It's 2045. The United States is on the ropes. The government is completely dysfunctional, the armed forces are committing robbery to support themselves, there is a new cold war between Holland and the United States, and there are 16 political parties with seats in Congress. Louisiana is under the control of "Green Huey", a populist with a personality cult. Things are looking pretty grim.
Enter Oscar Valaparaiso, political spin doctor extraordinaire, and chief strategist for Alcott Bambakias, billionaire architect and candidate for senate from Massachusetts. Valapariso has a "personal background problem" (he's not exactly human) but he doesn't let that stop him.
Soon, Valaparaiso is off to Louisiana, where he falls in love with a genius neurologist named Greta Penninger. Together, they need to derail Huey, channel the neural revolution into more benign paths, rescue American science, restore the country and stop a war. And they are up to it.
Distraction by Bruce Sterling is a brilliant book. Distraction portrays a dystopian near future that nevertheless has room for hope. The extrapolation of the current political and scientific milieus is fascinating, and Sterling is up on his science. The ideas just keep coming; one example is smart building material, where each brick and pipe is programmed to tell the builder where it should go. Another is the existence of gangs of people who have dropped out of society completely. Another is neural modification that allows people to think of multiple things at once.
Distraction reminds me, in some ways, of The Grapes of Wrath another novel set in a dystopian America (although one that didn't need to be imagined), but Sterling's style is nothing like Steinbeck's. And "Green Huey" is obviously reminiscent of Huey Long, who also governed Louisiana during bleak economic times. Strengthening that analogy, the president in <i>Distraction</i> (an American Indian known as Two Feathers) unites the country, engages in a war, and has revolutionary ideas.
In short, if you like well-written science fiction that throws ideas at you at lightning speed, Distraction is for you.
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Monday, February 26, 2018
Book review: Double Negative by David Carkeet
Book: Double Negative
Author: David Carkeet
Year published: 1980
Date I finished: February 24, 2018
Review: This is a comic mystery novel set at the Wabash Institute, where a group of linguists is studying how children learn language by running a child care service that doubles as a linguistics lab. Then linguists start getting killed and one of them (the protagonist, Dr. Cook) tries to help the police solve the case.
The plot moves nicely and it has the usual twists and turns of a good mystery novel. The amusement comes both from the linguistics itself (the author is a linguist) and from the silliness and puns (most of the names of characters are descriptive of them - Dr. Cook can't cook; the first linguist to die is named Stiph etc.)
It's also interesting reading books from this era (1980) because they are current enough to seem modern but old enough to seem dated: People smoking in restaurants! Using typewriters! Doing all their research in actual books! It's also a reminder of how sexist things were, 38 years ago.
I think this will be especially enjoyed by people who like both mysteries and words.
Author: David Carkeet
Year published: 1980
Date I finished: February 24, 2018
Review: This is a comic mystery novel set at the Wabash Institute, where a group of linguists is studying how children learn language by running a child care service that doubles as a linguistics lab. Then linguists start getting killed and one of them (the protagonist, Dr. Cook) tries to help the police solve the case.
The plot moves nicely and it has the usual twists and turns of a good mystery novel. The amusement comes both from the linguistics itself (the author is a linguist) and from the silliness and puns (most of the names of characters are descriptive of them - Dr. Cook can't cook; the first linguist to die is named Stiph etc.)
It's also interesting reading books from this era (1980) because they are current enough to seem modern but old enough to seem dated: People smoking in restaurants! Using typewriters! Doing all their research in actual books! It's also a reminder of how sexist things were, 38 years ago.
I think this will be especially enjoyed by people who like both mysteries and words.
Sunday, February 25, 2018
Interesting words: Querulous
Word: Querulous
Pronunciation: Qwer - yeh - lus
Etymology: Per the Online Etymology Dictionary, querulous comes from Old French querelos which meant "quarrelsome, argumentative" and earlier from Latin querulus "full of complaints".
Definition: Querulous, according to Merriam Webster, means "habitually complaining" particularly by whining.
Why use it? I think we all know someone who is querulous. At least, with the word, we can describe their annoying behavior precisely. While there are many words that have similar meanings (e.g. whiny, complaining) querulous captures a set of behaviors that tend to go together.
Frequency of use: About 1 in 3.1 million words.
Pronunciation: Qwer - yeh - lus
Etymology: Per the Online Etymology Dictionary, querulous comes from Old French querelos which meant "quarrelsome, argumentative" and earlier from Latin querulus "full of complaints".
Definition: Querulous, according to Merriam Webster, means "habitually complaining" particularly by whining.
Why use it? I think we all know someone who is querulous. At least, with the word, we can describe their annoying behavior precisely. While there are many words that have similar meanings (e.g. whiny, complaining) querulous captures a set of behaviors that tend to go together.
Frequency of use: About 1 in 3.1 million words.
Saturday, February 24, 2018
What are you reading? Feb 24, 2018
- Started this week
- Nothing started this week.
- In progress this week
- Double Negative by David Carkeet. A comic mystery set in a linguistics facility. I am on p. 179
- A New History of Western Philosophy by Anthony Kenny. This is a very good history of the subject, well written and clear. Kenny follows an unusual strategy in that he takes two approaches: He first covers each era in a more-or-less chronological order, then he looks at the big topics of that era in a systematic way. I am on p. 385, slogging through the scholastics.
- High Price: A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery that Challenges Everything you Know About Drugs and Society by Carl Hart. Why everything you know (or thought you knew) about illicit drugs is wrong. I am on p. 182.
- Red Men by Matthew de Abaitua. I am on p. 97. Fairly dystopian science fiction about the coming of artificial intelligence.
- Scrivener for Dummies. I am on p. 103. Scrivener is a tool for writers.
- The Consistency of Arithmetic and Other Essays by Storrs McCall. Essays on various philosophical topics. I am on p. 29.
- The Drawing of Trump and its Postponement by Fred L. Karpin. I am on p. 17. A classic on the play of the hand in bridge.
- The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon. Science fiction about an autistic man. I am on p. 158
- Finished this week
- Nothing finished this week.
Friday, February 23, 2018
Book review: Dead Souls by Ian Rankin
John Rebus drinks too much. He smokes too much. He has trouble with authority figures and his relationships with his peers aren't the greatest, either. For fans of this series by Ian Rankin, none of this is news. Nor is it news that Rebus is an excellent detective and a likable figure.
Dead Souls is the 10th novel in the John Rebus series and one of the best. This is Scottish noir at its darkest. Here, Rebus is dealing with a colleague's seemingly senseless suicide, child abuse and its cover-up, a missing child and a serial killer. All these plots intertwine, involving Rebus and those closest to him in their web.
Dead Souls features all the things that Rankin does best: A labyrinthine plot, excellent dialogue and socially troubling and confusing issues. John Rebus is out to solve crimes but he is also out to right wrongs. But the best intentions can go astray when dealing with the darkest aspects of the human soul; in the real world, as in <i>Dead Souls,</i> criminal guilt and innocence are easier to establish than their moral analogues, and many villains were themselves victims at some point. Rankin deals with this well, letting Rebus see the moral ambiguities of life without ever sliding into the sort of relativism that says no one is guilty of anything.
If that isn't enough, Rankin continues to portray John Rebus' native Edinburgh at its best and worst. Although I am not familiar with the city in real life, I am growing familiar with it through this series of books.
Ian Rankin was born in Fife in 1960. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982. He began writing novels while working on a PhD (not completed) and his first Rebus novel was published in 1987.
Dead Souls is the 10th novel in the John Rebus series and one of the best. This is Scottish noir at its darkest. Here, Rebus is dealing with a colleague's seemingly senseless suicide, child abuse and its cover-up, a missing child and a serial killer. All these plots intertwine, involving Rebus and those closest to him in their web.
Dead Souls features all the things that Rankin does best: A labyrinthine plot, excellent dialogue and socially troubling and confusing issues. John Rebus is out to solve crimes but he is also out to right wrongs. But the best intentions can go astray when dealing with the darkest aspects of the human soul; in the real world, as in <i>Dead Souls,</i> criminal guilt and innocence are easier to establish than their moral analogues, and many villains were themselves victims at some point. Rankin deals with this well, letting Rebus see the moral ambiguities of life without ever sliding into the sort of relativism that says no one is guilty of anything.
If that isn't enough, Rankin continues to portray John Rebus' native Edinburgh at its best and worst. Although I am not familiar with the city in real life, I am growing familiar with it through this series of books.
Ian Rankin was born in Fife in 1960. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982. He began writing novels while working on a PhD (not completed) and his first Rebus novel was published in 1987.
