Abel's notes

Tag: books

Never Split the difference: Chris Voss

Posted:   |   Tags: books, communication

I finished Chris Voss’s book “Never Split the Difference” where he shares his experience and techniques as an FBI hostage negotiator. It surprised me because I thought it would be much more “hardcore” but it’s actually about well-known communication concepts applied to conflict situations with a lot of common sense. It’s the kind of book with ideas that seem simple and obvious but are hard to put into practice. The foundation of everything is: people want to feel understood and in control. Read more...

Franny and Zooey

Posted:   |   Tags: books, literature

Warning: This review contains spoilers This book is special because it contrasts Zen teachings with 1950s consumer America. We meet Franny Glass, a young woman who belongs to a family of gifted intellectuals. She feels overwhelmed by life’s superficiality and seeks answers in spirituality. The story is divided into two parts showing important moments in the lives of Franny and her brother Zooey. A note about the author: Salinger was transformed by his experience in World War II, where he participated in D-Day and witnessed the horrors of concentration camps. Read more...

Fooled by randomness

Posted:   |   Tags: books, probability

Fooled by randomness These are my notes for the book “Fooled by Randomness” by Nassim Taleb. The thesis of the book is that when we look at the past we find things that are not there, the past is much more random than our vision. This is called the Hindsight bias. So we have to be aware that when people relate the past usually they tend to create post-hoc rationalizations and retrofitted explanations. Read more...

Ethics for Engineering

Posted:   |   Tags: books, ethics

These are my reading notes for the book “Ética para ingenieros” by Galo Bilbao Alberdi, Francisco Javier Fuertes Pérez and José Mª Guibert Ucín. The Engineering Profession Different sociological perspectives explore the meaning of professions, from traditional occupations like doctors or lawyers to modern professions requiring university education. The fundamental aspect of a profession is its unique service to society, a vocation that has intensified with modernity through “professionalization.” There are notable concerns about the excesses of this process, such as the obsession with titles rather than service to society, distinguishing between “bad professionalism” and “good professionalism” oriented toward the community. Read more...