Anish Kapoor

My new favorite artist. Holy cow. I am going to be making a trip to Chicago just to see this sculpture - Cloud Gate at the Millenium Park.

Check out Anish Kapoor's website.



I was reading Bright Earth by Philip Ball, about the technology behind color (pigments, painting, reproducing colors digitally, and so forth). And in the beautiful art plates, he had a picture of "As If To Celebrate I Discovered a Mountain Blooming with Red Flowers":










And, much later in the book, a picture of A Wing at the Heart of Things (this image is from a collection of photos):








I thought, "These look like they're by the same person." Which was easy enough to check. And then, "I've seen something like this before." Fifteen years ago, at one of the Smithsonian galleries, I saw Mother as a Void:













I had tried to take a picture of it, but it had just come out as a black space in a yellow room, because the color was so intense. I had saved the photo, even though it was so terrible, because I just loved the sculpture so much. Even this picture doesn't do it justice, though you can get something of the flavor.

So, what can I say, I love these works. I've always had a thing for spheres. I don't have a favorite color, but I definitely have a favorite shape. And I can't wait to see more of Anish Kapoor's art and learn more about it.

Anish Kapoor

Should I Be Tested For Cancer? - H. Gilbert Welch

Read this book!

Seriously, read this book. Buy it, or borrow it from the library and then send they author H. Gilbert Welch some money.

The full title of this book is: Should I Be Tested For Cancer? Maybe Not and Here's Why. A totally fascinating, important exploration of the benefits and drawbacks of cancer screening.

Back in November, there was a huge brouhaha when the US Preventative Services Task Force recommended that women between 40 and 50 not have routine screening mammograms. And people who were outraged about this kept saying on the radio that screening mammograms cut your risk of dying from breast cancer by one-third. This book explains the science behind that claim (and more). It turns out, with no screening mammograms, 3 women in a 1000 will die of breast cancer between 40 and 50. With screening mammograms, 2 in 1000 will dies. So, yes, screening mammograms cut the risk of dying from breast cancer by one-third. But that difference happens for 1 in 1000 women. And in exchange for that, 1000 women have to have 10 mammograms, half of them will have a positive screening mammogram at some point in the ten years, a large portion of those will have further invasive testing, some will be treated for cancer that would never otherwise have caused them symptoms, and some will have significant complications from the cancer treatment (maybe even including death). And it's not clear you actually reduce the overall death rate. If 1 in 1000 women doesn't die of breast cancer, but the overall death rate remains the same, have you actually done anything useful?

The benefits of cancer screening are far more modest than we have been led to believe, and the risks of screening are not minor. But various groups benefit from cancer screening (doctors are never sued for suggesting a screening; radiologists are thrilled that mammograms are recommended for half the population for half their lives; hospitals get to look like they're doing something for the community, while at the same time promoting their services).

I will question far more thoroughly future cancer screening suggested by my doctor. Starting with the freaking Pap smear for cervical cancer. I learned that once you've had 2 or 3 normal Pap smears and are over age 30, the recommendation is to get a Pap smear every 3 years. So why have I been getting a Pap smear every year? What is up with that? Who wants to get a Pap smear every year if there is no benefit?

While I'm here, check out the US Preventive Services Task Force website.

And read this totally compelling rant by Barbara Ehrenreich, about how mammography and breast cancer awareness has supplanted feminism, providing a way for institutions and people to signal that they care about "women's issues", without actually having to do anything useful.

Should I Be Tested For Cancer? Maybe Not and Here's Why

H. Gilbert Welch

2004

Available from Amazon

Dreams from my Father - Barack Obama

Totally fascinating. Amazing.

A friend had recommended I listen to this on CD. Obama reads it himself, and he won for a Grammy for it. I ended up reading it because I don't spend enough time in my car to get through the CD in a reasonable time. But I would love to go back and listen to it.

It's incredible to see Obama's history, especially knowing where he is now. The difficulties he had to navigate, the complexity of his life. He wrote this in 1995, before getting into politics, so it feels less polished and packaged than campaign memoirs do. And I'm amazed at how unsentimentally he's able to write about his past - about issues he was struggling with, about actions he is now embarrassed by. I know I couldn't be so dispassionate about my own history.

The book has greater resonance than just the story of the man who became President. It talks about identity formation and group connection and finding one's way in the world.

Plus, wow he can write.

Dreams from my Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
Barack Obama
1995, 2004
Available from Amazon

Talent Is Overrated - Geoff Colvin

Geoff Colvin makes a compelling argument that what makes people really good at things is deliberate practice. He systematically tears apart ideas of "talent" or "gifts", and points out how everyone who is good at something got that way by working really hard at it. The people we think of as prodigies (including Mozart and Tiger Woods), got that way by starting practicing younger, and with better teachers, than other people did.

Colvin goes beyond this to explain how we can apply deliberate practice ideas to all sorts of areas (sales, management, whatever we do). It's freeing, in a way, because we can choose to become good at whatever we want. It just takes careful thought and dedicated effort. I had to take a break from reading this in the middle, because I was overwhelmed with the thought that I could be excellent at whatever I wanted. And what did I want to be excellent at?

When I go back to doing counseling, I'm going to put these techniques into practice as a therapist. Getting regular feedback (like every session) from clients, working on particular areas of practice, examining what I do with an eye to getting better.

Talent is overrated: What really separates world-class performers from everyone else
Geoff Colvin
2008
Available from Amazon

How We Decide - Jonah Lehrer

Jonah Lehrer is one of the writers who clearly has more intellectual horsepower than me. And since I think of myself as pretty freaking smart, I'm impressed when I read his writing. This book is fascinating. He talks about what current neuroscience tells us about how our brains make decisions. Are our rational minds more sensible than our emotional minds? How do we make decisions under stress? When should we go with our gut instinct, and when should we think a decision through intellectually? He describes really interesting case scenarios: how did the fire jumper who invented the escape fire (in the face of an oncoming firestorm) do so? How do excellent poker players understand who is bluffing and decide when to bluff themselves? How do excellent quarterbacks make decisions about where to throw the ball?

I'm going to apply the lessons he describes here, and I'm going to make better decisions as a result.

How We Decide
Jonah Lehrer
2009
Available from Amazon

The United States Constitution - Hennessey and McConnell

A graphic version of the US Constitution. Covers the content and history of the Constitution in a readable and fun fashion.

I've never read a graphic novel, and I'm a really verbal person. (No visualization skills whatsoever.) But I found the drawings incredibly witty and illuminating. I'm going to start seeking out graphic books, because the pictures were an equal partner to the words and made the book much more fun to read.

The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation
Jonathan Hennessey and Aaron McConnell
2008
Available from Amazon

The Billionaire's Vinegar

Just fun. A book about a wine forger (who even knew such people existed?), and about fine wine in general. It's nice to read something with so little consequences for once. Because while the wine forger is clearly a jerk who should go to jail, I can't work up much sympathy for the millionaire's who allowed themselves to be defrauded by him.

The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine

Benjamin Wallace

2009

Available from Amazon