Comments on the book "Daily Life in Immigrant America 1870 - 1920" - How the Second Great Wave of Immigrants Made Their Way in America by June Granatir Alexander
This book is, I believe, number 2 in a series of three books on American immigration, the daily life of American immigrants, and many related experiences and social and political events. How interested a reader might be in this book might depend on the history of their particular family origins and the dates or times of their immigration to America.
The author describes how what was known as the "first wave" of "old immigrants" resumed after being interrupted by the American Civil War. This wave of old immigrants came primarily from the countries of Great Britain, Germany, or the German states, and the Scandinavian countries, who, most often, came to take up farming, and moved westward to the midwestern and great plains states, and Ireland, who went, most often, to the cities of the eastern seaboard, the midwest, and elsewhere.
The "second wave" of "new immigrants" came from many countries and ethnic groups of Southern and Eastern Europe, beginning largely after 1870. However, by 1896 they had surpassed the first wave of old immigrants, and would continue to be the most numerous. These people went primarily to the "cities, industrial towns, and mining fields."
Of course, all immigration was interrupted by World War I, and had hardly resumed when it was quite abruptly cut off by the immigration legislation of the 1920's. It must also be mentioned that most immigration from Asia was always restricted by earlier legislation and other agreements between governments.
How much did all of this immigration "remake" America, as this book and others too, have claimed? How much yet remains to be seen? Is this still an open question?
And Comments on "The Seashell on the Mountaintop" - A Story of Science, Sainthood, and the Humble Genius who Discovered a New History of the Earth by Alan Cutler
After the end of the Renaissance and at the begining of the great Scientific Revolution of the 17th century lived Nicolaus Steno, from 1638 to 1686. He has been called the "founder of geology." This book gives highlights of his not very long life, he died at the age of 48, and careers, and some of the consequences and related events in the following century, or so.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Experimental Blog #8
Comments on the book "The Bird - A Natural History of Who Birds Are, Where They Came From, and How They Live" by Colin Tudge
This British science writer, who I have to say was born the same year that I was, has written a very impressive number of many highly praised books, at least 16, of which I have now read 4, 3 of which, including this one, are first rate. The author, Colin Tudge, seems to be a living, continuously updated encyclopedia of natural history and all the other biological sciences as well.
Of course, his discussion of Charles Darwin, and "Darwinism" in general, is of very great interest. He seems so thorough in his understanding that he can go beyond simply defending Darwin and write very informatively about the imperfections of Darwin and "Darwinism," which in very distorted form lead to so much abuse and suffering in the world for many decades. He seems to ask all of the right questions, and he answers them just as well.
He also writes about Darwin's ideas on "sexual selection," which he wrote about 12 years after his much more famous book on evolution. However, these ideas were then very unpopular with most of his other supporters.
The authors philosophical discussions are very educational, and involve references, sometimes many, to people such as, Rene Descartes, Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, J B Watson, B F Skinner, Alfred Russel Wallace, and others. Colin Tudge also writes about the great "paradigm shift" in the biosciences that occurred from the 1960s to the 1980s, and how this was brought about by the research and ideas of Nikolaas Timbergen, Konrad Lorenz, and perhaps most supremely, by Jane Goodall, and, of course, others.
However, the book might also be interesting for some very influential people that it does not mention. Perhaps it is because they didn't have anything to do with birds, which is what the book is specifically about, of course.
This British science writer, who I have to say was born the same year that I was, has written a very impressive number of many highly praised books, at least 16, of which I have now read 4, 3 of which, including this one, are first rate. The author, Colin Tudge, seems to be a living, continuously updated encyclopedia of natural history and all the other biological sciences as well.
Of course, his discussion of Charles Darwin, and "Darwinism" in general, is of very great interest. He seems so thorough in his understanding that he can go beyond simply defending Darwin and write very informatively about the imperfections of Darwin and "Darwinism," which in very distorted form lead to so much abuse and suffering in the world for many decades. He seems to ask all of the right questions, and he answers them just as well.
He also writes about Darwin's ideas on "sexual selection," which he wrote about 12 years after his much more famous book on evolution. However, these ideas were then very unpopular with most of his other supporters.
