The Disapearance of Childhood by Neil Postman

In the disapearance of childhood Neil Postman makes the argument that the differences between adults and children are disappearing due to the following factors:

1. Children wearing adult clothing, adults wearing children's clothing, like jeans, sneakers etc..


2. T.V. bringing adult themes and education to children without them having to learn to read or to think critically about the messages. This same phenomenon "dumbs" adults down to the level of children.


3. As more information is coming from t.v., games, and the radio, school is losing its importance as the "fountain head" of intellectual engagement.


4. Childhood is itself a new concept, which started around the time formal schools were created. Around the 1300s-1600s.

I found the book quite engaging and interesting, and find it difficult to believe Postman wrote it in 1982 and it remains so accurate. One point he made about learning new languages returning us to a childlike state of dependence and simplicity I really liked. And he suggests that computers will keep everyone in a child like state since they stress perpetual learning, especially of new languages as in programming languages. I think he is right on the mark!

wikiquote: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Neil_Postman

Google Scholar goes Legal

Google Scholar now indexes U.S. laws and court decisions. W00T!

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/finding-laws-that-govern-us.html

Scholarly. FTW.

Like what?

Totally like whatever, you know?
By Taylor Mali
www.taylormali.com

In case you hadn't noticed,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you're talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you're saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s
have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?
Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions? You know?

Declarative sentences - so-called
because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true
as opposed to other things which were, like, not -
have been infected by a totally hip
and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?
Like, don't think I'm uncool just because I've noticed this;
this is just like the word on the street, you know?
It's like what I've heard?
I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?
I'm just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?

What has happened to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society become so, like, totally . . .
I mean absolutely . . . You know?
That we've just gotten to the point where it's just, like . . .
whatever!

And so actually our disarticulation . . . ness
is just a clever sort of . . . thing
to disguise the fact that we've become
the most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since . . .
you know, a long, long time ago!

I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you,
I challenge you: To speak with conviction.
To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too.

See it on vimeo.

How Doth The Crocodile

From Alice in Wonderland:

How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!

How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!

----------------------
From Wikipedia:

"How Doth the Little Crocodile" is a parody of the moralistic poem "Against Idleness And Mischief" by Isaac Watts[1] (Alice was originally trying to recite that). Watts' poem begins "How doth the little busy bee," and uses a bee as a model of hard work. In Carroll's parody, the crocodile's corresponding "virtues" are deception and predation, themes which recur throughout Alice's adventures in both books, and especially in the poems.

Against Idleness And Mischief - Isaac Watts

How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour
And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower!

How skilfully she builds her cell!
How neat she spreads the wax!
And labours hard to store it well
With the sweet food she makes.

In works of labour or of skill,
I would be busy too;
For Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do.

In books, or work, or healthful play,
Let my first years be passed,
That I may give for every day
Some good account at last.

Too Damn Cool

OK, this is just too cool. It is a chart which shows the relative size of cells, viruses, atoms, etc. Just move the slider to zoom in!

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/cells/scale/


:-)

Traveler by Ron McClarty

Traveler is a heart felt novel about a struggling actor rediscovering his home town and what happened to everyone after highschool. It is the kind of story which flashes between the past and present, and which illuminates the interesting contrast of how everyone's life looks so bright when they leave highschool, to the reality of what actually happens.

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

Man's Search for Meaning is an epic and the essential therapy book for modern times. Frankl asserts, correctly, that with the growing use of automation man's free time has expanded leaving us plenty of leisure hours to contemplate our own meaning.

Frankl asserts that almost anything can have meaning and it is all up to our attitude. A survivor of several concentration camps, Frankl attests how much choosing the right attitude and having something to live forr saved people's lives in the camps. Attitude and spirit had a lot to do with survival.

This leads Frankl to suggest that man finds meaning through suffering as well as through joy and love. Very true, how often do people put the cause or cross in their life for what they are living as the meaning in their lives, and how often would they be lost without their jobs/families/possestions/causes etc... for which they sacrifice all and for which they create their identity.

More than that, people can capitalize on the little injustices in life as a growth experience. The person who cut you off in traffic, the guy at work who just loves taking pot shots at you. These are all times to exercise forgiveness and be the best person you can be. You have the choice to remain calm and be good and not let useless anger consume your life.

This is a must read for anyone feeling lost in their lives.

Wikipedia entry (with quotes):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning

Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis

I had not read a C.S. Lewis novel before, and as I was looking up quotes from him I was quite struck by the Christian element in his writing.

And so Till We Have Faces appears to be a book quite a lot about faith, but in a new way, in that is doesn't just endorse blind faith as a way of life, but tries to show how it can help people deal with the trials and injustices of life. The book itself is based on the story of Cupid and Psyche.

Silent Prayer is my greatest Weapon

- Mahatma Gandhi

Lest there be any confusion, I myself am agnostic, yet after reading this book I am seriously considering taking up some form of belief and faith, just because it helps sweep so much unnecessary guilt/fretting/worrying under the rug. How helpful it is to believe something greater is working for you, that is what every human needs. And that is what this book shows.

On Intelligence - Jeff Hawkins

Jeff Hawkins is the founder of the palm pilot and invested a large portion of his wealth in an institute where he studies how the brain works. In On Intelligence Jeff suggests that the brain functions on memory, sequences, and prediction. This is why people can recognize a person after they have had a haircut, but a computer can't.

The Wikipedia article on the book explains it better than I could. I will say that the book was not too technically demanding, and while I did get lost at some places, most of the time I followed the material. Jeff has invented a lot of great analogies to visualize the concepts he is outlining. It is a good read to understand some past work on artificial intelligence, and how the brain works, as well as were the science might be heading...

Born Standing Up - Steve Martin

Born standing up is an autobiography of how Steve Martin broke into show business and became a comedy star. You always hear of stars living in their cars and feeling lonely on the road but Steve makes it vivid. He really shows how as a young man in his 20s he faced down his parent's advice to get a straight job and pushed through to success. It took a ton of work, to be sure. I am trying to make a go of it in publishing and entertainment now myself, and I can honestly say, it is a lot of work.

Steve also had a great way of showing how little accidental things in his life turned into great material. That really appealed to me since it is often not that which we do deliberately that has the biggest impact on our lives.

In closing I just read an Emerson quote that I think sums the book, and Steve's adventure to stand up, well:

Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.

The Genome War by James Shreeve

After reading the biography of Craig Venter which featured the race to sequence the human genome, I then read the Genome War to get an unbiased account, and possibly more information.

I do think that the genome war provides both, and gives a lot more background information of all the key players including those who worked for Venter and those who worked for the other side with the Human Genome Project. I learned of several new business men, and several new papers published at the time which I will follow up on. Particularly those which deals with all the new computer science, bioinformatics if you will, which was founded at the time.

