Book #3
"The Day We Found the Universe" by Marcia Bartusiak. This well known science professor and writer very clearly describes how a relatively small number of astronmers starting in the late 19th century and continuing to the early 20th century, the 1920s more precisely, revolutionised astronomy and astrophysics. They did this by meticulously using mostly telescopes, eventually the famous 60, 100, and 200 inch reflector telescopes in California and elsewhere. In a few decades our understanding of the universe went from one galaxy, ours, the Milky Way, and one universe, to a vastly expanded universe composed of virtually countless galaxies.
Book #4
"The Capitalist Philosophers - The Geniuses of Modern Business - Their Lives, Times, and Ideas" by Andrea Gabor. This book is about I don't remember exactly how many, eight or more, mostly or entirely American academics and business men{maybe one woman}. Almost all of them were unknown to me. Each of them in their individual and not very harmonious ways helped create the modern 20th century corporation that out invented and out produced and eventually defeated socialism and communism. The "conversion" of Chinese communism and the collapse of the Soviet Union and Soviet Block took much of the oblivious liberal-left wing world by surprise{including me}.
Book #5
"Dancing at the Dead Sea"- Tracking the World's Environmental Hotspots by Alanna Mitchell. This Canadian author is a very engaging science and travel writer. The writing in this subject is often alarmist, but there is no argument that we are not only living in, but causing the "6th massive extinction" in a billion years of the earth's history. The only reasonable debate is how long will it last, how extensive will it be, and whether humans will eventually be included in it.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Experimental Blog #1 - August, 18, 2009
Some Comments on 5 Books
Book #1
"A Comrade Lost and Found"- A Beijing Story by Jan Wong
The author was an ABC, that means American{actually Canadian} Born Chinese who sometime early in the Cultural Revolution went to China as a young woman full of enthusiasm. Her experiences there over several years seemed close-up and personal, although somewhat "rosy" compared to the accounts of others. During this time she denounced a classmate to the authorities who seemed to her to be too interested in going to America. This classmate soon disappeared into exile somwhere.
Over the years the author's conscience increasingly bothered her, and she went back to China sometime in 2007 or 2008 and accomplished the seemingly impossible. The author found her denounced and exiled classmate and ended up with a relieved conscience.
Book #2
"Leaving India" - My Family's Journey from Five Villages to Five Continents by Minal Hajratwala. This book is the story of a Gujarati family that dispersed from India through Fiji, Africa, New Zealand, England, and America. It is a very interesting description of a large part of the world economy and world society of the late 20th and 21st centuries from a Gujarati point of view.
Book #1
"A Comrade Lost and Found"- A Beijing Story by Jan Wong
The author was an ABC, that means American{actually Canadian} Born Chinese who sometime early in the Cultural Revolution went to China as a young woman full of enthusiasm. Her experiences there over several years seemed close-up and personal, although somewhat "rosy" compared to the accounts of others. During this time she denounced a classmate to the authorities who seemed to her to be too interested in going to America. This classmate soon disappeared into exile somwhere.
Over the years the author's conscience increasingly bothered her, and she went back to China sometime in 2007 or 2008 and accomplished the seemingly impossible. The author found her denounced and exiled classmate and ended up with a relieved conscience.
Book #2
"Leaving India" - My Family's Journey from Five Villages to Five Continents by Minal Hajratwala. This book is the story of a Gujarati family that dispersed from India through Fiji, Africa, New Zealand, England, and America. It is a very interesting description of a large part of the world economy and world society of the late 20th and 21st centuries from a Gujarati point of view.
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