Jan Höglund's Blog

Category: Books

  • Christopher Alexander on Descartes

    Christopher Alexander has the following to say about René Descartes in The Nature of Order, Book One: The Phenomenon of Life (italics in the original text): …Descartes not only invented the method of observation which in effect we have continued to use unchanged for several hundred years, but that in addition he saw clearly what…

  • Retrospective 2024-22

    This is a retrospective of week 22, 2024 (2024-05-27–2024-06-02). I’ve continued reading The Living Classroom by Christopher Bache this week. I’ve mentioned the book here and here in previous retrospectives. The book is about collective consciousness and teaching, but it is as applicable to any circumstance where people gather with a common intent. I’ll review…

  • Retrospective 2024-20

    This is a retrospective of week 20, 2024 (2024-05-13–2024-05-19). As mentioned last week, I’m currently reading Biology Revisioned by Willis Harman and Elisabet Sahtouris. Harman and Sahtouris raise important questions about living systems and how to deal with self-organization. This has further implications for dealing with organizations and societies. Willis Harman mentions Margaret Wheatley’s eight…

  • Retrospective 2024-19

    This is a retrospective of week 19, 2024 (2024-05-06–2024-05-12). This week I’ve continued reading Biology Revisioned by Willis Harman and Elisabet Sahtouris. It’s a book which arrived last week. Harman and Sahtouris write: The self-forming characteristics of living beings…require a re-examination of the metaphysical assumptions that tend to underlie all of Western science. –Willis Harman…

  • Retrospective 2024-18

    This is a retrospective of week 18, 2024 (2024-04-29–2024-05-05). This week I’ve continued looking into the work of Forrest Landry. Here and here are my previous retrospectives on Landry’s work. Jim Rutt talks with Landry about his Small Group Method and the difficulties in scaling it up beyond 16 people in this podcast. Forrest Landry’s…

  • Retrospective 2024-16

    This is a retrospective of week 16, 2024 (2024-04-15–2024-04-21). It turned out that I didn’t write the review of Elisabet Sahtouris’ latest book as mentioned last week. Instead I’ve dived deep into the work of Forrest Landry. I heard about Forrest Landry the first time this week in Tim Freke’s interview with David Schmachtenberger. I…

  • Retrospective 2024-15

    This is a retrospective of week 15, 2024 (2024-04-08–2024-04-14). This week, I finished reading VISTA: Life and getting where you want to be by Elisabet Sahtouris and I started reading the following two books: I also listened to Heather Ensworth’s interview with Elisabet Sahtouris this week. Elisabet talked, among other things, about her new book:…

  • Retrospective 2014-14

    This is a retrospective of week 14, 2024 (2024-04-01–2024-04-07). My first grandchild, Alice, was born on April 2nd. Below is my drawing of her hand. I am moved to tears when I see her and I am grateful that everything went well. Here is also another drawing of Alice. I found the following quote the…

  • Retrospective 2024-13

    This is a retrospective of week 13, 2024 (2024-03-25–2024-03-31). This week, I started reading The Blind Spot: Why Science Cannot Ignore Human Experience by Adam Frank, Marcelo Gleiser, and Evan Thompson. They emphasize the importance of direct experience in a complex and entagled (Robert Rosen would have said entailed) world: Ultimately, we cannot forgo relying…

  • Book Review: Co-Intelligence

    Introduction Co-Intelligence: The Applied Wisdom of Wholeness, Interconnectedness, and Co-Creativity by Tom Atlee is an exploration of the co-intelligence that arises from wholeness, interconnectedness, and creativity. Co-intelligence has been the focus of Tom Atlee’s work for over 30 years. The book contains a rich set of materials on co-intelligence and how to use it. What…