In "The Word is Murder," Anthony Horowitz crafts an engaging and clever Holmes-homage novel. The novel is imbued with a unique blend of mystery, wit, In "The Word is Murder," Anthony Horowitz crafts an engaging and clever Holmes-homage novel. The novel is imbued with a unique blend of mystery, wit, and charm that keeps readers engrossed from beginning to end.
The metafictional experiment of himself as a main character could have easily resulted in a tacky, self-indulgent mess, but instead, it turns out to be a genius move. Horowitz uses a bumbling, can-never-do-right persona to describe the detective work of Hawthorne poignantly. His self-deprecating approach provides a delightful contrast to the arrogance and assuredness of the protagonist. They are caricatures of the original pair, and yet completely fresh.
This is primarily because Hawthorne proves to be uniquely captivating. He is socially awkward in an archetypal way, and still, his eccentricities are used to create delightful surprises. The intrigue in the story is as much about the mystery as it is because of Hawthorne's unusual ways.
There are Holmesian deductions aplenty. They are splattered all across and sufficiently original. They make it possible for Horowitz to create a memorable lead.
Most importantly, the mystery storyline does not disappoint. The book is sure to please fans of classic detective fiction as the narrative keeps the reader guessing until the end. The most significant negative is that all the red herrings could be seen from a mile, leaving the eventual resolution to emerge from the left field.
Transcendental Kingdom is a moving tale exploring the themes of family, grief, mental struggles, and faith. The book is written with a contrasting mixTranscendental Kingdom is a moving tale exploring the themes of family, grief, mental struggles, and faith. The book is written with a contrasting mix of compassion and wit, balancing heart-wrenching moments with a wry sense of humor.
In Gifty, Gyasi creates a protagonist who is difficult to pin. This scholarly objective, aka an aspiring scientific mind, is irredeemably scarred by her subjective history. She is modern and scientific with deep roots in faith. While a developed world citizen, she is more shaped by her developing world connections than she knows. She is insightful and yet, perpetually at a loss. Most poignantly, she is a desperate seeker and compulsive rejecter of friendship and love. Through this constantly-warring-with-herself hero, the author digs deep into the issues of addiction, poverty, and racism at a human level.
The book excels in bringing up the immigrant battles. These are people who permanently live in two worlds. By juxtaposing the religious practices in Ghana and America, the book finds nuanced ways to discuss faith that sustains. Some of the book's eventual conclusions on these topics will not sit well with everyone, though.
In "The Age of the Strongman," Rachman attempts to shed light on the rise of strongman leaders in the modern world. It spends excessive effort describIn "The Age of the Strongman," Rachman attempts to shed light on the rise of strongman leaders in the modern world. It spends excessive effort describing leaders while failing to analyse the phenomenon sufficiently. Most of the book consists of brief histories and actions of various contemporary strongman leaders, offering little new information or insights.
The book would have benefited from a more in-depth exploration of the causes and effects of this rise in strongman politics as against readily-available and well-known descriptions of these leaders. The sections on leaders read like short encyclopedia entries with little depth or nuance.
The book makes some, but inadequate, mention that strongman leaders are a function of the tide against liberalism. They often appeal to majoritarianism and nationalism while implicitly or explicitly suppressing the rights of disliked minorities. To exploit majoritarian sentiment, they suppress the rights of marginalized minorities, which could be migrant workers, outsiders, or other nationals based on ethnicity, religion, race, or sexual orientation. They perforce reject equalitarian or humanitarian principles and exhibit intolerance toward those who preach tolerance. This reasoning cycle - not discussed in the book - warranted more focus, as it is a crucial aspect of understanding the phenomenon of strongman politics.
Another important factor the book overlooks is the role of direct communication between leaders and their base. In the age of social media and instant connectivity, strongmen bypass traditional media and speak directly to their supporters. The method necessitates more authoritative communication for effect and without the need for compromise or debate with intermediaries like traditional media. Analyzing how this shift in communication has contributed to the rise of strongman leaders would have added depth to the book.
Rachman fails to adequately address the differences between today's strongman leaders and the authoritarians who wreaked havoc in the middle of the last century. Modern strongmen have less military control and fewer freedoms to suppress dissent than their predecessors (this is not true in every individual case, but evident on average).
There are other undiscussed implications of the rise of strongman politics. Positively, these leaders are decisive. They cut through the bureaucratic jangles and rarely tolerate petty fights among their minions coming in the way of decision-making. Of course, their decisions are often wrong, but these days they are rarely wishy-washy.