Thursday, February 22, 2018
Yiddish words: Kvell
Word: Kvell
Pronunciation: Rhymes with yell
Meaning: The main meaning of kvell is to beam with immense pride, most commonly because of something your children or grandchildren did (or that you imagined they did or will do). The classic joke (which I read in The Joys of Yiddish, by Leo Rosten, but have heard from several sources) is that two women who were friends in college meet on the street. One of them has a stroller with two babies.
"Shirley! You have kids! They're beautiful. How old are they?"
"The doctor is three and the lawyer is two".
But kvell can also mean to gloat over the misfortunes of an enemy.
Pronunciation: Rhymes with yell
Meaning: The main meaning of kvell is to beam with immense pride, most commonly because of something your children or grandchildren did (or that you imagined they did or will do). The classic joke (which I read in The Joys of Yiddish, by Leo Rosten, but have heard from several sources) is that two women who were friends in college meet on the street. One of them has a stroller with two babies.
"Shirley! You have kids! They're beautiful. How old are they?"
"The doctor is three and the lawyer is two".
But kvell can also mean to gloat over the misfortunes of an enemy.
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
Yiddish words: Naches
Word: Naches
Pronunciation: Rhymes with Loch Ness (with a Scottish/Yiddish ch)
Meaning: Yesterday's word was kvell so today it's natural to define "naches". The two words go together like chickens and eggs.
Naches is pride. But not usually pride in yourself, but in what your offspring (or other relatives) have done.
The reputation of Jews is that we are very good at getting naches from our kids, and very good at expecting kids to give naches to us.
The same parent who brags to all her (or his) friends about a child that got a 99 on a test will ask the child where the other point is. At least, that's the stereotype. I've certainly known Jews who were like this, but I try not to be with my kids.
Pronunciation: Rhymes with Loch Ness (with a Scottish/Yiddish ch)
Meaning: Yesterday's word was kvell so today it's natural to define "naches". The two words go together like chickens and eggs.
Naches is pride. But not usually pride in yourself, but in what your offspring (or other relatives) have done.
The reputation of Jews is that we are very good at getting naches from our kids, and very good at expecting kids to give naches to us.
The same parent who brags to all her (or his) friends about a child that got a 99 on a test will ask the child where the other point is. At least, that's the stereotype. I've certainly known Jews who were like this, but I try not to be with my kids.
Monday, February 19, 2018
Yiddish words: Pisher
Word: Pisher
Prounciation: Rhymes with wisher
Meaning: Pisher means one who urinates. But it is usually used in the phrase "a little pisher" which means either a) A child who is not toilet trained yet or b) A clever child; this can be used as an exclamation after a kid does something clever, and especially something sneakily clever. This isn't what you'd say when your kid brings home a great report card, it's got a tinge of sarcasm to it. A friend of mine had a son who, at age 6 or so, had cornered the market in his school on Pokemon cards - what a pisher!
Of course there's a joke about pisher:
A man is up for a promotion, and is scheduled to be interviewed by Mr. Jacques LaFontaine. He's a bit nervous, but then his friend points out that LaFontaine's father was named Jack Spritzwasser and his grandfather was Yaakov Pisher.
Prounciation: Rhymes with wisher
Meaning: Pisher means one who urinates. But it is usually used in the phrase "a little pisher" which means either a) A child who is not toilet trained yet or b) A clever child; this can be used as an exclamation after a kid does something clever, and especially something sneakily clever. This isn't what you'd say when your kid brings home a great report card, it's got a tinge of sarcasm to it. A friend of mine had a son who, at age 6 or so, had cornered the market in his school on Pokemon cards - what a pisher!
Of course there's a joke about pisher:
A man is up for a promotion, and is scheduled to be interviewed by Mr. Jacques LaFontaine. He's a bit nervous, but then his friend points out that LaFontaine's father was named Jack Spritzwasser and his grandfather was Yaakov Pisher.
Sunday, February 18, 2018
Book Review: Cows in the Maze by Ian Stewart
Author: Ian Stewart
Year Published: 2010
Review: Cows in the Maze is the third collection of Ian Stewart's contributions to the Mathematical Explorations column of <i>Scientific American.</i> This is a book of recreational math, and the requisite level of math is, for the most part, quite low.. That is, you do not need anything more than high school math - for most of the columns, grade school math will be enough. But you do need mathematical curiosity. If you have even a little of this, then this book will likely give you more. Even though the mathematical level is low in terms of formal requirements, the mathematical sophistication level is high - there are no "If a train leaves Boston at 5 AM and another train leaves NY at 6 AM" type of problems here. This is math.
Cows in the Maze is divided into 21 chapters, most of which can be read independently and in any order. Each is about 10 to 15 pages long. They are:
1. The lore and lure of dice - about some aspects of the probability of dice (see below)
2. Pursuing polygonal privacy - about how to fence off a yard with the minimum amount of fence
3. Making winning connections, about the game of Hex, which has very simple rules, but a lot of strategic depth, and which is a favorite on math campuses around the world
4. Jumping champions - about patterns in the prime numbers (that is, integers greater than 1 that are divisible only by themselves and 1)
5. Walking with quadrupeds - about the gaits of different 4 legged animals
6. Tiling space with knots - about some very odd ways of tiling a floor, or a volume of space
7. Forward to the future I
8 Forward to the future 2
9 Forward to the future 3 - which are, as you might guess, the exception to the "stand alone" rule I mentioned above, and are about the possibility of time travel.
10. Cone with a twist - about sphericons, which are unusually shaped objects with some odd properties
11. What shape is a teardrop? - The classic shape of a teardrop, used in countless illustrations, is wrong.
12. The interrogator's fallacy - about some problems in probability (see below)
13 Cows in the maze - about mazes that are actually puzzles in logic
14. Knight's tours on rectangle - the title says it
15. Cat's cradle calculus challenge - about the mathematics of the string game cat's cradle
16. Glass Klein bottles - Klein bottles are sort of 3 dimensional version of Mobius strips
17. Cementing relationships - about some connections between math and art
18. Knotting ventured, knotting gained - about knot theory with real string
19. Most-perfect magic squares - about some special magic squares (see below)
20.. It can't be done! - about mathematical impossibility (see below)
21. Dances with dodecahedra - about some connections between mathematics and dance
Each chapter ends with a summary of reader feedback, websites for more information, and articles and books for further reading
Some of my favorite parts of Cows in the Maze
First, I'll note that these are entirely personal. These are chapters that interested me most - the others aren't of lower quality - indeed, the quality is uniformly high.
In chapter 1, Ian Stewart covers some curious aspects of dice. Here's one that I liked. The notion of transitivity is basic in math. The relation "is greater than" is transitive on the real numbers. That is, if A is greater than B and B is greater than C, then A is greater than C. If we take ordinary six-sided dice and paint different numbers on different faces, we can sum the totals of the faces, and those totals will be transitive. But if we were to roll dice, and bet on which die will have a bigger number, that is NOT transitive. That is, it's possible for die B to be better than A, and C better than B, but A better than C. How is this possible? That would be telling. But it's true, and it's very counter-intuitive.
In Chapter 12 Ian Stewart discusses probability. I am a statistician by trade, so this is near and dear to me. Two of the conundrums he covers are these:
A. The Smiths have two children. One of them is a girl. What is the probability that the other is a girl? Again, telling you the answer would be telling. But it is NOT 50% (even if we ignore the fact that boys and girls are not exactly equally likely to be born, and ignore issues such as identical twins).
B. It's clear that some confessions to crimes may be false - for all sorts of reasons. But might it be that a person who confesses to a crime is LESS likely to be guilty than one who does not? Here, I won't spoil it if I tell you that the answer is "yes".
In Chapter 19 Ian Stewart covers some very special magic squares. A magic square, as you probably know, is a square array of numbers where each row, column and diagonal adds up to the same number. But here are magic squares with a great many more qualities. He also shows how some very big numbers get into math. For instance, if the square is 12x12, then there are about 2.22953*10^10 different "most perfect magic squares". The exact number is known, but, of course, no one will ever list them all.
In Chapter 20 of Ian Stewart discusses the notion of mathematical impossibility, and how it is possible for mathematicians to know that something doesn't exist.
If the above review piques your interest at all, you will probably really enjoy this book. For people who like math, this is a treasure trove. It could also be very useful for math teachers, who want to spice up their lessons with some really interesting ideas.
About the author: Ian Stewart may be best known to the general public as the current contributor of the Mathematical Explorations column in Scientific American. But he started writing books about popular math long before he joined Scientific American, and he also writes novels (three are listed in the frontispiece) and books about Discworld (another three). This is his 29th book. He's also a research mathematician and a professor of mathematics at Warwick University.
