Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover

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Did you know that too many fidget spinners spinning in the same direction could have an adverse effect on Earth’s gravitational field? Or that the remains of a deceased loved one can be turned into a diamond? Or that the loudest known sound in history was made…

A mouse is taking a stroll through the deep, dark wood when along comes a hungry fox, then an owl, and then a snake. The mouse is good enough to eat but smart enough to know this, so he invents . . . the gruffalo! As Mouse explains, the gruffalo is a creature with terrible claws, and terrible tusks in its terrible jaws, and knobbly knees and turned-out toes, and a poisonous wart at the end… Psychologists have come to realize that curiosity is not a monolithic trait. George Mason University’s Todd B. Kashdan, David J. Disabato, and Fallon R. Goodman, along with linguist and educational scientist Carl Naughton, break it down into five distinct dimensions: deprivation sensitivity, joyous exploration, social curiosity, stress tolerance, and thrill seeking. They explore which dimensions lead to the best outcomes and generate particular benefits in work and life. From Curious to Competent I have told stories since the age of five when I shared one about my different colored eyes. Tired of being pointed at and ridiculed for the thing I loved most about myself, I learned that stories can shift energy and create connection, even in the most artificial of settings. I’ve spent my career working in and with the Fortune 500 building leaders, teams, and culture, one story at a time. I’ve used storytelling to persuade people when one had the authority to say yes but 99 others could say no. Stories not only slowed their “No,” but they also helped me recruit them to persuade the decision makers. This book should be titled, “Philosophy explained through Dante’s Comedia.” The title made me think it would be more of an explanation of what makes us curious, how we foster curiosity, and the results of curiosity in our lives. Instead it was “How Do We Reason?”, “What Are We Doing Here?”, and “What Is True?” I thought I knew a lot about facilitation and listening but the folks at Braver Angels have opened doors for me that I didn’t know were there.There are two types of curiosity: diversive and epistemic. There are actually three types of curiosity with the third being empathetic, but the author barely gives empathetic curiosity airtime. A great book for kids who are interested in space exploration, and full of simplistic images with lots of character! Of course, the robot's story is primary, from the whys and hows of development, to interesting details and complications involved in the launch, to the tension of the final moments of Curiosity's arrival on Mars that was witnessed by people around the globe. And all this still manages to stay within the realm of understanding of a young elementary-aged child. The book is divided into 3 parts. In the first part the author discusses curiosity early in life, types of curiosity, and the difference between puzzles and mysteries. The second part explores the history of curiosity and the importance of questions and knowledge. The third part describes seven ways to stay curious.⁣ I can see this book helping estranged parties who are equally invested in bridging a gap-it could be assigned reading for fractured families aspiring to a harmonious Thanksgiving dinner." -New York Times

Interesting, engaging (enough), good ideas, well explained, not so much practical, and some recommendations for keeping yourself curious not so much innovative. We can argue that curiosity is a trait which leads to a richer, more fulfilling life, but nevertheless, different strokes for different folks; some people are intellectuals, some are brawn, some leaders, some artists- people have innately different approaches to fulfillment and there's a myriad of ways that individuals are inspired to function and serve in society. Not everyone is going to have curiosity at the center of their lives, though we wish they all could share in the fun. Highly recommended for any science-curious children and any rover-obsessed grown-ups (like myself)! Agnes has been encouraged not to question authority by her mum-but that's especially hard in religion class, where it bugs her that so much gets blamed on Eve and that God's always pictured one way. Fortunately, Agnes' anthropologist neighbour, Gracy, gets Agnes thinking after they rescue an opossum together. Playing dead didn't serve the opossum well, so maybe it's time for Agnes to start thinking for herself. And when Agnes learns that some cultures picture God as a female, she feels freed to think-and write-about things from new perspectives. As she and her best friend, Mo, encourage each other to… This book introduced me to the concept of NFC (Need for Cognition), which is one I recognize and cherish in myself. Just a few weeks ago, as I was skimming through my day with my different interests (diversive-me), I suddenly felt the unsatisfied feeling of not biting deep enough. I was popcorning my day away. And then, I delved into a lecture. Mmmm.Everyone is born curious. But only some retain the habits of exploring, learning and discovering as they grow older. Which side of the ’curiosity divide’ are you on? There are 3 types of curiosity: diversive (looking for distraction), empathic (emotional intelligence and how other people think), and epistemic. The last covers things hard to learn and deep thinking to understand. It is what can become obsessions or drag us out of depressions. It was, however, in the last chapter that I felt myself on the verge of unsettling an idea I have had shelved since my teens - that I will need to have interesting experiences to write interesting things. Browsing the shelves in a bookstore, it caught my eye and I spontaneously bought it, probably as a subconscious reaction to the fact that I have heard that I tend to be too curious about everything ever since I was very little. It is a topic that has followed me from early childhood over my academic studies and into motherhood and teaching.