Negatively, the rise of strongmen is likely to increase tensions and conflicts, both within nations and on the international stage. The book would have been more insightful had it delved into these broader consequences.
Overall, the strongmen prove that there is no end of history in sight. And that's bad!...more
Superficially, "A Brief History of Artificial Intelligence," is an ambitious attempt to provide a comprehensive account of the development of artificiSuperficially, "A Brief History of Artificial Intelligence," is an ambitious attempt to provide a comprehensive account of the development of artificial intelligence (AI). However, the different and evolving meaning of the central term, artificial intelligence, comes in the way. The book simply fails to address the rapidly evolving state of AI as it is known today. The way the term AI was meant at various times, the book turns into a computer science history.
The book was published in 2021. For the reader, however, a complete absence of generative AI, ChatGPT, Bard, or other similar terms makes the history itself too historic!
Its treatment of AI's potential uses and abuses is similarly weak. Discussions are cursory, often recycling arguments and examples covered well in popular journals. This lack of depth is especially apparent when the author addresses weighty topics like AI consciousness or its impact on jobs.
The author's biggest failure is in its predictions about the future of AI. Wooldridge's vision of what AI will be capable of in the coming decades seems painfully outdated compared to the developments we've seen in just the past few weeks. The rapid pace of AI advancement has outstripped the author's expectations, rendering many of his predictions obsolete so soon after its release.
Given that the topic is soon to have many books with the central focus on the path-breaking latest innovations, this book has lost its relevance even more....more
Ok - here is my final review. Please review and suggest if anything should be changed. Anathem is not for everyone. However, for those who like their Ok - here is my final review. Please review and suggest if anything should be changed. Anathem is not for everyone. However, for those who like their novels to be complex and thought-provoking, exploring a wide range of philosophical and scientific ideas, this is as good as it gets. The novel explores concepts as exotic as nominalism versus realism, multi-world and quantum entanglement, tiling problems, the non-linear nature of time, the role played by consciousness in shaping reality, etc. The book is a heavy read and without many answers. Its made-up language, often overly contrived, raises the level of complexity immensely. Still, its originality trumps all.
Anathem is not for everyone. For those who enjoy complex and thought-provoking reads, it is an exceptional work of fiction but still not always easy or enjoyable. It explores an extensive range of philosophical and scientific ideas, which proves challenging even for those who plod through it slowly and absorb all the vast details. This reviewer had to often spend as much time on the explainers on the web as supplementary reading to understand many of the concepts.
The story is a tour de force of imagination. The author weaves a delicate tapestry of people, communities, norms, and tools that allow him to explore arcane philosophical quandaries. Superficially, it is a story of an underdog who is suddenly involved in saving the world with his small band of friends. From his romantic affair to galactic war sorties, there is much of the usual for those wanting to enjoy the lighter fare. But one does not read a tomb for these.
The novel's concepts are as exotic as they are fascinating, ranging from the theoretical differences between nominalism and realism to the intricacies of quantum entanglement, tiling problems, and the non-linear nature of time. The book raises questions about the role played by consciousness in shaping reality, exploring the relationship between science and religion, and speculating on the possibility of alien intelligence. There are multiple subtle but narrative-overturning twists. Some occupy such little space in such a vast book that many may miss them altogether, while others will perennially debate their true meaning.
It does not help that the language is dense and complex, with countless made-up words. While some of it is needed, a lot appears contrived. The story's languid pace until the climax makes it more difficult for readers to track the explored themes.
Lastly, the book shies away from straightforward answers to any questions it raises. The approach is rewarding for those who are up to the task. Despite its complexities, the book's originality and ingenuity make it an exceptional work of fiction. The suspense and climactic action sequences are fun in their own potboiler ways. ...more
Future generations must have a full understanding of how wars-that-nobody-wanted happen. Max Hastings' Vietnam covers all the relevant bases of the trFuture generations must have a full understanding of how wars-that-nobody-wanted happen. Max Hastings' Vietnam covers all the relevant bases of the tragedy perfectly, with empathy, without bias, focusing equally on the broad trends and battles on the ground, with adequate preambles and postambles to describe causes and effects - a perfect book for those interested in the history of the era.
The war that left indelible scars on hundreds of millions of present and future Vietnamese needed a moving, rather than a merely informative, account. One fears a more Western viewpoint picking up a book on the subject for the trauma it caused in American society and its impact on US politics for a decade, let alone its consequences on the Cold War. The book is most aware of the disproportionate sufferings. It is never too far away from more criticisms on how the locals, apart from exceptionally young, barely-adult soldiers, kept on suffering because of high politics elsewhere. The book excels in stories of soldiers, civilians, and families on all sides, keeping the human face of the conflict at the center of all its descriptions.