Year Published: 2010
Review: Cows in the Maze is the third collection of Ian Stewart's contributions to the Mathematical Explorations column of <i>Scientific American.</i> This is a book of recreational math, and the requisite level of math is, for the most part, quite low.. That is, you do not need anything more than high school math - for most of the columns, grade school math will be enough. But you do need mathematical curiosity. If you have even a little of this, then this book will likely give you more. Even though the mathematical level is low in terms of formal requirements, the mathematical sophistication level is high - there are no "If a train leaves Boston at 5 AM and another train leaves NY at 6 AM" type of problems here. This is math.
Cows in the Maze is divided into 21 chapters, most of which can be read independently and in any order. Each is about 10 to 15 pages long. They are:
1. The lore and lure of dice - about some aspects of the probability of dice (see below)
2. Pursuing polygonal privacy - about how to fence off a yard with the minimum amount of fence
3. Making winning connections, about the game of Hex, which has very simple rules, but a lot of strategic depth, and which is a favorite on math campuses around the world
4. Jumping champions - about patterns in the prime numbers (that is, integers greater than 1 that are divisible only by themselves and 1)
5. Walking with quadrupeds - about the gaits of different 4 legged animals
6. Tiling space with knots - about some very odd ways of tiling a floor, or a volume of space
7. Forward to the future I
8 Forward to the future 2
9 Forward to the future 3 - which are, as you might guess, the exception to the "stand alone" rule I mentioned above, and are about the possibility of time travel.
10. Cone with a twist - about sphericons, which are unusually shaped objects with some odd properties
11. What shape is a teardrop? - The classic shape of a teardrop, used in countless illustrations, is wrong.
12. The interrogator's fallacy - about some problems in probability (see below)
13 Cows in the maze - about mazes that are actually puzzles in logic
14. Knight's tours on rectangle - the title says it
15. Cat's cradle calculus challenge - about the mathematics of the string game cat's cradle
16. Glass Klein bottles - Klein bottles are sort of 3 dimensional version of Mobius strips
17. Cementing relationships - about some connections between math and art
18. Knotting ventured, knotting gained - about knot theory with real string
19. Most-perfect magic squares - about some special magic squares (see below)
20.. It can't be done! - about mathematical impossibility (see below)
21. Dances with dodecahedra - about some connections between mathematics and dance
Each chapter ends with a summary of reader feedback, websites for more information, and articles and books for further reading
Some of my favorite parts of Cows in the Maze
First, I'll note that these are entirely personal. These are chapters that interested me most - the others aren't of lower quality - indeed, the quality is uniformly high.
In chapter 1, Ian Stewart covers some curious aspects of dice. Here's one that I liked. The notion of transitivity is basic in math. The relation "is greater than" is transitive on the real numbers. That is, if A is greater than B and B is greater than C, then A is greater than C. If we take ordinary six-sided dice and paint different numbers on different faces, we can sum the totals of the faces, and those totals will be transitive. But if we were to roll dice, and bet on which die will have a bigger number, that is NOT transitive. That is, it's possible for die B to be better than A, and C better than B, but A better than C. How is this possible? That would be telling. But it's true, and it's very counter-intuitive.
In Chapter 12 Ian Stewart discusses probability. I am a statistician by trade, so this is near and dear to me. Two of the conundrums he covers are these:
A. The Smiths have two children. One of them is a girl. What is the probability that the other is a girl? Again, telling you the answer would be telling. But it is NOT 50% (even if we ignore the fact that boys and girls are not exactly equally likely to be born, and ignore issues such as identical twins).
B. It's clear that some confessions to crimes may be false - for all sorts of reasons. But might it be that a person who confesses to a crime is LESS likely to be guilty than one who does not? Here, I won't spoil it if I tell you that the answer is "yes".
In Chapter 19 Ian Stewart covers some very special magic squares. A magic square, as you probably know, is a square array of numbers where each row, column and diagonal adds up to the same number. But here are magic squares with a great many more qualities. He also shows how some very big numbers get into math. For instance, if the square is 12x12, then there are about 2.22953*10^10 different "most perfect magic squares". The exact number is known, but, of course, no one will ever list them all.
In Chapter 20 of Ian Stewart discusses the notion of mathematical impossibility, and how it is possible for mathematicians to know that something doesn't exist.
If the above review piques your interest at all, you will probably really enjoy this book. For people who like math, this is a treasure trove. It could also be very useful for math teachers, who want to spice up their lessons with some really interesting ideas.
About the author: Ian Stewart may be best known to the general public as the current contributor of the Mathematical Explorations column in Scientific American. But he started writing books about popular math long before he joined Scientific American, and he also writes novels (three are listed in the frontispiece) and books about Discworld (another three). This is his 29th book. He's also a research mathematician and a professor of mathematics at Warwick University.
Saturday, February 17, 2018
What are you reading? Feb 17, 2018
- Started this week
- Scrivener for Dummies. I am on p. 67. Scrivener is a tool for writers.
- The Consistency of Arithmetic and Other Essays by Storrs McCall. Essays on various philosophical topics.
- The Drawing of Trump and its Postponement by Fred L. Karpin. I am on p. 15. A classic on the play of the hand in bridge.
- The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon. Science fiction about an autistic man. I am only on p. 3, but it looks good.
- In progress this week
- Double Negative by David Carkeet. I am on p.99
- A New History of Western Philosophy by Anthony Kenny. This is a very good history of the subject, well written and clear. Kenny follows an unusual strategy in that he takes two approaches: He first covers each era in a more-or-less chronological order, then he looks at the big topics of that era in a systematic way. I am on p. 369, slogging through the scholastics.
- High Price: A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery that Challenges Everything you Know About Drugs and Society by Carl Hart. Why everything you know (or thought you knew) about illicit drugs is wrong. I am on p. 182.
- Red Men by Matthew de Abaitua. I am on p. 97. Fairly dystopian science fiction about the coming of artificial intelligence.
- Adsense Secrets by Joel Com to try to figure out how to make the ads on this blog better. I am 16% in.
- Finished this week
Book review: The Infidel and the Professor: David Hum, Adam Smith and the Friendship that Shaped Modern Thought by Dennis C. Rasmussen
Book: The Infidel and the Professor: David Hum, Adam Smith and the Friendship that Shaped Modern Thought
Author: Dennis C. Rasmussen
Year published: 2017
Review: David Hume and Adam Smith were two pillars of the Scottish enlightenment. They were also great friends from their first meeting in 1749 until Hume's death in 1776. Much has been written about each of them, but Rasmussen has taken on the task of writing specifically about their friendship. He succeeds pretty well, but has the problem that, good friends though they were, there simply isn't that much evidence of what their friendship was about. Neither was a tremendous letter-writer by the standards of the day - although Hume wrote far more than Smith - and when they saw each other in person they did not record what happened in great detail.
Fortuitously, Rasmussen also doesn't not assume a huge amount of knowledge of Hume or Smith on the part of his readers. He is very good at explicating their thought. One gets a good sense of what each of them thought on a variety of issues. Rasmussen also covers what they said about each other (nearly all complimentary), how Smith reacted to Hume's conflict with Rousseau (Rousseau appears to be the only person who made Hume really angry), and how Smith's desire to avoid "clamor" led him to be more circumspect about his own views on religion.
A book with a title like this might be a specialist tome for scholars of one or both men; this is not. It is a work for a general audience and it's quite well done.
About the Author: Dennis C. Rasmussen is a professor of political science at Tufts University.
Author: Dennis C. Rasmussen
Year published: 2017
Review: David Hume and Adam Smith were two pillars of the Scottish enlightenment. They were also great friends from their first meeting in 1749 until Hume's death in 1776. Much has been written about each of them, but Rasmussen has taken on the task of writing specifically about their friendship. He succeeds pretty well, but has the problem that, good friends though they were, there simply isn't that much evidence of what their friendship was about. Neither was a tremendous letter-writer by the standards of the day - although Hume wrote far more than Smith - and when they saw each other in person they did not record what happened in great detail.
Fortuitously, Rasmussen also doesn't not assume a huge amount of knowledge of Hume or Smith on the part of his readers. He is very good at explicating their thought. One gets a good sense of what each of them thought on a variety of issues. Rasmussen also covers what they said about each other (nearly all complimentary), how Smith reacted to Hume's conflict with Rousseau (Rousseau appears to be the only person who made Hume really angry), and how Smith's desire to avoid "clamor" led him to be more circumspect about his own views on religion.
A book with a title like this might be a specialist tome for scholars of one or both men; this is not. It is a work for a general audience and it's quite well done.
About the Author: Dennis C. Rasmussen is a professor of political science at Tufts University.
