Gene is a must-read history book on genetics. Many accounts have been penned on Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, for instance, to make their importanGene is a must-read history book on genetics. Many accounts have been penned on Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, for instance, to make their importance known to the non-professionals. Gene fills the void for the equally important science of Genetics.
The author's biggest success is in weaving a beautiful narrative. Starting with the emotionally-charged personal links to the field to the frequent detailing of personalities of or anecdotes involving famous scientists, the subject is kept 'human'. There are abundant scientific notions to satisfy any reader picking up the book to understand the real subject matter, but not in the general bland fashion of studies-and-conclusions that tend to lose many a lay people.
The book also excels because of the simplicity with which countless exotic concepts are explained. From the notions of introns and exons to the polygenic nature of most phenotypes, the feedback from environment to gene mutation and the massive role played by non-gene factors in most our traits, the author uncovers a staggering number of interesting findings in a highly understandable manner.
Amid all this, the author keeps the focus on various moral and ethical issues. The narrative is laced with historic episodes of all kinds to emphasise the criticality of the questions confronting us as we make more scientific progress. For example, the book beautifully explains the dangers of genetic modification - which tantamounts to replacing natural selection with human selection. As professionals or parents seek to weed out certain deformities, there are genuine risks of us eliminating some important evolutionary traits mainly out of ignorance of how genes really work at this stage but also out of their possible other utilities in long future.
The biggest flaw of the book is insufficient focus on latest developments and near absence of what this science is capable of solving in coming decades. The optimists out there expect congenitally blind people to see and cancers all cured. Some expect us to be able to grow a third arm if we so choose or re-create a dinosaur in a century or so. Genetics is combined with nanotechnology, cryonics, robotics etc by many fantasizers to come up with even more fanciful theories. The author could have added a chapter or two to discuss gene therapy and other recent experiments to complete the excellent work further.
That said, a remarkable book in all aspects....more
Black Flags is limited by its scope, which is likely a result of its sources. Relying on the information from CIA and Jordan security forces, Black FlBlack Flags is limited by its scope, which is likely a result of its sources. Relying on the information from CIA and Jordan security forces, Black Flags provides a lucid account of post Bin Laden terrorism landscape the viewpoint of the US. However, it omits far more than what it covers.
The book is good in explaining the many nuances of the radical forces in and around Iraq, Syria and Jordan. The best part of the book is the rise and demise of Zarqawi. Regardless of the claims implied in the title, the last third of the book where the ISIS is actually discussed is materially weaker, mostly pieced together from the stories available in general media. One can almost say that Baghdadi and ISIS were possibly inserted as a book simply on Zarqawi would not have found a similar audience.
The Middle East has the unfortunate combination of almost medieval zealots on one side and brutal despots - howsoever secular - on the other. In fighting Russia in Afghanistan, then Saddam and subsequently Bashar, the US rightly or wrongly is involved in eliminating the only forces that could keep the worst of the fundamentalists in check. As the Iraq section in the book vividly showed, eliminating the secular thugs is quite easy but it ends up creating a far worse scenario for all bar none.
This is a good even if imperfect primer for anyone who wants a quick background often lost in everyday media articles on Syria and Iraq....more
Redefining Reality is not what it claims to in the blurb. It is a good collection of many physical and social science "101" course summaries.
Imagine Redefining Reality is not what it claims to in the blurb. It is a good collection of many physical and social science "101" course summaries.
Imagine if you wanted to know what you are going to learn in Relativity 101 - you get a 30-inute summary here. Same for Quantum Physics. And Astronomy. And Evolution. And Medicine. And Genetics. And Psychology. And Sociology. And Market Economics. And ....
Each summary is quite basic. Full of claims which appear nothing more than assertions in any religious texts. Of course, there is no room in this course for the author to discuss nuances of almost anything let alone the counter-theories or criticisms.
Positively, this book that brings together Newton to Einstein, Darwin to Freud, Kant and Keynes, Weber or Marx, even Godel and Turin has a smooth narrative style while going through a vast landscape.
An easy listen overall of questionable value....more
Yuva Harari has a great, succinct way of making his points using allegories and tales while fitting them cogently in his big picture. In the process, Yuva Harari has a great, succinct way of making his points using allegories and tales while fitting them cogently in his big picture. In the process, he makes many leaps of faith, sweeping generalizations and brushes aside countless counterviews without adequate treatment - as a result, he comes out far less scholarly than his peers or he himself would want to see reflected in his work. Yet, for the uninitiated, his work is an absolute delight.