The book is well-researched and carefully crafted to cover political, social, and military aspects of events spanning three decades. One of the book's greatest strengths is its ability to recount history as it happened and stay in the present rather than be affected by the knowledge of events that come later. As a result, one learns that everything was already a mess in real-time and not just through the lenses of colossal, cumulative losses that are only known after everything is over.
Equally importantly, the book stays focussed on the subject. It does not have any space for other momentous events that were happening globally during these decades. The French colonization and departure, Viet Minh insurgences, Ho Chi Minh's rise, North Korean communist government evolutions, Chinese involvements, and Cambodia/other Indo China fallouts are discussed to the extent to provide a deeper understanding of the subject matter, just like the political ups and downs in the US.
Hastings is not afraid to critique the actions of both the US and the North Vietnamese forces, providing a nuanced and multifaceted perspective on the war. The book provides adequate descriptions of the wars' brutality to make one aware of the savagery.
There are many personalities and events in a war spanning a decade. The book is a cohesive narrative that brings the war to life rather than a collection of segments. The book covers the momentous events in detail, including the assassination of South Vietnamese Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem, the Tet Offensive, and the fall of Saigon. Descriptions of these events are vivid and powerful, enabling their separation in significance from other continuous battles. On-the-ground military encounters had their own notable events, including the battle of Khe Sanh, the My Lai massacre, and the Easter Offensive. The book provides great descriptions of soldiers' actions and sufferings that somehow keep them always individualistic, specific, and different, even if they were more the same at the broad level.
The war resulted from US politicians' political agendas and its cold war struggles rather than anything to do with the welfare of the Vietnamese people. The South Vietnamese government was more liberal than the North's, but it was also far less capable, committed to any causes, and organized. The profligate wastefulness of the war is most reflected in the fact that it continued for almost seven years despite the US deciding the first pull-outs as early as 1968.
In conclusion, this is an exceptionally well-written account of the Vietnam War. ...more
In the chatty, lively, and engaging book "What I Learned About Investing from Darwin," author Pulak Prasad takes readers on an illuminating journey thIn the chatty, lively, and engaging book "What I Learned About Investing from Darwin," author Pulak Prasad takes readers on an illuminating journey through the world of investing. With wit and charm, Prasad weaves his own experiences and insights with the lessons he has learned following his two gurus, Charles Darwin and Warren Buffett.
Prasad, a relatively unknown for those unfamiliar with the Indian equities industry, is an investment legend with a track record comparable to the best worldwide over the last fifteen years. His audacious investment style is deserving of study. This is not just because of the performance but also because of how logical, almost irrefutable, its tenets sound as he explains them, deploying the similes and examples from evolutionary sciences. While his approach may not be the only path to financial success, it is undoubtedly effective and provides readers with plenty of food for thought.
To this reviewer, investors should first and foremost adopt a disciplined, logically sound style that suits their personality and access. Pulak has done this perfectly with a discipline rarely observed among the best professionals. One may have heard Darwin and Buffett's theories countless times before, but he is able to breathe life into well-trodden concepts in every section through the novel connections he makes between the fields. When dotted with real-life examples of his investments, they do not remain pure theories in the book!
Throughout the book, readers are treated to an array of thought-provoking ideas, such as the importance of avoiding forecasts, the benefits of being an investor who focuses more on rejections, the wisdom of minimum versus optimum debt in corporate books, and summary rejection of things that obsess regular investors like quarterly results, daily stock prices, models like DCF, etc. The book reads like a guide on everything unconventional, and yet the logic is presented with such clarity and conviction that one begins to doubt one's sanity for ever believing in anything different!
Overall, a must-read for anyone interested in the world of investing. Its refreshing take on investment strategies and unparalleled depth of wisdom makes it a far superior choice to many of the more popular books on the subject. ...more
Bloodline is an entertaining, haunting journey through a small Minnesota town of the 1960s. The author does well in creating an eerie atmosphere that Bloodline is an entertaining, haunting journey through a small Minnesota town of the 1960s. The author does well in creating an eerie atmosphere that provides the backdrop for numerous spine-chilling scares. The lack of distractions keeps the focus on the main story. The twisty story develops the central mystery right until the climax while retaining the reader's interest. The sense of foreboding and tension builds throughout the novel, providing good entertainment for the fans of the genre. The ending is satisfying and ties up all loose ends satisfyingly.
