Interesting words: Derisory

Derisory is an adjective meaning either "expressing derision" or "worthy of derision, especially 'particularly small'" (per Merriam Webster). Derision, in turn, means "the use of ridicule or scorn to show contempt".

The first known use of "derisory" is from 1618.  Derisory is a pretty rare word, per Google Ngram, it's 1 in every 8.3 million words, where derision is used about 10 times more often.  Interestingly, though, derision is getting rarer over time while derisory is getting more common. In 1900, the ratio was about 100 to 1.

The origin of both words is linked to deride, which comes from Middle French derider and earlier from Latin deridere "to ridicule, laugh, or scorn".

Book review: And yet .... by Christopher Hitchens

It's a daunting task to review a book by Christopher Hitchens because his own book reviews were such models of erudition.  It's really scary how much this man knew and could reference.  It's even scarier when you consider that he was a serious drinker for pretty much all his life.

Nevertheless, I read this book and so I will review it.

It is a collection of essays - each a few pages long - most of them are either about politics (broadly defined) or literature.  Hitchens can be infuriating and enjoyable to read, even in the same essay. His store of knowledge and his vocabulary were enormous and he was highly opinionated on just about all topics. These are polemics. 

He is, for example, opposed to Christmas and points out that Christians ought to be too, not just because it is commercialized but because it is pagan.  The pilgrims in early America forbade any celebration of it.  He's generally against religion (this is the author of "God is not Great").  And he finds a lot of politicians deplorable - not always in easily predictable ways. 

Interesting words: Punctate

According to Merriam-Webster, punctate (rhymes with drunk state) is an adjective and means "marked with minute spots or depressions" or "characterized by dots or points". That's a useful word!  It saves a bunch of words and makes a clear description of a situation easier. You could use it to describe a skin condition or a leaf or findings from an MRI or things like that.

There is a noun form "punctation".

Don't get this mixed up with punctuation! But, if a piece of writing uses ellipsis extensively, you could call it "punctate punctuation"!

The etymology is from Latin punctatus, then Latin punctum (point).  It's rarely used (about 1 in 5,000,000 words, per Google Ngram) and is in decline, for some reason, having peaked in about 1910.

Book Review: Entropy and the Magic Flute by Harold J. Morowitz

Entropy and the Magic Flute is a collection of essays by Harold J. Morowitz. Although somewhat dated (it was published more than 20 years ago) the dating is usually not important and sometimes interesting as a reminder of how things have changed.

The essays themselves cover a wide range of topics. For instance, the title essay is about Morowitz's search for the tombstone of Ludwig Boltzmann, who studied entropy and came up with Boltzman's constant.  Morowitz contrasts the relative anonymity of Boltzmann (he had trouble finding the site) with the huge fame of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who wrote the Magic Flute and whose grave is not far away.

Another essay, Tricentennial marks the 300th anniversary of the publication of Newton's masterwork: Philosophiae Natrualis Principia Mathematica by analyzing the title page in depth, leading to discussing topics such as Samuel Pepys and the execution of King Charles I.

Other topics include the Hippocratic Oath, why some journals were missing from a library, plagiarism, addiction  .... there are 48 essays in all and, since the book is 224 pages long, a little arithmetic shows that the average essay is a little less than 5 pages long.

Harold Morowitz (1927-2016) was a biophysicist who studied the application of thermodynamics to living systems.  He wrote several collections of essays as well as more technical books.

Interesting words: Reliquary

A reliquary is a container for relics. Usually, these are holy relics associated with a religion, but the word reliquary can also be used more loosely - e.g. for a container for the bones of  deceased royalty.  One purpose of a reliquary is to be able to move the relics if the church or temple had to evacuate, as in times of war.

Etymologically, reliquary comes from French reliquaire which was first used in the 14th century. Not surprisingly, it shares its origin with relic, which originally meant "body parts or other object from a holy person" (see https://www.etymonline.com/word/relic). Relic derives from Latin, reliquiae which meant the remains of a martyr and from proto-IndoEuropean leikw- meaning "to leave".

The meaning of relic has broadened with time; it is now used for any object of historical or sentimental interest.  The less common reliquary is going in the same direction.  For example, in New York City there is a museum called the City Reliquary, which displays artifacts from the history of the city, most of them not religious in any way. Reliquary is also the title of at least two novels.

Book review: Quantum man: Richard Feynman's life in Science by Lawrence Krauss

There are many biographies of Richard Feynman, including three autobiographical volumes.  Why, then, has Lawrence Krauss taken the time to write another? Because this one is different.  This one spends relatively little time discussing Feynman’s personality, his childhood, his romances and so on and concentrates on his role in physics.

Feynman contributed to a remarkably wide range of physics, but his major area was quantum physics.  This makes Krauss’s job hard for two reasons: First, Krauss has to understand that same range of physics well enough to be able to consider Feynman’s contribution.  Second, quantum physics is notoriously tricky to explain. 

Krauss is up to the task. His description of science is perfect for his audience which is the educated lay person. He manages to convey the central importance of Feynman’s work without either dumbing it down too much or overwhelming us with equations – indeed, I don’t recall any equations.  

Krauss also comments on what made Feynman more than just another really smart person.  Two 

things that stood out are Feynman’s powers of concentration, which were remarkable even among top ranked physicists and Feynman’s insistence on working everything out for himself and not accepting anything just because it was in a textbook. 

Book review: Double Deuce by Robert B. Parker

Year published: Double Deuce was published in 1992
Date I finished reading:  December 5, 2016
Genre: Mystery
Rating: A
Review:  Double Deuce is the 19th novel in the Spenser series and it's one of my favorites.  When residents of the "double deuce" a notorious housing project in Boston that got its name from its address of 22 Hobart Street ask Hawk to rid the project of gangs, he brings Spenser in for assistance.

There are the usual complications and violence, but the reason it's one of my favorite of the Spenser novels is because we learn a lot about the main characters and, in particular, about Hawk and how he became who he is and the price he paid for doing so.