I have done Prof Harari's course on Coursera - possibly the best course of its kind in the public domain. In uniquely charming ways, he is a wonderful presenter in absolute command of his content. The book covers the same themes possibly in a more forceful manner given that Professor must have had far more time to edit his final output in the case of a book compared to relatively more extempore lecture content.
The reason why Harari's work is a must read for anyone is because he makes you think. He repeatedly attacks commonly held views (both explicit and implicit) with brute force to conclude with astounding claims. Even if one disagrees vehemently, it is unlikely for one to walk away from almost any section without something substantial and substantive to ponder.
For example, Professor returns to the role played by myths and narratives time and again. He uses them to categorize various modern economic -isms with classical religions in effectively playing the role of making a group of Sapiens work together on common goals. Myths, according to the book, helped our ancestors punch in far above their individual weights. In a way in Harari's view, the myths built around current corporates or sports' teams are not much different from the Arabian night or Biblical tales in their utility -a kind of assertions that is bound to rile almost everyone. Yet, the reader cannot escape appreciating the logic of tens of such arguments made repeatedly in the book.
The scope of the topics covered is immense. Because of the powerful style and excellent prose, one often ends up yearning for more particularly given the pace at which the new arguments are made and eras traveled. The author has a great habit of not providing mere facts for the sake of mentions. He always selects and chooses to link them his wider yarn of claims and also his overall arrow of history theme. For pure theorists, this must be a blasphemy: suiting facts to support claims. I am sure in some other more academic work, the good professor could also turn as rigorous as the standards of his fields demand but he has got it just right while making claims here.
Once again, a wonderful book with myriads messages - some truly remarkable and important. I strongly recommend the Coursera course to anyone who enjoys the book as much as I did. ...more
The lecture series is quite interesting and informative although dated and too quick on some of the conclusions.
On the positive side, the discussions The lecture series is quite interesting and informative although dated and too quick on some of the conclusions.
On the positive side, the discussions are not on any set of philosophers or ideas - a common fault in most such books. There is no attempt to move chronologically as a result. The chapters smoothly move from one to the next connected topic. Each of the subjects is treated more or less holistically replete with views expressed over eons as well as proofs and renunciations - both subjective and objective.
The problem is not with the giddiness of moving back and forth but because of the pre-formed conclusions that are evident from the selection of the topics discussed to unusual assertiveness in the judgment of what must be true at times.
For instance, the lectures delivered in the late nineties develop some strong definitive "answers" on the efficacy or the lack thereof of the artificial intelligence based on the available information of the time. The judgments on our mind from these arguments appear not just dated but wrong simply on account of the lack of imagination shown. The Professor tries to establish the perpetual supremacy of our mind based on the lack of genuine parallel processing, slow development of technology not recognizing the exponentiality, inability to decipher language or "the framing" issues of the computers in the pre-google, pre-cloud, pre-mobile and pre-big data days. I am sure the proponents of these conclusions would choose many other arguments by now to keep claiming why machines are dumb and Turin will remain wrong forever on his prediction of machines beating the genuine Turin test (he was wrong on the initial time frame of fifty years but by just a small number of decades). Once one throws in the latest developments in the genetics and the robotics, the arguments of the series assume more relevancy while potentially causing many of the conclusions to turn scarily invalid.
[a coincidence: the day I am writing the review is the day when machines have first time developed enough AI to beat perhaps the best humans on GO - one of the most difficult game to "program"]
That's the crux of the lecture series: it raises many good questions even if the answers it provides are often erroneous....more
Most philosophical compendium spend an enormous amount of time going through classical Western philosophers and various idea reThis series is unique.
Most philosophical compendium spend an enormous amount of time going through classical Western philosophers and various idea revolutions. The professor here has no time for Aristotle and his likes. The backdrop is from Descartes onwards but the time spent on the 17th, the 18th and the 19th century philosopher is also relatively less. This includes discourses on Spinoza, Hume, Kant, Hagel or Nietzsche.
