白板报

我决心以后更新博客勤奋一点，让白板报对人类的头脑更有启发。

人类智能事业（The Human Intelligence Enterprise）是麻省理工学院计算机科学系列的一门课程，具体讲什么的，我也不清楚，大概是专门研究人类的思维的吧。2012年1月6日，推特网友 @cxiaoji 同学，贴出了麻省理工HIE专业推荐给学业带头人的12部经典。

虽然推荐书目谁都会，但一个由理科教授推荐的提升写作能力和领导力的书单，还是让我心生欢喜，神放光明。

这个课程下面的拉丁语FORSAN ET HAEC OLIM MEMINISSE IUVABIT，经查，出自维吉尔的《埃涅阿斯纪》，意思是：“也许一天，这一切会给你带来帮助。”

就在我根据这份书单在美国亚马逊买了一本Bugs in Writing，并花费几百元运回中国，准备开读的时候，我发现MIT的HIE课程页面上的这份书单不见了，内容更新成新学期的教学计划。通过在推特上求助，一位好心的推友 @rse43 帮我从archive.org上找到了这个网页的快照。我差不多都要喜极而泣了。

下面贴出这份书单，期待与爱读书、爱智慧的你分享。

The Human Intelligence Enterprise: Spring 2011

FORSAN ET HAEC OLIM MEMINISSE IUVABIT

Twelve Classics for Every Aspiring Leader’s Bookshelf

Writing instruction

You cannot lead if you cannot communicate. A corollary is that you should hone your writing skills for the rest of your life.

The Elements of Style, William Strunk

Just after I distributed a draft of my first textbook, a student lobbed the dreaded question at me. “Have you read Strunk and White?” she said. I was betrayed because I had not deployed active verbs.

BUGS in Writing: A Guide to Debugging Your Prose, Lyn Dupre

Once Strunk and White is in your blood, read Dupre. She is a developmental editor; that is, she not only performs the lessor, comma-correcting function of a copy editor, she also comments on clarity and structure. After I wrote a few books, I thought I had learned what ordinary copy editors have to teach, so I asked my publisher to find an editor who could make me cry. The found Dupre. She did.

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Edward R. Tufte

Because we think with our eyes as well as our mouth, illustrations should properly stimulate your reader’s visual problem solving apparatus. In this domain, Tufte book reigns supreme. Look at the illustrations and discover what he has to say about them. Note, however, that you are likely to be disappointed by the writing style at the sentence and paragraph level.

Writing models

We mimic what we read, so before you write, read something you admire.

Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, James M. McPherson

If I don’t feel like Shakespeare, I read McPherson, who does Strunk and White great honor in the way he uses verbs. The Battle Cry of Freedom is the best one-volume treatment of the American Civil War and takes you beyond high-school simplifications toward an understanding of the complex economic and political roots of a horrible war.

Molecular Biology of the Gene, James D. Watson

Before you write a textbook or documentation, study Watson’s first edition if you can find it (the Sixth is now available, but multiply authored, so I expect it is less well done). Do not study the biology, study the way Watson explains the biology.

How science works

The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, The Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next, Lee Smolin

In the final chapters of The Trouble with Physics, Smolin explains that tenure decisions focus on maximizing short term reputation of the tenuring university. Accordingly, paradigm shifting geniuses often end up as false negatives because they do not necessarily develop the expected portfolio of papers in refereed journals while they are thinking their deep thoughts. My experiences in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science run amazingly parallel.

The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA, James D. Watson

If Watson were to tire of molecular biology, he could become a great mystery writer, on the level of Arthur Conan Doyle. His account of the discovery of the structure of DNA exposes a level of competition, politics, deception, and sexism, and mystery that you would expect to find in a board room, not in a scientific community.

Management and leadership

Out of the Crisis, W. Edwards Deming

McArthur brought Deming to Japan after World War Two. He transformed Japan from a maker a junk into the industrial envy of the world. The Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers have awarded The Deming prize annually for the past 60 years or so in his honor. In his book, he emphasizes that a good leader makes it clear to each person in his/her organization that that person is valued, that his/her work is valued, and his/her work makes a difference. Annual reviews are not for grading, they are for identifying what is done well and where improvement would have the most impact.

Deportment

A Message to Garcia, Elbert Hubbard

Lieutenant Rowan got the message to Garcia. You should too.

Lord Chesterfield’s Letters, Lord Chesterfield

Chesterfield wrote his letters in the first half of the eighteenth century, but much of his advice remains valuable. My grandfather gave me a copy in 1963, with particular parts underlined for my benefit.

Speaking

You cannot actually put these on a bookshelf, but they are useful nevertheless.

How to Speak, Patrick Henry Winston

Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death, Patrick Henry

If you are thinking of starting a revolution, read Henry’s speech and adapt it to your purpose.

Tags: books

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 at 15:23 and is filed under 读书. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.