Abraham Verghese's sweeping multi-generational saga weaves together the lives of three generations of Malayali Christians with the backdrop of momentoAbraham Verghese's sweeping multi-generational saga weaves together the lives of three generations of Malayali Christians with the backdrop of momentous changes of twentieth-century India. Largely set in semi-rural Kerala, far away from India's political and industrial centers, the novel reveals the ground-level impacts of seismic shifts through the lens of deeply human stories.
At first glance, the narrative appears to be a mystical, mythical, and meandering expedition. However, as the story unfolds, it reveals itself to be a meticulously crafted structure deeply rooted in science. This duality is a testament to the author's prowess as a professor/doctor who is also a masterful storyteller.
The story centers on the warmth of tradition, sacrifice, ambition, and love in shaping the ordinary lives of normal people. With intricate details of Malayali Christian culture, regional traditions, and daily routines of those decades, the author paints a vivid picture of a world that is both unique and universal.
The author brings to life a diverse array of characters, each navigating complex personal developments over time. These individual journeys intersect and interact in meaningful ways, all bound together by shared faith and cultural traditions. The tone is mostly positive, with events driven by well-meaning intentions and emotions of good people and yet dotted by seemingly uncontrollable tragedies.
The author gives the impression of fatalism and mysticism that most readers expect in novels set in the subcontinent. One only realizes in the end that the author is developing a unique puzzle behind the aimless structure. However, this elaborateness is a double-edged sword. One feels frustrated drifting in random directions during a rather lengthy build-up. This may deter some readers from reaching the story's stunning conclusion. The climax contains multiple grand unveilings, where all the seemingly disparate threads come together, highlighting numerous subtle linkages and foreshadowing sprinkled throughout. Whether the end makes everything before worthwhile, irrespective of the richness of the language and beauty of some of the subplots, is a matter of taste. For this reviewer, it absolutely does....more
There is a lot likable in Flowers, which has been covered well along with any mention of the book since publication. I will skip a repeat of the paeanThere is a lot likable in Flowers, which has been covered well along with any mention of the book since publication. I will skip a repeat of the paeans on its sweet and sentimental aspects with the mere acknowledgment that this is a moving tale.
Half a century on, the story reads excessively melodramatic. Its predictive course has no major surprise. Every character is mostly stereotypical, and so are the interactions. The author has a couple of surprises towards the end by displaying two formerly nasty characters' benevolence. Somehow, they, too, are positioned to add to the soapiness.
To a degree, the predictability is due to the book's enormous success. Most modern-day media consumers have watched variants of this story in some soap or movie. The book's technophobic and naturalistic stance is also familiar but somehow more jarring. One of the messages is for the scientists not to bother much about improving the plight of the disabled. Yes, we all need to be excessively careful while tinkering with our genes and neurons, but we are not made perfect, just like the nature around us. Our world is better off when humanity's brightest are working on the solutions to various problems.
Merged review:
There is a lot likable in Flowers, which has been covered well along with any mention of the book since publication. I will skip a repeat of the paeans on its sweet and sentimental aspects with the mere acknowledgment that this is a moving tale.
Half a century on, the story reads excessively melodramatic. Its predictive course has no major surprise. Every character is mostly stereotypical, and so are the interactions. The author has a couple of surprises towards the end by displaying two formerly nasty characters' benevolence. Somehow, they, too, are positioned to add to the soapiness.
To a degree, the predictability is due to the book's enormous success. Most modern-day media consumers have watched variants of this story in some soap or movie. The book's technophobic and naturalistic stance is also familiar but somehow more jarring. One of the messages is for the scientists not to bother much about improving the plight of the disabled. Yes, we all need to be excessively careful while tinkering with our genes and neurons, but we are not made perfect, just like the nature around us. Our world is better off when humanity's brightest are working on the solutions to various problems....more
The Self-Assembling Brain is a fascinating examination of the intersection between neurobiology and artificial intelligence. As the title suggests, thThe Self-Assembling Brain is a fascinating examination of the intersection between neurobiology and artificial intelligence. As the title suggests, the author Jonas Hielsinger posits that the brain - let's call it BNN or biological neural network for this review - is a self-assembling system with simple low-level rules resulting in incredibly complex high-level behaviors and cognition. Through dense yet lucid descriptions of cutting-edge research in neuroscience, the author makes the case that understanding how the brain wires itself may hold the key to advancing AI or artificial neural networks, henceforth called ANNs - again for this review.
