Andrew Smart wants you to sit and do nothing much more often—and he has the science to explain why.
At every turn we're pushed to do more, faster, and more efficiently: That drumbeat resounds throughout our wage-slave society. Multitasking is not only a virtue, it's a necessity. Books such as Getting Things Done, The One Minute Manager, and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People regularly top the best seller lists, and have spawned a considerable industry.
But Andrew Smart argues that slackers may have the last laugh. The latest neuroscience shows that the "culture of effectiveness" is not only ineffective, it can be harmful to your well-being. He makes a compelling case—backed by science—that filling life with activity at work and at home actually hurts your brain.
A survivor of corporate-mandated "Six Sigma" training to improve efficiency, Smart has channeled a self-described "loathing" of the time-management industry into a witty, informative, and wide-ranging audiobook that draws on the most recent research into brain power. Use it to explain to bosses, family, and friends why you need to relax—right now.

Autopilot

Self-Help

Andrew Smart

Personal Transformation

Audible Studios on Brilliance Audio

Can we build a robot that trips on acid? This is not a frivolous question, according to neuroscientist Andrew Smart. If we can't, he argues, we haven't really created artificial intelligence. In an exposition reminiscent of crossover works such as Gödel, Escher, Bach and Fermat's Last Theorem, Andrew Smart weaves together Mangarevan binary numbers, the discovery of LSD, Leibniz, computer programming, and much more to connect the vast but largely forgotten world of psychedelic research with the resurgent field of AI and the attempt to build conscious robots. A book that draws on the history of mathematics, philosophy, and digital technology, Beyond Zero and One challenges fundamental assumptions underlying artificial intelligence. Is the human brain based on computation? Can information alone explain human consciousness and intelligence? Smart convincingly makes the case that true intelligence, and artificial intelligence, requires an appreciation of what is beyond the computational.

Beyond Zero and One

OR Books

Transforming Public Sector Performance Management: a Seven-Step Guide to Delivering Strategic Performance Improvement

"A tour de force of an academic field that doesn't really exist just yet - the science of being idle. Andrew Smart synthesizes a whole range of cutting-edge ideas in neuroscience, dynamic systems theory, psychology, literature, pop culture, and philosophy, and gives us a hugely entertaining read about what we do most of the time, i.e. nothing. Autopilot finishes with the most stimulating and provocative ideas about who we really are, reflections on what our society has come to, and how to fix it. If you are to read one pop science book this year, this should be it." -Prof. Hakwan Lau, Department of Psychology, Columbia University
Andrew Smart wants you to sit and do nothing much more often - and he has the science to explain why.
At every turn we're pushed to do more, faster and more efficiently: that drumbeat resounds throughout our wage-slave society. Multitasking is not only a virtue, it's a necessity. Books such as Getting Things Done, The One Minute Manager, and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People regularly top the bestseller lists, and have spawned a considerable industry.
But Andrew Smart argues that slackers may have the last laugh. The latest neuroscience shows that the "culture of effectiveness" is not only ineffective, it can be harmful to your well-being. He makes a compelling case - backed by science - that filling life with activity at work and at home actually hurts your brain.
A survivor of corporate-mandated "Six Sigma" training to improve efficiency, Smart has channeled a self-described "loathing" of the time-management industry into a witty, informative and wide-ranging book that draws on the most recent research into brain power. Use it to explain to bosses, family, and friends why you need to relax - right now.

Autopilot: The Art and Science of Doing Nothing

Business & Money

Management & Leadership

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Books by Andrew Smart