A sprawling disjointed book with a wide collection of anecdotes, purportedly having to do with complicated systems, but mostly woven around the story A sprawling disjointed book with a wide collection of anecdotes, purportedly having to do with complicated systems, but mostly woven around the story of the first flight simulators - a fully mechanic affair made by Ed Link, an enthusiast who used to make self-playing pianos.
At the end he meanders into a description of how Binghamton, NY (where Madhavan went to university) boomed around Ed Links company as well as IBM and others, but has now degenerated into a has-been. ...more
It's 2024, where's my flying car? — It's called a 'helicopter', and it turns out that they're dangerous and expensive.
Kobie looks at various 'new' tecIt's 2024, where's my flying car? — It's called a 'helicopter', and it turns out that they're dangerous and expensive.
Kobie looks at various 'new' technologies and shows how they have a long pedigree.
Ernst Dickmanns made some advanced self-driving cars, and built a van that successfully negotiated real traffic on the German Autobahn in the 1980's, using cameras and lots of computers, for what was at the time cutting-edge image recognition. But he was not the first. The history goes back to the 1920's and every decade since then has seen some improvements.
There are similar chapters about robots, AI, flying cars, cyborgs and smart cities, all of them showing Ms Kobies detailed research and flair for writing about it. ...more
An overview of what it would take to create a carbon-neutral future in America.
In the 1970's energy crisis, the goal was to reduce consumption by aboAn overview of what it would take to create a carbon-neutral future in America.
In the 1970's energy crisis, the goal was to reduce consumption by about 10% (the proportion of petrochemicals that the US imported at the time) and the mantra of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" was coined. Today, however, the goal has to be to make a complete overhaul of the energy system, and a better motto would be "Enhance, Expand, Electrify!"
He doesn't explicitly quote David MacKeye's famous dictum "If everyone does a little, we'll only achieve a little", but the sentiment is there. We need a huge investment - comparable to the effort that the US did during WWII.
Electrifying all transportation (except long-haul flight) is an obvious contender, but not enough. We also need to replace all heating with heat pumps and all gas cookers with induction plates. That will still not come close to doing enough. We also need to decarbonise industry. Today there are trials of carbon-free steel and some attempts at reducing the carbon intensity of concrete.
This energy has to come from somewhere, and Griffith is a strong proponent of household self-sufficiency, with photovoltaics on all roofs and batteries in all houses (as well as a clever grid and connected cars where the battery can be used to balance the grid.) But it will also need expanding large-scale wind and solar farms, and a massive expansion of the distribution grid. The cost of photovoltaics has come down remarkably, to the extent that today the cost of a solar roof is dominated by permitting and installation. Here, the US suffers from bad regulations. Putting up a solar roof in Australia costs about half as much as in the US, despite slightly higher hourly rates for the installers.
The book is focused on the American situation, but the situation is similar in most of the world. Some places have more wind or solar, and some places (such as Switzerland, where I live) are ideally suited for pumped hydro storage, but in general the solution is the same - Build more photovoltaics to drive down prices further. Wright's law (or specifically Swanson's law) states that the prices come down by 20% for every doubling in production volume. In order to reach 100% renewables, we probably need five or so more doublings, which should drive down the production costs to single-cents per Watt. That means that Solar installations are dominated by installation and maintenance, rather than expensive panels.
I personally don't agree with all his conclusions, but it's clear that something needs to be done now.
The text is clear and coherent, with lots of serious ideas. Just like 'Not the End of the World' it shows that if you're young and eager to improve the world it makes more sense to study chemistry to come up with a better battery, than to glue yourself to a motorway...
In short - convince Xi that 'today is not a good day to invade Taiwan' every day until China gets too old and decrepiHow the US can win against China.
In short - convince Xi that 'today is not a good day to invade Taiwan' every day until China gets too old and decrepit.