Friday, February 16, 2018
Book review: Company by Max Barry
Book: Company
Author: Max Barry
Year Published: 2006
Review: The protagonist of Company is Stephen Jones, a recent graduate of an unnamed business school. He is hired by Zephyr Corporation, where he is quickly assigned to a cube in the cube farm. His colleagues are cynical, some are power hungry, some are burned out, all are turned into cogs by senior management, who communicate in much-forwarded e-mails, and refer to employees as "head-counts".
One of his colleagues is obsessed with finding out who took his donut. People are hung-up about which parking space each of them gets and which coat hook they use. And no one knows what the company actually does - nor do they care.
Company is like a novelized version of Dilbert, where almost nothing makes any sense, but it's all funny (if it isn't happening to you). It's also something like what Kafka might write, if he was alive today in America or another western country, and had a wicked sense of humor.
Jones quickly discovers that no one at Zephyr has any idea what the company actually does. But, early on in the novel, Jones is recruited by Alpha, a corporation within a corporation, and discovers that the entire company is really an experiment in management techniques, and that all the hundred of employees are merely guinea pigs. Zephyr doesn't actually do anything, it exists merely to allow the people at Alpha to see how they can maximize the productivity of human resources.
They arbitrarily decide that certain people will never be promoted. They invent day long meetings that serve no purpose at all. They fire people to see how long it takes others to adjust, and invent other corporations so that no one communicates with former employees.
The members of Alpha are all smart and ruthless, but are also all amoral and even sociopathic. They've completely divorced themselves from realizing that the employees are human beings. Jones rebels against this, but is almost corrupted by Eve, a stunningly beautiful Alpha, who is the most ruthless of the lot.
I liked Company and I don't even work for a corporation. If you like satire, you will probably like it too.
About the Author: Max Barry is an Australian writer born in 1973, and is a former employee of Hewlett Packard. Company is his third novel, after Syrup (which I have not read) and Jennifer Government which is also very funny and very dark.
Author: Max Barry
Year Published: 2006
Review: The protagonist of Company is Stephen Jones, a recent graduate of an unnamed business school. He is hired by Zephyr Corporation, where he is quickly assigned to a cube in the cube farm. His colleagues are cynical, some are power hungry, some are burned out, all are turned into cogs by senior management, who communicate in much-forwarded e-mails, and refer to employees as "head-counts".
One of his colleagues is obsessed with finding out who took his donut. People are hung-up about which parking space each of them gets and which coat hook they use. And no one knows what the company actually does - nor do they care.
Company is like a novelized version of Dilbert, where almost nothing makes any sense, but it's all funny (if it isn't happening to you). It's also something like what Kafka might write, if he was alive today in America or another western country, and had a wicked sense of humor.
Jones quickly discovers that no one at Zephyr has any idea what the company actually does. But, early on in the novel, Jones is recruited by Alpha, a corporation within a corporation, and discovers that the entire company is really an experiment in management techniques, and that all the hundred of employees are merely guinea pigs. Zephyr doesn't actually do anything, it exists merely to allow the people at Alpha to see how they can maximize the productivity of human resources.
They arbitrarily decide that certain people will never be promoted. They invent day long meetings that serve no purpose at all. They fire people to see how long it takes others to adjust, and invent other corporations so that no one communicates with former employees.
The members of Alpha are all smart and ruthless, but are also all amoral and even sociopathic. They've completely divorced themselves from realizing that the employees are human beings. Jones rebels against this, but is almost corrupted by Eve, a stunningly beautiful Alpha, who is the most ruthless of the lot.
I liked Company and I don't even work for a corporation. If you like satire, you will probably like it too.
About the Author: Max Barry is an Australian writer born in 1973, and is a former employee of Hewlett Packard. Company is his third novel, after Syrup (which I have not read) and Jennifer Government which is also very funny and very dark.
Thursday, February 15, 2018
Book review: Big City, Bad Blood by Sean Chercover
Book: Big City, Bad Blood
Author: Sean Chercover
Year published: 2008
Rating: 9/10
Review: Big City, Bad Blood is a thriller by Sean Chercover. First published in 2008, it was his first book.
The protagonist of Big City, Bad Blood is Ray Dudgeon, a former reporter who quit his job at a Chicago newspaper when stories he wrote were not published because of the connections of the people he was investigating. At the start of Big City, Bad Blood, Dudgeon is asked to protect Bob Loniski, a locations manager for a movie studio who accidentally uncovered a criminal operation.It seems like a fairly simple job.
But things get out of hand. The criminal operation that was uncovered leads to the highest levels of organized crime (known as The Outfit) in Chicago. It also leads to corruption in politics and journalism.
The plot of Big City, Bad Blood keeps the pages turning, and Chercover writes in a nice, simple style well suited to this sort of book. There are asides about Dudgeon's love-life (threatened because of his job), his family (complicated) and his love of baseball (The Chicago Cubs) and music (many types, but mostly jazz). While many thriller/mystery writers can spin a good plot, what makes Big City, Bad Blood stand out is the quality of the writing and the characters. All the main characters are complex (as real people tend to be). For example, Dudgeon is philosophical about the good and bad points of his job, realizing that he sometimes has to work for bad people. Loniski is shallow, but trying to be less so. Even lesser characters (movie directors, mafiosi, prostitutes, reporters and more) are well sketched.
About the author: Sean Chercover is a former private detective in Chicago and New Orleans. He grew up in Georgia and Toronto and now lives in Chicago and Toronto. He has also been a video editor, TV writer and a lot of other jobs, as well. Big City, Bad Blood was his first book; he has since written Trigger City, and The Trinity Game. I look forward to reading both.
Author: Sean Chercover
Year published: 2008
Rating: 9/10
Review: Big City, Bad Blood is a thriller by Sean Chercover. First published in 2008, it was his first book.
The protagonist of Big City, Bad Blood is Ray Dudgeon, a former reporter who quit his job at a Chicago newspaper when stories he wrote were not published because of the connections of the people he was investigating. At the start of Big City, Bad Blood, Dudgeon is asked to protect Bob Loniski, a locations manager for a movie studio who accidentally uncovered a criminal operation.It seems like a fairly simple job.
But things get out of hand. The criminal operation that was uncovered leads to the highest levels of organized crime (known as The Outfit) in Chicago. It also leads to corruption in politics and journalism.
The plot of Big City, Bad Blood keeps the pages turning, and Chercover writes in a nice, simple style well suited to this sort of book. There are asides about Dudgeon's love-life (threatened because of his job), his family (complicated) and his love of baseball (The Chicago Cubs) and music (many types, but mostly jazz). While many thriller/mystery writers can spin a good plot, what makes Big City, Bad Blood stand out is the quality of the writing and the characters. All the main characters are complex (as real people tend to be). For example, Dudgeon is philosophical about the good and bad points of his job, realizing that he sometimes has to work for bad people. Loniski is shallow, but trying to be less so. Even lesser characters (movie directors, mafiosi, prostitutes, reporters and more) are well sketched.
About the author: Sean Chercover is a former private detective in Chicago and New Orleans. He grew up in Georgia and Toronto and now lives in Chicago and Toronto. He has also been a video editor, TV writer and a lot of other jobs, as well. Big City, Bad Blood was his first book; he has since written Trigger City, and The Trinity Game. I look forward to reading both.
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Book review: Bones of Betrayal by Jefferson Bass
Author: Jefferson Bass
Rating: 8/10
Review: Leonard Novik, a famous physicist, who was a leader of the Oak Ridge laboratory in Tennessee during World War II, is found dead. He's been murdered in a very unusual way: He's swallowed a highly radioactive pellet, and died of radiation poisoning. Now, the protagonist of the novel, Bill Brockton, must figure out who did this; to do that, he'll have to find out how it was done and why.
That's the basic plot of Bones of Betrayal, but there are lots of other things going on. There are two love stories - one between Bill Brockton and a librarian, and another between Brockton's assistant Miranda and an FBI agent. There's lots of detail about the work done at Oak Ridge back in the 40's - and about some of the social attitudes of the people who worked there. There are interviews between Brockton and Novik's ex-wife, Beatrice, who met Novik when both were working on the bomb.
There are twists and twists in the plot, which I won't reveal, but Bones of Betrayal ties the twists together into a neat braid, rather than a mess of tangles.
There's also thoughtful commentary on the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and about the whole arms race; the authors provide both sides of the debate through the characters of Miranda and her lover.
The novel isn't perfect - some of it is a little too neat, or pat, for my tastes, but it's a highly enjoyable read. One warning, parts of it, especially near the beginning, are fairly explicit discussions of autopsies and related matters. If that's not your thing, this book (and, indeed, this series) may not be for you. But if you don't mind that sort of explicit detail, I think you'll enjoy this book.
