I’m not much a comics fan but I’m always attracted to the cleverness and satire of political cartoons, probably because it’s usually smart and sometimes throws a serious punch to social issues, pokes fun at political figures and others. “A picture is worth a thousand words” cannot be more true with this kind of cartoons.

I came across this book in the new-book section of the library and was immediately attracted to the pictures. I don’t believe I know or recognize Herbert Block and his work but based on what I read of his work from 1920’s to 2000, he impressed me as an insightful liberal with a keen eye toward social justice and the plight of the people. Due to the longevity of his career, you can see the history of the entire 20th century being played out through Herbert Block’s lens: The depression, World War II, civil unrest, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and finally Bush 2. What a great span of work! Besides, his drawings are always full of subtlety and meaning – inspiring to someone who wanted to become a cartoonist. The DVD that comes with the book includes almost all of his work in his entire life: 2.4GB worth. Not a bad deal.

The authors did a great job keeping the readers interested throughout the book telling lots of good stories to explain all the irrational behaviors of people, who include the regular people to the brightest. In a way, this book is a lot like the Freakinomics, but they are not like micro-economic problems which often have to do with irrational behavior of consumers.

The reasons are as follows:
Loss Aversion (with commitment): We often ignore logic when we are committed to a course, like what the exemplary pilot of KLM Flight #4805, Jacob van Zanten, who took off the 747 plane without the clearance from the tower, resulted in the deaths of over 583 people. This was all because he needed to keep his on-schedule reputation. Other examples include: asymmetry of supply-demand curve of eggs sale, flat monthly fee for mobile phones, loss damage waiver in car rental, traditional football game “war of attrition” strategy, Professor Bazerman’s $20 bidding contest, Lyndon Johnson’s (LBJ’s) Vietnam war strategy, George W. Bush’s Iraq strategy,

Value Attribution: Our tendency to imbue someone or something with certain qualities based on perceived value, rather than on objective data. Dr. Dubois’s, an anthropologist, discovered Homo Erectus on the islands of Java Sea. He was dismissed in the beginning due to a previously held belief that he was a virtual no-name . Other examples: Joshua Bell’s subway performance in NY, Nathan Handwerker’s hot dog stand with recruited doctors customers, Charles Dawson’s Piltdown Man scandal, experiment with people with full-price season pass enjoyed more than discounted season pass.

Diagnosis bias: We use diagnostic labels to organize and simplify. Once you get a label in mind, you don’t notice things don’t fit within the categories that do not make a difference. For examples, NBA’s draft order, MIT experiment of a “warm” and “cold” label of a substitute professor, job interviews. 3 mistakes we make: 1. dismissal of facts (like interview questions), 2. focus on irrelevant factors (ads with a smiling woman), 3. Chameleon effect (when we brand or label people, they take on the characteristics ascribed to them).

Belief in fairness and its process (procedural justice) and the need to be heard: Examples, French’s “Who wants to be a Millionaire” audience, money splitter experiment, car purchase (how the customers are treated), criminals’ perception of how they’re being treated in the justice system, how the venture capitalists are being treated by the CEO’s.

Pleasure vs. Altruistic: We have two “engines” running in our brains that can’t operate simultaneously. “We can approach a task either altruistically or from a self-interested perspective. The two different engines run on different fuels and also need different amounts of those fuels to fire up.” For example, Community High School teachers reactions to bonus incentive for increasing attendance.

To reduce/avoid the Sway:
1. Dissenting votes: Sway of group conformity is incredibly strong but the existence of dissenting votes help to balance its power. For example, the dissenting vote in the Supreme Court, France’s UN vote against Iraq invasion. Airlines’ use of CRM (Crew Resource Management) help group members to be effective blockers.
2. Take a long view to avoid succumbing to short-term commitment and let go of the past, like in traffic woe, and investment strategy.
3. Employ “Personal Construct Theory”: To remain flexible and examine things from different perspectives. Have a “waiting period” before making a diagnostic judgment.
4. To avoid fairness sway, weigh things objectively and not succumb to emotional maneuvers or moral judgment. Ask yourself, “Would I rather achieve my goals or teach the other person a lesson?”
5. Keeping others appraised of the decision making process help make the process perceived to be fair.