As a final note I will say that Venter's account of the war is better written and easier to understand. Had I not read Venter's book first, this whole book would have made much less sense.

My Life Decoded by Craig J. Venter

If you want a book that will blow your mind while spelling out what exactly is "biotechnology" and how it all came into being than this is the book for you. Venter is a controversial figure indeed, as is anyone who has huge ambitions and actually carries them out.

No matter where you stand on the "Gene wars", I can't recommend this book enough. Venter's account is personal, detailed, and compelling. You can tell he is a guy who genuinely cares about the science, and cares about changing the world.

I think this youtube video does a pretty good job of capturing some of what you can expect to read.

Model Behavior by Jay McInerney

Model Behavior is a novel which gives us the inside look of what an artists life might be like living in New York City. The narrator and hero of the story is a "casualty of privilege" trying to make a living as a celeb magazine writer --which he hates-- while also patching together a relationship with a model.

I found the book interesting for its fast paced dialogue that was often viperous or alluded to irony. These weren't idiots talking. And it was clearly a world that McInerney knows and is bringing to us.

When the novel ended, I felt happy, like I knew what it would be like living the high social life in New York city, and that I wasn't really missing that much...maybe more a factor of my current age than anything though.

We Yes You No

Prey by Michael Crichton

Prey is a novel that re-opened my eyes to the potential of biotechnology and also re-opened my mind to thinking in evolutionary terms.

Typical of Crichton, Prey is an exciting book that incorporates the sciences effortlessly. A good read if you are interested in nano technology, biotechnology, corporate startups in the bay area, and evolution.

A Creative Explosion

Parasol Magazine is a creative explosion.

It is one of the most well produced, most information packed things I have seen on the net in a long time.

Even if you are not in art and design it will inspire you.

Go download this free magazine now.

http://www.parasolmag.com/

now.

In other news I read about Maximalism today

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximalism

The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World by Niall Ferguson

Another book that could be a blog?

While Niall Ferguson's book does present some interesting history on how a system of money and finance came into existence, it is probably something that could be better read in a condensed format somewhere else.

This book is peppered with self-aggrandizing comments, and "I-called-its", that makes it a bit tough to believe, and would probably work better in an informal personal blog than a formal history. It is true that no history is completely objective, but the author should at least have that intention.

As one final note the book lacks consistency. It jumps from one event to another with no set reason, and seems to accelerate to current times (1990-2008) and stay there for over half the book. Any explanations of financial products, like puts, options, swaps, bonds, etc...are not easy to understand, and might as well be left out.
In closing, save your credit and just google blogs on the financial crises, or finance history, you will find much the same material, and at least you will have visual aids.

100 Great Businesses and the Minds Behind Them by Emily Ross and Angus Holland

This is one of those magazine type books, that is in fact composed of interesting factoids and stories summarized from a sprinkling of magazine articles.

The book is somewhat inspirational, a tour of mini-biographies, and food for cocktail party talk.

The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz

This is a personal development book that stresses the importance of attitude and the necessity to eliminate limiting beliefs.

The phrase "limiting beliefs" more or less means that you will only achieve as much as you think you can, as you will only go as far as your greatest goals.

Other advice in the book entails keeping a busy and varied schedule, eliminating negative people from your life, and trying to achieve more than you thought possible.

Despite the good advice nature of the book, I did find myself getting bored with it, and oddly, dwelling on negative thoughts. So while the concepts were nice, I guess it didn't work so much in terms of turning my mentality around, or inspiring me...

Animal Collective - My Girls

Oh Animal Collective, why are you so awesome?



Lyrics from their site:

---

Isn't much that I feel I need
a solid soul and the blood I bleed
With a little girl, and by my spouse
I only want a proper house

There isn't much that I feel I need:
a solid soul and the blood I bleed.
But with a little girl, and by my spouse
I only want a proper house

I don't care for fancy things
Or to take part in a pressured race.
But to provide for them when they ask
I will, with heart, on my father's grave

On my father's grave
I don't mean
To seem like I care about material things,
Like our social status,

I just want
Four walls and adobe slabs
For my girls

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

Rich Dad Poor Dad is a book that conveys several key lessons which can be summarized as follows:

1. Save First, Spend Later


2. Build Assets (Things which make you money like stocks, businesses, rent, interest etc...)


3. Limit Liabilities (Things which take money out of your pocket like your car, house, pets etc...)


4. Most trained professionals, or intellectuals, are one skill away from creating a lot of wealth, and that skill is sales

Another beautiful point Kiyosaki makes is that people who start businesses really have no interest in working for money. They have interest in creating win win opportunities that generate money for them.

He gives an example of when he and a friend were kids and his friend's Dad, his Rich Dad, offered them jobs. He dared them to accept, and kept on raising the hourly wage to ridiculous levels, something like $700 an hour. The result is that the kids didn't accept, the amount of money was too ridiculous, and it spoke to the part of them that couldn't be bought. At the point that they stopped caring about money, they knew they could find opportunities, and add value to people's lives. It really is a beautiful thought.

Buy from Amazon

Hourglass X

The tenth edition of the hourglass blog carnival on the science of aging is now up.

Go check it out. Now.

http://ouroboros.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/hourglass-x/

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

Waiting for Godot is characterized as a tragicomedy in two acts. It is a play that deals with the perception of reality while depicting human nature. The play deals with themes of life made useless by repetition, of how people will hold out for a goal they believe will save them, and then spend their lives in meaningless distraction waiting for their ship to come in. This false belief also leads people to accept abuse, both from others and from themselves, to delude themselves, and then forget, only to delude themselves again.

The play revolves around a fast paced, often insensible, dialog between two characters that is somehow entrancing and entertaining. A must read for anyone interested in motivating themselves towards concrete goals, and ready to dust off the meaningless minutia of life.

Buy from Amazon

The E Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber

This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. It is good for people looking to start a business but probably more appropriate for people that have been in business for a year or two and now need some help. I believe this book is the answer to almost every problem.

In the big picture, the book is a solution to life problems. As Gerber quotes from Rollo May's Man's Search for Himself:

Freedom does not come automatically; it is achieved. And it is not gained in a single bound; it must be achieved each day...freedom is not just the matter of saying "Yes" or "No" to a specific decision: it is the power to mold and create ourselves. Freedom is the capacity, to use Nietzsche's phrase, "to become what we truly are".

And so it is that properly setting up a business is a path for freedom, not just from your business but from all aspects of your life, being in control of them, and adding value to them.

It requires using planning, testing methods, and creating innovations. Having fun in the world, and putting yourself to the challenge. Here are a few quotes I like from the book:

The entrepreneurial personality turns the most trivial condition into an exceptional opportunity. The Entrepreneur is the visionary in us. The dreamer. The energy behind every human activity. The imagination that sparks the fire of the future. The catalyst for change. The Entrepreneur lives in the future, never in the past, rarely in the present. He's happiest when left free to construct images of "what-if" and "if-when".

