Book Review: The Mind Gym – Relationships

I read the bulk of this book towards the end of 2010 and then left it in London and kept forgetting to pick it up and complete the last few chapters. I finally did so this week…

I bought this book because it was recommended (and partly put together?) by the people at Management Today, whose monthly magazine I enjoy reading, and I wasn't disappointed. Strangely though, despite it being a book on relationships, I learnt less about other people and more about myself! That's not a bad thing of course. As well as the content of the book, I liked the way it was structured too – small bite-size chunks (mixed with examples and stories) rather than long narratives.

If any one point stood out for me, it was to worry less about what others think of me and to understand that people think about us less than we think they do! The exception to this – of course – being parents and grandparents who without doubt think about us more than we realise they do. Rabbi-rhamhum 🙌

Here are a couple of nice quotes from the book to end with:

"It's happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust." (Samuel Johnson) 

"Today I bent the truth to be kind, and I have no regret, for I am far surer of what is kind than I am of what is true." (Robert Brault)

Online presence and persona

I'm quite a fan of Behavioural Economist Dan Ariely's short monthly piece in Wired UK and found his extended feature in the August 2011 issue especially noteworthy. The piece was entitled 'You are being gamed - How online companies trick you into sharing more, joining more and spending more' and analysed briefly some of the ploys employed by organisations such as Amazon, Apple, Groupon, Zynga and Faceobok. Short article; worth the read.

About Facebook, I liked the point about the Wall which I guess applies to Blogging too: We want our Walls to reflect ourselves. Users want to display a self that is somewhere between their real self and how they would like to be perceived.

Wound infection

Had an excruciating wound infection start up on my lower leg this week and (did what I do and) been putting on films in the background (one a day) to get my mind off the pain so as to keep the number of painkillers consumed otherwise near-zero. Still not able to walk, though the pain has gone down a fair bit alhamdulillah. Left my work laptop in my room in Cambridge so not able to code again til Monday and might just write a film review or two in the meanwhile. About the infection: learnt my lesson and won't be so careless with open wounds in future!