The core argument underpinning the book is that neurobiology and AI are deeply intertwined fields with much to learn from each other. It emphasizes the need for collaboration between experts across disciplines to unlock the secrets of ANNs and BNNs. In some ways, the author's views are too biased toward the potential payoff of connections between the fields. The book could have benefited from more focus on the enormous divergence that has grown between these fields by now, but it still does not take away anything from the enormous value it provides, regardless.
The book truly shines while discussing the details of neuroscience. A particular highlight is the in-depth discussions of how simple local learning rules, evolved over millions of years, lead to the complex phenomena we associate with cognition and consciousness. Take language acquisition as an example – babies are not explicitly programmed with grammatical rules but rather absorb the statistical regularities in the speech patterns around them. The brain, a BNN, is wired to detect and internalize these regularities through brute repetition, unlike how we train ANNs these days.
The book illustrates this and other similar concepts through clever hypothetical dialogues between experts at the start of each chapter. In one exchange, an AI researcher presses a neuroscientist on how children acquire language without direct instruction. The neuroscientist explains how the rapid formation and pruning of neural connections allow the BNN to build statistical models reflecting the environment. While fictional, these dialogues neatly encapsulate the core themes around self-assembly and help make the later technical sections more intuitive.
An early section analyzes systems like our BNNs that are fundamentally unpredictable despite relying on simple deterministic rules. And, then, there is the reverse. Networks of neurons in lower-level areas operate largely randomly at an individual level yet produce reliable signals when aggregated. Out of disorder emerges order. The book covers the opposite phenomenons exceptionally to describe various aspects of both neural networks' complexity.
The book argues that grappling with these chaotic systems holds lessons for AI researchers seeking to build adaptable, resilient models. The brain achieves robustness despite – or perhaps because of – underlying chaos and randomness percolating through its networks.
While the author makes a strong case for collaboration between neuroscience and AI, the rapid progress of artificial intelligence over the past decade suggests the arrow of learning between the two fields has reversed in crucial ways. This reviewer feels that back when ANNs were in their infancy, AI researchers had much to gain from understanding the workings of organic BNNs. Insights into biological neural architecture and plasticity accelerated early ANN development. However, ANNs today operate unconstrained by the limitations of their organic counterparts - they do not have to be energy efficient or constructible from genetic code. They are not survival maximizers without a goal. The environments and design parameters for ANNs are now so distinct that neuroscience, for all its intricacies, likely has more to learn from AI than vice versa moving forward. While exceptions exist, the utility of modeling AI systems on detailed neurobiology has also diminished because of the incompleteness of our understanding of low-level brain function.
In summary, while conceptual inspiration clearly flowed from neuroscience to AI originally, ANNs have evolved so dramatically in recent years that they operate under very different principles and design constraints compared to BNNs. While fascinating, the complex mechanics of actual brain processes seem unlikely to offer meaningful shortcuts for today's leading AI techniques.
Such disagreements aside, here is a book where one learns in every para. The details are exhaustive but also fascinating when one begins to think how evolution has produced a gadget of such intricacy. The book not only succeeds at conveying the awe-inspiring complexity and magic of the BNNs but also throws light on how we will struggle to truly understand and master ANNs despite being their creators. ...more
The book provides a collection of points on a series of things loosely linked to “AI”. There are a lot of repetition, irrelevant noA motley collection
The book provides a collection of points on a series of things loosely linked to “AI”. There are a lot of repetition, irrelevant notes, and trivial observations. Amid all that, most readers will find a few new learnings. These things are easy to get to because of the point-wise, student note type nature of the text that permits a quick browse through....more
"All the Sinners Bleed" confronts the reader with a bold and relentless examination of racial dynamics, articulated through a murder mystery that goes"All the Sinners Bleed" confronts the reader with a bold and relentless examination of racial dynamics, articulated through a murder mystery that goes beyond simple whodunit intrigue. The thematic complexity and willingness to engage with socially relevant issues are commendable.
That said, addressing racial tensions and portraying suffering in graphic ways makes for an unsettling read. On the one hand, by refusing to sugarcoat, the novel challenges readers to face uncomfortable truths. On the other hand, gratuitous violence risks being more traumatic than thought-provoking. The provocative violence is to hold up a raw mirror to society's ills. Still, the book dangerously flirts with the fine line between revealing hard truths versus being trauma porn.
