tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66735912024-03-13T11:18:26.661-04:00Stark Reality - Todd I. StarkTodd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.comBlogger117125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-76489338551058625792021-11-25T15:14:00.003-05:002021-11-25T15:14:52.395-05:00 Clear Thinking as Broad Rationality for Living with Excellence and Flourishing Together This book suggests a framework for how we can live better, both individually and together. It isn’t a new framework, it is a modern take on a very old framework. The framework is based on a particular conception of what sort of species we are, including being cultural, socialTodd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-50392486340315501572020-08-09T14:49:00.010-04:002020-08-09T21:41:19.655-04:00Review of On Inhumanity: Dehumanization and How to Resist ItLink to review on AmazonReview of On Inhumanity: Dehumanization and How to Resist It, by David Livingstone Smith, Oxford University Press, 2020. Review by Todd Stark. This book is a valuable new entry in the literature trying to explain how ordinary people become complicit in the wholesale exploitation and murder of entire populations of human beings. Smith has created his Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-2245856249289836992020-04-07T13:47:00.000-04:002020-04-10T11:46:06.079-04:00A beacon of realistic hope for living better togetherReview of Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization
Book by Scott Barry Kaufman
Review by Todd I. Stark
Review on Amazon
I was so excited to see this book come out at this particular changing and turbulent time of global crisis when the frailty of many of our systems and the political and social ideas that bolster them is being exposed. This new review of Abraham Maslow's vision Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-63992716757593720692020-01-02T11:33:00.000-05:002020-01-02T11:54:57.247-05:00Book Review
Action Versus Contemplation: Why An Ancient Debate Still Matters
Jennifer Summit and Blakely Vermeule
University of Chicago Press, 2018
I found this a very
valuable discussion of the various forms this ancient dialectic has taken, from
ancient Greece to the modern era of industry and knowledge work.
The authors use a
touch of philosophy and history to some small degree but Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-60378234640482211392019-07-22T09:04:00.000-04:002019-07-22T09:04:28.704-04:00
Todd's Review of Range by David Epstein
Range: Why Generalists
Triumph in a Specialized World
by David Epstein
New York, Riverhead Books, 2019
Review by Todd I. Stark
This is a beautifully written and well justified discussion of the various
specific things that are not taken into account by the widespread cultural
emphasis on early specialization for success and our popular model
ofTodd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-40009522142375713292016-01-29T11:12:00.005-05:002016-01-29T11:14:13.912-05:00Rate of weight loss is not a good predictor of long term successThe Problem of Obesity: Personal efforts to combat it
Rate of weight loss and its relationship to long term success
Linked below is just the latest among 4 studies I've reviewed from about 2000 to the present that appear to support the conclusion that the rate of weight loss does _not_ have an intrinsic effect on long term maintenance success. That is important to know Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-89462698048699045962015-08-06T11:03:00.003-04:002015-08-06T11:05:08.189-04:00Fatness and Obesity: Framing the ProblemFatness and Obesity - Framing the Problem
The Big Fat Problem refers to both obesity and fatness, but I want to make a distinction from the start between those subproblems because while they overlap they don’t always go together.
For our purposes here, I am going to define obesity as a pathological condition of visceral body fat associated with various metabolic diseases. The problem of Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-50848834423995137542015-07-11T16:52:00.002-04:002015-07-11T16:52:25.461-04:00Obesity - What is the real problem?
To me it seems
critical that we get a realistic and accurate sense of the overall problem,
since much of the difficulty is confusion regarding how to think of it in the
face of seemingly conflicting information.
I am going to offer my understanding of the scientific consensus as a
framework.
For all the
confusion we often have over various aspects Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-13838615553858465872015-07-11T16:06:00.000-04:002015-07-11T16:38:14.427-04:00Why is the problem of obesity so damned tricky?
Why is the problem of obesity so damned tricky?
A
lot of us are fat. Fatness increased dramatically in the 20th century,
especially since the 1980's in the US.
We don't like being fat in general.
When it becomes extreme, body fat usually doesn't look good to us and
can lead to health problems, diminished longevity, and restricted quality of
life. Some distributionsTodd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-5416340274205923232015-06-13T20:44:00.000-04:002015-07-07T22:43:44.894-04:00Can Blender Food Help Us Lose Body Fat?I use the blender
for weight control as do a lot of people, but I've been very careful about
tracking my results and I've found that I've had varying success using
the blender as a weight control tool. I think I've discovered
some of the reasons for the variance. I'm not interested in
motivational stories or anecdotes or testimonials or selling recipes orTodd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-50809766675086329922015-05-03T12:06:00.000-04:002015-05-03T12:08:07.758-04:00Book Review: Secrets from the Eating LabBook Review: Secrets from the Eating Lab by Dr. Traci Mann
Review on Amazon
How our well-meant attempts to address the health implications of our increasing body fat are making the problem even worse.
This is a very well
written and uniquely informative book in a field glutted with opinions and weak
and conflicting advice. It is not a how-to book on losing weight, although it
has a Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-88837955204391909702015-01-01T15:16:00.001-05:002015-01-01T15:16:34.688-05:00Book Review: "Are We All Scientific Experts Now?"
Highly recommended. Brief book with a very high level argument relying a lot on his experience but I think it has some deep insights into how science is done, our shifting conception of how it is done, and the way it is communicated.