Rather, the story is of the twentieth-century philosophy. And all its various strands are so different, complicated and intricate that it is no wonder most of the other books like to avoid the topics of the latest traditions by simply blaming it on nobody having done as well as the erstwhile giants.
The modern approaches and conclusions are as different from what one is used to reading in the Will Durant type of History of Philosophy books as Post-Copernican scientists' views from the pre. A book like this is difficult - far more than the easy reading of the history of previous philosophers. The number of topics is large and their differences often too subtle. One will need to read a lot more to get any grasp of subjects mentioned here.
The Professor's biggest contribution is in the form of the new subjects and work he ends up introducing to general masses. ...more
There are a handful of good compendiums available on Western Philosophy but none I have read covers the breadth the way this course - which goes way bThere are a handful of good compendiums available on Western Philosophy but none I have read covers the breadth the way this course - which goes way beyond Philosophy - does. The most significant aspect is the space the course has for modern developments rather than getting stuck in the brilliant but well-covered thoughts of the 17th-19th century thinkers.
A handful of professors lead to an inevitable mish-mash of delivery styles and content depth than desirable but in a way this allows the course to overcome some of the single writer bias which is inevitable otherwise. More importantly, the course coordinator ensures a great mix as a result - one that would include Newton and Freud or Rousseau to Marx/Smith or Luther/Calvin or Machiavelli.
One will often feel breathless and yearn for more than provided in 30-minute sessions. This is exactly what the course sets out to do - provide a clear introduction and not much more. The course takes an exceptionally novel trend when it begins discussing the 20th century. Rather than touching up on the known scientific revolutions, it expounds on the new thoughts on the structuralism, rationality as bounded by the language, deconstruction etc. ...more
As the title suggests, this is a book about T E Lawrence. It is a book about a handful of other protagonists who played large roles in the events of tAs the title suggests, this is a book about T E Lawrence. It is a book about a handful of other protagonists who played large roles in the events of the time. It is a war book. Most importantly, it is a book about the backdrop of today's Middle East.
For a first time reader of Lawrence and his exploits like this reviewer, the events described are simply awe-inspiring. Mr Anderson is a master chronicler. Despite a plethora of diverse characters with completely different motives and chaotic events happening at different places, the author keeps the tale coherent all through. There must be back-breaking research work at the base of this tale but the author is rarely pedantic. He recounts different interpretations and even likely incomplete or wrong accounts in a non-scholarly way. The author has written the book for general public as much as for the experts.
More than the war events and outcomes - whose outrageousness cannot be overemphasised - the book is about the roots of today's Arabia. Highly flawed individuals' own agendas are described in real time. It is fascinating, if not just troubling, to see how their seemingly personal drives caused deaths of millions then and many more later.
The book gives the centre stage to Lawrence and quite wide birth to many other historic figures like Djemal Pasha, Prince Faisal, Aaron Aaronsohn, William Yale and Curt Prufer. In the backdrop, one not only encounters the Great War, but also the fall of the Ottomans, the colonial power's intrigues/decay, the beginning of the oil economy, the Russian revolution and the rising influence of the US.
The book is a comprehensive and masterful tale of how all these personalities and forces eventually create Israel, Iraq, Syria or even modern day Turkey and Saudi Arabia with a multitude of new issues for the next few centuries....more
A veritable primer on an important subject for all the uninitiated.
Cancer is complex. This single epitaph covers dozens of different diseases. It affeA veritable primer on an important subject for all the uninitiated.
Cancer is complex. This single epitaph covers dozens of different diseases. It affects entire humanity in our age - many directly and the rest through their loved ones. It is genetic whose pathology is evolving. Another thing evolving is the disease itself. As is the cure. Genetic and yet at least some of it is virus-born. And there are carcinogens. The treatment could be surgical, chemical, radiation-based, implant involving and even preventive. Physically, financially and emotionally, few things are as painful as this disease for those involved and even the whole society.
The point is that covering cancer is not easy. And, that's why few others have tried it despite its pervasive nature. Dr Mukherjee's book covers all the bases an outsider can think of and much more.
There are hundreds of popular science books on relativity and quantum mechanics. Modern day readers have plenty of choices if they want to understand Darwinian evolution, renaissance or any form of philosophies. There is a lot written on genes, penicillin or even Spanish flu. Dr Mukherjee's book attempts to fill the important void.