It is good that the murder mystery takes a backseat to broader societal themes. It helps create rich character studies, even though at the cost of focusing on the main plot. For instance, the protagonist's struggle with racial identity adds layers to his personality and motives. The "whodunit" intrigue is not the usual game of guessing who it could be amongst the introduced characters, which may again frustrate those who pick the book for usual reasons.
The quality of the prose and nuances of the way the plot is developed are exceptional in this powerful yet polarizing work. Like the book's lead, the author is sensitive, which helps the storytelling....more
Mr. Hoel is an expert on neural networks and has solid and unique views on consciousness. These views are more robust in refuting past theories, as is
Mr. Hoel is an expert on neural networks and has solid and unique views on consciousness. These views are more robust in refuting past theories, as is generally true with most experts on such subjects. In his own views, the author has surprisingly many concrete arguments in support owing to his theoretical and computational background. Unfortunately, the debut book for general audiences lacks the lucidity its topic deserves for lay readers.
The book ambitiously tackles the nature of consciousness through theories of emergence, information, and causality. The core argument that consciousness emerges from recursive information processing achieving a certain level of complexity in neural networks is interesting but not extraordinarily new. However, the author's examinations of integrated information theory, causal emergence across scales, and scientific incompleteness contain superb insights.
The main weakness is the writing itself. The writer tends to get lost in convoluted historic arguments and theoretical mathematics. The book would benefit greatly from more practical examples and analogies to supplement esoteric theories. Without this, the book often comes across as more textbook than popular science.
For example, Mr HoelMr Hoel makes a superb point early in the book, supporting the emergent nature of consciousness on the back of evolutionary science. The book analyzes it through the lens of information theory. If we accept consciousness emerged via evolution, as most scientists do, then it cannot be anything but an emergent phenomenon arising from a more complex organization of matter. Since primitive organisms early in evolution lacked the rich inner experience of modern humans, our consciousness must have emerged gradually from more complex neural information processing. This simple yet profound point uses basic evolutionary assumptions to elegantly frame consciousness as an emergent property requiring no exotic new physics, just increasing biological complexity and causal information integration.
Unfortunately, the author undercuts his own compelling point by miring it in excessive historic speculation. He tries to judge when humans reached modern "thoughtfulness" by controversially analyzing early literature's self-reflective content. But this literary navel-gazing only muddles the crisp clarity of his evolutionary insight. As the book quips, "Homer's Iliad, for example, demonstrates little introspective capabilities," unlike modern authors. Such arbitrary comparisons only distract without strengthening his scientific case for consciousness as an emergent phenomenon. This tendency towards irrelevant historic detours plagues the stronger scientific arguments in later chapters as well. For example, his fascinating analysis of causal emergence across scales is obscured by digressions into abstract mathematics that is unlikely to engage general readers. The book fails to provide almost any concrete examples on the fascinating subjects of scale and causal emergence, scientific incompleteness, computational irreducibility, etc.
The standout chapter explores how causal emergence produces new layers of complexity. For readers fascinated by emergence, this chapter provides a mesmerizing scale-jumping journey from quanta to qualia. It represents the book's most thrilling glimpse into the writer's unconventional insights on consciousness. Using math, he proves the emergence of different types of causality at a higher level compared to the interplay at the constituent levels. This is subsequently used to argue that consciousness represents another level of emergent causation arising from billions of neurons integrating into the recursive information processing of a brain. When these neural networks achieve sufficiently complex, interdependent architecture, self-awareness emerges from their dynamic information flows.
Mr Hoel's formidable intellect and visionary insights are evident throughout the book. However, truly transformational ideas require articulate expression to ignite their potential fully. "The World Behind the World" smothers too many of its insights in dreary abstraction for the average reader. Though the uneven prose hampers this book's impact, the originality of its core ideas still shines through. The author needs to be followed as his ideas and eloquence mature in tandem in the coming years....more
Picking up a Smil book is always intimidating. His books are veritable encyclopedias - dense forests teeming with data and details. A book titled "SizPicking up a Smil book is always intimidating. His books are veritable encyclopedias - dense forests teeming with data and details. A book titled "Size" scared me more. Now, one was facing more than exhaustive research and voluminous content: there was an enormous, all-encompassing topic, too. Still, I was curious to see how Smil would weave together the vast tapestry of how size matters across different disciplines.