Alperovitch focuses a lot on Taiwan, and insists that the current Taiwanese army is not fit for the purpose of defending against a Chinese invasion. An all-out US-China war would be disastrous for the whole world, and in order to avoid that, everyone need to agree that the status quo is better.
The US needs to focus on getting stronger, which includes getting more and better immigrants, as well as improving schooling for the native-born population. US must fight for a laws-based system, which right now there's a tendency to sidestep. For example, US has been blocking the WTO adjudicating courts, by not accepting any new judges, effectively gumming up the whole process.
At the same time, China is getting weaker, mostly, but not only, based on demographics. China's population is decreasing, and the working-age population is decreasing even faster.
There are several lessons to be learned from the war in Ukraine. One of the most important is that modern armies use ammunition and drones at an unsustainable rate. (Much faster than the defence establishment can build more.) Especially when it comes to drones, which are treated as consumables, and replaced at an almost-daily rate. That's fine if you're using COTS stuff from e.g. DJI, where the unit cost is in the high triple/digits, but not for the US-army's Raven, which costs USD250'000 each. The Western defence companies have focussed too much on high-status extreme tech, instead of pumping out consumables. Compare the simple AT-4 anti-tank RPG with the Javelin. The Javelin is much more advanced, but also costs more than 100 times more!
A collection of short articles about modern idioms - mostly 20th century / early 21st century sayings that have become emblematic. From 'round up the A collection of short articles about modern idioms - mostly 20th century / early 21st century sayings that have become emblematic. From 'round up the usual suspects' (First used in Casablanca) to 'Groundhog Day' to 'OK, Boomer', there are chapters about idioms coming from different domains, such as television, movies and sports.
Some of the idioms were new to me, especially the ones related to ports, and some have unclear origins, but Carrol manages to write engagingly about them anyway. (The sports section was less appealing to me, though.)
He does a decent job of covering both US and UK idioms, but less about other world English....more
More of a history of aging and cell biology research, than an expose of the current state of knowledge.
A nice overview of how there has been great advMore of a history of aging and cell biology research, than an expose of the current state of knowledge.
A nice overview of how there has been great advances in the human lifespan - mostly through improved hygiene and nutrition. The book also discusses the history of the discovery of a lot of the underlying biology. Dr Ramakrishnan won a Nobel prize for his work on ribosomes, and he knows a lot of the people involved personally, and this shows. The narrative is studded with personal anecdotes and colourful asides.
Many of the people and companies who peddle supposedly life extending drugs and treatments are charlatans and/or deluding themselves, but this is a very sober account of the current state of play. Telomere-lengthening is interesting, but also linked to cancer. The free radical theory is a nice story, but not backed by evidence. Cryogenic freezing of corpses is a scam. Und so weiter, und so weiter... ...more
A well-told story of how FBI together with Australian Police (and eventually several European police authorities) bIn cyberspace FBI hears you scream.
A well-told story of how FBI together with Australian Police (and eventually several European police authorities) built and ran an encrypted phone service company, from 2018 to 2021.
Criminals need to communicate, and are often wary of using 'normal' communications means, as phone tapping is as old as phones. There were a bunch of 'secure' phone companies in the 2010's, that sold modified blackberries etc, with the camera and GPS removed, and routing messages through alternate servers. Some of these were hacked, and many organized crime syndicates moved to the 'Anom' service, which boasted a slick UI and several useful features, such as voice scrambling and image distortion as well as end-to-end encryption and easy data wiping. Little did the criminals know that all the messages (as well as un-scrambled voices and undistorted images) were saved to a server in Lithuania, ultimately controlled by the FBI.
The story broke in 2022, but this is the first book-length investigation of the whole build-up and eventual exposure of what has been called 'the greatest sting operation in history'. (I would save that moniker for CIA brazen takeover of Crypto AG, but why squabble about details.)
What is just as interesting is what is not in the book. Apparently FBI had no warrants for wiretapping in the US, so they supposedly assiduously cleaned out any domestic communications. (yeah, right...)...more
The Wallmartization of religion, and Religion as fast food franchise.