The stories that the author uses are fascinating and keep the dire, drab subject from draining the readers. In between the progressive expositions on the disease and cures, there is a good use of history and stories of the patients.
The book definitely suffers from many shortcomings. The author is not a professional writer - something evident from the language and the structure. Many readers will have problems with the book's treatment of some topic or the other. Interested experts could have a field day critiquing many an explanations that are perhaps over-simplified.
Despite all that, this is a must-read book of encyclopedic ambition for almost anyone, including its professionals. If not for any other reason then for the fact that there is not much available on cancer explained even this lucidly. ...more
History, as is often said, depends on the perspective from which it is told. For a more comprehensive view on the events of the last few centuries or History, as is often said, depends on the perspective from which it is told. For a more comprehensive view on the events of the last few centuries or for the backdrop of so much happening today, a bunch of narratives from non-Western viewpoints are a must. Unfortunately, few that attempt to provide a middle-eastern colour exist in popular press. Ansary's book is a good half-way house.
The first glance at world maps that Scandinavian like to draw with a pole at the centre would appear to a different planet for anyone not used to them (check this video. The same is true about this world history book that has little place for the centuries before the birth of the prophet, trivialises crusades or describes the Great War as a civila war amongst the European states.
The notable events, characters, developments and implications are all different all through. Yet, they are kept understandable. The author does a remarkable job walking the tightrope of some of the attributes that are debatably acceptable from a different viewpoint even if they appear abhorrent in the West.He is quite balanced in criticizing many other prevalent practices that are plain and simple wrong.
Yet, the book has numerous faults. It is less a history through the Islamic Eyes than through the popularly known Middle-Eastern eyes. It has almost no place for the Muslims in Africa, SE Asia, north of the Caucus or even from those in the Sub-Continent - these are the Moslems who are more than 80% of the Islamic world.
The pace is too quick. This book's readers would have gained materially more if the book was at least double in length with more elaborate discussions. The narrative is personal - in style that is chatty, in views that are those of the author with little reference to the works of other scholars and in picking events that the author feels comfortable about.
In the end, this is a good starting point to understand the "middle ages" differently. It should be complimented with many other more serious works, if they are easily available. ...more
Few historic periods are as eventful, turbulent and consequential for human society as the 25-year period starting from 1889. Even avid history buffs Few historic periods are as eventful, turbulent and consequential for human society as the 25-year period starting from 1889. Even avid history buffs are often at loss to explain how the revolution of all time for democracy ended up with the popular rise and then fall of Napolean in the double quick time.Everyone should listen to this easy to understand lectures simply to learn about this fascinating period if not for any other reason.
Ms Desan's lecture series covers the tumultuous period's events in the most understandable manner without turning overbearing. She has a new style that blends chronological progress with continuous analysis of themes. Or perhaps the other way around. Let me elaborate.
The professor does not simply state history with the implications and analysis of events. Rather, each session is built on a new theme or a subject which could range from the poverty, daily life, art or certain personalities and their key traits. To expand on the theme, the narrator would go back in time, elaborate on the relevant details and reach up to a new moment in the French history of the period, cover the moment and expand on its impact for the future. Still, in every lecture with those critical themes and events, the series would keep rolling forward chronologically. The style is beautiful and immensely creative because it allows the flow of the narrative to remain fresh and meaningful.
From Bastille to Napoleon's Corsican exile, the struggle between the Jacobins and Girondins that led to the internal civil war, the reign of terror and the guillotined end of the democracy itself, the Thermidorian provided first intermission and the spectacular rise of Napolean followed by the innumerable fables of the legend - the lectures have enough topics to support even a ten year soap opera! ...more
As with the part 1, the sequel offers great examples and good insights. However, the book is far more tedious, turgid and repetitive.
For anyone who hAs with the part 1, the sequel offers great examples and good insights. However, the book is far more tedious, turgid and repetitive.
For anyone who has not read the first part or forgotten the basic theme, the main objectives behind the arguments could appear obfuscated until first summarized past the halfway. Even who are aware of the main thread of political evolution, the book would appear to be going off the main topic of what creates successful societies far too often. This is tolerable when the author is dealing with good examples but more difficult when one is made to plough through exotic theories or utterly simplistic points (particularly towards the end when the author decides to pinpoint all the analysis of societies over a few millenia over two books to turn preachy on the rot in today's US policymaking).
