Twigger on Today Prog R4

If you want to hear what a man down the bottom of a well sounds like when he is sounding off about the Nile go to the Radio 4 website and check out the Today Program for Thrsday Jun 13 around 8.50 am.

What I didn't say is that this new dam in Ethiopia will so cut sediment in the Blue Nile that the 'Red Nile' phenomenon of flood sediment meeting the White Nile and making it red will no longer happen. It is likely that Moses curse on the Nile - making it red with blood- was an excessive flood with a mass of sediment.

Nice FT Review of Red Nile

Excellent review in the FT by Carl Wilkinson: 'a tour de force; a brilliantly written scrapbook of history and travel, geography and science, myth and legend both ancient and modern. No element of the river escapes from him: from its deadly crocodiles, hippos and diseases such as bilharzia; to the respect the Ancient Egyptians had for the life-giving Nile and the efforts of modern cultures - often hubristic - to tame it. Twigger allows the river's ever changing shape to inform this engrossing biography. It's a vast subject but he never becomes overwhelmed by the material and has written an elegant, amusing and fascinating book, buoyed by his own enthusiasm, that draws you along in its current'

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Red-Nile-Biography-Greatest-Unexpurgated/dp/0297866494/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370877298&sr=8-1&keywords=red+nile 

More on judgement

I was speaking to a top barrister (as in lawyer not coffee maker) and he mentioned that judgement was the key to success in the law- not brains, hard work and luck but judgement- this, in the long run was what counted to make a successful career. But he added an interesting point- though the law rests on the idea of producing convincing, well supported arguments, it pays you well to understand that even clever people don't actually think that way. Instead they (this means the judge) latch on early to a prism, a frame, a sound-bite-word-picture through which they tend to view all subsequent evidence and argument. To persuade the jury of your case is one thing. Everyone has seen the TV shows involving drama and emotional pleas. To persuade the judge, who will be immune to such tricks, a more subtle tack is required: cleverly suggest or allude to an attractive sound-bite-word-picture prism that will gently lead them to the desired conclusions. Better judgement, then, includes knowing how even clever people come to make their minds up about something.

10 ways to improve your judgement

So when is judgement day? Today of course! I mean, the day when you start to exercise better judgement. Better judgment is, in the end, what sorts us out. No time like the present for improving that…

I have met many intelligent people in my life. Some have made some remarkably stupid decisions. We read everyday about huge corporations writing off ten or even a hundred million on a project- usually an ambitious IT project promising to make a place paperless or fully interconnected- writing off a vast sum of money as a COMPLETE LOSS. But someone made that decision, some well educated, well informed humanoid with BAD judgement.

The question we must pressingly ask ourselves then, is, how do we build better judgement? This means better judgement of people, plans, the future, ourselves.

First off, scrap what the culture is telling you. The message beamed by TV/Commercials/pub conversations is that better experts will make better decisions. Crap.

Experts however are not the problem, really. It is the ‘expert worshipping’ culture that currently exists.

Judgement can be improved by experience, should be, all other things being equal. But rarely they are. People have a grand tendency for living lives out of balance, and it is emotional wobbles that account for many lapses of judgement.

Then there are people imprisoned by an image, an idea, or as Wittgenstein put it “a picture held us captive”. Bust out of a picture by looking for humour, counter-examples as a matter of course, incongruities- stuff that just won’t fit- instead of ignoring it, note it.

But are there any little things you can do to improve your judgement over time?

1.    Get used to trusting yourself. Start small. Do I trust myself to post this blog post without running it past anyone else first?

2.   Look for patterns in your life, cycles that come round and round, sub-personalities that take you over on a regular basis. Keep a journal of them. This emotional roundabout is you, or rather the fence around you, so it helps to know where the gaps are.

3.   Look for the opposite view point as a habit. Look for the humour in any situation that appears devoid of it. 

4.  Examine in DETAIL the exact opposite option that most experts are recommending. The EXACT opposite can often be the next big thing. Not always but it can be.

5.   When you first meet someone remember your first reaction when you saw them and before they opened their mouth and spoke with a gilt edged tongue. That first impression of revulsion or liking or neutrality should always be remembered and heeded if necessary.

6.   Hang out with people who have demonstrably good judgement in any field you like.

7.   Move towards things that increase your own sense of self-reliance, move away from what decreases it.

8.   Avoid debt.

9.   Practise generousity as a way of freeing the mind of obligations. Give others the free lunches. 

10. Look for a role model in whatever area you work  (alive or dead, doesn't matter) who increases, when you think of him or her, your sense of potential.

Spectator says

Nice Review of Red Nile in the Spectator: "it provides a feast of quirky, fascinating bits of knowledge, both funny and memorable".

sunday times review of Red Nile

Unexpectedly decent review of red nile!

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/culture/books/non_fiction/article1259457.ece 

view from Portland

Chesil beach on a sunny day.