True to his reputation, Smil unleashes a flood of facts and measurements about size and scale in the natural and man-made worlds. Smil covers size extremes across physics, biology, engineering, and more, from tiny quarks to blue whales, bacteria to skyscrapers. The breadth leaves the reader gasping at the richness of information.
Given the sprawl of information, seeing the author developing compelling themes throughout the book is heartening. He develops compelling themes and threads, tying together the gargantuan and the minuscule, the living and the inanimate, into a coherent, captivating narrative, particularly in allometric and metabolic scaling topics. One learns about fundamental models like Kleiber's Law and the Square-Cube Law to explain growth patterns and limitations across size scales from cells to cities.
The book is at its best when it goes about dismantling our preconceived notions and debunking widely accepted principles. The Golden Ratio, apparently, does not exist anywhere. Even the laws we learn from the book turn out to be barely useable approximations, roiled often by the small, like Barro Colorado Island ants that break the Square-Cube Law, as much as by the large, like larger plants who do not have higher metabolic rates per unit mass compared to smaller plants. The author loves to reinforce how in nature, the devil is in the details - and in those wonderful, never-ending exceptions that make life so fascinatingly diverse and intricate, and his books full of surprises.
Later sections teach us about the modern implications of size - technologies, cities, and the author's favorite topic, energy use. He brings his engineering perspective to analyze trends and challenges related to humanity's increasing scale.
Despite the theme focus, there is no running away from the flood of information. The academic tone of the prose is not light. In the end, "Size" lives up to Smil's reputation with an exhaustive and enlightening look at a topic of importance. Persistent readers will be rewarded with insights into the principles of biology, engineering, and more. ...more
“Legacy of Lies” is built for a single twist at the end. It fails in nearly everything in the run-up and then on the twist itself.
The main story sus d“Legacy of Lies” is built for a single twist at the end. It fails in nearly everything in the run-up and then on the twist itself.
The main story sus designed to be a set piece and lacks depth or complexity as a result. The plot moves forward with irritating simplicity and speed. The absence of anticipation or intricate entanglements seems to be the author’s way of disarming the readers expecting any intrigue before finally revealing the main twist.
Sadly, even the big eventual reveal feels rushed and unimpressive, leaving hardly any impact on the overall narrative....more
While the debut author's background in ecology holds promise for an innovative spin on the murder mystery genre, this particular work quickly sinks inWhile the debut author's background in ecology holds promise for an innovative spin on the murder mystery genre, this particular work quickly sinks into formulaic plots and dull tangents that fail to deliver on the premise. She likely structured the story here in her mind while on field trips. Her unique experiences should lead to far better work ahead.
There is nothing wrong with the underlying environmental plot. Still, any originality is smothered by redundant side narratives involving juvenile romances, irrelevant backstories, and bungling detectives/lawyers. The core murder investigation frequently meanders with few gripping developments. Whenever the inquiry seems poised to gain momentum, it veers into laughable investigations bungling, or courtroom antics....more
Few books are ever as well-timed as The Heat Will Kill You First in this sweltering, record-breaking summer of 2023. As cities across the globe face iFew books are ever as well-timed as The Heat Will Kill You First in this sweltering, record-breaking summer of 2023. As cities across the globe face intense heat waves, wildfires, droughts, floods, and other extreme weather, this book provides a sobering look at the devastating impacts of climate change. If any book hopes to convert a climate-change denier, it may be this one, primarily because of its perfect timing.
Intense heat waves are one of the most obvious and less discussed outcomes of global warming. They get more attention as the driver behind impacts such as wildfires, hurricanes, and droughts. The book shows how heat is an invisible, stealthy, and also direct force that can kill in various ways, such as hyperthermia, dehydration, and carbon monoxide poisoning. Worse, it disproportionately affects the underprivileged, which is also why it gets less attention amongst the most influential.
Rather than inundating the reader with statistics on rising temperatures and anthropogenic global warming, the book takes a more intimate, human-centered approach. Through a series of essays and reported stories, the author puts readers on the ground in communities battling the consequences of extreme heat. From a hospital in Phoenix struggling to treat growing numbers of patients with heat stroke, to a village in India running out of water, to polar bears feeling lost in their changed environment or the trekkers losing lives midway because of the scorching heat, the stories excel at driving home the severity of the climate crisis in the here and now.
