reading – Page 8 – ORGANIZING CREATIVITY

Minimum Requirements to React to Comments

2014-04-11

How Graham's Hierarchy of Disagreement might be used in a discussion -- to ignore comments below a certain threshold, and to get an idea of the argumentative qualities of the people taking part in the discussion. Also: Viking Ships.
[show the article]

If you cut off the spine of a book to digitize it, keep your legs out of the way

2014-02-28

Mishaps are like knives, that either serve us or cut us, as we grasp them by the blade or the handle. James Russell Lowell Personally, […]

Recommendation: Bukowski

2014-01-31

Stumbled upon a poetry book and it's ... impressive (book cover on the left). Some remarks and sample poems in the article.
[show the article]

Reading Effortless in Bed with a Tablet and a Monitor Arm (Update)

2014-01-20

Some experiences and further improvements after using the iPad monitor arm over my bed for a while. Really useful! Also photos of me sleeping -- really.
[show the article]

Making sense of scientific news stories

2014-01-15

If you stumble upon a report of a scientific study, e.g., in the news or on a blog -- can you trust it? Here are some criteria to evaluate news studies, esp. when they contain assertions about human behavior. Based on an one-page I wrote for another blog (image left) and translated into English. Highly recommended.
[show the article]

Reading eBooks on a Tablet Comfortably in Bed (also: watching movies)

2014-01-11

I tried out the -- so far -- most relaxing way of reading books (and watching movies) -- lying on the back in bed with the screen hovering a few inches above you. Simple and very, very practical.
[show the article]

If I would study again (at the university) … this is how I would learn

2013-08-10

A suggestion on how to learn when you are studying at the university. Made possible by today's technology. Yeah. :-)
[show the article]

“Oh, du weißes Blatt, inspirier’ mich … oder besser nicht!” — Wissenschaftliches und fiktionales Schreiben ohne Inspiration (aber mit Inhalts-Outlines, Scrivener, u.v.m.)

2013-08-07

I've written a brochure about scientific writing. It's written in German and I can only highly recommend it if you are working on your thesis -- and understand German.
[show the article]

Reading Digitally (Videos)

2013-07-17

Two videos showing my reading workflow -- how everything I highlight is exported and how it ends up in my topic notebooks. Very comfortable way in dealing with notes.
[show the article]

To Scan or Not to Scan

2013-04-03

Digitization of books has lots of advantages, but there are books that pose the question: To scan or not to scan.
[show the article]

This is a private blog showing my opinions. If you have an issue with what I write here, either don’t read it or talk to me directly. Don’t waste your time — or mine — dragging my employer into matters where they hold no authority.

The institution I work for, or rather the people officially representing it, have already distanced themselves from this blog. I find this unnecessary, as I’ve clearly stated in the «About this Blog» section that this is a personal blog.

Frankly, I have nothing but contempt for those who lack the backbone to address their concerns directly and instead resort to passive-aggressive tattling to others. Such behavior strikes me as not only cowardly, but also spineless, gutless, and wholly unprincipled. Moreover, these efforts are as pathetic as they are futile.

That said, I might listen if you present compelling arguments and evidence, as constructive feedback is always welcome. Who knows? We might even both gain something valuable from the interaction.

A comment for those seeking to use this site for personal gain: Given the increase in requests, let me be clear. I write on this blog because I want to. It’s my hobby, my playground. Sometimes people point me to interesting products/services and I write about them. But any request regarding ads or sponsored placements ends up the trash without a reply. And if you think something would be of interest, differentiate yourself from the spammers by referring to a posting — in an intelligent way. (I get enough auto-generated mails to identify them immediately.)

BTW, posts can get updated after I published them if I spot spelling errors (not a native speaker) or think a different wording might improve precision and clarity.

This blog is not focused on a single topic, or method. As long as it is relevant to improving creativity (or allowing it in the first place), it's fair game.
Some postings on this blog deal with freedom, as I think that we need freedom of thought, of speech, of association, etc. pp. to solve mankind's problems. Thus, some postings may seem a bit remote when it comes to organizing creativity. Freedom is, however, the bedrock of creativity.
The heterogeneity of the postings can make reading this blog a bit cumbersome, at least if you are only interested in one topic. You can either use the search function (above), or use the categories or the tags to narrow down the postings you see.