The biggest drawback is the sameness of most of the leads, which is necessary for the story but still makes it extremely one-dimensional. ...more
One and Done has an interesting set-up. However, the story meanders with excessive descriptions and sections of eventless blather. With tighter editinOne and Done has an interesting set-up. However, the story meanders with excessive descriptions and sections of eventless blather. With tighter editing and better courtroom sequences, the book could have been far better....more
John Scalzi packs a lot into The Dispatcher. The novella format leaves room for many more loopholes, which the author fully exploits for his unbelievaJohn Scalzi packs a lot into The Dispatcher. The novella format leaves room for many more loopholes, which the author fully exploits for his unbelievably well-arranged set pieces in the perfectly crafted-for-convenience, make-believe world. The end result is decent entertainment for the little while it lasts....more
Subliminal attempts to shed light on the workings of the human mind, especially the part our conscious mind is unaware of. That our brain has hidden pSubliminal attempts to shed light on the workings of the human mind, especially the part our conscious mind is unaware of. That our brain has hidden processes, methods, biases, decisions, etc., governing our behavior is well known for decades. The book's efforts to introduce them as something new will appeal only to those new to the subject.
As discussed best by Kahneman best, the human mind has a part that acts quickly without apparent awareness or step-by-step deliberation involvement and another part that reaches conclusions slowly after a lot of contemplation and analysis. The second part, however, is also influenced by abstruse environmental and internal factors that the author makes a part of his "subliminal" genre. Unfortunately, the idea is old and has been explored well in numerous bestselling behavioral science books.
The author presents several examples to illustrate his points. Some hidden influencers are in how our receptors/perceivers take in information, a few lurk in the imperfections of our memories and remembrances, and many are in our inscrutable processors. Ultimately, our actions as individuals and groups are frequently baffling and difficult to replicate even by our own selves in a different context. We give our idiosyncrasies terms like biases and blind spots in common languages. At the same time, behavioral fields have a more defined and refined long list to categorize them better for analytical purposes. The book is somewhere in between, more interested in unearthing non-rational behavior in broad strokes, which, as said before, will have utility for neophytes only.
As the book says, the field of neuroscience is a more exact science for understanding all this. Neuroscientists are making rapid progress in discovering the drivers of our quirks in the way our brains are wired and their intricate entanglements. However, the book's limited terminology related to a handful of parts of the brain does not do justice to the complexity of the human brain. The book simplifies neuroscience and presents it in a way that is easy to understand, but it does not add anything new.
One of the book's most significant shortcomings is its failure to discuss what laypeople can do to change our mind's strange ways. This is a missed opportunity, as practical advice here could have been beneficial....more
Tracers in the dark is a fascinating and thrilling work of non-fiction that offers a detailed analysis of some of the most notorious cyber crimes righTracers in the dark is a fascinating and thrilling work of non-fiction that offers a detailed analysis of some of the most notorious cyber crimes right from its inception. From the Bridges/Force case and Mt. Gox to Silk Road, Alpha Bay, Hansa, Welcome to Video, BTC-e, and recent ransomware attacks, each story is told in a captivating and informative way. The author's ability to weave together a coherent narrative that provides a behind-the-scenes look at the intricate operations of these criminal networks and the methods law enforcement agencies use to track them down is truly remarkable.
What sets this book apart is the author's clear and concise writing style, which makes even the most technical aspects of cybercrime accessible to readers. The book provides a rare glimpse into how investigators broke a supposedly unbreakable blockchain, a testament to the author's knowledge and expertise. Additionally, the book effectively debunks the myth that cryptocurrencies provide privacy. Instead, it shows how law enforcement agencies can use blockchain to trace and track cryptocurrency transactions, thereby identifying criminals and bringing them to justice.
Tracers in the dark is a must-read for anyone interested in cybercrime, law enforcement, or technology. It is a captivating and informative work of non-fiction that is sure to keep readers on the edge of their seats. With its detailed analysis of each case, clear and concise writing style, and insightful commentary on the world of cybercrime, this book would make an excellent source for a multi-season TV series....more
Agatha Christie is at her best in "Death on the Nile." It is a masterfully crafted whodunit that keeps the reader guessing until the end. The novel feAgatha Christie is at her best in "Death on the Nile." It is a masterfully crafted whodunit that keeps the reader guessing until the end. The novel features a diverse cast of characters, each with its own secrets and motivations, making it an engaging and suspenseful read.
As always in Christie's books, the story keeps galloping. New clues and suspects are introduced at the drop of a hat. The author's ability to create space for each character amidst the mayhem is remarkable. Despite their large number, each character has enough detail and backstory to make their interactions relevant and helpful in first creating the mystery and eventually solving it.