All that said, for those already attuned to the realities of climate change, there is little new information or arguments. Much of the on-the-ground reporting might feel like familiar territory to those who regularly read climate journalism. Furthermore, the book's impressionistic approach, while impactful in conveying personal narratives, may not provide the explanatory depth sought by those already convinced of the urgency of the climate crisis. This is by design, but limits the value for the believers. For readers looking to spread awareness and spur action among doubters, the biggest utility is in the book's gift or recommendation value!, particularly given the headlines these days!...more
Revisiting the first half of 1984, you curse your younger self, wondering why you were made to resolve to come back to the book a few years later. WhiRevisiting the first half of 1984, you curse your younger self, wondering why you were made to resolve to come back to the book a few years later. While the story itself is engaging, without the allure of its original plot and visionary portrayal of a future dominated by technology, it may seem like there is little that hasn't been explored in better ways ever since. And then, one is shoved into the final section, where the true brilliance of the Orwellian masterpiece reaches its zenith as the horrors within it descend to their deepest nadir.
O'Brien's monologue lays bare the sinister essence of Big Brother's regime. "Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship." The verbalization of the philosophy and methods is far more chilling in its logical clarity than everything else from real-life issues in the dystopian world. "The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power."
The discourse leaves an indelible mark on readers by explaining the psychological subjugation ("We are not content with negative obedience, nor even with the most abject submission. When finally you surrender to us, it must be of your own free will.") and evoking an eerie sense of complete powerlessness. As O'Brien says, "Power is in tearing human minds apart and putting them back together in new shapes of your own choosing."
The Party's homogenization ideology was encapsulated in "We shall squeeze you empty, and then we shall fill you with ourselves." The better lines are when he describes the Party's making of truth and history: "The past is whatever the records and the memories agree upon."
In this concluding segment, Orwell unravels the threads of the narrative, pulling back the veil on the full extent of Big Brother's totalitarian regime. It is here that the novel finds its true strength, resonating with readers and leaving an indelible mark upon their psyche. As the horrors of this dystopian world unfold, the powerlessness and despair experienced by its subjects become palpable. It is in these depths that Orwell's genius shines brightest as he masterfully depicts the unimaginable reality of a society stripped of freedom and individuality.
Optimistically, most of the world has not turned out to be remotely as sinister as feared here. Clearly, there have been hideous regimes in many countries, but governments - or corporations - have not been able to openly and viciously dominate the way it is described here. Some pessimists may argue otherwise, but the fact that they are able to argue means the world is not as described in ""We control life, Winston, at all its levels. You are imagining that there is something called human nature which will be outraged by what we do and will turn against us. But we create human nature. Men are infinitely malleable."
I am definitely making a note to myself to read again in a few years!...more
As a popular book, On the Origin of Time spends much time and effort being interesting and comprehendible. Still, its most valuable sections are whereAs a popular book, On the Origin of Time spends much time and effort being interesting and comprehendible. Still, its most valuable sections are where it is utterly theoretical and difficult.
A part of the book is biographical: the author had veritable access to Hawkins' later-day, evolving thoughts on cosmogenesis. In some ways, one feels that Hertog's Hawkins is similar to Plato's Socrates. While the author proudly presents most views as those of the legend, the weaving atop the holographic theoretical fabric might be entirely of the author.
The book adeptly navigates the familiar territories of quantum physics and relativity, providing succinct yet sufficient background for readers already well-versed in these subjects. By avoiding excessive exposition on extensively covered topics, the author respects the readers' existing knowledge and saves precious space for more intricate discussions.
Multiversic cosmogenesis is used as a strawman, more so than early Hawkins' no-boundary hypotheses. The early and late Hawkins are set up almost like early and late Wittgensteins, with the epic Brief History of Time assigned the status of Tractus. Similar to how Feynman's wiggly line representations fail to fully capture the mathematical intricacies of his ideas, the human-language portrayal of Hewitt's multi-world concepts also falls short. The book's weakest point lies in the observer-dependent multiple-history (interference) view of Genesis, which, although it may be an incorrect theory, requires further clarification before being dismissed.
The essence of the book, which the author genuinely turns to only in the last third, is in holographic universe theories. Efforts to make these sections understandable are commendable, but the topic is such that simplification attempts often lead to statements that may sound impressive (like our laws also evolve) but at the cost of masking the true import of the details. The AdS/CFT duality discussions are impressive. However, this reviewer truly understood a fraction of what is packed in a dense final section where the author reveals the link between quantum particle fields dancing on the surface as a holographic image of emergent space-time and gravity in the bulk (of one higher dimension). The explanations that port the theoretical QFT construct to the deSitter space (as against the anti deSitter space of AdS/CFT), which is what our universe is, are even more challenging.
