Week 18: White Choc Cranberry Cookies & "Subtract"

WHY THIS BOOK?

Like I said a couple of weeks ago this book was fascinating and changed the way I think about everyday things. Subtract: The untapped science of less shares countless examples of having or doing less is actually beneficial. Here are some great examples and interesting facts.

Research on patents shows that over the last 40 years “adding” synonyms were used 3x as often as “subtracting” and that the use of “subtracting” terms has remained flat since 1976. I really like learning about random facts as you never know when it will come in handy. I also think it shows that our go to mode as humans is to “add onto” things instead of “taking away” things. Adding is seen as good and subtracting is seen as bad. This also refers to the loss aversion- the response to losses is stronger than the response to gains. Subtraction is also described when discussing racism and that in order to subtract racism you need to see the system. The book makes reference to Ibram Kendi’s book How to be an Antiracist where he says “the only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it.” In Canada generally we do not talk about racism as we have a culture of being polite and being polite means we do not discuss things like racism. I would argue this has done us more harm and so in order for us to disrupt a system we need to fully understand it. There are many other great examples in this book and every chapter had me saying “wow I didn't think of it that way”. Another great book to share with you and I let me know if you enjoy it as much as I did.