Category: Life

• Ten Books

  In one of the latest and more enjoyable Facebook chain-statuses, I was asked which ten books have stayed with or touched me in some ways. Having spent a surprisingly large amount of time reflecting on and spelling out the significance of each book to my life thus far, I thought: why not share them here as well? So…

  valsaksornchai

  September 9, 2014

  Curiosities, Life, Mind, Philosophy, Reading, Reason

  Black Swan, books, Camus, Catch-22, Etranger, Facebook, Harper Lee, Harry Potter, Hofstadter, Human Conduct, John Hospers, Joseph Heller, Khaled Hosseini, Kinsella, Laura Ingalls Wilder, list, Little House, Millennium Trilogy, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, reading, Sartre, Shopaholic, Stieg Larsson, The Age of Reason, The Stranger, To Kill a Mockingbird

• On Work

  Why do we work? To earn a living? For something else? For something more? I am at work. And I am feeling restless. No, I am not blogging during working hours. It is lunchtime. And since I’m not hungry, I might as well substitute physical for psychological nourishment. There is a lot of change happening…

  valsaksornchai

  March 13, 2014

  Life, Writing

  Blog, Blogging, conflict, interests, job, Life, money, priorities, revision, study, work, Writing

• Labels: Useful Heuristics or Dangerous Stereotypes?

  

  They say love blinds and power corrupts. Well, I’m starting to think morality is pretty good at both. When I was depressed in early 2013, I began attending weekly CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) sessions in the hope that it would make me better. During one of these sessions, the therapist (counsellor? psychiatrist? I never quite…

  valsaksornchai

  March 9, 2014

  Curiosities, Economics, Life, Mind, Politics, Psychology, Thailand

  Americans, awareness, brain, CBT, cognition, Depression, doctors, Education, ignorant American, label, labelling, labels, moral, morality, philosophy, Politics, Psychology, stereotype, stereotypes, stereotyping, super computers, Thailand, world

• Two Worlds

  

  When you live in a city, you don’t only become part of it; it becomes part of you. I first had the idea for this post in a shower. And for weeks it has been brewing in the back of my mind. Partly because I have been feeling tired recently, which is no good for…

  valsaksornchai

  February 23, 2014

  Bangkok, Cities, Life, London, Self

  Bangkok, Bristol, car, commute, culture, Economics, environment, identity, Life, London, Oxford, Paris, Politics, Relationship, self, society, Thailand, traffic, train, urban, Walking

• A day in Auschwitz

  

  This is going to be a serious post. I want to tell you about my day in Auschwitz. And I’m going to treat the subject with the respect it deserves. First, a little back story. This was 2008. I was doing A-levels in Oxford. I had the fortune to be able to take part in…

  valsaksornchai

  February 9, 2014

  Life, Photography

  Auschwitz, Auschwitz concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Chief Rabbi, Extermination camp, Holocaust, Holocaust Educational Trust, Lessons from Auschwitz, Nazis, Poland, WWII

• Maria on Living in the Age of Anxiety

  Another thoughtful piece from Maria on life (and living) in the modern era. I particularly enjoyed this quote from Alan Watts: The “primary consciousness,” the basic mind which knows reality rather than ideas about it, does not know the future. It lives completely in the present, and perceives nothing more than what is at this moment. The…

  valsaksornchai

  February 8, 2014

  Learning, Life, Psychology, Reason

  Alan Watts, anxiety, brain pickings, concentration, East, future, Happiness, learning, Life, Living, Maria Popova, mind, mindfulness, philosophy, presence, productivity, Psychology, West

• What’s Wrong with Being Selfish?

  

  I am writing this at 3pm, having slept a meagre 3 hours after a night of trying futilely to fall asleep. I am tired and my head throbs. But I want to write. This is my first post in a little over three weeks. I have been busy writing my essay (which by now is…

  valsaksornchai

  February 2, 2014

  Curiosities, Life, Mind

  brain, effort, Kahneman, logic, questions, rationality, self, selfish, selfishness, selfless, System, Thought

• Larry Smith: Why you will fail to have a great career (TEDx)

  

  One of, if not the most, memorable TED talks I’ve ever watched (4 times as of 26/12/14):

  valsaksornchai

  January 26, 2014

  Economics, Life, Talks

  accomplishment, Canada, career, desire, dream, drive, Economics, economist, excuses, Fear, genius, great, interest, Larry Smith, Life, madness, marriage, parent, Passion, spouse, talks, TEDx, University of Waterloo, work

• A Year in Paris: Part Two

  

  2009 If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll realise that it hasn’t quite been 4 years (from 2007). I did go back to Paris in 2011. So why am I telling you about 2009? Because 2009 is important. 2009 is the year everything changed. But what does 2009 have to do with Paris? Everything. Let me fill you in…

  valsaksornchai

  January 25, 2014

  Learning, Life, London, Paris, Self

  A-levels, admissions, choices, college, David Cameron, decisions, Economics, Education, ESPS, European Social and Political Studies, European Studies, Francois Hollande, French, grades, IEP, London, Oxford, Paris, philosophy, Politics, PPE, Sciences Po, Sciences Po Paris, studies, UCAS, university

• A Year in Paris: Part One

  

  2007 I was 17 when I first saw Paris. I don’t remember what my first impression was. I remember arriving at Charles de Gaulle and thinking the airport signs were all yellow, which I wasn’t used to. Or maybe it was just that there were a lot of signs, all of which happened to be yellow.…

  valsaksornchai

  January 11, 2014

  Cities, Curiosities, Life, Paris, Photography, Self, Traveling

  Allons en France, alone, Élysée Palace, capital, city, Europe, France, Louvre, Love, Montparnasse, Musée d’Orsay, Musée du Louvre, Paris, photo, Sciences Po, seventeen, Sunset, travel, trip, view