Feldman's Faves: July 26, 2021

Hello BL5 - I am very happy for the Greek Freak. He showed unbelievable resilience (while injured) in leading his team to the NBA championship after being down 2-0 – just a great example of what people can accomplish (sorry Chris Paul (again)). It seems like many, many, many lifetimes ago that we were celebrating the Raps’ win (oh well – it was fun while it lasted)…..

In any case, this week’s recommendations encompass two of my obsessions, understanding the science of how our bodies work and understanding the creative process of our planet’s most interesting people.

An Elegant Defense – the extraordinary new science of the immune system – a tale of four lives – By: Matt Richtel – Have you ever read a book that made your brain explode???? An Elegant Defense did this to me, which explains in great detail what science knows today about how our immune system (actually systems plural) works. There is a lot of scientific information coupled with the use of case studies of individuals that have weak immune systems, over-active immune systems and the perfect immune system – a modern day version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The key message in this book is that our immune system requires balance, which is very difficult to achieve – and on many occasions describes Dr. Fauci’s concern with people’s desire to find ways to “boost their immune system” In this book, Pulitzer Prize winning author, Matt Richtel explains the history of the how scientists and doctors have understood how the immune systems work (e.g., the discovery of role of the thalamus, learning about T-cells and B-Cells, etc.), asks interesting questions as to why our bodies fight transplants but welcome bananas (both foreign substances entering our bodies), provides a view on why our kids have so many allergies these days, explains why we should all be eating a pound of dirt every day and why we should stop sanitizing our hands and our environments, explains how the AIDS epidemic led to enormous discoveries in the area of immunology and explains cancer, cancer treatment and the wonder of monoclonal antibodies (immunotherapy). There is a lot more and a lot to unpack but it is worth it…..There is a lot of technical information in here but it is explained very clearly and with great examples, so even a simpleton like myself can understand. Here is an interesting perspective from Bill Gates - https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/An-Elegant-Defense

Spark & Fire: Epic Creative Stories - How to spark others: Yo-Yo Ma on the Silk Road Project – Yo Yo Ma is the world’s most famous cellist. But he is so much more than that. His Silk Road Project was an idea he had to “connect cultures of the world to create a new kind of language”. The Silk Road Project takes musicians from all over the world using instruments and sounds that normally don’t play together (think of the cello and the Spanish bag pipes….what??). This project shows how creative minds find each other and can work together to produce something that is so much more than the individual contributions each person makes and is a great example of how diversity enhances everything that it touches. This is such a cool idea with brilliant execution – my two favorite things…. Here is an excerpt from te PODCAST itself”, “The Silk Road Project was an impossibly ambitious, creatively expansive idea to not only create a category of music that had never been heard before, but also create ensembles to perform it, and audiences who were hungry to hear it. How did Yo-Yo Ma build this vision? He knew from the beginning that it wasn’t about him.”: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/spark-fire-epic-creative-stories/id1544310633#episodeGuid=gid%3A%2F%2Fart19-episode-locator%2FV0%2Fgvpg5XnswO5oftDb7CaEBZ5BwE4JjETc9lXb501UFcI

Thank you for your ongoing engagement and participation.

And remember to stay safe, stay healthy and to docket daily.

Jon