This is an excellent book with lots of good concrete stories/experiments explaining why we human commit irrational behaviors. They are what make us humans and what make us err as humans. The pitfalls could hurt our pocket books and even kill us. Good to know what they are.

Persuasion vs. manipulation: the differences reside on the intentions. Manipulation usually works in the short term and in inwardly focused on the outcome for the person doing the manipulation. 4 most important elements of manipulation: 1. seeking a solution, 2. time sensitivity, 3. potential for loss, and benevolent authority. Persuasion is externally focused on developing a win-win outcome where everyone’s needs are met.

Persona gives you persuasiveness structure and support. 3 elements of persona: 1. appearance, 2. voice and communication skills (ref. Speak to Influence by Susan Berkeley) (speak from your facial mask to project as in humming, smile, vary your voice), 3 positioning: manners and mannerism. The power behind developing your persona is in guiding your audience to the conclusions you want them to draw and in getting them to trust you, respect you, and value you before you say a word.

Transferring power and credibility: can be active or implied, if from a respected or trusted person to you enhance your ability persuade, can happen in person or through testimonials. Give to receive.

Storytelling: Steps to persuasive story:
1. Know your story.
2. Lay out your story: a. grab me by the ears, b. lay the foundation, c. engage my emotions, d. layer on the proof, e. answer my questions, f. give me enough information that I can draw your conclusion, g. get my feedback.
3. Tell your story. Have an interesting hook like a question. Tells them in chunks.
When you put your story together be sure to answer the questions of what, why, when, where, and who. Successful stories shift the criteria of the person you are persuading.

Gurudom: Being relevant is the single most important key to being a well recognized guru. Become an expert in 30 days:
1. Determine your area of expertise.
2. Thoroughly study your subject matter. Practice for 1000 hours.
3. Begin to develop opinions.
4. Share you opinions and original ideas.
5. Write a book, an article, or a white paper, create an audio book.
6. Get your own radio program.
7. Write a blog.
8. Promote yourself.

Desire to believe:

• Understanding what the beliefs are of the people you are trying to persuade allows you to focus on building on their current beliefs than trying to change them or create a new belief.
• People are most likely to change their beliefs when they are searching for a solution to a problem that has caused them stress, concern, or confusion. Emotional release allows themt o create new beliefs quickly.
• You must present new ideas with conviction and credibility to create an environment where the new ideas can be accepted.
• Everyone wants to believe in something and it is the job of the persuader to position the idea that the people being persuaded can believe in and make their own.

Familiarity:
1. We tend to like and trust people who are like us.
2. Familiarity breeds trust.
3. Always get to know something about every person you hope to persuade.
4. Try to move all of your persuasive conversations from a shared commonality to a new shared experience that you’ll create together.

Exclusivity and availability:
1. The more exclusive you can make someone feel, the more likely that they are to be persuaded.
2. Exclusive groups are easier to persuade than generic groups.
3. Exclusivity is one of the keys to building a cult, whether a cult of customers or of brands.
4. Exclusivity is closely tied to identity. Reinforce the tie between people’s identities and the exclusivity and you move them much more quickly and easily to your point of view.

Curiosity:
1. Create curiosity wherever you can; curiosity is the oil that greases the wheels of change.
2. To create curiosity ask good questions; directly question assumptions and beliefs.
3. Remember that when people are curious change is possible.
4. The purpose of curiosity is for you to direct the discovery of new information that will help others make the only logical decision they can. .. and one you want them to make.

Relevancy: If you are relevant to me it is because you know something about me and the more you know about me the more familiar you feel.

