20130718

I Read Some Books

I decided that in order to attain Thought Leadership, I must Read Books.  So I read Moneyball and The Art of Learning.

I will summarize each of these books in 140 characters, in my own private shorthand.

Moneyball: Ideas can take a long time to find an effective vessel. It took 10-15 years for Bill James' ideas to be picked up by a baseball GM.

The Art of Learning: Mental <-> emotional health, discipline, insight and resilience are first-order determinants in chess, tai chi and probably everything else.

Of course there's so much more to these books, but the above lines summarize what I found most surprising and unique about them that can be concisely put.  If I had another 140 for Moneyball I would try and express what a great writer Bill James was.  Lewis is generous to quote James at all, because the bits of James he quotes are so much better than anything Lewis can string together.

James speaks of numbers "taking on the power of language" and I wish I had a better gut feeling for what he means by that.  I understand the concept in some abstract way but I don't grok it.

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