Comments on 2 books
"The Private Lives of Birds" - A Scientist Reveals the Intricacies of Avian Social Life by Bridget Stutchbury
Reading a book like this is probably the only way that very amateur bird watchers can appreciate the work and science of professional ornithologists. This particular author seems especially capable of describing everything about birds with detailed and precise Darwinian concepts of evolutionary biology.
"Spoken from the Heart" by Laura Bush
Laura Bush writes that all 4 of her grandparents came to West Texas in the last decades of the 19th century from Arkansas. And that both of her parents, Harold Welch and Jessie Hawkins, were born there too.
Laura Bush also writes about a very interesting childhood history that took place in West Texas, through college graduation, and her first jobs.
However, she does not write in so much detail of her early adult years, until she meets George Bush again, in 1977 at 30 years of age. She does say that she "lost faith" for a very long time as a result of a tragic accident{which she completely describes}.
Laura already knew something about George; they had attended the same junior high school at the same time, and they were soon married. These events take up almost the first 100 pages; and about 65 pages and 24 years later, Laura Bush has become America's First Lady.
The rest of the book, over 250 pages, is a very detailed account of her many activities as wife, mother, and First Lady, and, of course, the events of her husband's presidency.
She seems quite conscious of and defensive about the great deal of criticism that was directed at her husband, and often her too. However, she is very thorough and factual in the extreme; so much so that her writing seems at times like a "catalogue", that is, persuasive, but not so interesting. Nonetheless, it seems that Laura Bush makes, and proves, her arguments that no President and First Lady could have done more than they did in the American White House.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Experimental Blog #31
Comments on 2 books
"Maharanis" - The Extraordinay Tale of Four Indian Queens and Their Journey from Purdah to Parliament by Lucy Moore
This book covers the lives of 4 queens, Maharanis, of India who lived in two small and one large Princely States in the northern part of India. The first lady was born in 1865, and the last of the 4 was still living in 2004 when this book was published.
The book also provides a very interesting and informative description of the history and society during this period of the British Raj, or rule, and the earlier years of independence.
Everybody has heard about the Brahmins of India, but not so many outsiders remember the Kshatriya, or warrior caste, who were probably the real rulers of India before the arrival of the British, and in tandem with them, but not quite equal to them, during the British colonial period.
"How Capitalism Will Save Us" - Why Free People and Free Markets Are the Best Answer in Today's Economy by Steve Forbes and Elizabeth Ames
It seemed that at least one half of the time I did not really understand very well what these authors were writing about; that is, all the many details and specifics of modern American finance and computer tecnology.
Besides that, the principle title of the book, that is, without the subtitle, can hardly be taken entirely seriously; and, at times, the writing seemed even somewhat peculiar.
However, these things notwithstanding, the authors took up at least 77 questions in economics, business, and government. And always refering to their "Real World" way of evaluation, it seems that they answered them all very expertly and persuasively; often surprisingly demolishing long and widely held, maybe even "sacred", liberal political views on these matters.
"Maharanis" - The Extraordinay Tale of Four Indian Queens and Their Journey from Purdah to Parliament by Lucy Moore
This book covers the lives of 4 queens, Maharanis, of India who lived in two small and one large Princely States in the northern part of India. The first lady was born in 1865, and the last of the 4 was still living in 2004 when this book was published.
The book also provides a very interesting and informative description of the history and society during this period of the British Raj, or rule, and the earlier years of independence.
Everybody has heard about the Brahmins of India, but not so many outsiders remember the Kshatriya, or warrior caste, who were probably the real rulers of India before the arrival of the British, and in tandem with them, but not quite equal to them, during the British colonial period.
"How Capitalism Will Save Us" - Why Free People and Free Markets Are the Best Answer in Today's Economy by Steve Forbes and Elizabeth Ames
It seemed that at least one half of the time I did not really understand very well what these authors were writing about; that is, all the many details and specifics of modern American finance and computer tecnology.
Besides that, the principle title of the book, that is, without the subtitle, can hardly be taken entirely seriously; and, at times, the writing seemed even somewhat peculiar.
However, these things notwithstanding, the authors took up at least 77 questions in economics, business, and government. And always refering to their "Real World" way of evaluation, it seems that they answered them all very expertly and persuasively; often surprisingly demolishing long and widely held, maybe even "sacred", liberal political views on these matters.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Experimental Blog #30
Comments on "The Edge of Physics" - A Journey to Earth's Extremes to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe by Anil Anathaswamy
About a century ago the sciences of particle physics and cosmology could be studied and appreciated by millions of educated amateur scientists all over the world. In spite of the very commendable efforts of Anil Anathaswamy, and others, times have changed considerably. However, if anybody is tempted to think that contemporary theoretical and experimental physicists are talking nonsense simply because outsiders can rarely really understand their esoteric subjects, this book should persuade them to give up such opinions.
Among the 9 or more places of advanced study visited by the author, the LHC, or Large Hadron Collider, located in France and Switzerland, seems to be the most publicized, as well as controversial. Needles to say, the project is enormously impressive; even more so than expected.
This super collider contains the world's greatest vacuums. They cannot even be measured and are equivalent to 600 miles out in space. The collider's proton beams might get "lost", and are "dangerous", moving "at full throttle" with energy equivalent to "400 ton trains traveling 150 kilometers per hour", "liquefying anything directly" in their path.
Most amazing is that the 40,000 tons of special magnets are the coldest things, or places, in the entire universe; even colder than outer space. They require 5 weeks to cool down, and 5 weeks to warm back up to room temperature.
About a century ago the sciences of particle physics and cosmology could be studied and appreciated by millions of educated amateur scientists all over the world. In spite of the very commendable efforts of Anil Anathaswamy, and others, times have changed considerably. However, if anybody is tempted to think that contemporary theoretical and experimental physicists are talking nonsense simply because outsiders can rarely really understand their esoteric subjects, this book should persuade them to give up such opinions.
Among the 9 or more places of advanced study visited by the author, the LHC, or Large Hadron Collider, located in France and Switzerland, seems to be the most publicized, as well as controversial. Needles to say, the project is enormously impressive; even more so than expected.
This super collider contains the world's greatest vacuums. They cannot even be measured and are equivalent to 600 miles out in space. The collider's proton beams might get "lost", and are "dangerous", moving "at full throttle" with energy equivalent to "400 ton trains traveling 150 kilometers per hour", "liquefying anything directly" in their path.
Most amazing is that the 40,000 tons of special magnets are the coldest things, or places, in the entire universe; even colder than outer space. They require 5 weeks to cool down, and 5 weeks to warm back up to room temperature.
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