Rating: 8/10
Review: Leonard Novik, a famous physicist, who was a leader of the Oak Ridge laboratory in Tennessee during World War II, is found dead. He's been murdered in a very unusual way: He's swallowed a highly radioactive pellet, and died of radiation poisoning. Now, the protagonist of the novel, Bill Brockton, must figure out who did this; to do that, he'll have to find out how it was done and why.
That's the basic plot of Bones of Betrayal, but there are lots of other things going on. There are two love stories - one between Bill Brockton and a librarian, and another between Brockton's assistant Miranda and an FBI agent. There's lots of detail about the work done at Oak Ridge back in the 40's - and about some of the social attitudes of the people who worked there. There are interviews between Brockton and Novik's ex-wife, Beatrice, who met Novik when both were working on the bomb.
There are twists and twists in the plot, which I won't reveal, but Bones of Betrayal ties the twists together into a neat braid, rather than a mess of tangles.
There's also thoughtful commentary on the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and about the whole arms race; the authors provide both sides of the debate through the characters of Miranda and her lover.
The novel isn't perfect - some of it is a little too neat, or pat, for my tastes, but it's a highly enjoyable read. One warning, parts of it, especially near the beginning, are fairly explicit discussions of autopsies and related matters. If that's not your thing, this book (and, indeed, this series) may not be for you. But if you don't mind that sort of explicit detail, I think you'll enjoy this book.
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Book review: Bill the Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison
Book: Bill the Galactic Hero
Author: Harry Harrison
Year published: 1965
Rating: 8/10
Review: When we first meet Bill, the Galactic Hero, he is a farmhand on a minor planet. He has no great ambition and is quietly content. But then the military recruiters show up near his village and put on a show. Since almost nothing interesting happens in his life, he attends and is essentially shanghaied into signing up.
Humanity is at war with 7 foot tall lizard like creatures known as Chingers, and humanity needs all the help it can get. But Harrison is spoofing things here, Bill the Galactic Hero is satire. So, the drill sergeant is named Deathwish Drang. The military is deliberately and monstrously hard in ways that are ridiculous and funny.
Bill, of course, does become a galactic hero. But where most novels would end there (e.g. with the hero saving the human race), Bill the Galactic Hero continues and tracks Bill's decline. And where, in most novels, the hero is such because of his or her will and effort, in Bill the Galactic Hero Bill becomes a hero by accident.
Harry Harrison uses all sorts of things as bases for puns and satire: There are ridiculous names such as Schmutzig von Dreck, horrible rations (at one point, all meals are liquid), nonsensical warfare (it's made clear that the war against the Chingers is unnecessary) and so on. It's good fun.
Harrison's style is straightforward. He is no master literary stylist but he knows how to put sentences and paragraphs together and the plot rolls right along. Bill the Galactic Hero is a quick fun read.
About the Author: Harry Harrison was born in 1925 in Stamford, Connecticut but grew up in New York City. He served in WW II. He is best known for three series: The Stainless Steel Rat, Deathworld and West of Eden. He has also written comic books and screenplays and his work has been adapted for movies, television and radio. Overall, Harrison has written more than 60 novels and over 100 short stories. In 2009 he was awarded the Grandmaster of Science Fiction award.
Author: Harry Harrison
Year published: 1965
Rating: 8/10
Review: When we first meet Bill, the Galactic Hero, he is a farmhand on a minor planet. He has no great ambition and is quietly content. But then the military recruiters show up near his village and put on a show. Since almost nothing interesting happens in his life, he attends and is essentially shanghaied into signing up.
Humanity is at war with 7 foot tall lizard like creatures known as Chingers, and humanity needs all the help it can get. But Harrison is spoofing things here, Bill the Galactic Hero is satire. So, the drill sergeant is named Deathwish Drang. The military is deliberately and monstrously hard in ways that are ridiculous and funny.
Bill, of course, does become a galactic hero. But where most novels would end there (e.g. with the hero saving the human race), Bill the Galactic Hero continues and tracks Bill's decline. And where, in most novels, the hero is such because of his or her will and effort, in Bill the Galactic Hero Bill becomes a hero by accident.
Harry Harrison uses all sorts of things as bases for puns and satire: There are ridiculous names such as Schmutzig von Dreck, horrible rations (at one point, all meals are liquid), nonsensical warfare (it's made clear that the war against the Chingers is unnecessary) and so on. It's good fun.
Harrison's style is straightforward. He is no master literary stylist but he knows how to put sentences and paragraphs together and the plot rolls right along. Bill the Galactic Hero is a quick fun read.
About the Author: Harry Harrison was born in 1925 in Stamford, Connecticut but grew up in New York City. He served in WW II. He is best known for three series: The Stainless Steel Rat, Deathworld and West of Eden. He has also written comic books and screenplays and his work has been adapted for movies, television and radio. Overall, Harrison has written more than 60 novels and over 100 short stories. In 2009 he was awarded the Grandmaster of Science Fiction award.
Monday, February 12, 2018
Great Quotations: The Military Industrial Complex
The quote:
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
Who said this? Some left winger like Noam Chomsky? Nope. Maybe it was a proponent of nonviolence, such as Gandhi or Martin Luther King? No again. A religious leader, perhaps one of the popes? No again.
This quotation comes from a man who had better knowledge than most about the costs of war; a man who had led the western allies to victory over Hitler in Europe. A man who was elected president by large majorities (and was the more conservative of the two people running).
If you haven't guessed yet, it was said by 5 star general Dwight David Eisenhower.
I disagree with Eisenhower about a lot and had I been a voter back then, I surely would have voted for Stevenson. But when it comes to the quote above, I can surely say "I like Ike".
The hungry should be fed and the cold should be clothed.
Eisenhower ran as a Republican against the much more liberal Adlai Stevenson. Yet where, today, are the people echoing Eisenhower's words? Where are the calls to house the homeless, feed the hungry and clothe the cold? Because those people are still here, even in America, the supposed richest country on Earth.
Sunday, February 11, 2018
Book review: Arguably by Christopher Hitchens
Book: Arguably
Author: Christopher Hitchens
Year Published: 2011
Review: Arguably, published in 2011, is a collection of Hitchens' essays from the first decade of this century.
The essays in Arguably are mostly short - about three or four pages - but they range to about 20. They cover the topics that Hitchens was known for: Literature, history, politics and religion; all from Christopher Hitchens' distinctive point of view. They are erudite (Hitchens must have read an amazing number of books, and remembered them), literate (how many writers can use "regnant" without it seeming forced?) and strongly opinionated. Hitchens was (on most issues) a liberal (in the American sense) but he was something of a proponent for the invasion of Iraq and an opponent of Hugo Chavez (see his essay Hugo Boss). He was an atheist and a fierce opponent of religion, particular when that religion was promulgated by a state.
As with any such collection, your interest in them will depend on the subject, but Christopher Hitchens is always a pleasure to read, even when he is infuriating enough to disagree with you. Most of the political and historical essays in this collection are strongly opinionated: It's not surprising that Hitchens is a strong supporter of Benjamin Franklin (who isn't?) but it's more controversial that he believes John Brown is "the man who ended slavery" and that he had a well thought out plan on how to "purge this land with blood". Hitchens doesn't overlook the negatives of Brown (for instance, his child rearing methods that today would be considered abusive) but he dispels the idea that Brown was unhinged.
Many of these essays are also amusing (e.g. his dissection of some of the positions of Gore Vidal, and the final essay Prisoner of Shelves on his life being taken over by books), many are angry (e.g The Vietnam Syndrome on the long term effects of Agent Orange; or A Nation of Racist Dwarves on what the Kims have created in North Korea).
If you like to think and have your thoughts provoked on topics like these, then you will enjoy Arguably.
About the Author: Christopher Hitchens was a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, Slate and the Atlantic. He wrote 13 books, four pamphlets and five collections of essays (including Arguably) and contributed to five more books. He died in 2011.
Author: Christopher Hitchens
Year Published: 2011
Review: Arguably, published in 2011, is a collection of Hitchens' essays from the first decade of this century.
The essays in Arguably are mostly short - about three or four pages - but they range to about 20. They cover the topics that Hitchens was known for: Literature, history, politics and religion; all from Christopher Hitchens' distinctive point of view. They are erudite (Hitchens must have read an amazing number of books, and remembered them), literate (how many writers can use "regnant" without it seeming forced?) and strongly opinionated. Hitchens was (on most issues) a liberal (in the American sense) but he was something of a proponent for the invasion of Iraq and an opponent of Hugo Chavez (see his essay Hugo Boss). He was an atheist and a fierce opponent of religion, particular when that religion was promulgated by a state.
