I was suddenly hit with the clarity to observe how my mental intention completely changed every physiological state in my body in a split second.
“Tai Gong’s list of errors that generals should avoid includes ‘being courageous and treating death lightly, being hasty and impatient, being benevolent but unwilling to inflict suffering, being wise but fearful, being trustworthy and liking to trust others, being wise but indecisive’. The same errors apply when using Tai Chi for self-defence, but can be overcome by training. The samurai in Old Japan practised Zen, painted and studied calligraphy as well as training in the martial arts, because they believed these activities would help them to develop the key skill of harmonious spontaneity. Practice of the more Yin aspects of Tai Chi and the unpredictable nature of free Pushing Hands training similarly help to develop that spontaneity.”
― The Complete Tai Chi Tutor: A structured course to achieve professional expertise
― The Complete Tai Chi Tutor: A structured course to achieve professional expertise
“Studying biases can in fact make you more vulnerable to overconfidence and confirmation bias, as you come to see the influence of cognitive biases all around you—in everyone but yourself.”
― Rationality: From AI to Zombies
― Rationality: From AI to Zombies
“For most of us, especially for businessmen, in whose eyes nature does not exist, unless it be in its strict utility relationship with their business interests, the fantastic reality of life becomes strangely blunted. M. G. registers it constantly; his memory and his eyes are full of it.”
― The Painter of Modern Life
― The Painter of Modern Life
“you succeed in venture capital by backing the right deals, not by haggling over valuations.”
― The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Art of Disruption
― The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Art of Disruption
“And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name”
― A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name”
― A Midsummer Night’s Dream
David Jones’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at David Jones’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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