Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin To Munger by Peter Bevelin | Book Club

Book was suggested by: Jack O.

Pages to read: 300
ISBN: 9781578644285 (Originally listed edition, and edition I am Using)

While reading the book, consider the below questions:
•What is the raison d’etre of the book? For what purpose did the author write the book? Why do people read this book?
•What are some limitations of the book?
•How can mistakes be used?
•What is needed to improve decision making?
•How to avoid misjudgments?
•How does the physical reality influence thinking?
•How do experiences shape thinking and the physical reality?
•Why can communication be difficult between individuals?
•How does the brain wire itself?
•How do emotions influence thinking?
•Why do conflicts arise?
•What is evolution?
•How did ancient humans survive?
•What is the social infrastructure?
•Do people seek happiness?
•Why are individuals sensitive to pain and how does that influence thinking?
•Can the future be planned?
•Why is uncertainty uncomfortable?
•How can history be used?
•How to change individual’s own and other people’s behavior?
•What is the use of punishing others?
•How to understand associations between people and ideas?
•What are the limits to information?
•Can evidence confirm ideas?
•What are the benefits and limits of specialists?
•When should decisions be acted upon?
•What makes genes difficult to understand?
•What are the limits to evolutionary explanations?
•What determines mental capacity?
•How do bacteria interact with the cycle of life?
•What is Pascal’s Wager?
•What is the Elihu Root System?
•What is the price of money?
•Does it matter whether success is deserved or not? What determines deserved success?
•Can encouragement and criticism be relied upon?
•How effective are drugs? What can impact a drug’s efficacy?
•How to manage with stress?

Your questions are important and will take priority. If you have questions about the book's content or related ideas, either let me know what your questions are or raise them during the discussion.

My review of the book:
https://www.inquiryreviews.com/2022/09/review-of-seeking-wisdom-from-darwin-to.html

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Summary from Goodreads:
Peter Bevelin begins his fascinating book with Confucius' great wisdom: "A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it, is committing another mistake." Seeking Wisdom is the result of Bevelin's learning about attaining wisdom. His quest for wisdom originated partly from making mistakes himself and observing those of others but also from the philosophy of super-investor and Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charles Munger. A man whose simplicity and clarity of thought was unequal to anything Bevelin had seen.

In addition to naturalist Charles Darwin and Munger, Bevelin cites an encyclopedic range of thinkers: from first-century BCE Roman poet Publius Terentius to Mark Twainfrom Albert Einstein to Richard Feynmanfrom 16th Century French essayist Michel de Montaigne to Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett. In the book, he describes ideas and research findings from many different fields.

This book is for those who love the constant search for knowledge. It is in the spirit of Charles Munger, who says, "All I want to know is where I'm going to die so I'll never go there." There are roads that lead to unhappiness. An understanding of how and why we can "die" should help us avoid them. We can't eliminate mistakes, but we can prevent those that can really hurt us.

Using exemplars of clear thinking and attained wisdom, Bevelin focuses on how our thoughts are influenced, why we make misjudgments and tools to improve our thinking. Bevelin tackles such eternal questions as: Why do we behave like we do? What do we want out of life? What interferes with our goals?

Read and study this wonderful multidisciplinary exploration of wisdom. It may change the way you think and act in business and in life.