Three big ideas are covered in this book. First, a three wave Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-40858110991991706402013-05-29T10:29:00.001-04:002013-06-04T15:03:41.535-04:00Book Review: Ungifted by Scott Barry Kaufman
Todd I. Stark 5/29/2013
Link to review on Amazon
Intelligence turns out to be a
difficult topic, for reasons that aren’t at all obvious at first. Our
understanding of mental ability has been captured in several independent
threads of research that are surprisingly oblivious of each other for the most
part. Our stereotypes of theTodd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-18605121050435518702013-04-07T16:32:00.001-04:002013-04-07T16:32:32.958-04:00A New Look at Perception (Thank You, El Greco)I'm struggling with your concept of "literal perception" vs. what people think they perceive. Or is it possible that this work suggests a different way of thinking about perception? That "literal perception" is not a useful way of thinking about how stimuli are interpreted, and that the process of creating interpretations of the sensory world does not involve a "literal perception" step? Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-81259754694567981332013-01-26T12:57:00.001-05:002013-08-20T13:56:21.195-04:00Review of "Surpassing Ourselves" - A profound vision of a problem solving cultureMy recent review of Carl Berieter and Marlene Scardamalia's wonderful 1993 book "Surpassing Ourselves" on Amazon.
It is about how the underlying concept of expertise needs to be rescued from our inaccurate commonsense epistemology and from the negative connotations of speciallization and elitism and instead applied more broadly to processes and groups to make our education and Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-19739820689034744202012-05-19T21:28:00.001-04:002012-05-19T21:28:11.573-04:00How I Lost the Beach BallHow I Lost the Beach Ball
This is how I got back into control of my weight, in case it might be of value to anyone else.
In my 30's my weight was stable at a dumpy but manageable 220 lbs.
My adult weight from late 20's to late 30's: 220 lbs
Sometimes in martial arts practice I would suspect that an injury was partly due to my excess weight, so I would try to lose a bit to lighten the Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-70417010492917206942012-04-06T12:51:00.000-04:002012-04-06T12:53:16.832-04:00Book Review: You Are Your Own Gym
by Mark Lauren
Kindle edition available, review based on Kindle edition.
Text-to-Speech enabled on Kindle version.
165 pages.
Ballantyne Books (Random House)
Link to full review on Amazon
In a nutshell: A lot of useful and clever exercise variations, good use of periodization for long term training goals, a number of good sample routines with Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-26717500775340206022012-02-05T14:15:00.000-05:002012-02-05T14:17:07.410-05:00Book Review: The Blind Spot by William Byers
The Blind Spot: Science and the Crisis of Uncertainty
William Byers
Princeton University Press, 2011
Full review on Amazon.
Interesting food for thought, a reason for some humility, and an argument for perspectivism
I got some real value out of this book because it made me think more deeply about an important and fundamental philosophical problemTodd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-38019232551855764632011-12-06T17:50:00.003-05:002011-12-06T18:08:40.562-05:00Book Review: The Highly Hypnotizable PersonThe Highly Hypnotizable Person,Edited by David A. Oakley , Michael Heap , and Richard J. BrownThis is the most authoritative and comprehensive summary of hypnosis research compiled in over a decade, so anyone interested in the subject should take note. Noteworthy contrubutions include Helen Crawford on the genetics and neuropsychology, Steve Lynn on clinical correlates, Judith Rhue on the Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-4698675391388135172011-12-04T17:24:00.004-05:002011-12-04T17:44:43.631-05:00Book Review: The GenoType DietThe GenoType Diet: Change Your Genetic Destiny to live the longest, fullest and healthiest life possible By Catherine Whitney (Author), Peter J. Dr D'Adamo (Author) [Review based on Kindle version]From my Amazon review:"... is it plausible in general that metabolic traits cluster along with personality traits, and that these clusters imply different health regimens? Of course it's possible. I'm Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-62416943180510835502011-11-20T15:57:00.008-05:002011-11-20T16:27:29.714-05:00The argument for a SANE dietThis is the second in a series of commentaries on the ideas promoted in Jonathan Bailor's book "The Smarter Science of Slim."This one presents my own spin on his argument for a SANE diet as an effective long term strategy for counteracting the trend toward obesity and obesity-related chronic illness.In addition to recommendations for brief, infrequent, high intensity exercise to counter insulin Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-28042247599523906302011-11-20T14:25:00.013-05:002011-11-20T15:45:49.631-05:00Dietary fads, fictions, factions, and factsThis is my first post in a series of planned commentaries based on my reading of Jonathan Bailor's highly recommended book, "The Smarter Science of Slim."This first commentary is my perspective on the history of the issues and how I perceive they have been resolved scientifically so far.The Low Carb RevolutionYears ago, Dr. Atkins shocked popular culture and infuriated proponents of low fat dietsTodd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-75514679666150429132011-11-13T19:36:00.005-05:002015-05-03T12:16:46.267-04:00Book Review: The Smarter Science of Slim by Jonathan BailorMy review of Jonathan Bailor's book, "The Smarter Science of Slim."
Highly recommended, he does a great job integrating a lot of research faithfully into an accessible picture and offers practical advice consistent with it.
I also mention some things I would have written a little differently, like expanding the discussion of exercise a little beyond just eccentric high resistance and popular Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-66036055164449515322011-09-04T22:31:00.002-04:002011-09-04T22:34:48.675-04:00The Transfer Challenge to ExpertiseConsider this relatively commonsensical view of problem solving:
“We absorb information in some common generic way and then apply our individual talents to using that information to solve problems.”
As straightforward and intuitive as this description sounds, it contains a counter-productive assumption about knowledge, confusing it with information. We tend to assume that the things we Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-67407997502740033592011-09-03T23:30:00.003-04:002011-09-03T23:34:20.304-04:00The Unpredictability Challenge to Expertise
We almost universally recognize the legitimacy of experts in a number of different domains. In many academic fields such as mathematics, sciences, history, literature, and other academic areas, some people know much more and consistently perform much better than others in tests of ability. Similarly for many professional fields and various sports and games, we recognize that there are experts Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0