Each of the dozen or so characters is unique and interesting, with their quirks and personalities. The large number allows Christie to hide the murderer effortlessly and without subterfuge, making it difficult for the reader to guess the killer's identity.
One of the jarring aspects is the prejudices of the time it was written (in the mid-1930s). Such remarks - quite common at the time but still remorselessly bigoted, racist, elitist, sexist, etc. - are a regular feature of the book.
The biggest positive is undoubtedly Poirot's almost Wodehouse-like wit. The detective has perhaps never been better, with his sharp observations and biting remarks adding a layer of humor and charm to the story. His ability to see through people's lies and uncover the truth is more fun because of the way he breaks them open. His multi-lingual erudition, Victorian mannerisms, and avuncular badgering methods transform the book from "good" to "great."...more
Voltaire: I may not agree with you, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
Golem: I want to talk about bringing death to you.
Voltaire: UmVoltaire: I may not agree with you, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
Golem: I want to talk about bringing death to you.
Voltaire: Ummm....
We will return to this paradox later. The dialogue is an appropriate way to begin a review of this sometimes playful, often cerebral, and always serious book. Without saying so explicitly, the author makes a case for centrist political and social thinking or anything that leaves room for the opposite.
Much of the book is about the extreme left and right of American politics. The author, a liberal himself, avoids the much-discussed aspects of the far right and spends most time critiquing the social justice theory of the far left. The echo-chamber-type political views are becoming common globally. Devotees of these camps not only vociferously campaign what they believe in but also go after all not in complete agreement, including neutrals. The author's gripe is with intolerance, regardless of the tenets of such schools.
These sections are interesting, with many forceful assertions and thought-provoking anecdotes, but they are not exceptional. Political commentators of all stripes have written volumes on rising political divisions and inherent irreconcilability.
The book's best parts are its theoretical constructs. They are constructed using the author's signature methods, starting slow and silly, seeming to meander randomly and simply with a lot of humor, only to explode into profound points. Fans of the author's blog will find themselves at home with many great sketches.
Much can be said simply. The author is a master of this art. That said, much can be missed when said simply too. A critique of the author's desirable theoretical construct is perhaps the best way to close the review of this cerebral book.
Tolerance, aka liberalism for our purposes here, is a practice acquired after immense difficulties. Notwithstanding their intellectual and theoretical appeal, almost all liberal democratic societies developed secular, tolerant principles after shocking historical events such as brutal wars, destructions wrought by terrible extremists, or liberation from foreign powers. Sadly, a tolerant political realm has resulted in only a few societies that have gone through the worst, usually because of an enlightened group of leaders. I discuss some of this in my review of The Narrow Corridor https://bit.ly/41rtB9o.
Tolerance is difficult to acquire and is not easy to sustain either, as seen in numerous democratic societies in recent times. Theoretically, any tolerance construct is contrived from the outset because of Popper's Paradox at its root. An example of this is the made-up Voltaire's dialogue at the beginning. A tolerant society must be intolerant of the intolerance of tolerance to survive. The mouthful means that a tolerant system cannot allow anyone to fancy destroying the system as a fundamental right. No-harm principles are also added to ensure the system does not self-annihilate by permitting violence in the name of freedom.
It gets worse. The list of theoretical exceptions needs to be materially expanded to address the real-life constraints in the world of countries and companies, capitalism and democracies.
The book describes the echo chambers of religious groups. In the author's language, Golems of rival groups are predisposed to reject each other's concepts and ideas. A religious group can never abolish itself by accepting the superiority of another. It may tolerate their existence or occasionally appreciate a rival's better ideas or methods, but that would be it. The intolerance or illiberalism at work is not much different from that bred and nurtured in rival communities of other kinds, like nations or corporations.
In democracies (far worse in other political systems), even the most liberal do not demand the same treatment for non-citizens as citizens. The best moralist can't demand that a perfectly deserving foreigner be given a job on global ethical grounds at the cost of a less deserving local. In the same vein, no moralist working at a corporate can constantly suggest to customers that they should go to the competition because of their superior offer.
Effectively, a practical concept of tolerance requires intolerance of corporate executives, politicians, or policymakers who do not work for narrower goals. One can stretch this further, but the main point is already evident: tolerance is not an absolute construct in a functioning society. It is a made-up, subjective belief system full of internal contradictions that, over time, will expose it to the risk of self-implosion.