Permission Granting: Giving permission encourages people to take the actions you want them to take. Permission gives absolution.

The quick persuaders: 1. Social matching (others are doing the same). 2. Concurrence (agreement in opinion). 3. Empathy, 4. Inconsequence (getting to accept little ideas so that the big idea is whittled down to an acceptable size). 5. Likeability. 6. Giving to receive. 7. Accountability.

The Persuasion Equation: Position + Presentation x influence = Persuasion.

Persuasive Selling:
I – Identify qualified prospects
S – Start your story
E – Educate, answer, and encourage.
L – Lead them to their best decision.
L – Let them buy.

Six tenets of persuasion:
1. Outcome based.
2. Best-interest focused.
3. Truthful
4. Goal and time oriented.
5. Personal
6. Ethical.

This book is a gold mine. I’ve learned quite a few things. I particularly like the positioning and the story telling. The author was persuasive with his story of growing up in a cult.Very useful and persuasive!

This is a very short (69-page), easy read book.

Lots of life lessons from Michael J. Fox, one of my favorite actors, who offer answers to this question: “What constitutes an education?”

• The metaphor of the rock (big things in life), sand (minutiae), and beer (joy with your friends.)
• Life 101 is an education with plenty of tests and pain that never ends. The education degree may appear to grant you book smart but may or may not have a bearing on one’s success.
• Absolute rules were not appealing to Michael but it’s something like Parkingson Disease he would have to live with.
• Learning on the job may be more important than learning from school, especially in economics for a starving actor like Fox in the early years. His love of reading and constant book reading to compare books to their script adaptation made him a great actor.
• Physics lesson: Fox’s role in the Back to the Future gave him excuses to talk about physics, hoverboard and inertia. But the ultimate experience is his own Parkinson Disease.
• On political science: Fox talked about his involvement in Obama’s campaign to lift restrictions on stem-cell research imposed during the Bush Era. His strong call for political involvement by all is admirable.
• On Geography: “Wherever you are, there it is” – wherever you travel, you have to adapt to your new surroundings. Take the time to seek out the excitement of the strange and not the comfort of the familiar. Enjoy yourself, wherever you are.
• Mentors: Fox talked about his high-school drama teacher, Ross Jones, whose “why not?” phrase awaken in Fox a knack for questioning and an acceptance of possibilities. His grandma’s high hope and regard for him gave him a boost. Of course, his big break came from Gary David Goldberg, who mentored him from the beginning of his successful career. It is a very amiable mentor/mentee relationship
• Fox characterized his battle with Parkinson Disease as the “graduate school” for the soul. PD is the “perfect metaphor for lack of control” for an actor at the peak of his career surrendering control to it.
• I particularly like this advice: “Don’t spend a lot of time imagining the worst-case scenario. It rarely goes down as you imagine you will. And if by some fluke it does, you have lived it twice.”
• Seize the present. “There is never a better time to celebrate the present. The present belongs to you. No need to fumble with the camera. Let’s others take the pictures. Just smile.
• Curiosity vs. Ambition: Fox benefited more from curiosity. “For the curious, new clues will await at every turn and may keep pointing toward the chosen destination… Curiosity may have killed that cat, but it saved my ass.”
• Final word: “Pay attention to what’s happening around you… Remember, though you, alone are responsible for your own happiness, it’s still okay to feel responsible for someone else’s. Live to learn.”

This is a good short book of lessons on life from a person who has gone through so much in his. Michael J. Fox speaks from his heart and authority on living a good life.

“I Am Potential” is an autobiography of an able but disadvantaged man who grew up with no eyes and a severe limb growth problems with his arm and legs. The amazing thing is that he managed to learn playing piano, trumpet and participated in school marching band. His father played a huge role in enabling him to accomplish so much. Of course, the mother overcame the adversity and the “card” she was dealt with and proceeded to have two more healthy children after Patrick Henry. My compliment to the couple; they have made great sacrifices. Patrick Henry gave the couple the meaning to what life is all about.