The managerial personality is pragmatic. Without The Manager there would be no planning, no order, no predictability...If the Entrepreneur lives in the future, The Manager lives in the past.

The Technician is the doer. "If you want it done right, do it yourself" is The Technician's credo. The Technician loves to tinker. Things are to be taken apart and put back together again. Things aren't supposed to be dreamed about, they're supposed to be done. If The Entrepreneur lives in the future and The Manager lives in the past, The Technician lives in the present. He loves the feel of things and the fact that things can get done. As long as The Technician is working, he is happy, but only on one thing at a time. He knows that two things can't get done simultaneously; only a fool would try. So he works steadily and is happiest when he is in control of the work flow.

What is value? How do we understand it? I would suggest that value is what people perceive it to be, and nothing more.

What is he really buying when he buys from you? The truth is, nobody's interested in the commodity. People buy feelings. And as the world becomes more varied, the feelings we want become more urgent, less rational, more unconscious. How your business anticipates those feelings and satisfies them is your product.

But when you live by your own rules, when you 'walk your talk,' when you live as you think, then your business will become a thing to behold.

So what could your Prototype do that would not only provide consistent value to your customers, employees, suppliers, and lenders but would provide it beyond their wildest expectations? That is the question every Entrepreneur must ask. Because it is the raison d'etre of his business!

...people have the unerring ability to forget everything they start and to be distracted by trivia.

In a television commercial, we’re told, the sale is made or lost in the first three or four seconds. In a print ad, tests have shown, 75 percent of the buying decisions are made at the headline alone. In a sales presentation, data have shown us, the sale is made or lost in the first three minutes.

Reality only exists in someone’s perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, conclusions – whatever you wish to call those positions of the mind from which all expectations arise – and nowhere else. So the famous dictum that says, “Find a need and fill it,” is inaccurate. It should say, “Find a perceived need and fill it.

Inquiry, the active solicitation of specific information, and controlled experimentation replaced the guessing, blind hope, and feverish busy work that preceded them. Innovation, Quantification, and Orchestration became the driving forces behind their efforts.

“This marketing thing isn’t nearly as complicated as I might have made it seem,” I continued. “But it’s important that you take it seriously. Because it is most often is regarded by small business owners as merely ‘good common sense.’ And I have seen more often than not that the only definition of ‘good common sense’ is ‘my opinion.’ That most small business owners, suffering as they do from what I’ve come to call ‘willful disinformation,’ simply decide what they want to do without any information at all, without any interest in what’s true, and then simply do it. Stationery designed by the local quick –printer with a logo thrown in. Colors picked by their wives. Signs designed by the local sign guy whose experience is in painting signs, not in determining what colors and shapes are psychographically correct.”

Documentation provides your people with the structure they need and with a written account of how to "get the job done" in the most efficient and effective way. It communicates to the new employees, as well as to the old, that there is a logic to the world in which they have chosen to work, that there is a technology by which results are produced. Documentation is an affirmation of order.
Again from Toffler: "...for many people, a job is crucial psychologically, over and above the paycheck. By making clear demands on their time and energy, it provides an element of structure around which the rest of their lives can be organized." *Alvin Toffler, The Third Wave, P.389 (pg 104 in E-Myth)

“Most people today are not getting what they want. Not from their jobs, not from their families, not from their religion, not from their government, and most important, not from themselves.
Something is missing in most of our lives. Part of what’s missing is purpose. Values. Worth-while standards against which our lives can be measured. Part of what’s missing is a Game Worth Playing.
What’s also missing is a sense of relationship.
People suffer in isolation from one another.
In a world without purpose, without meaningful values, what have we to share but our emptiness, the needy fragments of our superficial selves?
As a result, most of us scramble about hungrily seeking distraction, in music, in television, in people, in drugs.
And most of all we seek things.
Things to wear and things to do.
Things to fill the emptiness.
Things to shore up our eroding sense of self.
Things to which we can attach meaning, significance, life.
We’ve fast become a world of things. And most people are being buried in the profusion.
What most people need, then, is a place of community that has purpose, order, meaning.
A place in which being human is a prerequisite, but acting human is essential.
A place where the generally disorganized thinking that pervades our culture becomes organized and clearly focused on a specific worthwhile result.
A place where discipline and will become prized for what they are: the backbone of enterprise and action, of being what you are intentionally instead of accidentally.
A place that replaces the home most of us have lost.
That’s what a business can do; it can create a Game Worth Playing.”



The curtain is your Comfort Zone. And your Comfort Zone has been the false mask you put on when you were a little girl, because it was safe when your spirit was not. Your Comfort Zone has been the tight little cozy planet on which you have lived, knowing all the places to hide because it's so small. Your Comfort Zone has seized you before, Sarah, and it can seize you again, when you're least prepared for it, because it knows what it means to you. Because it knows how much you want to be comfortable. Because it know what price you are willing to pay for the comfort of being in control. The ultimate price, your life...if this new path, if living with your spirit means anything to you at all, if you truly care about it, then guard it with your life. Because Comfort overtakes us all when we're least prepared for it. Comfort makes cowards of us all.

This book is a MUST READ if you are own a small business or are thinking of starting one.

Buy from Amazon.com

Charlie Chaplin - Limelight

The movie limelight was written, directed, and produced by Chaplin, and like other movies where one person reigns in full control it was beautiful, poignant, and somewhat ego-centric.

The movie itself seems autobiographical of Chaplin. A person who once enjoyed fame finds himself suddenly in a different time. He is not the it thing anymore, no one wants to work with him, association with his name is death.

The Chaplin character in the movie (Calvero) finds solice from his new life status by helping another struggling artist Terry. (Played by Clair Bloom) Terry is a ballerina, failing, suicidal, and psychosomatically paralyzed. (How else?)

Thus Calvero comes to the rescue, full of inspiration to heal and help the young artist. Through the process Calvero himself finds new life again, he sheds all past notions of fame and returns to the street, to keep it real and be happy.

I think one of the most interesting parts of the film is when Calvero gives a comeback performance and lets the segment run in silence while he performs some classic Chaplin. It is painful to sit through the two minutes of silence and it seems like Chaplin is giving us all a nod to how much times have moved on and how he got left behind.

Buy from Amazon if you wantbut I give this film a 50-50. It is a good film, but probably one better caught on T.V. or borrowed from a friend. Leave a comment and I might just mail you my copy. ;)

The Story of India by Michael Wood

The Story of India by Michael Wood takes us on a historical journey from the first human migrations to present day. The book contains interesting and surprising facts, like Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin all appear to have originated from one common root.

