The Written World: The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, Civilization

Martin Puchner
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The story of literature in sixteen acts—from Homer to Harry Potter, including The Tale of Genji, Don Quixote, The Communist Manifesto, and how they shaped world history

In this groundbreaking book, Martin Puchner leads us on a remarkable journey through time and around the globe to reveal the powerful role stories and literature have played in creating the world we have today. Through sixteen foundational texts selected from more than four thousand years of world literature, he reveals how writing has inspired the rise and fall of empires and nations, the spark of philosophical and political ideas, and the birth of religious beliefs.

We meet Murasaki, a lady from eleventh-century Japan who wrote the first novel, The Tale of Genji, and follow the adventures of Miguel de Cervantes as he battles pirates, both seafaring and literary. We watch Goethe discover world literature in Sicily, and follow the rise in influence of The Communist Manifesto. Puchner takes us to Troy, Pergamum, and China, speaks with Nobel laureates Derek Walcott in the Caribbean and Orhan Pamuk in Istanbul, as well as the wordsmiths of the oral epic Sunjata in West Africa. This delightful narrative also chronicles the inventions—writing technologies, the printing press, the book itself—that have shaped people, commerce, and history. In a book that Elaine Scarry has praised as “unique and spellbinding,” Puchner shows how literature turned our planet into a written world.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

過於喧囂的孤獨 (Too Loud a Solitude)

赫拉．巴爾 (Hrabal, Bohumil)
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一九五四到一九五八年之間，赫拉巴爾曾於布拉格一處廢紙回收站當了四年打包工。據他自己說，他到這裏工作之後不久，便產生了要寫這麼一篇小說的想法，這個想法在他腦海裏醞釀了二十年之久。廢紙收購站的四年生活給他的感受如此之深，使他一直沒有放棄這個題材，而是不斷地對它加以補充，進行反覆的深刻思考。 故事主角是在廢紙收購站工作了三十五年的打包工漢嘉，他把珍貴的書從廢紙堆中挑出來，藏在家裡、藏在腦裡，他狂飲啤酒、啃噬著書本裡的思想和詞句，他從一無所知的青年變成滿腹詩書的老人，韓波的詩文、老子的《道德經》、萊布尼茨的情史，是他信手拈來的記憶，康德的話語是他感傷喃喃的聲音。

這是一個愛情故事——老打包工漢嘉和他經歷過的情人，他的工作，他的時代，還有他當作廢紙打包的書，以及他的生命。

他打開他珍愛的書籍，翻到最動人的一段，放在層層疊疊的廢紙中間，打成一個包，外頭再裹上一幅複製的名畫。儘管擺放壓力機的地下室蒼蠅成群、老鼠橫行，這潮濕惡臭的地窖卻在他的遊戲裡，在他的微笑裡成為天堂。

一九七二年，赫拉巴爾開始寫作，他曾三易其稿：先是詩、次是散文、完成則為一部憂傷的敘事曲。第一稿作者自稱是「一部阿波里奈爾式的詩稿」，因為他「把整個故事看成僅僅是抒情詩了」；第二稿改為散文，用的是布拉格口語，但他覺得缺乏嘲諷味兒，即我們在文中感受的黑色幽默。他認為主人公，一個通過閱讀廢紙回收站的舊書而無意中成為的文化人，用口語作獨白不很合適，於是又改用作者所說的「一絲不苟的嚴謹語言，捷克書面語」寫出了第三稿。這一稿讀來猶如一部憂傷的敘事曲，他滿意地說：「直到現在這個故事才是動人的。」到了一九七六年，本書終於完稿，但當時無法問世，只得放在抽屜裏。直到一九八九年底才由捷克斯洛伐克作家出版社正式出版。

(摘錄自eslite.com)

Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams

Matthew Walker
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A New York Times bestseller

The first sleep book by a leading scientific expert—Professor Matthew Walker, Director of UC Berkeley’s Sleep and Neuroimaging Lab—reveals his groundbreaking exploration of sleep, explaining how we can harness its transformative power to change our lives for the better.

Sleep is one of the most important but least understood aspects of our life, wellness, and longevity. Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why we suffer such devastating health consequences when we don't sleep. Compared to the other basic drives in life—eating, drinking, and reproducing—the purpose of sleep remained elusive.

An explosion of scientific discoveries in the last twenty years has shed new light on this fundamental aspect of our lives. Now, preeminent neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker gives us a new understanding of the vital importance of sleep and dreaming. Within the brain, sleep enriches our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions. It recalibrates our emotions, restocks our immune system, fine-tunes our metabolism, and regulates our appetite. Dreaming mollifies painful memories and creates a virtual reality space in which the brain melds past and present knowledge to inspire creativity.