The authors philosophical discussions are very educational, and involve references, sometimes many, to people such as, Rene Descartes, Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, J B Watson, B F Skinner, Alfred Russel Wallace, and others. Colin Tudge also writes about the great "paradigm shift" in the biosciences that occurred from the 1960s to the 1980s, and how this was brought about by the research and ideas of Nikolaas Timbergen, Konrad Lorenz, and perhaps most supremely, by Jane Goodall, and, of course, others.
However, the book might also be interesting for some very influential people that it does not mention. Perhaps it is because they didn't have anything to do with birds, which is what the book is specifically about, of course.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Experimental Blog #7
Comments on the book "One and the Same" - My Life as an Identical Twin and What I've Learned About Everyone's Struggle to Be Singular by Abigail Pogrebin
It is repetitive to say that being an identical twin is something everybody else can only try to imagine. The author is one of a pair of very intelligent and intellectually employed identical twin sisters.
This life experience is so incomprehensible and inaccessible to almost everybody else that it seems it has produced a very great deal of what is sometimes called proto-scientific thinking, description, and explanation. However, the author repeatedly remarks about this. This proto-science is what all people, but, it seems, especially men, do, because we all instinctively try to explain everything, whether we really understand anything or not.
She also spends at least one chapter on the revolutionary new science of "epigenetics". This science deals with all the biophysics and biochemistry that are the environment of our chromosomes. One of the author's scientific sources says that, "When we say, 'environment', we mean 'everything but genetics.' "
This means that as soon as our genome is enclosed in a cell, the zygote, it has an environment. The following environments might be the embryo, the fetus, the infant, the mother's womb, and all four of these things are organic and unique to each person, including identical twins. And after we are born our bodies continue to be environments for our genomes.
Actually, the author might say that she didn't quite say all of these things, but these things and the fact that identical twins have such extraordinary relationships with each other, themselves, and everybody else makes their life stories and experiences fascinating, and maybe sometimes unsettling, for everybody.
It is repetitive to say that being an identical twin is something everybody else can only try to imagine. The author is one of a pair of very intelligent and intellectually employed identical twin sisters.
This life experience is so incomprehensible and inaccessible to almost everybody else that it seems it has produced a very great deal of what is sometimes called proto-scientific thinking, description, and explanation. However, the author repeatedly remarks about this. This proto-science is what all people, but, it seems, especially men, do, because we all instinctively try to explain everything, whether we really understand anything or not.
She also spends at least one chapter on the revolutionary new science of "epigenetics". This science deals with all the biophysics and biochemistry that are the environment of our chromosomes. One of the author's scientific sources says that, "When we say, 'environment', we mean 'everything but genetics.' "
This means that as soon as our genome is enclosed in a cell, the zygote, it has an environment. The following environments might be the embryo, the fetus, the infant, the mother's womb, and all four of these things are organic and unique to each person, including identical twins. And after we are born our bodies continue to be environments for our genomes.
Actually, the author might say that she didn't quite say all of these things, but these things and the fact that identical twins have such extraordinary relationships with each other, themselves, and everybody else makes their life stories and experiences fascinating, and maybe sometimes unsettling, for everybody.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Experimental Blog #6
Comments on 2 Books
"Perfect Rigor" - A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century by Masha Gessen
Besides what it says in the subtitle, this book can also be interesting for many other reasons, such as, education in the former Soviet Union, soviet society in general, life for Jews, especially mathematical geniuses, in the Soviet Union, the mathematical problems that concerned the "mathematical elite" in that country and elsewhere, the mathematicians themselves, and even anybody's personal history and educational problems anywhere.
The author, Masha Gessen, evidently very excellent in mathematics herself, came to America as a young girl with her parents. However, it seems she has since returned to Moscow. The author has written, edited, or translated several other books, some of which I have looked into, but this book is the only one that I decided to read and finished.
"Listen Up, Mr. President" - Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do by Helen Thomas and Craig Crawford
The author, Helen Thomas, is called the "dean of the White House press corps", having started as a White House correspondent in 1960. She is familiar to many millions of TV viewers, and is usually in the front row at president's news conferences.
Besides many other things, I learned about their 3 presidential models, that is, the "Madisonion" model, who lets congress lead policy. William Howard Taft is presented as one of the last and best examples of this model. The "Hamiltonian" model, who is described as "heroic" and who rises above political parties and leads, or tries to lead, depending on public opinion. The authors say that all the presidents since John F. Kennedy are more or less of this model. And the "Jeffersonian" model, who is the leader of his party and pursues its goals in a way most resembling a parlamentary government.