Indeed, listening to the story, one can’t help but feel India was affected by the presence of many empires, British being the most recent.

Interestingly the story goes on to Muslim(Mughal) rulers in the 1500-1700s who actually tried to unite religions, and even dreamed of instituting a state under the rule of reason and not religion. Quite a dream, and arguably one that has yet to be achieved in our more enlightened times.

The 1500-1700s was a time when India was powerful and presided over some 100 million people, quite a contrast to England’s then 3 million. Quite amazing that colonization ever occurred, though India's disparity of class, wealth, and religion, probably played a part in their fall to the British.

India, however, came out of colonization with its culture intact. Indeed, one could say that commonwealth of nations of the former British empire is almost a kind of joke to India, now a nation that has come into its own still rich with all the diversity of its past.

From the long view, the increase in India’s economy is not so much something new, but more a returning to its former state of 200-300 years ago.

India is home to many religions and cultures including Hindu, Muslim, Jain, and Parsee. I enjoyed this read and strongly recommend it. The Story has also got made into a BBC (and PBS) series, which I plan to watch some day. Though in my mind the T.V. series are often slower than books with less information, but being able to see all the sights, people, and landmarks will be great.

Buy the Book from Amazon

Buy the DVD from Amazon

Leaving Cheyenne by Larry McMurtry

My foot's in the stirrup,
My pony won't stand;
Goodbye, old partner,
I'm leaving Cheyenne.


Leaving Cheyenne is beautiful heartfelt novel centered on themes of polyamory, marriage, responsibility, and life-style choice. The novel is gripping and difficult to put down. The story is set in the early 1900s and full of stories that seem disconnected but are so real they let you know the characters as if you knew them all your life.

Here are a few quotes that I love:
"Don't be a damn fool and marry young," he said "Specially not to no poor woman. Work about thirty more years and make you lots of money. Then go off somewhere and marry a rich widow. Don't never marry somebody who's as broke and ignorant as you are; marry somebody who knows a little about it. The you might have a chance to enjoy yourself a little." That was Dad for you. I didn't pay him much mind. He never could understand that he wasn't me. pg.16

"I don't want to marry you or nobody else. Girls who get married just to do a lot of things with boys ain't very nice. I don't like it. I'd just as soon do all those things and not be married, and I mean it. I ain't gonna marry till I have to because of having a baby, and I mean that too. And I wish I didn't even have to then." pg.29

"Just because he don't spend money don't mean he ain't got any. I don't spend much myself, and that's one reason I got so much more than most people." pg.44

"I never realized how lonesome I stayed till I got close to Molly...When I realized it was when I had been close to her and one of us was leaving. Then for a day or two the world would look twice as bad as it was." pg.95

"The homesickness was the worst part of it...It wasn't that I liked being in Archer County so much --- sometimes I hated it. But I was tied up in it; whatever happened there was happening to me, even if I wasn't there to see it. The country might not be very nice and the people might be onery; but it was my country and my people, and no other country was; no other people, either. You do better staying with what's your own, even if it's hard. Johnny carried his with him. I didn't. If you don't stick with a place, you don't have it very long." pg.106

"The best way in the world to get poor is to start living rich." pg.110

"A woman's love is like the morning dew, it's just as apt to settle on a horse turd as it is on a rose." pg.122

“If a feller has to be lonesome, he’s better off being lonesome alone.” –pg.130

"What kind of crazy are you?" Johnny said. "Just plain crazy," I said. "I haven't got enough brains to be any other kind."pg.158

"I hadn't got a car till 1941. Besides being expensive and dangerous, I thought they was just plain ugly. I couldn't understand why so many people took such an interest in them." pg.187

"He had the highest standards of any man I ever knew - to this day Gid worries because he can't live up to those standards of his dad's." pg.203

"Well," he said. "Some have to take and some have to give, and a very few can do both. I was always just a taker, but I was damn particular about what I took, and that's important."..."I don't guess I've ever done much of either one," I said. "Aw hell," he said. "You could take a million dollars' worth, if you would. But instead you'll give out twice that much to sorry bastards that don't deserve it. And they won't put much back. I'm glad you and Gid won't marry. You'd smother him in sweetweed and he'd loaf the rest of his life. Misery makes a man work." I was embarrassed, and he went on and ate his biscuits. "Anyway, it ain't hurt your cooking," he said, and he looked up and gave me one of the longest looks I ever had in my life. I remembered that look a hundred times, whenever Gid or Jimmy looked at me across a table; they both had Mr. Fry's eyes. "Molly, if I was just ten years younger I'd take your whole two million myself," he said. "The rest of the pack could go hungry. Gid would probably be the first one starved."...I thought that when I seen him in his coffin that if he had been ten years younger he would probably have done just what he said.pg.204

Gid never could appreciate how hard some people worked to fool themselves.pg.261

He just wasn't able to understand that I loved him and wanted him to enjoy himself -he got it in his head, but he never got it in his bones. Old Johnny did though. He had more pure talent for enjoying himself that Gid and Eddie put together...The right or wrong of it seldom entered Johnny's mind.pg.203

"There will never be a way right enough for you," she said. pg.282

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In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

Eat Food.
Not too much.
Mostly plants.

So begins and ostensibly ends Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food a book which encourages us to pay less attention to health studies and go back to eating tradition foods that our grandmothers, or even our grandmothers grandmothers would eat.

Refined foods, Pollan argues, have lost their nutrient value leaving us over-fed but undernourished. Even with essential vitamins added back in, refined food does not compensate for real food. There is some magic in the interaction of vitamins, or perhaps, undiscovered vitamins and nutrients in real food, that we need.

Markedly there are studies comparing Western (sweet meat) diets with traditional diets. Only cultures eating the Western diet suffer from high rates of Western diseases like cancer, heart disease, and tooth decay. Diseases that enter developing countries when they adopt the diet.

Spend more and eat less, Pollan concludes. Keep food food, make it part of your culture, eat well, live well.

Buy In Defense of Food from Amazon

For more food health visit my website HealthAliciousNess.

Michael Crichton - Next

Michael Crichton's Next is a novel which highlights some of the current issues of genetics from the creation of transgenic animals to gene patenting.

The novel taught me things which I had not before thought about, including the question, what is a gene? Turns out scientists are still battling for one final definition.

Crichton's novels are entertaining and educational works, and he concludes Next leaving the reader with his stated opinions. Namely, Crichton opposes gene patenting as he feels anything occurring in nature, like a tree or a leaf, cannot be owned (in the sense of intellectual property, you can't patent a leaf...). Crichton also feels that patenting actually hinders capitalism and product creation due to unrealistic licensing fees.