Discover the incredible story of the search for life on Mars, told from the unique perspective of Curiosity, the Mars Rover sent to explore the red planet. Em "Curiosity" Manguel recorre a uma mescla entre memórias da sua vida e as obras do cânone ocidental que faz desfilar na nossa frente por meio dos eventos da "Divina Comédia" (1320) de Dante. Posso dizer que nas primeiras 100 páginas funciona brilhantemente. Manguel sintetiza imensas visões literárias ao longo dos últimos 2500 anos sobre o que é a curiosidade e a sua importância para a nossa espécie. Contudo depois perde o foco, mesmo utilizando Dante e Virgilio para o guiar no resto da jornada, dedica as restantes 300 páginas a simplesmente vaguear pela literatura mundial, pescando ideias soltas aqui e ali, sem qualquer objeto ou motivo. The executive search firm Egon Zehnder has found that executives with extraordinary curiosity are usually able, with the right development, to advance to C-level roles. But that development is critical: Without it, a highly curious executive may score much lower on competence than less curious counterparts. Egon Zehnder’s Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, Andrew Roscoe, and Kentaro Aramaki describe the types of stretch assignments, job rotations, and other experiences needed to transform curiosity into competence.If you feel curious about something, chase it no matter how random. Epistemic curiosity is more and more important in modern technological society, and curiosity is built upon itself, so whatever short-term loss you may encounter as a result of pursuing a random curiosity will typically more than be offset by the gains created by a stronger curiosity drive. (A significant portion of the book is devoted not to curiosity, but on the seemingly random nature of innovation, in which legends like Charles Darwin and Steve Jobs were able to change the world because they had insights made possible due only to pursuits of superficially unrelated topics. The classic Steve Jobs calligraphy course is cited here. Yes, I love innovation and creativity, but this does nothing to scientifically examine curiosity or provide practical advice on how to cultivate it.) For decades, film and TV producer Brian Grazer has scheduled a weekly "curiosity conversation" with an accomplished stranger. From scientists to spies, and adventurers to business leaders, Grazer has met with anyonewilling to answer his questions for a few hours. These informal discussions sparked the creative inspiration behind many of Grazer's movies and TV shows, including Splash, 24, A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, Arrested Development, 8 Mile, J. Edgar, and many others. When you let your curiosity speak louder than your fear, you make life-changing discoveries, despite the danger of stepping outside your comfort zone and onto new and unexplored territory. Curious is a book that defines the place of curiosity in our lives today. Where it comes from, why we have it, what we do with it, while making the case for why we need to resurrect it.

The second part of the book rehashes that material in ‘seven ways to stay curious’. The idea is to provide practical guidelines to develop and maintain a spirit of curiosity. Leslie seems to veer a bit from his initial position of relentless advocacy for epistemic curiosity in that he aims for a balance between the diverse and epistemic, hence for a cognitive investment in detail and the big picture, in the mundane and the abstract, in theory and practice. On the Appalachian Mountains above her home, a young mother discovers a beautiful and terrible marvel of nature: the monarch butterflies have not migrated south for the winter this year. Is this a miraculous message from God, or a spectacular sign of climate change. Entomology expert, Ovid Byron, certainly believes it is the latter. He ropes in… I’m a Scientist in Residence at Lux Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in startups at the frontiers of science and technology. I have a PhD in computational biology and focused my academic research on the nature of complex systems, but I soon became fascinated by the ways in which science grows and changes over time (itself a type of complex system!): what it is that scientists do, where scientific knowledge comes from, and even how the facts in our textbooks become out-of-date. As a result of this fascination, I ended up writing two books about scientific and technological change. It has, to my eyes, an important flaw. The author argues that we need more information to think better, rather than skills to think better. While it gives some 'data' to justify this, it's clearly not the case. Several books, like superforecasting, indicate that collecting information is relevant but the way you precesses it is key. This was quite disappointing. It shows the problem of hyperspecialization at the intellectual level: taking ONE idea and using all data to justify it.There was a time when curiosity was condemned. To be curious was to delve into matters that didn't concern you - after all, the original sin stemmed from a desire for forbidden knowledge. Through curiosity our innocence was lost. The story is told from the perspective of Curiosity itself, and that plus the eye in the cover picture made me a bit wary, because it can be easy for the personification of non-human characters to distract from the story or veer into absurdity. But I think it works here. Curiosity's story is still told in a straightforward, nonfictional manner -- the personification wasn't done for entertainment value but instead to help keep the narrative relatable and focused. Julia Donaldson is the supremo of rhyming. I am certainly not the only writer she has inspired. All her books are really well crafted and the fact that she is a singer and very musical can be felt by reading her exemplary rhyme. I like it when a book teaches me new things. I really like it when it expands my sense of possibility, and whets my appetite to go deeper (epistemic-me). I love it when a book can unsettle me enough to allow for growth to happen.