As with any such collection, your interest in them will depend on the subject, but Christopher Hitchens is always a pleasure to read, even when he is infuriating enough to disagree with you. Most of the political and historical essays in this collection are strongly opinionated: It's not surprising that Hitchens is a strong supporter of Benjamin Franklin (who isn't?) but it's more controversial that he believes John Brown is "the man who ended slavery" and that he had a well thought out plan on how to "purge this land with blood". Hitchens doesn't overlook the negatives of Brown (for instance, his child rearing methods that today would be considered abusive) but he dispels the idea that Brown was unhinged.
Many of these essays are also amusing (e.g. his dissection of some of the positions of Gore Vidal, and the final essay Prisoner of Shelves on his life being taken over by books), many are angry (e.g The Vietnam Syndrome on the long term effects of Agent Orange; or A Nation of Racist Dwarves on what the Kims have created in North Korea).
If you like to think and have your thoughts provoked on topics like these, then you will enjoy Arguably.
About the Author: Christopher Hitchens was a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, Slate and the Atlantic. He wrote 13 books, four pamphlets and five collections of essays (including Arguably) and contributed to five more books. He died in 2011.
Saturday, February 10, 2018
What are you reading? Feb 10, 2018
Here is what I am reading now. Share what you are reading in comments.
- Started this week
- Kraken by China Mieville. I am on p. 25
- Double Negative by David Carkeet. I am on p. 33.
- In progress this week
- A New History of Western Philosophy by Anthony Kenny. This is a very good history of the subject, well written and clear. Kenny follows an unusual strategy in that he takes two approaches: He first covers each era in a more-or-less chronological order, then he looks at the big topics of that era in a systematic way. I am on p. 347.
- The Great Formal Machinery Works: Theories of Deduction and Computation at the Origins of the Digital Age by Jan van Plato. An examination of formal logic and computation. I am on p. 128.
- High Price: A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery that Challenges Everything you Know About Drugs and Society by Carl Hart. Why everything you know (or thought you knew) about illicit drugs is wrong. I am on p. 182.
- Red Men by Matthew de Abaitua. I am on p. 78.
- Adsense Secrets by Joel Com to try to figure out how to make the ads on this blog better. I am 16% in.
- The Infidel and the Professor: David Hume, Adam Smith, and the Friendship that Shaped Modern Thought by Dennis Rasmussen. I am on p. 77.
- Finished this week
- Nothing thss week.
Thursday, February 8, 2018
American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meachem
Author: Jon Meachem
Year Published: 2008
Rating: 8/10
Review: Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) was the seventh president of the United States. A military hero (especially because of the Battle of New Orleans) he was the first United States president who was not from the "elite". Jackson saw himself as a man of the people and he saw the American people as his family (except for Blacks and American Indians).
In American Lion, Jon Meacham has a formidable task: How to write about a president who he greatly admires for most policies, but finds deplorable for some. He handles this by separating the two. The policies which Meacham (and nearly all modern readers) find deplorable are his attitudes toward slavery (he was a vigorous defender) and the native people of the continent (he saw their removal to lands west of the Mississippi as necessary). These attitudes are not only anathema to us, they were extreme even in Jackson's day. Meacham does not gloss over these facts - indeed, American Lion makes it clear that many contemporaries of Jackson were more enlightened. But Meacham does more or less separate these facets of Jackson's presidency from the others.
In other respects, there is much to admire about Jackson: He oversaw a change in the role of the masses of people and favored voting rights for all adult White men (not just those who owned property). He showed that a person born to poverty could rise to the presidency. He fought and won against the moneyed interests that supported the Bank of the United States. He also supported his friends, despite it costing hm a lot of political capital.
American Lion also makes it clear that Jackson, while a fierce and forceful man, was not the lunatic that some of his opponents thought he was. Although not widely read, he was highly intelligent and he had a tender side for his family (especially children).
American Lion is not a full biography of Andrew Jackson; as the subtitle says, it concentrates almost exclusively on his presidency. For good and ill, it was a presidency that changed America forever. American Lion is an excellent guide to those changes and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in Jackson or his era.
About the Author: Jon Meacham won the Pulitzer Prize for American Lion. He is also the author of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power and Franklin and Winston.
Year Published: 2008
Rating: 8/10
Review: Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) was the seventh president of the United States. A military hero (especially because of the Battle of New Orleans) he was the first United States president who was not from the "elite". Jackson saw himself as a man of the people and he saw the American people as his family (except for Blacks and American Indians).
In American Lion, Jon Meacham has a formidable task: How to write about a president who he greatly admires for most policies, but finds deplorable for some. He handles this by separating the two. The policies which Meacham (and nearly all modern readers) find deplorable are his attitudes toward slavery (he was a vigorous defender) and the native people of the continent (he saw their removal to lands west of the Mississippi as necessary). These attitudes are not only anathema to us, they were extreme even in Jackson's day. Meacham does not gloss over these facts - indeed, American Lion makes it clear that many contemporaries of Jackson were more enlightened. But Meacham does more or less separate these facets of Jackson's presidency from the others.
In other respects, there is much to admire about Jackson: He oversaw a change in the role of the masses of people and favored voting rights for all adult White men (not just those who owned property). He showed that a person born to poverty could rise to the presidency. He fought and won against the moneyed interests that supported the Bank of the United States. He also supported his friends, despite it costing hm a lot of political capital.
American Lion also makes it clear that Jackson, while a fierce and forceful man, was not the lunatic that some of his opponents thought he was. Although not widely read, he was highly intelligent and he had a tender side for his family (especially children).
American Lion is not a full biography of Andrew Jackson; as the subtitle says, it concentrates almost exclusively on his presidency. For good and ill, it was a presidency that changed America forever. American Lion is an excellent guide to those changes and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in Jackson or his era.
About the Author: Jon Meacham won the Pulitzer Prize for American Lion. He is also the author of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power and Franklin and Winston.
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
Book review: Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beuaty and Terrof of Science
Author: Richard Holmes
Year published: 2008
Rating: 9/10
Review: Science and scientists, in the public mind, are often thought to be cold, rational and ....well ... .scientific. Others, notably the post-modernists, view science as just another world view, with no particular claims to any sort of objectivity whatsoever. Neither view is correct. They never have been. But they were, especially false during the romantic era, which gives this book its title: The Age of Wonder.
The Age of Wonder is a history of western science at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, but it is really a serial biography, telling the stories of Joseph Banks, William Herschel and his sister Caroline and son John, and Humphrey Davy, among others.
Joseph Banks was born in England, and he was born rich. Most rich English people in his era would take a tour of Europe, and return home to host functions and entertain each other. Banks said "any blockhead can do that!" Instead, he sailed off for Tahiti, being one of the first Europeans there. While there, he got much more involved with the locals than other Englishmen did; he learned a fair amount of the local language, and he made initial contributions to what would become cultural anthropology. He returned home to become president of the Royal Society. His legend dimmed somewhat later in life, as he became quite conservative, both politically and scientifically. But he had the sense of wonder in spades.
William Herschel was born in Hanover, in what would become Germany, and born poor. He made money as a musician, and gradually shifted his interests to astronomy. He thought that the moon and the sun might be inhabited, he discovered the first nebula, and the planet Uranus. William Herschel also pioneered advances in telescope making. He essentially employed his much younger sister Caroline Herschel as an assistant, but Caroline Herschel went far beyond that role, discovering much on her own, and assisting her nephew (and William's son) John in his efforts to further astronomy, in particular by charting the stars of the southern hemisphere.
Humphrey Davy was also born poor, in Cornwall, then a rather remote section of England. He made money from some of his inventions and by winning prizes, but after that, refused to patent several inventions which could have made him even more money - most notably a safety lantern that worked safely in coal mines; prior to this, there had been many explosions when open flames were exposed to flammable gasses. He became president of the Royal Society, but was not successful in this role, and eventually retired to Europe.
The Age of Wonder is wonderful. But the sense of wonder is essential to science, not just in the era portrayed, but at all times. Einstein said
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterium. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed".
Anyone who is interested in science will find The Age of Wonder wonderful.
About the Author: Richard Holmes is a professor of biographical studies at the University of East Anglia.
Year published: 2008
Rating: 9/10
Review: Science and scientists, in the public mind, are often thought to be cold, rational and ....well ... .scientific. Others, notably the post-modernists, view science as just another world view, with no particular claims to any sort of objectivity whatsoever. Neither view is correct. They never have been. But they were, especially false during the romantic era, which gives this book its title: The Age of Wonder.
The Age of Wonder is a history of western science at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, but it is really a serial biography, telling the stories of Joseph Banks, William Herschel and his sister Caroline and son John, and Humphrey Davy, among others.