As for the issue of cloning and transgenic animals, Crichton sees no point in trying to ban it since no attempt at controlling human behavior has worked thus far. People find a way to do what they want to do, and so it might as well be out in the open, where we can at least know about it and possibly regulate it.

I agree with Crichton on both points.

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Consumer Culture

Bit of a down ending, but not bad otherwise.

The Häggström diagrams

The Häggström diagrams on wikipedia display various effects and conditions on the human body, below is love, click here for more.

The Hourglass

The Hourglass is a blog carnival dedicated to the science of aging.

Check out the latest edition here.

David Wiesner

At the library I stumbled upon a book which had been placed out on display. Printed in aquatic ink, lay the title "Flotsam".

The book contained no words, just fantastic images of a day at the beach and life in the oceans. Below is a taste of what can be found. I checked out the book to keep in my home and show to people who drop by.




Buy from Amazon
or check it out at your local library.

Julia Nunes

I have been a fan of Julia Nunes for some time now. A natural actress and talented musician Julia rose to fame on youtube and now has put out two albums which are for sale on her website here:
http://www.junumusic.com/products.php

Camille Dalmais

Camille Dalmais is a French singer/songwriter.

Here she is preforming a version of la demeure d'un ciel using nothing but her voice and a loop pedal. An amazing performance!



Buy her album from Amazon

Himalya by Michael Palin

Michael Palin’s adventure books are always a joy, they take you to another life at another place. In Himalaya Palin explores an area ancient and remote. He visits a place where religion has existed for over 5000 years.

The book is a Himalaya travel diary of for the BBC show, and really is nothing more than a matter of fact account of what is happening with little spots of wit of all the fun little things that happen when you travel.

As such, Palin’s book is not so much a glorified account of travel as a real one, and lets you know what it is like to be there with him.

He concludes Himalaya reflecting that it is not so much the landscape that made the biggest impression on him, but the simple people who he was forced to rely on, and who took good care of him, so to leave a great memory.

There are a lot of people in the world, and this book opens a window on a few of them.

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The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes

I am not sure what to say about the Ultimate sales machine. I picked up the book to try get a look into the mind of a salesman. Someone who is trained to convince people to make decisions, and in effect, convince them as to what is best for them.

Chet’s main point is that whatever you do, use pigheaded discipline and determination to stick to it. This explains a lot about salesman, they are stubborn and persistent. Annoyingly so, distrustingly so.

Chet goes on to describe ways to sell yourself into mainstream media, create information and portray yourself as an expert. He even goes so far as to suggest making tapes that can almost brainwash you, recording things to yourself like “I love cold calling in the morning” with relaxing music in the background. Scary.

As a scientist, if I am a scientist, I believe in doubt and keeping an open mind, you always want to ask questions, you always want to be open to being wrong, to some other new opportunity. This is good for a soul I believe.

Sales is the opposite. In sales you focus on a goal, you consider all the ways someone can say no, and ways to counter them.

I don’t know whether or not to recommend this book. The parts about getting into the media, planning, and eliciting feedback from customers was useful, the rest was annoying, and honestly, I skimmed quite a bit of this book.

Take it for what it is, and I openly say, I don’t mind if I don’t make this sale.

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The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss.

The four hour work week is a guide to a self-driven life. The idea of taking responsibility for and controlling your own life seems simple till you actually do it. If you had 3 million in the bank, what would you actually do? What cause would you pursue? How would you fill your days? How long before lounging around gets old?

It is a new topic, and Tim tackles it in a new style by giving a lot of references and how to. In today's information age I think it is good to see a book that points to websites and other resources that lets you explore the ideas and concepts of the book. As you apply them, you adapt and change them.

In short the key of the book says: Be self-driven and do what matters. Stop postponing your dreams and live them. I have done some of this myself and can say that the power of being in control is overwhelming and just an awesome feeling. Tim describes it as going from the passenger seat to the driver seat. Every human being has great potential to not just accomplish their dreams, but more than their dreams and this is a book that can help you get there.

Check out his website

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For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernst Hemingway

In For Whom The Bell Tolles Ernst Hemingway gives the reader an account of what it is like to work in a gorilla band behind enemy lines. The setting is the 1930s civil war, and you have to blow a bridge while figuring out who to trust in a band that has seen much and has much yet to see.

The novel is crafted in first person and much of it is stream of consciousness. Hemingway does stream of consciousness well and can put you inside the head of several characters creating a vivid empathy.

The book itself centers on themes of the problems with communism, and the uselessness of war. Like The Old Man And the Sea Hemingway’s novel is realistic, and ends with the theme that a man can only find peace when he has neither victories nor defeats to defend, and is alone in the enormity of nature.

Buy For Whom the Bell Tolls From Amazon.com

Post Script
Hemingway, something of a notorious drinker, talks much of drinking, and wine in the book. Namely: wine, whiskey, and absinth. It reminded me of when I was in Spain too, in Barcelona. You would order a meal and there would be wine, cold, and drawn from a big barrel in the back of the restaurant. Almost all the wines would be house wines. No wine lists exist there. Sure you could be particular if you wanted to, but the house wine was good, very good. Sometimes it would be in a small half liter decanter, or sometimes the restaurant would fill half a wine bottle full and put a cork in it. Every place was a whole in the wall place, with just a husband, wife, and child. Or sometimes a big burley woman that you could tell could be the boss of anyone. The price was all the same, 3 euros, no matter how much you drank. What a country, what a country indeed. The food would be fried potatoes and fried fish, or gazpacho with lentils. It was very good. Otherwise you could go for tapas, which would be little cubes of fried potato, or some rectangular omelet, or some such thing.
I did try the absinth once, but I think it was too commercial, or too hyped, I don’t know. In my mind I remember it tasting very good, but I really can’t remember. There were these Japanese there, painted with makeup, their hair cropped high, and with colorful unorthodox fashion. They sat quietly and looked down a lot, and said things from time to time. They knew what I didn’t know. That just sharing a drink in a place is what matters, it doesn’t matter what is said, or how you act, as long as you don’t act too much, just that you are there, and in some kind of humble dignity.

Recovery.gov

Wow, just came across Recovery.gov where we can see how recovery dollars are being spent...well, at least in some broad sense...How much on the website itself? Probably not that much I guess...
Visit Recovery.gov

State of Fear - by Michael Crichton

State of Fear is a novel that has changed my perspective on charity organizations and the validity of scientific studies. The novel itself is a thrill ride where a bomb is always about to go off on the next page. It has been a while since I have read a book where I have been so caught reading.

Weaved in this story Crichton shows us how charity organizations have little oversight, especially when compared to for profit corporations, and how this lack of oversight can lead to misinformation, abuse of funds, and even terrorism. I hereby pledge to be much more cautious before donating another dollar. In economic exchanges of value for value, there is a kind of inherent oversight that is lost when you just give your money away, not knowing exactly how it is going to be spent.

