re:considering

I prefer books that requires the brain do some work.

Of course I read a lot of light stuff as well. It’s just that (some of) those books are like candy – nice while eating them but leaving the stomach emptier than it started.

But that’s just MY preference. I’d never want to force it on someone else. Reading should be fun.

That makes it tricky to talk about books, though, because it’s inevitable that I voice my opinion and by doing that risk others taking it in a personal way.

“This books that you really liked is trash, and so are you”. Kind of.

So. It’s important to understand that preferences differ, just like we as human beings are different. But this also means that, yes, YOU liked that book but that don’t automatically suggests I will like it. At all.

Sometimes I think a reminder is in place. This IS the reminder.

Preference is personal.
Respect should be universal.

And don’t forget to ask who benefits from you thinking it shouldn’t be that way.

Knowledge. What is it?

Information, opinions, ideas. DIFFERENT information, opinions, ideas that gets mixed in a pot, stirred a bit, and then comes out either edible or not. Whichever way the PROCESS hopefully led to something valuable. And that, IMHO, is knowledge, in and of itself.

Knowledge is not knowing when the battle of Hastings was fought. 1066 is just a year, and the name is a tag, a piece of information. Understanding WHY, and in which context… then we are approaching knowledge – something that can be understood and used and extrapolated.

The way I see it.

To make the information into knowledge you need to not be alone. You need diversity, you need opinions to clash, to meet resistance so to being able to find new and more sustainable ways.

I wonder – will diversity survive in this ultra-libertarian society we are building, where only the strongest survive, devouring it’s lesser brethren?

I wonder – will humanity survive when diversity slips us?

Reading Cyteen and Regenesis (by author C. J. Cherryh) makes the brain tick, adding aspects to issues not even under consideration in those two books.

This is not a review. It’s a recommendation.
I dare you.