More Letters from Pemberley, by Jane Dawkins
I read this one so fast it didn't even make it to my currently reading list. I just love reading other peoples mail and this is the only way I can decently do it. This is a nice addition to the previous book, and follows Mrs. Darcy thru 6 more years of marriage, the birth of 3 children and the death of 1, as well as the nearly fatal accident of Mr. Darcy. As usual, most of the letters are to her sister Jane and Aunt Gardiner along with assorted other friends and relatives, both from Pride and Prejudice and some of Austen's other books. Perfect beach reading.
To my intense surprise, I'm almost finished with The Drunkard's Walk -- only half of the last chapter to go and with any luck I'll have that down tomorrow. I found this next bit interesting, as it's been an on-going problem in my life:
When we are in the grasp of an illusion -- or, for that matter, whenever we have a new idea -- instead of searching for ways to prove our ideas wrong, we usually attempt to prove them correct. Psychologists call this the confirmation bias, and it presents a major impediment to our ability to break free from the misinterpretation of randomness. In the example above, most people immediately recognize that the sequence consists of increasing even numbers. Then, seeking to confirm their guess, they try out many more sequences of that type. But very few find the answer the fast way -- through the attempt to falsify their idea by testing a sequence that includes an odd number. As philosopher Francis Bacon put it in 1620, "the human understanding, once it has adopted an opinion, collects any instances that confirm it, and though the contrary instances may be more numerous and more weighty, it either does not notice them or else rejects them, in order that this opinion will remain unshaken."
To make matters worse, not only do we preferentially seek evidence to confirm our preconceived notions, but we also interpret ambiguous evidence in favor of our ideas. This can be a big problem because data are often ambiguous so by ignoring some patterns and emphasizing others, our clever brains can reinforce their beliefs even in the absence of convincing data.
This usually is what happens when I think, with absolute certainty, that I'm right and find out later that I couldn't have been more wrong. An insight that, due to confirmation bias, takes an embarrassingly long time to happen.
I've also made a bit of progress on Gone with the Wind, and finally find myself about 1/5 of the way thru, past Scarlett's first marriage, widowhood and motherhood to find her bored and spoiled in Atlanta, living with her late husband's sister Melanie and dotty Aunt Pitty Pat. She hasn't disgraced herself by dancing a reel in her widow's weeds yet but hopefully that's coming up soon. As I recall, Rhett joins the story again then and I always enjoy his presence. He's a catty man who somehow manages to be sexy.