Category: Play

What a Way to Start a Book!

“The antifragile loves randomness and uncertainty, which also means – crucially – a love of errors, a certain class of errors. Anti fragility has a singular property of allowing us to deal with the unknown, to do things without understanding them – and do them well. let me be more aggressive; we are largely better at doing than we are at thinking, thanks to antifragility. I’d rather be dumb and antifragile than extremely smart and fragile, any time.”

From Antifragile

November Reading Goals

After touching base with Jeremey and Ian, I’ve decided to follow their recommendations (respectively) and read the following in November:

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (272 Pages) and
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (544 Pages!)

I’ve decided to put Just Enough Research on the back burner, since these two books alone represent 0.74 Infinite Jests (versus October’s mere .574 Infinite Jests) and November involves a lot of travel for our hero.

October Reading Goals Recap

I almost made it – I finished Microinteractions, Elements of UX and Lean UX. I am only about halfway through Gamestorming. I do have an excuse – I picked up and spent some time in the excellent Just Enough Research, part of the Book Apart family. So, I’ll call it a draw.

Here are my thoughts in the order I read the books;

– Microinteractions: I was concerned that my lack of professional experience with UX topics would make this one a bit out of my reach, but to the contrary I found it really interesting, and it has certainly changed the way I think about the tiny pieces of software and websites, and the way these pieces change my experience. I would recommend it to anyone who works with websites or software, regardless of your area of focus.

– Elements of UX: This book, while thoughtful and certainly full of really important and structural high level thinking, was not for me. I lack the necessary grounding and experience to get the full value. It was the same experience as reading the third of fourth book in a series independent from the others – I could tell I was not getting the full story, the full impact. So, I would certainly recommend it, but probably not good if you’re just dipping a toe into design and UX.

– Lean UX: Probably my favorite of the books I finished in this list, Lean UX isn’t really about UX per se, but more about approaching that sort of Work from a different angle. As a step forward in management and product development, I liked it an awful lot. This may be because it ties into the sort of thing think about already, have some work experience with already, so the lessons and thoughts are especially tangible and pertinent.

– Gamestorming: Despite only getting halfway, have already started using the games and thinking in this book – my team at Automattic will be putting together our annual roadmap in January, and we’ll be using some of the creativity building games to help approach the next year with open minds. Game storming is mostly a collection of brainstorm games, with a short explanation of how to use them – if you work with other humans to make things in any capacity, you would get a a lot out of this book.

While I failed to meet my book goal in October, I did meet my page number goal, so I feel inspired. I am going to only choose three books for November, including the rest of Just Enough Research. I have reached out to my colleagues Jeremey and Ian for recommendations – stay tuned!

To This, We Say Yes!

After a few failed attempts, The Doctor and I finally had a chance to watch a movie that I’ve been very excited about for some time: Jodorowsky’s Dune. Here’s the trailer:

 

Besides being a really wonderful documentary about a radical retelling of a story I’ve loved my whole life, it is also an exploration of a sort of genius that seems missing from today’s world: skating on the edge of insanity, blending Continental philosophy with art and literature and comics, finding and delivering meaning in unusual and sometimes delightful places.

I find Alejandro Jodorowsky inspiring for many reasons, not the least of which is his intense lifelong ability to simply ship prolifically – the man has published books, made films, collaborated with artists and scientists – but also his approach to his work, to The Work. He says two things in the documentary about his attempt at filming Dune that have stuck with me.

“Things come, you say yes. Things go away, you say yes.”

Jodorowsky’s approach is ever-progressive – not in a political way necessarily, but in terms of forward momentum. Even when Dune, what could have been a masterpiece, was canned, his response was Yes! If the world is a certain way, you must progress anyway – you must say yes! You must say yes even if you go on to change it. This approach shines positivity and momentum, two things I try to reflect upon and embrace in my own work, and my own thoughts. It encourages action, rather than reaction.

“Why not be ambitious?”

Alejandro is again responding to the documentarian’s questions about the failure of Dune, and even in the face of failure, he shows no regret or remorse. He does not wish that he had held back his ambition, that he had quieted his desires to make a consciousness-altering movie – he instead faces it with defiance and grit: why not be ambitious? Why be on this world if not to make world-changing things?

Jodorowsky’s Dune could have been great, and I do wish that it could have been completed, but the real thing I have taken from the documentary is an inspiration to have a little more Alejandro in my own life – to allow a little madness in around the edges, to allow myself to be ambitious and to grasp for great things, to make and discuss and get a little wild. To this, I say yes!