Crichton's other focus of the book is the validity of scientific studies where he suggests that science experiments be conducted in a double blind fashion. That is to say that one party desires an experiment, another designs the experiment, and a third carries it out. This prevent bias.

Strikingly, Crichton tells of a scientific test where two labs are given genetically modified mice. One lab is told the mouse is bred to be faster, the other lab is told the mouse is slower. The labs carry out experiments and confirm the assumption in both cases. The catch, however, is that the mice are genetically identical. Proving that scientists working to route out all bias are still subject to some bias when they know the assumptions of the experiment.

One answer to this problem is to implement double blind experiments discussed earlier, however, other options could also be proposed.

The two themes of charity abuse and scientific validity center on the issue of global warming where Crichton points out few terms are defined, much policy is based on speculation, and there is a wide array of disagreement in the scientific community. In other words, it is impossible to know for sure what is happening.

The book was also a great eye opener on ecology. How diverse the world is, and how much it changes, even without human intervention. Forests and the air we breathe all would change even without human hands.


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On Writing by Stephen King

Stephen King's book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft takes us through King's journey of becoming a writer. His struggles in childhood, his lottery fortune on selling his first novel, his battle with drugs and alcoholism, and finally his recovery from a car accident. For each trial in King's life the writing redeemed him.

The book is funny, entertaining and informative too. It gives a practical guide to becoming a writer: how to use the language well, find an agent, and set a routine to pound out words. Writing really is best when it is an honest reflection, when it comes naturally, and when you enjoy the message you are sending.

I cannot fully the describe the impact of this book. It is technical, but sweeps you away in story. King's account of getting hit by a van is powerful, one of the few books where I have come close to tears. I have read this three times and loved every second of it.

King closes his book with what every inspiring writer needs...a license to write. No need to wallow in self doubt, to listen to the critics, to remember the writing teacher that says you are wasting time. Really, that is true for every aspect of life.

"Writing isn't about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it's about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It's about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy...Some of this book—perhaps too much—has been about how I learned to do it. Much of it has been about how you can do it better. The rest of it—and perhaps the best of it—is a permission slip: you can, you should, and if you're brave enough to start, you will. Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up. "

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Ageless Quest by Lenny Guarente

Lenny Guarente professor and research scientist at MIT wrote a memoir of his research for the fountain of youth and named it: Ageless Quest: One Scientist's Search for Genes That Prolong Youth

The book is well written and easy to read. It brings the science down to a layman's level, and sheds light on many of the intriguing theories of aging over the years. Lenny also ads in tidbits of his personal life and that of his graduate students that ads a realistic charm and gives us a window to peer into the world of graduate school and academia.

Interestingly Lenny ends the book with an account of starting his own venture capital company, Elixir Pharmaceuticals to research aging.

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How to Write Articles for Newspapers and Magazines by Dawn B. Sova

How to Write Articles for Newspapers and Magazines by Dawn B. Sova is a short but helpful book on the technical aspects of writing for newspapers and magazines. The books clearly explains the important elements of a story, use of verbs, diction, and quotes.

The book can best be summarized in the closing questions writers should ask after finishing an article:

1. Is the substance of the article the same as originally agreed on with the editor?


2. Does the article exhibit a consistent theme?


3. Does the article contain a consistent tone?


4. Is the voice of the article consistent?


5. Are adequate descriptive details provided to illustrate the meaning of generalizations?


6. Is the writing free of clichés and other timeworn phrases?


7. Does the writing contain strong verbs and precise words?


8. Is the organization of the content logical?


9. Are the transitions invisible, and do they allow the ideas to flow seamlessly together to form a whole?


10. Are all quotations strong and meaningful?


11. Are all quotations correctly attributed?


12. Does the lead capture you attention as a reader?


13. Does the lead connect with the rest of the article?


14. Does the ending complete the story?


15. Is the ending connected to the lead and to the rest of the story?


16. Would you continue to read the article after the lead?

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The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan

The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan looks at plants from the unique perspective of how they manipulated humans into growing and tending them. I like this perspective and the points of how plants used to naturally evolve to avoid pests, but now have to be genetically engineered or sprayed with pesticides.

Pollan looks at 4 plants: apples, tulips, cannabis, and potatoes.

The story on apples turns into a history of the apple and Johnny Appleseed. John Whitaker (or Appleseed) spread apple orchards across the land, selling them to settlers who were required by the government to plant 50 on every lot they settled to avoid speculation. The trouble with apples, however, is that they don’t come true from seed. They have to be grafted, so all the apples Whitaker planted were spitters, or bitter apples. Whitaker’s apples were still desirable on the frontier, however, as they were used to make hard cider and apple jack (a strong apple brandy).
Apples are amazingly diverse, and evolve drastically if not grafted. Pollan visited an apple library in New York with over 2,500 apples. Some small and purple, others blue, and all of them with varying tastes. The library is kept because wild types of apples may be needed to fight a natural pests that can’t be fought synthetically. Pollan ends his apple adventure by planting some seed apples of his own, in the hope of continuing the wild strain should it ever be needed to find a gene to develop resistance to some new pest of nature.

For tulips Pollan observes how flowers came to symbolize beauty among humans. Tulips are thought to have first been cultivated by the Turks and then the Dutch. Tulips underwent an investment craze when their bulbs were written into futures contracts in Holland in the 1600s, only to burst when people had to pay $1000 for a flower bulb. Pollan takes us back in time to when the first flower evolved and how it symbolizes the balance between function and beauty, perhaps the point of life.

Pollan next looks at cannabis, where the best gardeners of our time have fled to Holland (yet again) to dedicate their time and genius to growing the world’s number one cash crop. There he finds intricate indoor conditions for growing cannabis, and how the plant itself has evolved to handle such extremes.

What are the roles mind altering drugs have played in evolution? Would addled creatures with a loss of coordination not have died out in the survival of the fittest? Or do drugs (including coffee, alcohol, and chocolate) have benefits in terms of letting us concentrate, focus, and handle social conflict? A further interesting analysis shows the roles drugs have played in religion, even Christianity can’t escape as Jesus himself turned water into wine, and claimed his blood to be made of wine. Pollan delves deeper into this topic, looking at consciousness itself, and the role of plants in altering or intensifying our consciousness.

Pollan’s last look at the potato focuses on the issue of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Pollan has been given a sample of potatoes with the BT gene, a gene which produces the pesticide BT in every part of the plant.
Pollan plants the spuds, and notices how he does not own the rights to the genes, that is to say, to replant the spuds the next year, or give the spuds to someone else.
Traveling to large commercial potato farms he finds the spuds are welcomed as a environmentally beneficial alternative to spraying potato leaves white with pesticides and making the soil grey with herbicides. Going to an organic farmer, he gets a different opinion, as the farmer expresses concern over genetic drift so that other plants produce BT, and pests eventually becoming resistant.
The question on whether or not GMO foods are harmful to humans is inconclusive, there simply has not been any testing either way. This is not unusual with humans as controlled trials are difficult. It took years to prove cigarettes cause cancer.

