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I didn't want to read this book. I picked it up thinking that my mother, who taught in Japan for several years, might enjoy it. But she'd read it and recommended it to me heartily.
Now I wasn't in any great rush to read it for a couple of other reasons. One of which was that I thought I had attended university with Will and that he was an asshole. Well, not necessarily an asshole, he was quite likeable in fact, it's just that he published before me and while it's probably drivel possibly it's not and that makes him an asshole.
So I did a bit of research and, lo and behold, I didn't go to university with Will Ferguson. A few "Will's", a few "Ferguson's", that was probably where I got confused. It doesn't lessen the fact that he's still an asshole.
I began the book, perfectly prepared to hate the guy and write it off. Looking, in fact, for any reason to dislike it. But, oddly enough, there weren't any. Or not too many. It's actually a perfect travel book. By perfect I mean he meets a variety of characters, there's some humour and poetry, he has some small adventures and fills us in with the history, geography and culture of the places he visits. And his assessments aren't far off of my own (if anything they're probably better, having done research and all). But I won't hold that against him.
It was a good book. Actually, it was a great book, but I wouldn't say that 'cause I hate the guy. I'd give it a full bento box, with extra salmon and octupus and several extra pieces of that delicious fried tofu.
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by Umberto Eco
I like Umberto Eco. And I liked this. Good book.
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Edited and Introduced by Mark Roskill
Now this is a great book. Here, in 1 volume, are the collected letters of Vincent Van Gogh to his brother Theo.
That said, it's not perfect. It's a 1963 paperback with black and white plates of his work. Van Gogh is sold short in full color prints, there's no point to black and white prints at all. But it's an old book, so you can't really expect better. It's been edited, which is a bad thing, and there are notes to certain letters advising that certain of Vincent's observations to Theo are left out as being irrelevant. While I appreciate this is probably true, I'd prefer to judge that for myself. There are notes as well that reference other letters Van Gogh wrote to Gauguin on the back of his letters to Theo, but not reproduced. This is a bit of a tease. There are notes as to sketches that Van Gogh sent to Theo along with his letters, or drawings on the page, but these again are not reproduced. And it would be good to see Theo's responses to Van Gogh's letters, to form perhaps a better idea of their correspondence.
So in short, there's no criticizing Van Gogh, but the editing could be better done. Things I'd look for were I to buy this again:
- More notes as to the paintings and what became of them (He describes quite vividly what he's working on in the letters, but only some of them are footnoted. Many of his works went missing as well, and it would be curious to know what's survived and what's missing, as well as where the surviving works are currently.)
- Something that attempted to reproduce the drawings that accompanied his letters
- Letter from Theo, as well as surviving letters from Vincent to Gauguin, etc.
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Just finished reading "I am a Strange Loop" by Douglas Hofstadter. Author of "Godel, Escher and Bach". Which started off enjoyably enough, but somehow he's turned what would have been an intriguing chapter in a book into a tedious book all and of its own. This despite the wonderful reviews posted all over the dustcover and bookflaps.
And again we come to the theme of "Preaching to the Choir". In that I was initially quite sympathetic to his arguments, not 100%, but there is much in them to think about, but he develops them, rephrases them with different examples, repeats them, repeats them, repeating them again and again (over and over) ad nauseum. The point would have been better made with fewer words.
Overall I'd give it one out of eight bananas.
TO save you the trouble of reading it for yourselves I'll summarize his arguments as follows: The Mind - Consciousness - "I" - The sense of self and individuality we all feel is an illusion created by nested patterns and thought processes running in the brain. This is expounded with many examples from Math and Physics; and using some of the techniques of his earlier books (the dialogues, for example). That's it.
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And so at long last I finally finished "Science at the Edge". Which was interesting, a compilation of essays by leading scientists on what they think are important issues.
It was interesting, and not least because it reaffirmed my belieft that science, in some measure, has become a bit of a religion. And as in any religion there are zealots. They have no problems disagreeing profoundly on just about everything, in almost every aspect those adherents of a particular theory will defend it almost unto the death. While they acknowledge there is the possibility they may be wrong, none will believe it. Even in the face of overwhelming evidence. And, lest you think that by some quantum "viewer creates their own reality conundrum" they're all right, by their own admission and insistence they can't be. Someone must be wrong. Just not the scientist writing this essay.
But it was a book, and the problem with books is that it takes time to edit, proofread, set the presses, distribute, market, etc.
And for books on technology that's a bad thing. Principally because by the time the book makes it to a shelf near you many of the subjects and topics are already out of date. No, there's no general unified theory as of yet, but great strides have been made that answer and raise new questions. And that information can be found online. All of it.
For this, the internet is perfect. Information can be distributed and disseminated instantaneously. For science and technology especially, as information distributed by older means is far too slow to the mill.
So I'll end this by saying, if you want to know what the current top issues in science are today, and get the breaking news, don't read a book. Books are for literature, poetry, plays. And when I say this, bear in mind I am prejudiced in favour of books. A book is, in my mind, far superior to staring at a digital screen. But not for this.
Links to Ezines on Science and Technology:
Links to Video Media on Social, Science and Technology Issues:
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Google+Techtalks&emb=0#