Communication Archives

Win Bigly by Scott Adams: Book Overview

What is Scott Adams’ Win Bigly about? What persuasion methods does he discuss in the book? Win Bigly by Scott Adams is an “offensive” book—it shows you how to leverage people’s biases and irrationality to persuade on your point of view. To this end, the author teaches the persuasion methods that politicians use in their campaigns and how you can apply them to be persuasive yourself. Here is a brief overview of Scott Adams’s 2017 book Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don’t Matter.

How to Read Imaginative Literature: Adler’s Advice

How is reading imaginative literature different than reading expository writing? What four questions should you ask about the book? In How to Read a Book, Mortimer Adler says that reading imaginative literature such as novels, plays, and poetry should be approached differently than informational books. The main difference is that imaginative literature is trying to convey emotions and experiences. Here’s how you can read imaginative literature like a pro.

Cognitive Heuristics: Faster Does Not Mean Better

Are humans more rational or emotional in their decision-making? Do you think you tend to make decisions based more on logic or emotion? Many people would say that their decisions are ruled mostly by reason and logic. But the truth is most people actually make decisions more irrationally than they realize. We are all subject to biases and cognitive heuristics and pulled by our emotions. We make decisions first, and rationalize them after the fact. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the most common cognitive heuristics and demonstrate how they manifest with real-world examples.

The Form and Content of Television Is Changing Society

In what ways are form and content co-dependent? How are television and other forms of content hastening the death of our culture? According to Neil Postman, the author of Amusing Ourselves to Death, we are allowing the form (television and other forms of media) to dictate the content of our public discourse. In essence, television is redefining public life, and by extension, our culture and society. Here are some examples of how form dictates content and what it means for our culture.

How to Critique a Book the Mortimer Adler Way

Want to know how to critique a book the right way? Why is it important to critique the books you read? According to Mortimer Adler, the author of How to Read a Book, your job as a reader is to determine which of her problems the author has solved, which she has not, and decide if the author knew she had failed to solve them— because there is no book that is free of fault. This is how you properly critique a book according to Adler.

History of the Telegraph: How It Eliminated Relevance

How did the invention of the electronic telegraph undermine print-based discourse? How did the inclusion of photography add to the telegraph’s assault on print culture? The electronic telegraph was invented to send messages over long distances and create the opportunity for a national conversation. But in the process, the relevance of information was undermined and newspapers started printing decontextualized information. Keep reading to learn about the history of the telegraph and how it paved the way for the entertainment era.

Project Estimation Techniques in Software Engineering

What are the different project estimation techniques in software engineering? What are some things you should take into account when estimating the completion deadline of a software development project? When you’re programming something for someone, they always want to know when it will be done. Most of the time, you won’t know exactly how long something will take, so you’ll provide an estimate instead of a guarantee. There are many methods you can use to give your managers and clients an estimation, and we’ll cover three of the options.

Print Culture vs. Modern Media: The Tides of Change

How did the print culture of previous centuries differ from the entertainment and media culture of today? How has our approach to media consumption changed over the years? The print-centered discourse of 18th and 19th century America was rational, substantive, and serious. In comparison, the entertainment culture of today is shallow, prioritizing entertainment over intelligence. Here’s how the age of print culture differed from our current-day society.

Is There Truth in the Media Anymore? Postman’s Take

Is there any truth in media? Is society so focused on entertainment that it’s removed epistemology? How has the form of culture’s media changed throughout history? As society moved from the print era to the television era, serious news has become drowned in trivial nonsense. This is worrisome because it is creating a society where the general public would rather be entertained than well-informed. Continue below for examples of truth in media from the past and an analysis of the effects of television on media.

Testing in Software Development: What’s It For?

What’s the role of testing in software development? How do developers make sure that they correctly understand clients’ requirements? In software development, testing ensures that a system works, but that’s a bonus, not their main purpose. The most important purpose of a test is to communicate, specify, and document how a system is supposed to work and how it actually works. In this article, we’ll first look at acceptance testing, which is the main type of testing in software development. Then, we’ll look at how acceptance tests fit into the broader discipline of testing.