Pollan concludes that GMOs present a new stage in the nature-man relationship, one that breaks the variety and genius of nature. To be certain, the botany of desire still exists in GMO products since the plants benefit from having BT genes, but there are reservations where the plant cannot naturally reproduce. Pollan finishes his book advocating a more natural and equal approach to agriculture. Man and plants should work side by side, tending and nurturing each other in a way a gardener and garden could only understand. It is a nice vision, and a beckoning call.

But the Botany of Desire from Amazon.com

Building Blocks of Human Life: Understanding Mature Cells and Stem Cells by John K. Young

Building Blocks of Human Life: Understanding Mature Cells and Stem Cells by John K Young was published under Recorded books modern scholar series.

It is an in depth set of lectures on human cells by John K. Young, professor of medicine at Howard University.

This book would serve well for someone looking for a review of human molecular biology, or for someone who wants to get a bit familiar with the terms, but the book failed in terms of making cell biology interesting. Young talks like someone who wants to make the material interesting, but fails. It is a common dilemma for professors.

Still the book does cover the cell functions, from composition of our organs, to our brains, nervous system, hormones, reproduction, and lastly, aging. It was a good book to have playing in the background and catch snippets.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

This is a bad land for Gods

American Gods by Neil Gaiman is a novel that is searching for the soul of America through Shadow, an quiet hero, who takes his encounters with all the ancient Gods he meets in stride and with good humor.

Gaiman's research is impressive, he recalls God's that have been all but forgotten: Odin, Eostre, Mama-Ji, Czernobog, Golem, Nancy, Ibis, and lots more. All these old Gods are pitted against the new Gods of the age, T.V., cars, airplanes, computers, the internet. All the God's want to same thing, they want people to believe in them, they want people to make sacrifices to them, and all of them know that in America, Gods come and go, people change where they place their faith quickly, leaving the God's neglected and on the brink of being forgotten.

Religions are, by definition, metaphors, after all: God is a dream, a hope, a woman, an ironist, a father, a city, a house of many rooms, a watchmaker who left his prize chronometer in the desert, someone who loves you — even, perhaps, against all evidence, a celestial being whose only interest is to make sure your football team, army, business, or marriage thrives, prospers, and triumphs over all opposition.
Religions are places to stand and look and act, vantage points from which to view the world.

People believe, thought Shadow. It's what people do. They believe. And then they will not take responsibility for their beliefs; they conjure things, and do not trust the conjurations. People populate the darkness; with ghosts, with gods, with electrons, with tales. People imagine, and people believe: and it is that belief, that rock-solid belief, that makes things happen.


The novel causes us to question where we place our faith, and to what do we make our sacrifices? What gives us strength? What do we believe in? Whatever it is, that is our God. Is it money? People do say money is God in America, people sacrifice nearly everything to money: their time, their families, their values. Like all Gods you can never sacrifice enough to appease money, and truth be told, it can perform great miracles.

Maybe our God is our ego? The thing we always have to feed, to pamper, to sacrifice too. We put our faith in ourselves, in our struggles.

Zen Buddhism would hold that we must sacrifice our egos to be free, to the God of the world that is all sentient beings.

Or is our faith in science? Or our children? (yikes!) It is a good question to keep in mind as Americans: Where do I put my faith? You can also ask: What is the best God for me? What can I place my faith in that would give me the most strength and self-discipline to complete my challenges? To make me the best me I can be, for myself and society.

Buy American Gods: A Novel from Amazon.com

Project Gutenberg Top 100 List

Project Gutenberg provides downloads of books which are in the public domain. Since the copywrite on books generally expires after 100 years, the Gutenberg collection has quite a few great scientific works.

As an extra service, the gutenberg website provides a daily list of their top 100 downloads. Here is a sampling of today's list.

1. The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4) by J. Arthur Thomson (833)


2. Manners, Customs, and Dress During the Middle Ages and During the Renaissance Period by P. L. Jacob (685)


3. Illustrated History of Furniture by Frederick Litchfield (496)


4. Searchlights on Health by B. G. Jefferis and J. L. Nichols (398)



5. The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana by Vatsyayana (354)


6. History of the United States by Charles A. Beard and Mary Ritter Beard (337)


7. Inaugural Presidential Address by Barack Obama (316)


8. Our Day by William Ambrose Spicer (305)


9. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (293)


10. The Atlas of Ancient and Classical Geography by Samuel Butler (285)


11. The Beginner's American History by D. H. Montgomery (274)


12. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (270)


13. The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English by Ray Vaughn Pierce (261)



14. Woman as Decoration by Emily Burbank (259)


15. General Science by Bertha M. Clark (254)


16. Nouvelles histoires extraordinaires by Edgar Allan Poe (254)


17. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (214)


18. The Iliad by Homer (214)


19. Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome by E.M. Berens (214)


20. The Practice and Science of Drawing by Harold Speed (211)


21. Sex by Henry Stanton (208)


22. Elements of Structural and Systematic Botany by Douglas Houghton Campbell (207)



23. The Mafulu by Robert Wood Williamson (199)


24. Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney (195)


25. The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci — Complete by Leonardo da Vinci (195)

Wow, the Illustrated History of Furniture was number 3 yesterday, and it is kind of depressing it was more popular than the Notebooks of Leonard Da Vinci, but that is the modern age, and why not?

How to Grow Old - By Sherwin B. Nuland

I just finished reading Sherwin Nuland's essay, How to Grow Old, and I find myself provoked, stimulated, and faintly amused.

The essay starts with a brief history of medical attempts toward rejuvenation therapies and then turns into an all out debate between medical and lifestyle approaches to healthy aging.

Nuland writes:
Aging is not a disease. It is the condition upon which we have been given life. The aging and eventual death of each of us is as important to the ecosystem of our planet as the changing of the seasons.

This is a deeply mistaken belief and the record has to be set straight. Aging is a disease, and it is not, in any way, a genetic advantage. Claiming that aging is an essential part of a species survival conveniently, and mysteriously, overlooks the fact that evolution is a survival of the fittest and not the survival of the diseased. Species compete for scarce resources, that is how evolution works. Developed nations are developed because of sanitation, proper nutrition, and medicine all which extend lifespan. Who would argue that developed countries with longer lifespans are more strapped for resources than developing countries where people still die off at age 40?

