Curious: the desire to know and why your future depends on it
Ian Leslie
ISBN: 9780465079964
Read Sept 7, 2014
Interesting read about curiousity, how it works, why it's important, and how it's been regarded historically-speaking.
The author gets a little fired up about "progressive" ideas about education and how they all totally miss the point, which seems to be a bit of axe-grinding. (I'm not contesting his premise that curiosity needs to be fed with regular and quality applications of knowledge, but I am a bit iffy on his emphatic extrapolation that all forms of "progressive" educational policy (montessori, child-led, etc.) are total rubbish that are ruining children's minds.)
The most interesting idea that was presented is a dichotomy between puzzles and mysteries; puzzles having a solid answer, and mysteries being more amorphous or complex or potential-filled to be locked down into something so simple as "an answer."
The notes at the end are also worth checking out - the author doesn't rely on them to explain the book contents (which are taken care of IN the book, a practice I heartily endorse) - but to enhance or travel further down a particular rabbit-hole of interest. I LOVE it when notes are interesting and further the context and information presented.
Finally, a shout-out to the cover. Nicole Caputo should be congratulated for her sparse and striking design, as should Michael Duva of Getty for the picture itself. Simply brilliant.
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