Joseph Banks was born in England, and he was born rich. Most rich English people in his era would take a tour of Europe, and return home to host functions and entertain each other. Banks said "any blockhead can do that!" Instead, he sailed off for Tahiti, being one of the first Europeans there. While there, he got much more involved with the locals than other Englishmen did; he learned a fair amount of the local language, and he made initial contributions to what would become cultural anthropology. He returned home to become president of the Royal Society. His legend dimmed somewhat later in life, as he became quite conservative, both politically and scientifically. But he had the sense of wonder in spades.
William Herschel was born in Hanover, in what would become Germany, and born poor. He made money as a musician, and gradually shifted his interests to astronomy. He thought that the moon and the sun might be inhabited, he discovered the first nebula, and the planet Uranus. William Herschel also pioneered advances in telescope making. He essentially employed his much younger sister Caroline Herschel as an assistant, but Caroline Herschel went far beyond that role, discovering much on her own, and assisting her nephew (and William's son) John in his efforts to further astronomy, in particular by charting the stars of the southern hemisphere.
Humphrey Davy was also born poor, in Cornwall, then a rather remote section of England. He made money from some of his inventions and by winning prizes, but after that, refused to patent several inventions which could have made him even more money - most notably a safety lantern that worked safely in coal mines; prior to this, there had been many explosions when open flames were exposed to flammable gasses. He became president of the Royal Society, but was not successful in this role, and eventually retired to Europe.
The Age of Wonder is wonderful. But the sense of wonder is essential to science, not just in the era portrayed, but at all times. Einstein said
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterium. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed".
Anyone who is interested in science will find The Age of Wonder wonderful.
About the Author: Richard Holmes is a professor of biographical studies at the University of East Anglia.
Monday, February 5, 2018
Book Review: Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Author: Pierce Brown
Year published: 2014
Rating: 9/10
Review: The planets are being colonized, but that colonization requires extensive and very difficult physical labor. At least, that's what Darrow, the protagonist of Red Rising, thinks at the start of the novel. He works as a miner of helium-3; he is a "red", a member of the lowest caste of society, where the "golds" are rulers. But not all is as it seems in Pierce Brown's powerful first novel.
With shades of Ender's Game, Hunger Games and Brave New World, Brown paints a believable future world where the castes are separated not just by social and economic sanctions but by genetics and training. Each caste has its assigned role, whether as rulers (the golds), slaves (reds), entertainers (including prostitution), soldiers, scientists or what-have-you.
But after Darrow's wife is killed for singing a forbidden song, he casts his lot with a group of rebels that have a plan for a red rising: They will make him a gold, he will infiltrate their society, rise to power and start a revolution. But Darrow learns that, even for a gold, there are barriers to advancement, and the resulting novel is one of youthful battle dictated by adults (as in Ender's Game), rebellion (as in Hunger Games) and revenge (there's a tint of Girl with the Dragon Tatoo here too).
I finished Red Rising in two days. It's not a perfect novel (if there is such a thing). It's not a masterpiece of prose and it's a bit over-the-top. But the battle scenes are well depicted, the characters are interesting and the plot keeps you turning the pages.
About the Author: Pierce Brown is an American SF writer.
Year published: 2014
Rating: 9/10
Review: The planets are being colonized, but that colonization requires extensive and very difficult physical labor. At least, that's what Darrow, the protagonist of Red Rising, thinks at the start of the novel. He works as a miner of helium-3; he is a "red", a member of the lowest caste of society, where the "golds" are rulers. But not all is as it seems in Pierce Brown's powerful first novel.
With shades of Ender's Game, Hunger Games and Brave New World, Brown paints a believable future world where the castes are separated not just by social and economic sanctions but by genetics and training. Each caste has its assigned role, whether as rulers (the golds), slaves (reds), entertainers (including prostitution), soldiers, scientists or what-have-you.
But after Darrow's wife is killed for singing a forbidden song, he casts his lot with a group of rebels that have a plan for a red rising: They will make him a gold, he will infiltrate their society, rise to power and start a revolution. But Darrow learns that, even for a gold, there are barriers to advancement, and the resulting novel is one of youthful battle dictated by adults (as in Ender's Game), rebellion (as in Hunger Games) and revenge (there's a tint of Girl with the Dragon Tatoo here too).
I finished Red Rising in two days. It's not a perfect novel (if there is such a thing). It's not a masterpiece of prose and it's a bit over-the-top. But the battle scenes are well depicted, the characters are interesting and the plot keeps you turning the pages.
About the Author: Pierce Brown is an American SF writer.
Sunday, February 4, 2018
Book review: Declarer Play at Bridge: A Quizbook by Barbara Seagram and David Bird
Book: Declarer Play at Bridge: A Quizbook
Author: Barbara Seagram and David Bird
Year published: 2014
Rating: 8/10
Review: Experts agree that one essential aspect of declarer play at bridge is making a plan. They also agree that four of the main ways to get more tricks are:
But exactly how do you get better at these things? Some people learn well by simply learning rules (e.g. "high card from the short side first") but many people learn well by example. Declarer Play at Bridge: A Quizbook offers 60 problems suited not for complete beginners nor for those who have mastered these fundamental methods, but for those who are in-between. Most such people will call themselves "advanced beginners" or "low intermediates".
In Declarer Play at Bridge: A Quizbook, Barbara Seagram and David Bird do not offer brilliant plays; there are no squeezes or coups. Instead, there is a lot of practice at the fundamental ways of taking tricks: Methods you will use on every hand you play.
Each problem takes up two pages; the explanations are careful, basic and easy to follow, but a bit repetitious; the wording is sometimes redundant. But this is not necessarily a bad thing: A lot of learning happens through repetition. In addition, for each problem the authors offer a short "Point to remember" such as "Sometimes it is possible to combine two chances of making the contract" or "When you are setting up a suit in the dummy, you sometimes have to use an entry in the trump suit to reach the established cards. This may mean that you cannot draw all the trump before establishing the side suit".
Declarer Play at Bridge: A Quizbook is a good book. It's not really a book to read straight through, but one to dip into for a few problems at a time.
About the Authors: Barbara Seagram and David Bird are two of the most popular bridge writers in the world. Seagram is a bridge teacher in Toronto; she co-authored 25 Bridge Conventions you should Know, which is the best selling bridge book of the last half century. David Bird is the author of more than 100 bridge books, including the series "Bridge with the Abbot".
Author: Barbara Seagram and David Bird
Year published: 2014
Rating: 8/10
Review: Experts agree that one essential aspect of declarer play at bridge is making a plan. They also agree that four of the main ways to get more tricks are:
- Discarding losers
- Ruffing losers
- Taking finesses
- Establishing suits
But exactly how do you get better at these things? Some people learn well by simply learning rules (e.g. "high card from the short side first") but many people learn well by example. Declarer Play at Bridge: A Quizbook offers 60 problems suited not for complete beginners nor for those who have mastered these fundamental methods, but for those who are in-between. Most such people will call themselves "advanced beginners" or "low intermediates".
In Declarer Play at Bridge: A Quizbook, Barbara Seagram and David Bird do not offer brilliant plays; there are no squeezes or coups. Instead, there is a lot of practice at the fundamental ways of taking tricks: Methods you will use on every hand you play.
Each problem takes up two pages; the explanations are careful, basic and easy to follow, but a bit repetitious; the wording is sometimes redundant. But this is not necessarily a bad thing: A lot of learning happens through repetition. In addition, for each problem the authors offer a short "Point to remember" such as "Sometimes it is possible to combine two chances of making the contract" or "When you are setting up a suit in the dummy, you sometimes have to use an entry in the trump suit to reach the established cards. This may mean that you cannot draw all the trump before establishing the side suit".
Declarer Play at Bridge: A Quizbook is a good book. It's not really a book to read straight through, but one to dip into for a few problems at a time.
About the Authors: Barbara Seagram and David Bird are two of the most popular bridge writers in the world. Seagram is a bridge teacher in Toronto; she co-authored 25 Bridge Conventions you should Know, which is the best selling bridge book of the last half century. David Bird is the author of more than 100 bridge books, including the series "Bridge with the Abbot".
Saturday, February 3, 2018
Book review: Ghost Hero by S. J. Rozan
Book: Ghost Hero
Author: S. J. Rozan
Year published: 2011
Rating: 8/10
Review: Ghost Hero is the 11th novel in the Lydia Chin-Bill Smith series of detective/mystery stories. While it might help to read the earlier ones, each also stands alone.
Lydia Chin is a Chinese private detective; her usual partner (in detective work and more) is Bill Smith. Chin doesn't specialize in art, so she is somewhat surprised when a new client wants to hire her to investigate the location of paintings done by a Chinese dissident named Chau Chun, but known as the Ghost Hero. However, her new client says he wants her for her "Chineseness" not any art expertise.