The book's biggest fault is possibly in the main theory itself which completely ignores the role played by unique individuals for their brilliance and errors. These are individuals that just come into being and not really children of their environment. To the author, such arguments might be too much chance dependent, but not only individuals' roles and influences are undeniable (below) in political evolution, the same is true in biological evolution.
Back to the book: between copious text and often irrelevant details, the author makes some great points in the first half of the book while discussing what creates political order in some societies and disorders in some others. A failed or non-functioning political system is mostly defined in terms of the leaders working for private benefits. The author labours somewhat excessively on the issue of clientalism (or corruption in common parlance). This is the word for pervasive non-merit or favour-driven political system which the author claims is natural to human societies and was a norm in almost all parts of the world until recently.
The broad conclusions with regards to order and chaos are obvious and also repetitive. Yet, interspersed throughout are some great insights, case studies and novel sub-points. For example, the discussion of Italy and Greece made a fascinating point on the sequencing: ie, systems where democracy developed before modernity and its implications on a society's long-term progress. Or the differing evolutions of systems where industrialization was accompanied with modernization and those where it was not.
The contrasting examples of US railway regulatory body versus the efficiently run USDA showed how patchy and personality-driven US emergence to a merit-based system has been. It is not often in modern day books one is told the high positives of relatively quick-to-develop and better German or Chinese bureaucracies/polities versus the favour-based systems of the US. Effectively, the author makes some convincing points on the stresses between democracy and meritocracy - how the presence of one naturally tilts the balance against the other and combining the two requires conscious efforts and a lot of luck. This argument is again illustrated well with examples like Nigeria, Indonesia and Argentina.
The sections on Latin America and Africa make plenty of fascinating points but as the author mentions multiple times at various points, there is no simple way to answer what helped some to prosper and others not. Many arguments appear post-facto justifications with the counter-factuals mostly theoretical. A more pertinent area of study is why certain economies or systems do not make the required mid-course corrections while lagging behind over a considerable period of time. Take Argentina that had seen the good times and had found the "success" formula: why did it not emulate what worked before or elsewhere while the economy was losing for almost a century. Why do failed systems just not learn in real time - particularly those not afflicted with the incapacity to learn because of the wrong institutional/personality-based rigidities?
While most arguments are over-hatched, one point that the author could have spent more time on was "historical amnesia" or the assertion that there are huge (and conveniently forgotten) abuses and mistakes at the root of any great nation building.
The main point the author (hopefully) deliberately skips is the impact of personalities. Like in science, religion, discovery and even wars, mammoth changes are often a result of some Columbus, Newton, or Mohammad. Such pioneers exist in the political space too - at some impressionable stage for any economic or political system, a Lenin or a Washington, a Nehru or a Lee Kuan Yew, a family of Kims or Deng Xiaoping could end up defining how a system evolves. Such personalities are as much a result of their system as any Einstein or Hitler - ie, very little of the society characteristics can explain the extreme impact of these individuals. This is true in every facet of the world of ideas including political ideas.
The most disappointing part is the final section on the "decay". The broad point is fine: every successful system eventually loses its rigour as it establishes resistance to change and as a result lose its vitality. Somewhat unusually, the author makes his sweeping conclusions as an inevitability using big words than any great historic examples like Huttington. As a result, there are hardly any subtle sub-points like in the main section. Rather, what one gets are the lamentations of all things going wrong in Washington.
All that said, the book is a must read sequel of Fukayama's pioneering work....more
The lecture series works on almost all the counts perfectly: the topic is extremely important and relatively uncovered. The views are largely unbiasedThe lecture series works on almost all the counts perfectly: the topic is extremely important and relatively uncovered. The views are largely unbiased even if one disagrees with many of the conclusions. The style is completely engaging with the professor mixing the landmark historical events with personal anecdotes or interesting normal life incidents to create a sense of a grand, purposeful story rumbling towards a rousing climax. And most importantly, the details are rich, illuminating and still undaunting and easy to understand.
To start with, the book starts exactly at a point that is so logical but rarely utilized. The relevancy enhanced by skipping the millennia of empires, scholars and apparently exotic lifestyle comes in handy throughout the book. Professor Baum present this history as that of another human society in all its achievements, ambitions, injustices and mistakes.