Despite its challenges, we need more books that delve into the developments of the last few decades rather than rehashing discoveries from the twentieth century. While the sections on Hawking are noteworthy, the actual value of this book lies in its ambitious endeavor to explain the latest advancements in cosmology and theoretical physics.
The saying "small, incremental changes persisted over a period could prove transformational" may sound like well-worn granny's advice. It forms the coThe saying "small, incremental changes persisted over a period could prove transformational" may sound like well-worn granny's advice. It forms the core philosophy of "Atomic Habits," whose actual value is in the numerous actionable recommendations within this overarching premise.
Clear's book is an easy-to-read and engaging guide that focuses on tips that anyone can implement rather than an effort to score points on originality or intellectual arguments. The four-step framework that Clear presents is not particularly original, yet it houses a series of beneficial tools that facilitate the manipulation of habits. For example, we are told to "make it obvious" by placing cues in our environment or "make it attractive" by associating our desired habits with positive emotions - none of these suggestions are likely to appear radical. However, their simplicity is what could be most enduring, if not also endearing, for anyone who will create personal to-do lists based on the book's suggestions.
This reviewer's takeaways from the book would be to start small, be consistent, and not be afraid to fail but to ensure that the failures are short-lived. The reflections, while going through the book's messages, lead to the following two of my own points:
-- We need to create the right message at the time when we are sane and resolved to the time when we are going to give in to our instincts. For example, if I want to smile more, I could write a message on a screen that says "Smile!" or "Be kind" as a reminder when I am going to be preoccupied. To quit smoking, maybe I should announce a great reward for anyone who catches me in the action! The author may call such tricks something else in the book, but in a way, they are the rouses one develops when sane against when one is not going to be. -- One must read books like this or Power of Habit, released a decade ago at regular intervals as a reset. They act as a reminder to realign our actions with our intentions. The more unadorned and unpretentious they are in their messages, the better is their effectiveness. Atomic Habits is exactly that.
In "Lessons," Ian McEwan once again proves the mettle of his authorship, spinning a tale that is deserving of his intricate skills. Characters bear thIn "Lessons," Ian McEwan once again proves the mettle of his authorship, spinning a tale that is deserving of his intricate skills. Characters bear the weight of history, both personal and geopolitical types. McEwan delves into the labyrinthine complexity of relationships and the singularities of selfhood to attempt to map at least one human soul.
On the canvas of European historic events spanning a century, he portrays - like Marquez - various shades of love and solitude. Characters' struggles with societal norms explode into substantial tale twists, which the author plays down in his usual ways, to keep the focus on the personalities and experiences rather than the story itself.
In "Lessons," it is not so much the characters that clash, but rather their memoirs, memories,and whispered desires. McEwan orchestrates this dance of nostalgia and longing with such delicate subtlety that readers are likely to find their own reflections mirrored back, tinted with the colors of the narrative. Yet, lest one gets lost in these introspective ruminations, the novel's opulent language and quotable quotes serve as the lightning in this storm of thoughts, tearing away the veil of any creeping ennui.
As is his wont, the narrative weaves back and forth through time, creating an air of intrigue while stitching a tapestry of historical relevance onto the cloak of the protagonist's experiences. The readers are gifted the opportunity to tread upon the worn cobblestones of post-War Europe, each stone meticulously described under the author's watchful eye. The climax does not have the power of some of the author's famed previous work, yet it fits snugly within the confines of the narrative. The author depicts life as it generally is, with an end that is most often a whimper....more
Starry Messenger is an intellectual roller coaster, replete with thrilling peaks of insight and, equally also, with monotonous plains of the mundane. Starry Messenger is an intellectual roller coaster, replete with thrilling peaks of insight and, equally also, with monotonous plains of the mundane. There are many notable pit-stops at various intellectual junctions, from science to sociology, but it is also a ride that struggles to maintain a clear route.
Tyson is the maestro in this symphony of thoughts, adeptly wielding the baton of his keen intellect and crisp prose. His knack for making complex subjects palatable to the layman shines through in every chapter. These chapters are an assorted platter of opinion essays. It educates the reader about various topics, dotted with bite-sized wisdom encapsulated in Tyson's characteristic punchlines.
