Ebook: Curious : the desire to know and why your future depends on it

"Our extraordinary capacity to take pleasure in discovering, learning, and understanding. How the practice of 'deep curiosity' -- persistent, self-reflective seeking of knowledge and insight -- is key to the success of our careers, the happiness of our children, the strength of our relationships, and the progress of societies. It is a fragile quality, which wanes and waxes over time, and we take it for granted at our peril. Ian Leslie proposes that the Internet is opening up a 'curiosity gap,' by exacerbating the divide between those with a large cognitive appetite, and those happy knowing no more than they have to know; between the curious and the incurious. He uses many stories to illustrate his points: Benjamin Franklin at Portsmouth Harbour studying the effect of oil on choppy waters; a bored Galileo distracting himself in a Pisa cathedral by observing the swinging of a recently lit lamp; Leonardo da Vinci doodling ideas in his notebook; Google co-founder Larry Page's thoughts on the perfect search engine; and the invention of the microwave oven. Ian Leslie is the author of Born Liars: Why We Can't Live Without Deceit. He lives in London, England"--Provided by publisher. Read more...