I wanted to piece together some thoughts surrounding the Church's newly minted ministering program that coalesced this past week after my stake conference. To me the spirit of ministering is profound: to care about another person to the point that you become a part of their life. I loved the way that President Jean Bingham... Continue Reading →
Sprint to the end: Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres and the Last Enemy/ and the Philosopher’s Stone
"You'd have lost," said Alastor Moody. "And the Boy-Who-Lived didn't just take out Voldie, he set it up so that his good friend Hermione Granger came back from the dead at the same time Voldie resurrected himself. There's no way in hell or double hell that was an accident, and I don't think it was... Continue Reading →
Hermione Jean Granger and the Phoenix’s Call
The fourth book in the Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality brings Hermione more onto center stage than in previous books. After all, the title takes her name rather than Harry's: Hermione Jean Granger and the Phoenix's Call. I will again have to make a SPOILER WARNING right up front, as I am going... Continue Reading →
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality: The Shadows of Death
It took me a while to finally finish the 3rd installment of Methods of Rationality, as my wife's interest waned as she began to see that Harry Potter was still obnoxiously proud to the point of being insufferable. I was still intent on finishing the series, so after a few months of not reading in... Continue Reading →
Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres and the Professor’s Games: Give it up for BATTLE MAGIC!!
The second book in Harry Potter-Evans-Verres and the Methods of Rationality, The Professor's Games continues Harry's adventures in his first year at Hogwarts. The professor mentioned in the title "The Professor's Games" is no other than Professor Quirrell (or, perhaps you could interpret it as Dumbledore, but I will let you figure that out). Quirrel... Continue Reading →
Accepting imperfection is at the core of art and religion
Among the many books that Harry Potter recommends in Methods of Rationality, the first one I chose to read was Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. It is by no means light reading. Among the selection of journal articles presented, I was reading about a common heuristic (rule of thumb, set of assumptions used to... Continue Reading →
Book review: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality Book 1
OK, I know that I perhaps get a little too expansive with my book reviews. I want to tell you everything I found meaningful, and then provide you will all the quotes that struck me while reading, often paragraphs at a time. Probably not the best way to induce you to read. More like reading... Continue Reading →