal library, anyway.  If the chances are that you don’t, and you are severely angry with me for wasting your hard-earned cash on them, please don’t track me down and pummel me to within an inch of my life.

Now, the reason I’m doing this is I feel it’s my way (for now, at least) in spreading some good old fashioned know-what, know-why and know-how (...ya know?).  I’d say “enlightenment” or “awareness,” but I realize those have somewhat spiritual/occult connotations, and I don’t want to turn anyone off at the start (note to self: change title of blog post from “Take a Look, It's in a Book” to “Take a Look, It's Angelina Jolie Nude”).  Point is, this is for everyone.  So, get ready to read, everyone.

Second point is, it’s my attempt to add a little gray to the world – to realize our sad and dangerous notions of extremes and absolutes (if you read these books, you’ll see I stole that quote wholesale from one of the fine authors…don’t sue me, fine author).  Also, to realize “gray” only registers as our concept of an agreed upon “gray” in our brains (please, stick with me, folks – I know I lost some of you with that one).

I’d also encourage – neigh, beg – you to direct your friends and anyone you know here.  We need this stuff to catch on - because the more it catches on, the better off we are as a society (...said the virus).  In fact, it’s been scientifically proven that the more we get together, the happier we’ll be (look it up, they’ve written songs about it).  Realize, I’m no expert by any means - I’m just a guy who’s infinitely curious, and who’s trying to spread that infinite curiosity (tried that line in a bar once, didn’t work).

I’ll try to refrain from posting any blog…uh…posts (sounds about right) about anything other than these specific books - but, if there’s something I find funny, or inspiring, or insightful, I might just post it (hello, “Kitten Orchestra” YouTube clip).  Just to be clear, I am in no way reaping financial gain from any of these books (though it would be muchas gracias).  Instead, the only thing I’m reaping is comfort gain from knowing these books might affect you all as much as they have affected me (I apologize for that last sentence making you all throw up in your mouth a little).

You may very well believe that some (if not all) of these books are biased to my opinion (personally, I like to refer to them as “buy-us”), but please understand the books I have selected all try to present facts in honest, complete and comprehensive ways (without presenting any “other side” in “straw man” form…or “tin man” for that matter), and, when there isn’t any firmly conclusive evidence, the author(s) will rightly acknowledge it and call for more research to be done in a given area.

If you’re like me, these books will make you think, make you contemplate, make you re-evaluate, and make you re-re-evaluate.  The joy of it all is that that’s the whole purpose (and for me to find an excuse to write “that that”).  If you’re not like me (which is probably fortunate for you), hopefully it will do the same.

Now, I’ll readily admit there are concepts, and bits of information, that even I don’t understand (which, really, isn’t saying much – but bear with me).  Some of this stuff will come at you so hard and fast (that’s what she said) – with names, dates, cultural references, you name it – that it’s difficult to remember all the details (I was going to use the word “minutiae” here, because I never pass up an opportunity to use one of my six ten-dollar-words, but it just seems so petty and trite – minutiae).  On the other hand, some come at you slow and easy (that’s not what she said), and these things can’t help but stick in your brain.  The reason I’m laying the list out the way I am is to hopefully make some of the subsequent material easy to understand (you’ll see what I mean).  End of the day, I’m hoping you’ll be able to get the gist of it all.

Topics range from the brain, to evolutionary biology, to evolutionary brain-ology, to the microcosmic, to the macro-cosmic, to the Cosmo Kramer (just kidding...sort of), to the ethnobotany, to the mythology, to the all and in between (-ology's and all).  Basically, it's the basics.  Because I believe a solid foundation of who we are, how we are, and our surroundings is exponentially beneficial in strengthening our understanding of all things - and when you strengthen the base, you strengthen the entire learning structure.

It will be a long road, fraught with the written word and other dangerous things that I’m ill-equipped to come up with poetic metaphors for, but it will be well worth it when you emerge from the other side slightly more enlightened, entertained, and en-gry at me for suggesting you read so much garblidy goop (as opposed to glibbidy glop).

Please understand that my goal is not to sway anyone to agree with my worldly opinions, share my worldly beliefs, or think the exact way that I do (about other things of worldly nature…like the world).  My only aim is to broaden world views, deepen knowledge wells, and maybe (hopefully) expand a few reality tunnels (a concept you’ll learn from Robert Anton Wilson, one of my personal favorite authors/thinkers), if even by the slightest margin (all right, “my aims…”).

That’s about it.  Along the way, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll more than likely end up using the pages of these books as toilet paper (sorry, Kindle owners – you’re shit out of luck…in wiping up your shit, that is).  But, above all, I’m hoping you have fun.  And I want you to feel free to branch off in any direction these books take you – like if you find you enjoy a particular author, or one author leads you to another, etc… - and add any opinions or suggestions  (aside from “go fuck yourself,” if I may be so bold as to request) in the comments section.  I’ll also try to add any YouTube clips that might deal with the same subject as the book for some extra fun material, by all means do the same.

With that being said, in the immortal words of the second astronaut to step foot on the moon, “to infinity and beyond!” [ed. note: I have been informed that the preceding quote should be attributed to Buzz Lightyear, a toy spaceman in some company called Pixar’s Toy Story franchise, not American hero astronaut, and second man to step foot on the moon, Buzz Aldrin.  That’s completely stupid…toys can’t talk.  I got your back, Buzz (Aldrin).]

All the best,

Daniel Schneider (not the fat guy from Head of the Class)