Showing posts with label free stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label free stuff. Show all posts

Monday, April 22, 2013

Book Review & Free Download: The Science of Being Great by Wallace Wattles


Just finished one of my first ever audio books (technically my third) and I am very content. The Science of Being Great was first published in 1911, but its main ideas transcend time.

The book presents very little science or research and that which it presents is outdated. However, the ideas are potent. Basically, it discusses the power of positive thinking and can be compared to the 'Law of Attraction.' 

I can't say I believe that thought objectively alters physical reality. But for practical purposes it does. Subjectively, our reality is based on our beliefs and perceptions. If this were not so, confirmation bias would not exist in science. Yet, it does because we effectively mold our own worlds. There is simply too much information for the brain to process to build an objective reality. Selective perception empowers humans to be more happy and productive than if they were to view the world in a purely objective way.

A sexy female accent narrates the book and makes sweet love to your ear buds. On a side note, I now prefer audio books as the choice method of "reading." For me, stopping everything and just focusing on sound brings me into the moment. Listen to audio books as if you're reading a book. Mute all other distractions and you will become more present and focused. Avoid multi tasking (though audio books and driving may be a good combo). 

Here's free and legal torrent download of the book, which is in the librivox public domain. In total, it is about 2 hours and 12 minutes long.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Strengths - Via Me


Part of knowing who we are is knowing our strengths and developing them. Most of us are taught to focus on our weaknesses and improve those. However, there are several good arguments against this mode of living, which I'll discuss in a later post. Essentially, this conventional approach fails to maximize our impact on the world.

One resource for helping uncovering our strengths is viame.org, which provides a prototypical psychology test and spits out a ranking of your top strengths. The basic version is free.

According to this test, my top 5 strengths are:

1. Bravery
2. Perseverance
3. Creativity
4. Love learning
5. Curiosity

Thinking about my past experiences, this makes sense to me. The first two in particular are less apparent to others as they are more of an internal quality which I tend not to express while the last three are probably quite apparent to my friends and even strangers.

Keep in mind this is only one resource and cannot define a dynamic individual. Introspection would be another useful tool in addition to the MBTI (which I resisted for a long time but found to be quite useful as of late).