The paintings, if they exist, would be quite valuable; each might be worth half a million dollars. For one thing, the painter is dead (or so it seems). Chin takes the case. What seems to be a fairly simple matter quickly grows in complexity. For one thing, the painter is dead (or so it seems). For another, a surprising number of people seem interested in the ghost hero's paintings - including both Chinese and American diplomats, Chinese gangsters, professors and their daughters and more.
In a world they are unfamiliar with, Chin and Smith team up with a friend of Smith's: Jack Lee - an American born Chinese detective who does specialize in art. Together, they track the paintings through all sorts of complications.
Ghost Hero has several strengths: The plot is interesting; it introduce the readers to the world of Chines art; as usual with Rozan's novels, the background of New York City's Chinatown is finely drawn; the characters, both major and minor, are interesting and it's often funny (Lydia's mother is hysterical).
I recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries. If you happen to be interested in Chinese-American culture, so much the better.
About the Author: S. J. Rozan was born in the Bronx. She worked as an architect for many years. She has won the Edgar, Anthony, Shamus, Nero and Macavity awards. In addition the Chin and Smith novels she has published dozens of short stories and two stand alone novels.
Author: S. J. Rozan
Year published: 2011
Rating: 8/10
Review: Ghost Hero is the 11th novel in the Lydia Chin-Bill Smith series of detective/mystery stories. While it might help to read the earlier ones, each also stands alone.
Lydia Chin is a Chinese private detective; her usual partner (in detective work and more) is Bill Smith. Chin doesn't specialize in art, so she is somewhat surprised when a new client wants to hire her to investigate the location of paintings done by a Chinese dissident named Chau Chun, but known as the Ghost Hero. However, her new client says he wants her for her "Chineseness" not any art expertise.
The paintings, if they exist, would be quite valuable; each might be worth half a million dollars. For one thing, the painter is dead (or so it seems). Chin takes the case. What seems to be a fairly simple matter quickly grows in complexity. For one thing, the painter is dead (or so it seems). For another, a surprising number of people seem interested in the ghost hero's paintings - including both Chinese and American diplomats, Chinese gangsters, professors and their daughters and more.
In a world they are unfamiliar with, Chin and Smith team up with a friend of Smith's: Jack Lee - an American born Chinese detective who does specialize in art. Together, they track the paintings through all sorts of complications.
Ghost Hero has several strengths: The plot is interesting; it introduce the readers to the world of Chines art; as usual with Rozan's novels, the background of New York City's Chinatown is finely drawn; the characters, both major and minor, are interesting and it's often funny (Lydia's mother is hysterical).
I recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries. If you happen to be interested in Chinese-American culture, so much the better.
About the Author: S. J. Rozan was born in the Bronx. She worked as an architect for many years. She has won the Edgar, Anthony, Shamus, Nero and Macavity awards. In addition the Chin and Smith novels she has published dozens of short stories and two stand alone novels.
What are you reading? Feb 3 2018
Here is what I am reading now. Share what you are reading in comments.
- A New History of Western Philosophy by Anthony Kenny. This is a very good history of the subject, well written and clear. Kenny follows an unusual strategy in that he takes two approaches: He first covers each era in a more-or-less chronological order, then he looks at the big topics of that era in a systematic way. I am on p. 329.
- The Great Formal Machinery Works: Theories of Deduction and Computation at the Origins of the Digital Age by Jan van Plato. An examination of formal logic and computation. I am on p. 122.
- High Price: A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery that Challenges Everything you Know About Drugs and Society by Carl Hart. Why everything you know (or thought you knew) about illicit drugs is wrong. I am on p. 182.
- I finished Night Trade by Barry Eisler. My review.
- I finished Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson. My review.
- I started Red Men by Matthew de Abaitua. I am on p. 34.
- I am browsing through Best American Essays of 2017 by Leslie Jamison.
- I am reading Adsense Secrets by Joel Comm to try to figure out how to make the ads on this blog better. I am 16% in.
- I started The Infidel and the Professor: David Hume, Adam Smith, and the Friendship that Shaped Modern Thought by Dennis Rasmussen. I am on p. 77.
Friday, February 2, 2018
Book review: How You Can Play Like an Expert (without Having to be one) by Mel Cochamiro
Book: How You Can Play Like an Expert without Having to be one
Author: Mel Cochamiro
Year published: 2007
Rating: 8/10
Review:
Some people are expert bridge players. How You Can Play like an Expert is not for them. Some bridge players are just starting out and How You Can Play like an Expert is not for them, either. Mel Cochamiro has written a good book for the vast group of people who play bridge at an intermediate level. Mel Cochamiro is an expert bridge player and teacher; in How You Can Play like an Expert he has distilled much of what he has learned about playing bridge into a set of rules. However, the book might be better titled "How to Bid Like an Expert" since most of it is about bidding (although there is some material on play and defense).
Like many books on bridge, How You Can Play like an Expert is not really one to read and then put away. It is a book to look at repeatedly over time, preferably going over the rules one or a few at a time with each partner that you play with regularly. Bridge is, after all, a partnership game.
Each rule is in a separate chapter and each is given about 10 pages. The problem is remembering all the rules and when they apply. That is another reason that this book should be read in intervals and repeatedly. How to Play like an Expert also features some of Mel Cochamiro's sense of humor and a few of his stories. I found these less than wonderful, but they leaven the rules.
There are rules about when to open, how to respond to a preempt, when to double and so on. About 200 of the books' 276 pages are devoted to bidding, about 40 to play and defense and the rest to introductory material and an appendix.
About the Author: Mel Cochamiro is an expert bridge player and teacher. He lives on Long Island in New York.
Author: Mel Cochamiro
Year published: 2007
Rating: 8/10
Review:
Some people are expert bridge players. How You Can Play like an Expert is not for them. Some bridge players are just starting out and How You Can Play like an Expert is not for them, either. Mel Cochamiro has written a good book for the vast group of people who play bridge at an intermediate level. Mel Cochamiro is an expert bridge player and teacher; in How You Can Play like an Expert he has distilled much of what he has learned about playing bridge into a set of rules. However, the book might be better titled "How to Bid Like an Expert" since most of it is about bidding (although there is some material on play and defense).
Like many books on bridge, How You Can Play like an Expert is not really one to read and then put away. It is a book to look at repeatedly over time, preferably going over the rules one or a few at a time with each partner that you play with regularly. Bridge is, after all, a partnership game.
Each rule is in a separate chapter and each is given about 10 pages. The problem is remembering all the rules and when they apply. That is another reason that this book should be read in intervals and repeatedly. How to Play like an Expert also features some of Mel Cochamiro's sense of humor and a few of his stories. I found these less than wonderful, but they leaven the rules.
There are rules about when to open, how to respond to a preempt, when to double and so on. About 200 of the books' 276 pages are devoted to bidding, about 40 to play and defense and the rest to introductory material and an appendix.
About the Author: Mel Cochamiro is an expert bridge player and teacher. He lives on Long Island in New York.
Thursday, February 1, 2018
What I read in January, 2018
Here are books I finished last month (links go to my reviews):
- Adulthood Rites by Octavia Butler
- Twitter for Writers by Raine Hall
- The Complete Book on Takeout Doubles by Mike Lawrence
- Imago by Octavia Butler
- The Burglar in the Rye by Lawrence Block
- Exploring Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
- Night Trade by Barry Eisler
- Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson
#Book review: Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson
Book: Leonardo da Vinci
Author: Walter Isaacson
Year published: 2017
Date finished: Jan 28, 2018
Genre:Biography
Rating: 9/10
Review: He frequently failed to finish what he started. He reneged on contracts. He wrote backwards. He was one of the greatest geniuses of all time and the embodiment of a "Renaissance Man". He was Leonardo da Vinci and Walter Isaacson captures many aspects of the man in this wonderful biography.
Leonardo was, of course, one of the great painters of all time. And an anatomist. An engineer. A scientist. An inventor. But did you know that he pioneered in such fields as dentistry, industrial efficiency (he made a time and motion study of a plan to divert a river), and cartography (he improved on military maps). Did you know he anticipated some of the ideas of Copernicus (he wrote that the sun does not move) and Newton?
You will after reading this book.
I have only two negative things to say: First, the reproduction of the paintings could be better; of course, that isn't the author's fault and making better reproductions would have greatly increased the cost of the book, but it was hard to see the truth of some of Isaacson's comments because of the quality of reproductions. Second, Isaacson sometimes repeats himself.
But overall, a magnificent effort.
About the Author: In addition to writing biographies of Einstein, Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin and, now, Leonardo da Vinci, Isaacson is the head of the Aspen Institute, a professor of history at Tulane and the former chair and CEO of CNN.
Sources: Wikipedia.
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