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Thoughts on the Christian life in a fallen world

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Nonsense - Jamie Holmes

The power of no knowing. The author is a Future Tense Fellow at New America and a former research coordinator at Harvard University. He uses his background and experiences in this book to report on such diverse topics as hostage negotiators, fashion trends, and the art of contradiction. This is an interesting book, in just the mere fact all these subjects are addressed and woven together in one book.
"It turns out that what matters most isn't IQ, willpower, or confidence in what we know. It's how we deal with what we don't understand." says the author.This is a well researched book, and the notes section itself is over 75 pages long and very extensive. If you need to know anything about his research or for further study, you will find it here.
Th writing and topics reminded me of Malcolm Gladwell in some places, and how the author tied seemingly unconnected processes and events together. The Waco incident and the Yom Kippur War.
This is writing at a different level, to be able to hold the attention of a reader with a story that has been over-reported in so many media outlets, and to tell it from another perspective. Or think about it in a different way, hearing about what was going on in the background, behind the scenes.
With chapter titles such as, The problem with urgency, why intentions are misread, and the uses of uncertainty, this is a book that covers a lot of ground. Divided into three parts, Making Sense, Handling ambiguity, and Embracing uncertainty, after reading this book you will realize that you don't always have to be certain. At over 300 pages, it may take some readers some time to get through this book, but it is worth the read.
I was provided a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for this review.