To conclude, tolerance requires extremism towards extremism. Those who espouse tolerance typically do not have the profile to take hard-line against illiberal, far-right or far-left ideologies. In the Voltarian vein, a tolerant system tolerates the proliferation of ideas and ideologies that turn immensely subversive and destructive over time. We are leaking out of the narrow corridor of centrist, secular politics in many nations worldwide; it may not be easy getting back in, regardless of how many well-intentioned authors write whatever number of tombs discussing their harm....more
MegaThreats fails on multiple counts. Let's ignore that the count to ten is artificial when the first six risks are so intertwined that they could hav MegaThreats fails on multiple counts. Let's ignore that the count to ten is artificial when the first six risks are so intertwined that they could have been counted as one or two without the fine separation. We will return to these six, the best part of the book, later.
The last four non-economic sections are particularly weak, full of oft-heard remarks, and without anything original. The book fully lives up to its reputation for offering no tangible ways out of its doomsday scenarios, which is fine given its well-publicized intentions. It is still not just hopelessly damaging but also misleading. The low point of the book is when the author tries to translate such dire predictions for humanity into an investment strategy in financial markets; it is almost like he has nothing to suggest on how to avert the worst in real life, but he can help you protect your savings!
The economic sections of the first half are where the author is on the home turf. Financial market participants have long given up discussing the risks posed by excessive fiscal profligacy. These risks are exacerbated by monetary adventures, worsening inequality, demographics, populist pressures, and financial market reflexivities. The author is one of many who have read their economic history well to discuss these risks. He excels in his discussions of debt, while his prose is weakest when he begins discussing almost randomly selected historic episodes to support his fears. Rather than repeating descriptions of specific market or economic collapses of the past, the author could have done so much more to separate distinct types of risks, their potential severities, and what could trigger them.
Excessive debt can lead to cyclical downturns, but these are not dangerous if the leverage allows an economy to be on a much better structural path. No one enjoys market or economic downturns. However, if recessions like 2001-03 or 2008 are the price of leading the world in innovation or market return, most long-term theorists would take them any day over any other form of economic setup. The same argument could be made about China's choices so far. That said, if the arguments are for longer, structural decline like that experienced by Japan since the late 1980s or like the US in the 1930s/70s, the text and the logic should have been different.
Those in the habit of constantly evaluating history comprehensively miss how much the world of policymaking has changed, and hence why some of the past warning signs have not worked for years. Think of it this way: a thousand years ago, a voyager planning a journey seven seas across had to plan theoretically months in advance. With all the real-time information, a modern traveler hardly goes to the proverbial drawing board or prepares by the book, focusing instead on avoiding the nearest hazards and traffic while moving toward the destination.
In the world of scant information, a policymaker had to use the support of theoretical frameworks to manage an economy. The modern world allows current policymakers to abandon the rigid straightjacket of textbook theories and steer practically based on data points they see. Economic critics, almost always belonging to various theoretical schools, find framework-less policymaking abhorrent. Not only would each one find some policies inconsistent with their favorite theoretical formulas, but they also struggle to fathom long-term effects and even consistent near-term rationales. Today's policymakers appear capricious and short-sighted to the devotees of Keynes, Friedman, or any other similar great economic thinkers.
For nearly forty years, and notwithstanding many market and economic cycles, markets and economies have avoided prolonged downturns in most countries with proactive, data-driven monetary policymakers. This is not to say that an insidious downturn is not around the corner, but those predicting it need to make their case differently than merely signaling excessive levels in some economic parameters or drawing historical analogies. Given the author's reputation and past work, he must have a lot on why now and how worse it will be, but he missed them entirely in this work. That's all the worse for the book. ...more
The Muse has too much for such a short book. It appears like the new murders are just becoming known to the investigators even as the book reaches theThe Muse has too much for such a short book. It appears like the new murders are just becoming known to the investigators even as the book reaches the home stretch. The same goes for the new characters and their backstories. The wrapping up is extraordinarily quick, not just in light of the complexities of the crimes solved but also with the sudden inclusion of the extraordinary. ...more
It is not often that this reviewer picks up a collection of essays. The exception for David Sedaris's "When You Are Engulfed in Flames" proved more thIt is not often that this reviewer picks up a collection of essays. The exception for David Sedaris's "When You Are Engulfed in Flames" proved more than worthwhile.
Its entertaining and engaging collection of essays had frequent laughing-out-loud moments. The essayist's wry humor and sharp observations about everyday life mix with his incisive writing skills, resulting in unexpected statements that make you pause. This is due, in part, to the ability to find the absurd in the mundane.
