I am trying to get into the habit of being thoughtful and evaluating things and everything. It can be stressful, but I think it is worthwhile. I am seeking out areas where I am unsatisfied with my skills and going to work on them. I am not happy with my level of numeracy. At the same time, the benefits of mathematics courses seem very small compared to the time and energy commitment and the danger to my gpa. So I have compiled a short reading list of books about numeracy and innumeracy. I think that giving them a thorough read will fill in a gap, because I will be able to understand better the math that I am confronted with in newspapers. (Daily tasks math I already have under control, luckily.)
I love to get books used at local shops, but the only thing the 3 bookstores in town I tried (well, mom needed a book as well, or I would have given up sooner) had was "A is for Ox: The Collapse of Literacy and the Rise of Violence in an Electronic Age" which is a very interesting book. However, even though I like the book (and am reserving judgement until I finish it) I think it overemphasizes the importance of literacy in the workings of the modern mind/sense of self. I think nonliterate people raised in a literate culture can probably concieve of the self and whatever quite well. Also it uses Kaspar Hauser as an example of nonliterate thinking, and idk, that was a hoax.