It’s hard to imagine if I were to live in his shoes. Would I have the strong will and vitality to live as a normal life as I could? What is it like to live a life not knowing what “colors” mean? Would I be bothered/frustrated by the constant pain and fragility? Just imagine how I should have accomplished if Patrick Henry can accomplish so much in his position. It makes me question whether I’m achieving to the best of my potential.

Anyone who’s depressed and feels sorry for his/her life should read this book. Everything will seem easy for a person without the same disadvantages that Patrick Henry has. This is a heart warming and encouraging story.

This is the story about Uranium, from its humble beginning when no one paid attention to it, to its glorious days even after the the two atomic bombs were dropped in Japan that ended the World War II.

The author spent a lot of time developing the story about how the atomic bomb was developed. It started from the theory about the tremendous force postulated when the uranium nuclei are punctured by neutrons, then the race to find sufficient Uranium and its purification, the start of the Manhattan Project, and finally the dropping of the atomic bombs in Japan. This first part of the story was captivating.

The second part of the book is about the race to become nuclear superpower in the post-World War II era. I was shocked to hear that Eisenhower was giving away the atomic bomb secret (atoms for peace) to spread the know how in order to keep peace. It’s counter-intuitive but may be effective. But it also propel countries like Pakistan, India to trade their hard earned money for a namesake in the nuclear hall of fame.

The uranium rush was not much different from the gold rush. There were speculators, winners and losers. The politics and economics behind the uranium ore are both mind boggling and outrageous.

The book is long but interesting, at least the first part of it. The second part about the politics of Uranium is informative but less interesting. Overall, it is very educational. Never thought an element besides gold could play such a big role.

Picked up this book from Overdrive library. The introduction was so interesting that I picked this, thinking that I may learn something from the wisdom of an old woman.

Maya has lots of opinions about ring piercing, vulgarity, being truthful when people asked you “how are you?”, no sugar-coating of violence/rape, and etc.

Maya was very honest about her beliefs, her past mistakes (giving birth after a meaningless sexual encounter, encounter of a psychotic boyfriend, called Two-finger Mark, who almost killer her), her thought about suicide, her story about a party where she stepped on the tablecloth, mistaken as rug, and her perception of the prejudices against black and women. Each chapter is an essay of a certain topic.

My favorite quotes are:
On Chapter 1 “Memory,” “I am convinced that most people do not grow up…. I think what we do is mostly growing old. We carry accumulation of years in our bodies and on our faces, but generally our real selves, the children inside, are still innocent and shy as magnolias… We fee safest when we go inside ourselves and find home, a place where we belong and maybe the only place we really do.” How true and beautifully put!

On Chapter 2 – “Philanthropy” After giving a smile to her own mother, she said, “I learned that I could be giver by simply bringing a smile to another person… I’m happy to describe myself as charitable.”

On Chapter 16 – “Eternal Silver Screen” “I came to understand that I can never forget where I came from. My soul should always look back and wonder at the mountains I had climbed and the rivers I had forged and the challenges which I still await down the road. I’m strengthened by that knowledge.”

On Chapter 25 – “Commencement Address” – “Of all your attributes, youth, beauty, wit, kindness, mercy, Courage is your greatest achievement, For you, without it, can practice no other virtue with consistency.”

Maya’s mother was a rich lady. In order to maintain her independence, she insisted on living within her means and not taking charity from her mother. This took a lot of courage, as she put it, “independence is a heady draft, and if you drink it in your youth it can have the same effect on the brain as young wine, … it is very addictive and with each drink the consumer wants more.”

In a way, Maya was lucky to have a loving family, a grandmother who brought her up in her childhood and taught her the basic value, a mother who provided for her and supported her even after giving birth to her son out of wedlock and thereafter, and of course a loving son, who never caused her to regret raising.

This is a wonderful, short book. Lots of wisdom is contained within.