Nuland also writes:
When William Haseltine, PDH, the brilliant biotechnology entrepreneur who is the CEO of Human Genome Sciences, says, "I believe our generation is the first to be able to map a possible route to individual immortality," we should cringe with distaste and even fear, not only at the hubris of such a statement but also at the danger it poses to the very concept of what it means to be human. The current biomedical campaign against the natural process of aging is but part of a much larger conception of humankind's future, in which it is thought by some that parents may one day order up the IQ, complexion, and stature of their intended offspring by manipulation their DNA.

Dr. Nuland goes on to argue that the solution to aging is not some biomedical therapy, but lifestyle changes, and what he is failing to grasp another great misconception about human aging: Lifestyle changes slow the disease of aging, but do not cure it. It is the same battle between focusing on treating the symptoms and not preventing the disease in the first place. The irony here is that it's the pills which provide the prevention, and it's the lifestyle changes which treat the symptoms.

Dr. Nuland seems to believe that rejuvenation therapies are going to extend our lives into decrepitude and destroy our ecosystem, and he overlooks that staying young would greatly free resources on our health care system, and allow people to live long enough to create very smart technologies, and maybe get around to solving some troubling mysteries like: What is consciousness? How did life begin? Why do we exist? And if it is just for DNA, why does DNA exist? It seems to me worthwhile to support rejuvenation therapies for that promise alone. People have plenty to live for besides passing on some genetic strand of DNA, and fulfilling nature's grand scheme.

Dr. Nuland's essay How to Grow Old is available in The Best American Science Writing 2004 at Amazon.com

The Elements of Style - William Strunk and E.B. White

Writing is like music and drawing in that learning comes primarily through practice and less through instruction. That said, it is nice to have a clear and concise set of rules to guide us, and this is exactly what The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White provides.

Strunk was the 1919 Cornell English professor of E.B. White and wrote The Elements of Style as a textbook for his students. The book was never published till E.B. White revived it, edited it, added a chapter, and published it. Since then The Elements of Style has become the handbook of professional writers, notably, Stephen King.

The book is small, short, and could fit in your pocket. Strunk writes just 65 pages, and White adds 20 more. The book adheres strongly to Strunk's 17th rule: Omit Needless Words. The book is refreshing to read. It is like Listerine for your mind, washing out the bad odors of chewy bits of reading gone foul.

This book had me laughing, which is surprising for a book that is intended to be so technical. Nothing can be more pleasurable than an idea intimated through good writing. Writing is extremely intimate. Whatever molecular processes make everything function in our bodies, writing and language are what bring it out in our soul, and Strunk has mastered writing so that even in a technical book, he can create humor through the interplay of his ideas.

Half-way through the book I knew that it would be a book that I would read again and again. Everyone should read this book again and again, and keep it on hand as a reference towards better writing.

Get The Elements of Style (4th Edition) from Amazon.com

Dune - Frank Herbert

A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct.

Thus begins Frank Herbert's epic novel: Dune, the story of a hero rallying against an empire that has betrayed him. Set across multiple planets with advanced technology and characters that echo ancient Roman and Arab cultures, the story's main themes revolve around leadership, wisdom, courage, legend, purpose, extra-sensory powers, drug addiction, political struggle, social movements, eugenics, and zen buddhism.

Leadership, Wisdom, and Courage

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

The eye that looks ahead to the safe course is closed forever.

The theme of courage and stoicism pervade throughout the novel. Those who can calm their emotions and think logically for the most profitable solution prosper. Thus it is that threatening enemies are often kept alive to be used later, and for those found in life or death situations it is the cool headed which survive.

Even when Paul, the hero, is put in a complete losing situation he doesn't let fear and despair enter his life, he doesn't settle for mediocrity, for doing so would surely mean his doom.

Legend and Purpose

Do you wrestle with dreams?
Do you contend with shadows?
Do you move in a kind of sleep?
Time has slipped away.
Your life is stolen.
You tarried with trifles.
Victim of your folly.

As the story progresses we see the coming of age of a teenage boy into a leader, a chosen prophet who must fulfill his destiny. We see through the eyes of Paul how he was purposefully bred to this position, part of a plan by the Bene Gesserit who are seeking to breed a person which can see all pasts and futures, who can traverse time and be used for power. In this we see that Paul (Muad'Dib) must accept the responsibility of his fate, and regain control of his life for the greater good.

Think you of the fact that a deaf person cannot hear. Then, what deafness may we not all possess? What senses do we lack that we cannot see and cannot hear another world all around us?

As we learn of Paul's extra sensory powers it leads us to wonder what we don't perceive in our own lives. This idea is emphasized with the prevalence of drugs which heighten awareness and consciousness. Drugs also act as a source of power to those who can harvest and sell it. From this theme, also stems the theme of dependence. We see how the drugs create dependencies after being introduced into a user's life and how that user's life depends on continued use of the drug. This concept is even compared to air and water which give us the ability of consciousness in our own lives, and for which we could not live without. This thought could even be extended further to items like cars and internet, both of which we don't really need to live, but for which we find it extremely difficult to do without after they have been introduced into our lives.

Zen Buddhism

Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic.

The proper teaching is recognized with ease. You can know it without fail because it awakens within you that sensations which tells you this is something you've always known.

Dune also touches on themes of reincarnation and an underlying transcendental sense of purpose that can only be felt from our inherited memory. Paul is filled with memories he cannot explain, and the Reverend Mothers are bodies who contain the consciousness of more than one being, passed down through the generations. Besides strong ties to buddhist teaching the thought also provides interesting food for thought as to what memories we have in our own mind that we cannot account for. Maybe hunting on the plains, or sleeping in a cave?

Wisdom

How often it is that the angry man rages denial of what his inner self is telling him.

Muad'Dib learned rapidly because his first training was in how to learn. And the first lesson of all was the basic trust that he could learn. It's shocking to find how many people do not believe they can learn, and how many more believe learning to be difficult. Muad'Dib knew that every experience carries its lesson.

Frank Herbert saturated Dune with lines of appealing and thought provoking wisdom. It is the wisdom in each character's action that inspires the most admiration. Their own thoughts and insights are the best weapons they have, the best tools they can use to increase their chances for success. The wisdom in the book is what makes it an inspirational read, and a book worth reading again and again.

Any road followed precisely to its end leads precisely nowhere. Climb the mountain just a little bit to test that it's a mountain. From the top of the mountain, you cannot see the mountain.

Think of sight. You have eyes, yet cannot see without light. If you are on the floor of a valley, you cannot see beyond your valley. Just so, Muad'Dib could not always choose to look across the mysterious terrain. He tells us that a single obscure decision of prophecy, perhaps the choice of one word over another, could change the entire aspect of the future. He tells us "The vision of time is broad, but when you pass through it, time becomes a narrow door." And always, he fought the temptation to choose a clear, safe course, warning "That path leads ever down into stagnation."



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