All the larger than life, history-shaping politicians are shown as real life, real time humans - ambitious, at times idealistic, at times narcissistic, vain, insecure, ill-informed and taking decisions without remotely being aware of the implications. The last point on the implications is particularly important as it is often lost to many of us later day observers that there is little inevitability or even significance when most events that are later seen as monumental begin. Professor Baum somehow finds enough time to describe tens of otherwise lesser known Chinese politicians who shaped the world history more than hundreds popularly known to the readers of contemporary western history.
The decription of the events is breath-taking, even more than the sheer scope. From the opium wars to the last days of the royalty, the Taiping and Boxer rebellions, the rise of the nationalists, the ins and the outs of Sun Yat Sen, the common origins and the crazy split of Kuomintang and the Communists, the rise from obscurity of Mao and the fall to the obscurity (in the Chinese context at least) of Chiang Kai Shek, the Japanese invasion and implications, the Korean war, the Cultural revolution, the Great Leap, the purges of many politicians, the gang of four, the mostly uncertain and (at least then-appearing) unspectacular rise and era of Deng etc etc
There is so much to learn from this series that somehow is not just relevant but enormously interesting. ...more
I have many issues with the conclusions in the book, but they do not take away anything from the fact that this must read is groundbreaking and thorouI have many issues with the conclusions in the book, but they do not take away anything from the fact that this must read is groundbreaking and thorough in the way few books ever are. It imparts staggering, new insights into one of the most important topics of our time. This era-defining book that might just turn into an era-changing one for all the wrong reasons.
Wealth inequality has to be one of the most pressing issues of our time. We live in a society where the concentration of asset ownership is rising to unjustifiable if not unprecedented heights. The author provides details rarely known to the lay folks and provides easily understandable sketches of the trends that go back three centuries. It is given that the nit-pickers will find problems with the calculation details somewhere, but it is unlikely to change the inequality message or its importance in the slightest.
The best part of the book is its data and also the long history. The messages are somewhat repetitive but still simple with many obscure gems interspersed. For example, there are fascinating discussions of countries' relatively immaterial "net external ownership" now versus extremely lopsided levels during the colonial centuries, or the arguments on the extreme political cycles of Africa/elsewhere on account of the untenable wealth concentration (between protectionism/asset conservatism and revolutions), or anecdotes from literature etc.
The theory (both the fundamental laws) are somewhat tautological. That said, the author's ability to create dynamic evolution/story from the static data with the help of these laws is commendable. Piketty is exceptional in covering all the bases while substantiating the basic equations - the chapters on inheritance provide the best examples of how thorough the Professor is and why anyone planning to seriously counter-argue the details of the problem has a mountain to climb. The author - and his students - have done some path breaking work in getting some useable data history from highly varied sources and cleaning them up for the future usages.
Yet, it is a different author by the time the discussions move from the description of the problem to the prescriptions. Granted that the solutions offered - given that they forecast the unknowable future - cannot be with data support but the recklessness shown is still so unlike the rest of the book or even any serious economic book.
Take the relatively simplistic solution of 5% or so annual wealth tax. At 6x or 600% capital to income ratio, the tax payment would require an annual global liquidation of 30% of GDP worth of assets (most assets are owned by the super-rich who will be under the proposed 5% rate). If any such tax is imposed, the attendant asset price depression globally would be one issue but even larger would be the impact on jobs, investment rates and growth. For Piketty to not even remotely consider the obvious impact (and at least proffer some opinion on why it may not matter) is a sign that the conclusions were mostly pre-formed rather than based on the earlier data-driven parts of the book.
One can equally talk about the uselessness of the Utopian world advised where globally large governments join hands to impose a nearly-uniform capital tax. If governments were so inclined to cooperate, I am sure we will first solve war, water, hunger, health and other issues before closing the doors on the rich.
The more subtle, non-wealth inequality issues are completely unaddressed. The rise and the fall of the Communism in various forms globally again validated the likely basic human societal trend that under any system - howsoever defined with the best intentions at the start - some small, ambitious, smart, resourceful group will eventually corner more privileges and power for themselves (read my review of Orwell's Animal Farm). In the current system, it happens to take the money form.