In this book Seabright tries to explain how religion has become such an importantThe Wallmartization of religion, and Religion as fast food franchise.
In this book Seabright tries to explain how religion has become such an important power (and tool for power) over the millenia. He starts with an observation by Adam Smith that in an environment with multiple competing religions they have to be more competitive, and provide a 'better offer' than in an environment with one single hegemonic religion. This might explain why there are so many protestant sects, but only one (OK - three¹?) Catholic churches.
The book is full of interesting anecdotes, such as the fact that there are two villages in Vanuatu where the late Prince Philip is revered as a reincarnated god. It's also full of rater dense prose with references to scholarly articles for every claim.
He also points out that while there is a growing secularization in 'The West', it's by no means universal. The big religions are still growing in Africa and South America, mostly by encroaching on traditional belief systems. What he only mentions in passing is the changes that this brings to e.g. the Anglican church, that now has many more (and much more active) participants in sub-saharan Africa.
He also claims that the Catholic church is a remarkably 'flat' organization, with all bishops being appointed by the Pope, and all priests responsible to their bishop. It means that any catholic person is only three levels from the Pope! (OK - in practice it's more complicated, with deacons and cardinals and what-not.) This is significantly flatter than most international organizations, and has been achieved by an unprecedented level of 'franchising', whereby the bishops take a hands-off approach to individual priests in their parishes. This worked reasonably well in the past, but has also led to abuses of power, such as the infamous child-molestation cases, where the bishops did know about it, but silently moved the priests elsewhere and hushed it all down.
All in all, the book is written in an erudite, yet friendly tone, with lots of information and references in footnotes, rather than clogging up the central narrative. Personally, I found it a bit too long and detailed, but I'm barely even a layman in this field.
¹ Depending on how you count, you can come up with any number. I was thinking of the Latin Rite, Eastern Rite, and Old Catholicism. There's also sedevacantism etc. ...more
Dr Attia has had an interesting life story. He started studying aeronautical engineering, before pivoting to medicine. HaLive forever, or die trying.
Dr Attia has had an interesting life story. He started studying aeronautical engineering, before pivoting to medicine. Halfway through he changed to management consultant, before going back to medicine. He now runs a clinic specializing on making people live longer.
Physical strength is a good indicator of longevity, with VO₂Max, balance and grip strength being good indicators of longevity.
His regimen includes a ridiculous amount of physical training - several hours per day, split into both cardio, speed, endurance and strength. He also advocates a protein-rich diet and some supplements, as well as moderate amounts of alcohol and plenty of sleep.
Apart from physical factors (including genetics) he also highlights psychological well-being. The last chapter is a brutal tell-all of how he went through a mental breakdown presumably partly caused by traumatic abuse as a young child.
The beauty of infrastructure is that we can take it for granted.
Just as much a love song to standards, as an overview of infrastructure, this book praThe beauty of infrastructure is that we can take it for granted.
Just as much a love song to standards, as an overview of infrastructure, this book praises the unsung heroes of infrastructure, as well as the well-sung heroes such as Bazalgette, the architect of Victorian London's sewers.
She likens large structures ('charismatic megastructures') to charismatic megafauna, and points out that just like their animal equivalents, they rely on a hidden web of mostly unseen support structures.
She talks a lot about energy, and goes on about a visit to a pumped storage facility in Wales. I'm personally a great fan of pumped storage, so that's catnip to me.
In tha last part she talks abot the ongoing energy transition, and remarks that we're moving from a world where energy was rare but matter was abundant (both as a source of raw material and as a sink for byproducts). We're now moving towards a world of unlimited energy, but scarce matter. Solar energy is already the cheapest source it most of the world, for most of the time - and if we can manage medium-term storage, that would solve the energy problem once and for all.