I also learned about "signing statements". This means that when a president signs a bill passed by congress into law, he says, and writes, that there are certain parts that he does not agree with, and he will enforce them only under certain circumstances, or even not at all. Although the practise goes back almost 200 years, when some presidents felt some wording needed to be clarified, it eventually became a way for presidents to avoid confronting congress with a direct veto. "Signing statements" seem to have become the primary way that modern presidents have become so comparatively powerful.
"Perfect Rigor" - A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century by Masha Gessen
Besides what it says in the subtitle, this book can also be interesting for many other reasons, such as, education in the former Soviet Union, soviet society in general, life for Jews, especially mathematical geniuses, in the Soviet Union, the mathematical problems that concerned the "mathematical elite" in that country and elsewhere, the mathematicians themselves, and even anybody's personal history and educational problems anywhere.
The author, Masha Gessen, evidently very excellent in mathematics herself, came to America as a young girl with her parents. However, it seems she has since returned to Moscow. The author has written, edited, or translated several other books, some of which I have looked into, but this book is the only one that I decided to read and finished.
"Listen Up, Mr. President" - Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do by Helen Thomas and Craig Crawford
The author, Helen Thomas, is called the "dean of the White House press corps", having started as a White House correspondent in 1960. She is familiar to many millions of TV viewers, and is usually in the front row at president's news conferences.
Besides many other things, I learned about their 3 presidential models, that is, the "Madisonion" model, who lets congress lead policy. William Howard Taft is presented as one of the last and best examples of this model. The "Hamiltonian" model, who is described as "heroic" and who rises above political parties and leads, or tries to lead, depending on public opinion. The authors say that all the presidents since John F. Kennedy are more or less of this model. And the "Jeffersonian" model, who is the leader of his party and pursues its goals in a way most resembling a parlamentary government.
I also learned about "signing statements". This means that when a president signs a bill passed by congress into law, he says, and writes, that there are certain parts that he does not agree with, and he will enforce them only under certain circumstances, or even not at all. Although the practise goes back almost 200 years, when some presidents felt some wording needed to be clarified, it eventually became a way for presidents to avoid confronting congress with a direct veto. "Signing statements" seem to have become the primary way that modern presidents have become so comparatively powerful.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Experimental Blog #5
Comments on the book "Savage Century - Back to Barbarism" by Therese Delpech and translated by George Holoch
The female French author of this book seems so highly educated and informed, and writes so extremely well, although the translator probably also deserves significant credit, that I don't feel very qualified to say very much about her book.
The subject of the book is the 20th century history of Europe, or, more precisely, from 1905, it turns out to be a very significant year, to 2005, the year before the book was completed. Therese Delpech writes about world history and world events as probably only a Frenchwomen would or could.
Of all the many people that she writes about, she writes the most about Adolph Hitler, the subject of a short chapter, "An Unforeseeable Actor", and Joseph Stalin. She probably quotes and writes about Stalin more than Hitler. After all, Stalin was around in the world longer than Hitler, but they cover less than half of the period of time, that is, 1905 to 2005.
Among various other subjects, the author gives remarkable, and largely unexpected, reports on the countries of the Middle East, never very stable, it seems, and the more recent decades in Russia, China, and South and Southeast Asia.
The female French author of this book seems so highly educated and informed, and writes so extremely well, although the translator probably also deserves significant credit, that I don't feel very qualified to say very much about her book.
The subject of the book is the 20th century history of Europe, or, more precisely, from 1905, it turns out to be a very significant year, to 2005, the year before the book was completed. Therese Delpech writes about world history and world events as probably only a Frenchwomen would or could.
Of all the many people that she writes about, she writes the most about Adolph Hitler, the subject of a short chapter, "An Unforeseeable Actor", and Joseph Stalin. She probably quotes and writes about Stalin more than Hitler. After all, Stalin was around in the world longer than Hitler, but they cover less than half of the period of time, that is, 1905 to 2005.
Among various other subjects, the author gives remarkable, and largely unexpected, reports on the countries of the Middle East, never very stable, it seems, and the more recent decades in Russia, China, and South and Southeast Asia.
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