The essays are like meandering stargazing sessions, covering everything from race and democracy to gambling and vegetarianism. While the topic of diversity is commendable, it results in an inconsistent rhythm. Tyson sometimes veers towards the preachy, turning an otherwise enjoyable discussion into a sermon. The tone is jarring sometimes to even this reviewer, who agrees with the author on most of his writing.
In conclusion, the breezy, informative book is Tyson's trademark work, except that not on topics one associates him with. ...more
Reading a classic decades after its release, especially when one's expectations are shaped by its iconic film adaptation, can be daunting. In this revReading a classic decades after its release, especially when one's expectations are shaped by its iconic film adaptation, can be daunting. In this reviewer's opinion, the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest fails to meet those expectations, leaving a sense of disappointment.
The story exposes the chilling reality of life in a mental ward and the brutality of those in power. However, it suffers from pacing issues and a rushed climax. The meandering middle sections can be easily overlooked, but the brevity of the climactic scenes is jarring. For fans of the film, the climax is what sticks and stings, more so than any of the memorable scenes that come before. In the book, it's so short that you might almost miss it if you're not paying close attention to the last line.
One significant factor that affects the book's perception is the character of McMurphy. While Jack Nicholson's unforgettable portrayal in the film captured the essence of McMurphy's rebellious and charismatic personality, the book presents a more complex and less favorable version of the character. McMurphy's philandering, dismissive attitude towards women and the devastating consequences of his actions paint a more nuanced and, at times, troubling portrait. This disparity between the book and the film may taint readers' perception of McMurphy, altering their overall experience with the story.
Both McMurphy and Nurse Ratched are portrayed more positively in the film, leading to a more empathetic viewing experience. The book, while original and engaging in its own right, lacks the extraordinary impact of the film's stellar cast and performances....more
The AI Revolution is an engaging and thought-provoking read, offering insightful examples that highlight the potential of artificial intelligence. TheThe AI Revolution is an engaging and thought-provoking read, offering insightful examples that highlight the potential of artificial intelligence. The authors eloquently capture the essence of their argument in the middle of the book:
"Medicine traditionally refers to a sacred relationship between a doctor and a patient — a twosome, a dyad. "And I'm proposing that now we move to a triad," he said, with an AI entity like GPT-4 as the third leg of that triangle.
Today's LLMs are likely to appear elementary in a few years. As impressive as their feats are, as shown in the book, they still have much to demonstrate in order to surpass the expertise of our finest medical professionals indefinitely. Even if they claim to outperform the average practitioner, it is natural for many of us to harbor reservations and doubt their abilities, regardless of the irrationality behind such sentiments. Nevertheless, the book masterfully showcases the incredible potential of integrating GPT as the third agent in the doctor-patient dynamic. From aiding in diagnosis, documentation, and explanations to serving as an error handler, facilitating patient-doctor communication, optimizing planning, and enhancing overall efficiency—the possibilities are vast. Furthermore, the book hints at the future prospects of LLMs as long-term record-keepers and even contributors to drug discovery, further emphasizing their potential value.
It is pretty likely that healthcare and pharmaceuticals emerge as generative AI's most significant application sectors over time....more
Wanting is a thought-provoking book in parts, but its most significant utility is its knack for compelling introspection. That our desires are not as Wanting is a thought-provoking book in parts, but its most significant utility is its knack for compelling introspection. That our desires are not as original as we credit them with is not a massively original message by itself. Introducing mimetic desire as a revolutionary idea feels like a rebranded take on what we've long intuited. One is still forced to think about which of one's yearnings result from others' influences, and in those self-reflections, many readers could find their joys or utility.
Mimetic desires are a social phenomenon. In its simplest form, it means we often want what others want. In cruder terms, we're prone to coveting what our neighbors prize. As parents have lectured children from time immemorial across cultures, these things lead to an insidious cycle of competition and rivalry, which can spiral into conflict, violence, and even war at the darkest depths. More common manifestations are self-destructive behaviors, addiction, and consumerism. Of course, at times, they can also be a force of good.
This reader found the section on scapegoating particularly striking - not for its originality, but for its resonant echoes of memories past, casting them in a new light. For other readers, different chapters may stir their depths; the book's breezy narrative is sure to inspire a reflective pause. ...more
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