This is the one place where I quibble with her conclusions. She favours local energy generation, with local involvement, whereas I believe in her other dictum, that infrastructure ought to be invisible The end-user shouldn't have to worry about where the power comes from, nor what happens to the waste when we flush it. As someone famous said - wealth is mostly not having to care about mundane details. And not having to care¹ what happens when I switch on a light, or flush a toilet, is true wealth indeed.
The book is a bit uneven, but a decent read.
four stars
¹ - Not having to care does _not_ mean not bothering to know. Knowing what happens beneath the surface is indeed true knowledge bordering on wisdom. ...more
Chang writes well, but this book has an extremely narrow focus, with several chapters focusing on the different means of boiling water. (Only looking Chang writes well, but this book has an extremely narrow focus, with several chapters focusing on the different means of boiling water. (Only looking at the actual bubble formation, and how that is correlated with surface treatment and dissolved impurities.) ...more
A short, semi-scientific introduction to tea making, focusing mostly on the steeping process with some digressions into the growing, processing and poA short, semi-scientific introduction to tea making, focusing mostly on the steeping process with some digressions into the growing, processing and post-use recycling. There is a long chapter focusing on caffeine, working as an adenosine blocker. Caffeine is among the first molecules to dissolve when steeping tea, and most of the caffeine has already been dissolved in about 30 seconds if using a tea bag, and a in 90s if using loose leaf.
One interesting titbit is that the ISO standard for making tea (ISO 3103), makes a very bitter brew, as it recommends 20g of tea per litre of water, and steeping it for six minutes. Ms Francl recommends 2g of tea for 200ml of water, which is still significantly stronger than I normally make it. (I tend to go for about 7g of tea for 1.5l of water, or about half of Ms Franlc, and one quarter of the relevant ISO standard.
When the book came out, there was a huge hullabaloo abot the fact that she suggests that a pinch of salt can alleviate some of the bitterness in the tea. This caused huge headlines at the BBC, but in the book it is mentioned only in passing as an interesting insight into the human perception of flavour. Normally you'd want the bitterness, as it's an integral part of the flavour profile of the tea, though. ...more
There's more to listening than just looking at the speaker and nodding...
Duhigg recommends getting personal, leaning in and asking how the interlocutoThere's more to listening than just looking at the speaker and nodding...
Duhigg recommends getting personal, leaning in and asking how the interlocutor really feels about things. Instead of "What did you learn at university", ask "Is there anything you regret about going to university", for example.
Duhigg is a journalist, and is good at interviewing people. But that's a skill that he has had to learn, and here he is trying to share what he has learned....more
A sometimes very personal story about breasts in contemporary America.
She has been married to both a man and a woman, and has been breastfeeding, hadA sometimes very personal story about breasts in contemporary America.
She has been married to both a man and a woman, and has been breastfeeding, had a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery, and here she investigates the uses of breasts in five different settings, from sex work to milk banks to bra-design....more
MBA - Management By Absence Confessions of a reluctant entrepreneur.
Yvan Chouinard was a complete failure in school, and couldn't wait to get out. He lMBA - Management By Absence Confessions of a reluctant entrepreneur.
Yvan Chouinard was a complete failure in school, and couldn't wait to get out. He lived for the outdoors, fishing and hunting, while climbing and surfing. When he started climbing he couldn't afford to buy pitons, so he made his own. Then other people wanted to buy them, so he set up a forge that he used in between climbs. Out of this grew Patagonia. The hardware business was later spun off as Black Diamond, while Patagonia focussed on the clothing. Chouinard still spent as much time as possible outdoors, and during some years in his twenties he claims to have spent more nights outdoors than in a bed. But he only bought his first tent when in his forties.
The book basically follows the growth of the company, from a one-person itinerant blacksmith to a billion-dollar company. The latter half of the book is a more loosely connected rant about the environmental impact of our consumer society, which feels like it could have done with tighter editing....more
A curious mixture of autobiography, biography, literature and true crime.
Jonathan Rosen's childhood neighbour Michael Laudor was a gifted child, who wA curious mixture of autobiography, biography, literature and true crime.