Walker answers important questions about sleep: how do caffeine and alcohol affect sleep? What really happens during REM sleep? Why do our sleep patterns change across a lifetime? How do common sleep aids affect us and can they do long-term damage? Charting cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, and synthesizing decades of research and clinical practice, Walker explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood, and energy levels; regulate hormones; prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes; slow the effects of aging; increase longevity; enhance the education and lifespan of our children, and boost the efficiency, success, and productivity of our businesses. Clear-eyed, fascinating, and accessible, Why We Sleep is a crucial and illuminating book.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

決斷的演算 : 預測、分析與好決定的11堂邏輯課 (Algorithms to Live By)

布萊恩‧克里斯汀 (Brian Christian), 湯姆‧葛瑞菲斯 (Tom Griffiths)
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訪問近五十年來最知名演算法的設計者，
了解工程師如何教電腦發揮最大效用，並將所學用於生活。
讀者大推：「真是過癮！」

在《人工智慧來了》這本書中，作者提出「主動向機器學習」是這時代最核心、最有效的學習方法之一，在《決斷的演算》裡，各具心理學與電腦科學背景的兩位作者則揭櫫：為何跟電腦學決策你不僅不會變成理性魔人，反而會更加明智且善體人意。

▎說到演算法，你想到的是政府和大企業如何利用數學模型算計你？
其實，演算法的本質是「解決問題的一連串步驟」，它的發展遠遠早於電腦，不只長期為各研究領域與產業實務帶來重大變革，更能幫助個人跳脫盲點與錯誤直覺，明快地解決問題。

▎說到機器學習，你以為考慮因素越多越好、比較複雜的模型較佳？
其實，當今電腦運算時並非套用死板的演繹邏輯，點滴不漏地羅列所有選擇，琢磨出正確答案。它們會捨棄不必要的資料，偏向選擇較簡單的解答，權衡誤差或延遲的代價，接著冒險一試。

▎說到電腦，你認為它冰冷且毫無彈性，思考方式跟人腦南轅北轍？
事實上，我們面臨的許多挑戰，跟電腦科學家一樣都源於：要運用有限的空間、時間和注意力，因應未知事物和不完整的資訊，因此電腦解決問題的方式，能在極大程度上與人們的作法融合。

《決斷的演算》各章以常見的日常問題開場，從釐清它們的演算結構著手，以問題所屬類型為骨架（副章名），紮實的電腦科學發展史為血肉（章名），探討一代代的研究者為這類問題找出什麼解決方案，這些收穫顛覆了我們對於「合理」的看法，不僅幫助其他領域獲得新進展，也為個人生活帶來實用啟示，像是：

❖自動駕駛汽車能改善交通阻塞，打造交通天堂？你可能要失望了。現在自私駕駛人各行其是的情形其實已接近最佳狀態。（演算法賽局理論，自主行為代價）
❖證明「所有雙人賽局至少有一個均衡狀態」的奈許均衡，讓約翰．奈許拿下了諾貝爾經濟獎，但它的地位可能言過其實。為什麼？（賽局理論）
❖你打算在十八歲到四十歲期間覓得人生伴侶，那麼幾歲時選定的對象可能最好？答案是二十六歲。（最佳停止點，37％法則）

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

David Allen
online access from EBSCOhost Audiobook Collection
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In today's world, yesterday's methods just don't work. In Getting Things Done, veteran coach and management consultant David Allen shares the breakthrough methods for stress-free performance that he has introduced to tens of thousands of people across the country. Allen's premise is simple: our productivity is directly proportional to our ability to relax. Only when our minds are clear and our thoughts are organized can we achieve effective productivity and unleash our creative potential. In Getting Things Done Allen shows how to:

* Apply the "do it, delegate it, defer it, drop it" rule to get your in-box to empty
* Reassess goals and stay focused in changing situations
* Plan projects as well as get them unstuck
* Overcome feelings of confusion, anxiety, and being overwhelmed
* Feel fine about what you're not doing

From core principles to proven tricks, Getting Things Done can transform the way you work, showing you how to pick up the pace without wearing yourself down.

Based on the premise that productivity is directly proportional to one's ability to handle tasks in a relaxed manner, the author offers strategies for self-management that minimize stress and enhance one's focus and efficiency.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

精準學習 : 「羅輯思維」最受歡迎的個人知識管理精進指南

成甲
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讀了這本書，你所學的將能真正發揮功效！
讓「中國最受歡迎說書人」引導你
把碎片知識化為可以不斷擴充、能實際應用的知識體系！ 　

知識並不平等，
有些知識比其他知識的威力更大。
所以，你需要「精準學習」！

在海量資訊時代，我們不僅要持續學習，
還必須掌握少數能帶來關鍵影響的「臨界知識」和學習方法，
才能變知識為資產，讓學習成為真正的財富積累！

為什麼讀了這麼多書，可是依然感覺自己學識有限？
因為，大多數人都掉進「低等勤奮」的陷阱。

• 買了很多書，下載了幾十G的電子書、音頻節目，但從沒真正打開來讀過？
• 看了N多書、上了N多課，但回過頭來，卻發現似乎什麼也沒記住？
• 越學越覺得要學的東西太多，不知從何入手，感到焦慮？
• 學習很努力，但是進步卻很慢，沒找到「開竅」關鍵？

在成長的路上，你需要一本改變學習思維和方法的書！

成甲說，只有掌握高效的學習方法，才能在有限時間裡把自己的知識水準比別人多往前推進一釐米。知識無窮盡，而我們的智慧有限。在本書中，他將告訴你如何不花多餘力氣，精準而有效的學習。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)