Back in September, I finished reading <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/think-again-the-power-of-knowing-what-you-don-t-know-9781984878106/9781984878106" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer nofollow">Think Again</a> by Adam Grant. It&#39;s a fantastic book that made me think about how I form my thoughts and opinions, and how I go about possibly re-forming them as evidence changes.
<PostImage
 src="/images/posts/2021-10-27-think-again-review/think-again-cover.jpeg"
 alt="The cover of Adam Grant's book, Think Again"
 width={398}
 height={600}
 centered
 shadowed
/>
I had first heard about this book listening to the <a href="https://www.pushkin.fm/show/cautionary-tales/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer nofollow">Cautionary Tales</a> podcast by Tim Harford. I’ve always appreciated Tim’s take on a multitude of topics so his recommendation had my interest piqued.
The book’s primary focus is to make the reader think about their opinions and consider how they form their opinions and what it might take to reconsider them. For plenty of people, including myself, what we think we know may or may not be as much as we actually know. (See the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer nofollow">Dunning–Kruger Effect</a>)
Being able to re-consider one’s viewpoints is a definitively good mindset to be in. All too often we form our opinions, get set in our filter bubbles, and refuse to change our minds. I know I can be guilty of this myself. I like to think the world works a certain way, and will sometimes need some extra prodding to revisit where I stand.
I think all too often we have our minds set on why people are the way they are, or that a certain group of people are [insert adjective here]. I know it’s grown even harder over the last 6 years given the current political climate. Democrats hate Republicans, Republicans hate Democrats. The polarization has become seemingly extreme as of late. The pandemic certainly hasn’t helped matters either. I know I sometimes have to take a step back and think about those who have chosen not to get vaccinated. I know there are those who are fervently anti-vaxx, thinking it’s some kind of liberal conspiracy or whatever the hell they’re believing these days. But then I take a step back, read some more, and see that there are others who are unsure for a multitude of reasons. Some understandable, some questionable, but not at the level of the QAnon folks. It’s kind of ironic that I read this while the pandemic is going on as one part of the book talks about doctors trying to figure out how to best handle those not wanting to have their children get the childhood vaccines (think MMR, Polio, etc.). As the book mentions, sometimes it’s just doing your best to listen to each other rather than talking down to them. Sure, there are plenty you won’t be able to reason with, but maybe, just maybe there are others you can help re-think their views.
The other thing that I often think about is how it&#39;s often seen as a weakness to change your mind on things. In politics, politicians who change their views are so often called flip-floppers. It doesn’t matter why they changed their view, or how long it took them. They changed their view, so they can’t be trusted. It’s a shame too, because there are countless good reasons to change or adjust your view.
Looking back at my life, I think the biggest “shock” for me was going to college. I grew up in the suburbs of Allentown, Pennsylvania. I was raised in a decidedly middle-class household. I was fortunate and never had to worry about how life’s necessities were going to be taken care of. The people I met in high school were very much the same.
Going to college, and given Drexel&#39;s location in Philadelphia, all of a sudden I was introduced to people from wildly different backgrounds. Some who came from more money than I’d know what to do with, others who had to scratch and claw for everything. It opened my eyes to what others had to deal with and made me re-think about how lucky I was and that maybe I should reconsider my thoughts about others who may not have had the benefits I had growing up.
It falls back to science as well. I mean think about the scientific method. The way scientists work is they come up with a hypothesis, test it, and adjust their hypothesis accordingly. It&#39;s a little bit more complicated than that, but it’s ultimately the gist of it. Scientists follow the science and will generally adjust their views based on the results of their scientific inquiry. I forget where I read it, but I remember reading somewhere that good scientists are willing to recognize when they are wrong just as fervently as when they are right. Changing your mind or re-thinking something as the situation changes shouldn’t be considered a weakness, but rather a strength. There&#39;s a maturity to be able to say you were wrong.
At the end of the day, I really believe that this is generally a good mindset to have. We all obviously have our convictions and views we strongly believe in. But to be willing to hear and listen to the other side or other alternate viewpoints will hopefully make us better people.

Think Again Review

September seemed to fly by pretty quickly, but it was definitely a good month. I enjoyed a week away on vacation and felt like I got a lot accomplished.
Month started off well and I was feeling very productive. It helped that hockey has been on a slight hiatus so I was able to spend more nights at home. I used that time to finish up my blog redesign. I actually just got it deployed and switched over. I&#39;m now using <a href="https://netlify.com">Netlify</a> to host it and the setup process was pretty easy once I got the kinks ironed out.
Towards the end of August, I started using <a href="https://www.notion.so/">Notion</a> for notes. I&#39;m still not entirely sure how I like it, but the one thing I&#39;ve started doing it creating new journal notes every day tracking what I would like to do, what I did, and links to some of the more interesting things I&#39;ve read. Even if I end up moving back to my synched Dropbox folder with Markdown Files, I think I&#39;m going to continue this.
In mid-September, my wife and I went to Cape May for a week on vacation. We rented a condo on the beach and took a nice week away to do basically nothing. Well, maybe not quite nothing, but it was a much needed break. We ended up visiting several breweries and wineries, and were able to meet up with my parents one afternoon for lunch and some beers. I brought several books hoping to read some while there, but I ended up working on my fitness tracker side project far more than I had planned. It worked out because I was able to get quite a bit done on it. There&#39;s still a ways to go, but progress is progress. Yes, I spent a bunch of time programming, but Lauren and I were able to spend the week the way we wanted, so I count that as a fantastic vacation. It was nice to come back home and sleep in my own bed again though.
<PostImage
 src="/images/posts/2021-10-06-september-check-in/cape-may.jpg"
 alt="The Jersey Shore in Cape May"
 width={1920}
 height={1440}
 centered
 shadowed={false}
/>
While I didn&#39;t end up finishing a single book while on vacation, I did finish Think Again by Adam Grant shortly after getting home. I thought it was a great book, and plan on writing something more about it over the next week or so.
Since getting back, I&#39;ve realized I&#39;ve put on more weight than I would really like, so I think I&#39;m going to be really focusing this next month on cutting back my alcohol consumption. It&#39;s been a little too easy for me to enjoy the evening with a beer or two. It&#39;s been adding up and I think it&#39;s been sabotaging my attempt to get into better shape.
For October, I&#39;m really hoping to make more progress on my fitness tracker.
<h3>Summary</h3>
Staying Active: Not much hockey this month, but outside of vacation, I&#39;ve been lifting and running. I&#39;ve run more miles in September than in any month this year April.
Development: Finished up most of my blog re-write. Made good progress on my fitness tracker. And not to muddy the waters, but have started putzing around with moving Digital Family Cookbook over to .NET Core.
Reading: I finished Think Again by Adam Grant and also was able to go through my Pocket list and read a bunch of articles I&#39;ve marked for read later.
Write More: I wrote one post on my thoughts about <a href="https://kpwags.com/2021/09/04/on-software-subscriptions.html">software subscriptions</a>.

RSS Feeds

Everything

Blog Posts

Reading Logs

Book Notes

Choose Color

Posts in October 2021

Think Again Review

September Check-In