Jonathan Rosen's childhood neighbour Michael Laudor was a gifted child, who went to Yale University, worked for Bain and Company, and then went to Yale law school, despite worsening Schizophrenia.
He was seen as a poster boy for living with mental health issues, and featured prominently in e.g. the New York Times, and a book and film deal was struck. It was supposed to be a heartwarming film, starring Brad Pitt, showing how someone could cope with life, despite living with a distorted view of reality. Laudor was supposed to be writing his autobiography, to coincide with the release of the film, but he struggled as a writer.
The schizophrenia got worse, however, and he ended up killing his pregnant fiancee in 1998. After the murder, the film was cancelled, and the same team went on to make "A Beautiful Mind" about the mathematician John Nash instead.
The book has an uneven focus, jumping back and force between autobiographical introspection, bordering on omphaloskepsis, and insightful observations on the flaws in American mental health services.
The text is well crafted, but occasionally feels uneven....more
Tschann seems to know her etymologies, and there's a lot of them in this slim book. She doesn't fall intA lot of etymology crammed into a short book.
Tschann seems to know her etymologies, and there's a lot of them in this slim book. She doesn't fall into the common fallacies of claiming e.g. that the Earl of Sandwich _invented_ the sandwich, nor that the roman soldiers were _paid in salt_. Instead she recounts a lot of short etymologies, without giving very much background. If I had one wish, it would be for the book to have fewer but deeper etymologies. (Only in a few cases are the earliest usages mentioned.) But that would probably have made for a less browseable book....more
In may 2016 there was an unprecedented fire ravaging Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada, the epicenter of the tar sand extraction industry.
It's a nasty In may 2016 there was an unprecedented fire ravaging Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada, the epicenter of the tar sand extraction industry.
It's a nasty irony that one of the dirtiest sites of hydrocarbon extraction was the site of one of the most devastating forest fires, at least in part caused by the global warming helped along by the release of all that carbon dioxide.
Fort McMurray is built around extraction of hydrocarbons from the tar sands that form a thick layer in the area. Where good quality oil sits just under the ground in many parts of the world, the 'tar sands' of Alberta are a long way from being useable. There are many ways of extracting it, but they all rely on using a lot of energy to heat up the and, and then reformulate the
With increasing global warming, the kind of conditions ideal for forest fires is becoming increasingly common, with extremely dry weather, high temperatures and strong winds.
The boreal forest has always burned, but never this much. Partly that's because of human intervention to stop minor fires, and partly it's due to changing conditions, with less precipitation and higher temperatures.
The book is full of asides only tangentially related to the actual fire - and not all of them add value to the discussion.
The book could have been edited more tightly - and could also have done with a better proofreader. There are some silly blunders, such as where he claims that 60 square miles correspond to 100km2 (it's more than 155), and when he claims that a four-cylinder car engine running at 2500rpm generates 10'000 'combustion events' per minute (not if it's a four-stroke engine).
Still, a very interesting, engaging and ultimately scary read....more
Ms Ypi grew up in Albania at the tail end of Enver Hoxha's reign. She was fully indoctrinated in the state propaganda, and could not understand why heMs Ypi grew up in Albania at the tail end of Enver Hoxha's reign. She was fully indoctrinated in the state propaganda, and could not understand why her parents didn't want a huge poster of their saviour in the living room. When the regime finally fell in 1991 it turned out that they had been parts of the ancien regime, with her great grandfather being prime minister before the communist takeover. During the 45 years of communist rule many of their friends had 'gone to university' - code for being sent to prison. After the collapse of the communist rule, her mother was active in the democratic opposition and her father served as minister. Ms Ypi eventually ended up in London, studying philosophy and ending up as a lecturer in political science, and especially Marxist thought.
The book does not go into the details of the pyramid schemes that ruined the Albanian economy in the 1990's, but instead show a certain nostalgia for the orderly life of the communist era.
The first half is very good, but the latter half seems a bit rushed.
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