Thinking Fast and Slow review

Reading Thinking, Fast and Slow is a humbling experience, as Daniel Kahneman shows we’re not the pinnacles of reasons who we think we are. Kahneman describes how our intuition is prone to many cognitive errors and thus often wrong. He does so through talking about the two systems of our brain; one being fast, intuitive, emotional, energy efficient, the other being slow, more deliberate, logical, algorithmic, energy consuming. It is a simple concept, yet Kahneman describes it in fine detail, including the far reaching consequences. The vocabulary is crisp, pinpointing the difference between seemingly similar terms such as probability and possibility, and rationality and reason. Yet be warned; despite its clear language; don’t pick this book if you’re looking for a light read. It’s thick and each page jam-packed — and bar some repetition, it’ll require your full attention. Yet thanks to all its brilliance, that’s exactly what this book deserves.

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A candle in Minnesota

A candle in Minnesota

It’s Wednesday morning, and I’m in Saint Paul, Minnesota, attending the morning mass at St. Bernard’s church. It’s about twenty years since I last attended a mass, and the first time I’ve ever done so voluntarily. I’m sure I’m drawn to this church near my Airbnb, compelled to go in, but I find it hard […]
June 14, 2026
Revisiting Columbine

Revisiting Columbine

Growing up in the Netherlands, it’s not immediately obvious (even to myself) that the history of the United States is also partly mine, but through TV series and movies — as well as the news — it’s also a country I lived in and grew up in. And unlike presidential elections or the September 11th […]
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Rich People Park

Rich People Park

We’re in TaiKoo Li QianTan (前滩太古里), a brand new, high-end shopping mall near the Huangpu River in Pudong. It’s a beautiful complex with four levels, viewing bridges, walls of white steel and vertical gardens (the first I’ve seen that actually look like on an architectural drawing), and paths of bright bricks alternating with patches of […]
June 5, 2026
Torrential rain and colorful umbrellas

Torrential rain and colorful umbrellas

I was planning a bike ride, but then saw it was drizzling, so I carried Hasse outside — underneath an umbrella — to go get a coffee. Yet the rain was so heavy we just hid underneath the canopy in front of a supermarket to see some of the chaos unfold. I’ll miss these streets […]
May 25, 2026