All this said, even the conclusions are thought-provoking despite being somewhat baseless and rash. And the book before is simply epic,...more
Weird Life is a fascinating subject, nearly unexplored at least in popular science books. The book is excellent in the first half when it is mostly exWeird Life is a fascinating subject, nearly unexplored at least in popular science books. The book is excellent in the first half when it is mostly explaining and fantasising life forms in environments different from those in which the carbon/water-based life seems to thrive. However, the relatively short book loses the nice base as it veers toward astronomy in the end.
The beginning sections on extremophiles are the most impressive when the book introduces the strange and unknown life found in deep oceans, molten lava or in frozen ice. The experience is well used to hypothesise the existence of Silicon-based life or life that has solvents other than water or even a life without any solid substrates.
However, the weird goes completely weird once the author confesses almost a theoretical impossibility of defining what we could call "living". The discussions in the book remain fascinating but most readers could struggle splitting even what the author does not brand fiction from such.
The only solace is that the readers can dream on and create their own examples of weird life in this subject where rules are few and almost everything goes at least as a possibility. From this reviewers, the weird life ideas beyond not discussed in the book are
- stars, galaxies or even universes as life forms (they seem to "grow", "die", evolve, replicate etc) - bacterias or any insects as only 3-D and a small part manifestation of much larger life forms in a far larger dimension or a parallel world. A bit like the nails in the hand-glove fabric world. - why not time or dimensions?
Essentially, the absurdities abound when imagination is allowed to run amok and that's where the book suffers despite staying highly engaging throughout....more
A remarkable book on an extraordinarily important, but staggeringly less covered topic of South Asian water issues.
The author has clearly worked hard A remarkable book on an extraordinarily important, but staggeringly less covered topic of South Asian water issues.
The author has clearly worked hard to do justice to the topic. Unlike most theoreticians, she mingles with general public to understand the real issues from the viewpoint of those living them. Her travels along the rivers allow her to also draw a timeline on the trends. They also helps throw light on some of the causes which may escape others who discuss the same topic simply from macro parameters like water levels or glacier meltings.
The author does not shy away from taking on unpalatable topics like sewage treatment and hygiene practices. The details are not quite staggering even if not wholesome. That said, the book tip toes around more controversial topics like the role played by traditional practices in the river pollution or the likely Malthusian reasons. The author's close interactions with people on the ground has also led to an underlying distrust of likely modern solutions that could be the best we have in the long run even if they require near-term pain.
That said the travelogue leads to a great insight into the political issues arising from the water sharing and the tensions between those who live upstream against the others down the river. Some of the interactions with the locals may appear dragging at first, but eventually provide a far better understanding of the life-sustaining, and hence the life-threatening nature of these rivers' changing courses.
While not a joyful read, the book is a must for anyone interested in the lives of people along the rivers. The implications are dire if new solutions are not found but the drive to seek more radical solutions and enormous resources will get along only if more books like this one are written and read....more
One of the best books on cosmology because of the lucidity with which the author explains extremely complicated subjects.
This relatively short book coOne of the best books on cosmology because of the lucidity with which the author explains extremely complicated subjects.
This relatively short book covers a lot of ground fluidly while retaining the fine balance between making things understandable but without making them boring or needlessly repetitive. The book contains some of the best explanations I have read on the Hubble's constant, dark matter (including Machos and Wimps) or even classical topics like relativity, quantum mechanics or religion (!)
The author steadfastly sticks to the subject of depicting abject poverty faithfully and refuses to pull almost any punches with any redeeming outcomesThe author steadfastly sticks to the subject of depicting abject poverty faithfully and refuses to pull almost any punches with any redeeming outcomes or light relief-providing banter/incidents. She has picked up the plight of the most unfortunate and feels no compulsion to show them emerging as winners in at least something. As she drains the story of hope and even the most trivial joys, readers are bound to get more and more depressed. Unfortunately, what the author tells is the real life of many whether they interest the readers or not.
In short, the author has to be congratulated for staying faithful to the subject which must have appeared at least non-commercial to all around. More than that, she is nearly impeccable in the descriptions of the place, language nuiances of the characters, their fights and food and festivals, the all too common cross-currents/biases of people of different religions and language, the slum politics and pervading corruption and even the interruptions provided by ghastly deaths in a society where life is valued wholly differently.