The satirist is not afraid to bare inner fears and vulnerabilities. He feasts on them while sharing highly personal stories. The level of honesty makes the exposition of many age-old themes, like love or addiction, fresh and charming.
It also helps that the author has traveled extensively, lived in so many varied societies, and has been able to sprinkle stories from so many parts of the world. Still, he cannot avoid some of the essays turning repetitive or their topics appearing stale—a minor flaw in an otherwise highly engaging collection. ...more
Free Will and Determinism is an exceptional course that is highly focussed, well structured, and with countless insights to stimulate thinking. The beFree Will and Determinism is an exceptional course that is highly focussed, well structured, and with countless insights to stimulate thinking. The best tribute is to write one's conclusions to append the Professor's closing remarks about his intentions in the course of not to conclude but to make others think. So, this reviewer's views from hereon on the course's main topics.
The simple reality of a philosophical mind is that it struggles to accept a world that could be running only on specific mathematical, logical, or similar rules. It gets worse: these rational fields in which the world rules are set are not the most natural to a homo Sapien. Humanity has discovered the underlying rule-based structure of the world lately.
Contrasting with this is our philosophers' strong inclination to retain the traditional feeling/experience/intuition-based language concepts passed down to them through the mouths of the most well-known and respected thinkers of our kind. The efforts to reconcile the latest knowledge with historic concepts and queries invariably lead to unresolvable debates on definitions and meanings of the terms that are impossible to pin. More importantly, even after millennia-spanning debates, philosophers never settle debates on pet topics unless comprehensively refuted by later-day scientific studies.
Given this, it could be more productive to approach philosophical questions by starting with what is already known and working backward rather than trying again based on queries posed in the past. There is not enough space in a book review to scratch the surface of these ideas, but it is worth putting them here as notes.
Given the evidence of the weight, let us presume that the world runs on a set of rules. Let's call it a big axiom A. We will show that axiom A is at the root of countless philosophical debates, including free will and determinism: believers and disbelievers of many philosophical concepts effectively differ here.
The rule set of the world may or may not be fully comprehendible now or forever. Thankfully, we do not need assumptions about a sentient's complete comprehensibility for our purpose. One must still note that the whole of the rule set could be just slightly longer than what we know currently in our sciences, or it could be billions of times more complex with the number of parameters, interrelations, forces, fields, constants, etc. so large that no system on a rock like earth could encompass it fully with all the resources at disposal.
When a human language produces concepts like soul, consciousness, free will, determinism, or even God, there is a required assumption of something - like a field or a force - that works outside any rule system governing the material world. We are different from inanimate objects and other life forms. Our ancestors found it necessary to believe additional mystic sources were working on us to account for our higher-order existence.
Given that the rules uncovered so far are, at best, an approximation of the full set, it is impossible to rule out mystery concepts as comprehensively as geocentric theories. Proponents need consciousness and the likes to be outside the rule-based frameworks to give importance and agency to our race, not unlike the importance accorded to earth in geocentric theories. This inherently contradicts the axiom mentioned above. The contradictions lead one group to refute the starting assumption, another to rue the gaps in our knowledge, and the most to debate endlessly on finer points without conclusions. A disagreement on the axiom cannot simply be resolved through rational arguments based on them.
Here is one example from the book that falls into this category. In the chapters on neurosciences, we learn about the struggles of different philosophical schools in finding the space for consciousness and free will in what we are learning about the brain's processing of signals and actions. Some see a potential for consciousness to exert itself in the current measurement gaps between our awareness neurons becoming aware of something and another set acting. The others want to use the gap for free will to guide the action before its neurons are activated. It actually gets this silly!
There are more straightforward, obvious answers that require an overthrowing of historically-cherished concepts (the reviewer realizes practical difficulties but let's leave that aside, given the space constraints).
Let's start with an example from traditional physics - say, fluidity. One needs to know everything about individual liquid molecules and their interrelations when present in an enormous number to understand the behavior of droplets or onwards to fluid down a capillary. The reality is that not only do we not know all at a molecular level, but we cannot understand the complete interplay of even three of them, let alone billions.
Still, fluidity is an emergent concept that can be studied approximately using other types of equations. No scientific person thinks there is something non-scientific in between, like free will or consciousness, that suddenly causes molecules to behave like waves of one type versus the other.
Our minds and bodies are tiny instances of the large world equation set. We cannot work on how our body changes from one moment to the next without any external influence, let alone its dynamic evolution over time, given all the environmental variables. A soul, consciousness, free will, etc., are good functional ways to describe many emergent behaviors like viscosity in fluid mechanics (notwithstanding their utility in reconciling historic, spiritual, or religious beliefs). Yet, searching for their causes in scientific or rational realms is futile.
The last statement is important. A typical philosopher begins with questions like whether there is free will with the promise not to provide an answer through axiomatic authority but with didactic, reasoned discourses. The process of answering first tangles her in describing the term's meaning. The more she parses, the worse it becomes to ignore the gaps in scientific knowledge. Depending on her proclivity, she might feel tempted to use the knowledge gaps to provide the basis for her conclusions on the topic. Unfortunately, the closer she comes to asserting a non-rational concept, the more random and arbitrary it appears if she continues to pursue her logical exercise to find causality or reason. This point will have her recoil and leave the query without a definitive conclusion. Amid such tensions, she would also anguish whether a complete rule-based system will be deterministic, regardless of the possibility of the equation being unsolvable by any system smaller than the universe itself.
The simple reality is that for those who want to believe in concepts like soul, consciousness, or free will, it is imperative to abandon rationality or science somewhere. Efforts to reconcile are doomed to fail, given the starting point in the hypothesis. It is precisely for the same reason that people with different assumptions on the limits of rationality are unlikely to ever agree on the answers to these questions, given the gaps in our knowledge. Those who believe in a rule-based world can still have practical answers to moral, ethical, and legal dilemmas, as shown in the course toward the final chapters.
A small section on the determinism debate, which is slightly different. On the arrow of time, the observed world hurls in only one direction. To call this direction fated or not is a linguist's prerogative. Whether the equation is solvable using anything smaller than the universe is unimportant for our purposes. Like a three-body problem, even the most defined rule-based system may still not yield conclusions on where things are headed without waiting for the actuality to unfold. The defined rule-based system may have probabilistic parts. However, it is still an axiomatic assumption if we want to believe that there is no more profound, hidden theory behind any probabilistic fallout we observe. In the end, without mystic forces, a rule-based system is definitionally just rule-based, which is almost synonymous with the word deterministic. Some may use probabilistic parameters to dispute this, but that's an issue with the word's definition; it does not create any room for concepts like free will.
Back to the course: it is worth going through because it will make many come up with ideas, like for this reviewer. ...more
Economic historians talk a lot about bubbles and busts, more so about the greatest of them all, the great depression. As they describe events, they poEconomic historians talk a lot about bubbles and busts, more so about the greatest of them all, the great depression. As they describe events, they ponder the causes and effects using various economic, social, behavioral, political, and other theories with cursory references to the personalities.
This book approaches the historic bust from the opposite angle: despite momentous events that preceded the collapse in the previous decades, the author lays the blame squarely on the misguided actions of four gents heading the central banks of the US, UK, France, and Germany.
The approach provides a unique perspective. The policy missteps were not a result of beliefs in wrong economic theories. The author proves that these gents were wrong because of a combination of instinctive steps without thinking about consequences, too much power that others could not check, stubbornness, inexperience, rudimentary institutional structures of the early days, etc.
The claims are somewhat extreme, as are others that deify Keynes or indirectly glorify the current economic management. A lot of sections are full of irrelevant details. At the same time, the author misses out on discussing whether all other crises before or after were also because of incompetent men (it has been chiefly men so far in economic spheres ahead of significant boom-bust episodes) or if 1929 was unique.
Taking a narrow view to make a broad point, one can always debate whether the crash was more intense because the gold standard framework was a wrong monetary framework or whether it was because of the decision-makers who believed in it for whatever human reasons. It is equivalent to asking whether the collapse of the Soviet Union was because of the leaders who ruined the union in the preceding decades or because of the tenets of communism. It is always a combination of both, of course, but few would lay such little importance on beliefs compared to their personalities. ...more
Readers understand authors' need to serialize complex stories through multiple books. Notwithstanding the commercial considerations, a well-designed sReaders understand authors' need to serialize complex stories through multiple books. Notwithstanding the commercial considerations, a well-designed story series can bring immense joy to the fans over an extended period.
That said, this reviewer has read few books as incomplete as this one. Likely because of the deadline pressures, the authors, too, must have been upset enough at the point at which they were abandoning the story to almost apologize in the afterword. They weaved a complex story across centuries and multiverses involving over a dozen characters to suddenly pause, if not a complete Kafka-esq mid-statement, then fairly close.
Those who follow the series are much better served to read after the rest of the books are out. Otherwise, one will have to not only endure a climax that leaves the reader hanging but also a detailed restart in the next book to refresh the memory....more
Loading...