The book's biggest fault is its rapid pace. Its factual, almost documentary-type tone is jarring but helps in keeping things objective. The problem is that rather than pausing longer on the characters' emotions, Katherine Boo focuses more on moving from one event to the next. As a result, she covers many aspects of the life in the slums but fails to delve deeply on human feelings. While identifying with the characters of the book is impossible for any reader who has not lived such a life, the author makes one walk away more with pity, shame and disgust towards the unfairness of our life rather than empathy or even anger. ...more
I wish we give this subject "big history" a different moniker and make it compulsory for any undergrads of any discipline.
Dr Christian's approach to uI wish we give this subject "big history" a different moniker and make it compulsory for any undergrads of any discipline.
Dr Christian's approach to understanding where, how and why we are today is comprehensive, thorough and unique. Most studies on various aspects of our astronomical, physical, chemical, biological, archeological, sociological, geographic or political/economic life tend to miss the big philosophical and historical perspective by being too narrow in their subject focus. The author traverses 13.7bn years of the universal existence until today from the humanity's viewpoint. It is a journey through all the above subject matters in a continuous fashion without ever losing the big existential thread. Effectively, the author builds the causal/historic chain of things/principles/historic developments that otherwise we would learn in different fields without a holistic connection or relevance to where we are now.
What is ventured is highly ambitious and the execution is simply superb. Over the next few decades, this subject will likely evolve rapidly. As Dr Christian himself points out, what will be told in Big History will change not only with new facts and studies but also due to the differing interpretations of its exponents. For example, Dr. Yuval Noah Harari of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem offers a course on Coursera on the same subject without calling it Big History. His history of mankind is far lighter on the Big Bang up to the solar system evolution and focuses more on the last 250million years. His reading of the big trends are vastly different from the ones in this book. However, each such course or book - when presented well and with good insights - should prove as one of the best learning experiences for any reader.
The only real surprise is why the Big History lectures are far bigger success than they are. The lectures are amazingly lucid and told in a highly engaging manner. The style is like that of a popular non-fiction book than academic. The tales are relevant and interesting. And there is enough humour. The author never drags. Perhaps the packaging is too non-commercial and this is an injustice to anyone who misses out on such an important book as a result.
If Harry Dexter White was not tainted by the spying incidents, he could have gone down as the person deserving most credit for engineering the US domiIf Harry Dexter White was not tainted by the spying incidents, he could have gone down as the person deserving most credit for engineering the US dominance in the global financial system today. Bretton Woods is perhaps the single biggest path-defining economic event of history, and this book beautifully lays bare what was won and lost at this conference.
If White's feats are unsung - let's say because of his nefarious spying activities - it is quite astonishing that Keynes is so little tarnished despite being so comprehensively outsmarted at such a critical juncture in the world economic and market history. The book's descriptions of his egotistic handling and careless omissions are eye-popping for anyone who has observed the impact of those measures in global monetary system even today.
More than anything else, White possibly belonged to the pioneering period when bureaucrats started forming hard-to-reverse long-term policies based on short-term interests and assumptions of perpetual continuity of then prevailing phenomena (US trade surplus in this case). From this viewpoint, this ideological forefather of the later-day practicalists like Greenspan or Bernanke appears far better than the likes of Keynes who was also shown as a bumbling pragmatist driven by the policy needs of the hour but spending more time on formulating the theoretical underpinnings for the decisions rather than the decision-formation itself.
The book excels in delineating how Keynes, and the UK financial dominance was methodically deconstructed by the US team led by White. The side-story of the Soviet methods is equally interesting, once again for the signs it contained for many events that came in the later decades. The book also handles the touchy subject of what White's true intentions possibly were rather well.
All in all, our monetary, economic, financial world is a hotchpotch of massive decisions taken by the likes of White - driven by the career goals, short-term national interests/exigencies, whatever then-prevailing economic notions and possibly even more by their adversaries and their positions. Over time, such constructs turn more and more unwieldy as imbalances introduced in the far earlier eras foster monsters that turn unsustainable. Bretton Woods and White has created a construct that positively aided a large part of the world ever since but may eventually be remembered by all the imbalances whose seeds were sown back then.
This is the book to know about this historic event and everything that happened around it. Great topic. Well-researched and well-written....more
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