ANTS – Julian Huxley
Probably the oldest book i have read first published in 1930. The focus of the book is on the social life of ants and termites. The main objective of the author being to criticize the view of his peers that ants, termites, bees and wasps are very comparable to human society because of their social lifestyle. The author strongly disagrees with this view stating a number of reasons. The crux behind all his reasoning is that ants, termites, bees & wasps behave as they do because they are programmed by natural selection. Even the class structure in their societies is based on genetic pre-selection. They do not possess any ability to learn at least not in the sense that humans do.
The book has numerous accounts of how different species of ants organize their nests, raise their young, cooperate with each other, hunt & gather food, make slaves of other species and live in symbiosis with other insects.
All in all the book is worth a read.
Hiking Light – Marlyn Doan
This is a really good one. Very well organized and to the point. All the details have been neatly stacked at the end of the book and can be read independently. The points covered are pretty much the same as in ‘One Step at a time’, but a lot more interesting to read. Also staying away from details such as prices of gear does not make this book entirely outdated.
Note that the title does not refer to the current trend of light-weight hiking which is also dubbed ‘Hiking Light’. It is combination of being light on one’s wallet, the environment and one’s body.
What the bones tell us – Jeffrey Schwartz
This book touches upon the areas of paleontology, anthropology, archeology and osteology. In many museums I have seen thousands of bones & fossils of species that are now extinct. I am amazed as to how much information has been deduced from fossilized bones not just about other species but also about ancient civilizations. However, until now I did not know how. This book explains a lot about how scientists analyze bones and draw conclusions from them.
Note that bones are fragile, get easily damaged and can be lost in time. Only under suitable conditions do they become fossilized. This means that we do not find as many bones as we would like to answer all questions about the history of life on earth
The ones that do get fossilized have the potential to tell us a lot … such as
- which animal do the bones belong. Many times this leads to the discovery of new species
- which part of the body the bones made up, even the side, left or right
- whether the bones were burnt with flesh on them or de-fleshed
- age & gender of the individual
- lifestyle of the individual(s) since bones can preserve scars of injuries & marks when they heal
- location where bones are found tell us about the organisms that lived there
- in some cases fossil evidence has contradicted writings in ancient books
However, analyzing bones is by no means a straightforward process. Most of the points mentioned above are possible to determine only if specific bones with just the right characteristics are fossilized. The author has included interesting stories which depict the hard work and assumptions that go into the work and also how mistakes can & have been made.
This book does suffer from a drawback like some non-fiction books i have read in the past do. It has just too many details. Even the anecdotes are described elaborately. Well…as a reader who is not even remotely connected to these fields I have no chance of remembering most of this information, hence reading most paragraphs from this book seems pointless. I have done a very selective reading and hope to find a book more suitable for a lay man.
Backpacking: One step at a time – Harvey Manning
I do not know about experienced hikers but this is a reasonably good read for anyone curious about what the state of the sport of backpacking is. I wouldn’t normally call backpacking/hiking a sport but reading this book has changed that.
The most striking issue covered in this book is the author’s concern for preservation of the wild lands. Although written in the 80’s it still presents a danger to the wilderness by the increasing number of hikers. I wonder what the situation is today. It also does a very good job in bringing to attention how simple activities like camping or gathering & using water or making a fire can damage the wilderness, sometimes irreparable. If not for the reviews of various gears and tips on the essential equipment I suggest reading this book solely for understanding how to be a responsible hiker (of course, this is only if one actually cares that future generations should have the same privilege).
It is incredible as to how much economics is behind this sport – The plethora of gear available, the nuances and details of selecting clothing, food, bedding etc. It is almost commensurate with setting up a home. Don’t get me wrong, I do think it is all essential but somehow my impression was that people passionate about hiking would be a lot less materialistic – but I wouldn’t be. Getting lost or hurt out there is something that will arouse fear in any one’s mind. In fact this book concentrates more on the aspects that raise fear rather than the ones that arouse pleasure from hiking which in my view is the right approach. The pitfalls of ignorance and minor mistakes can very well turn out to be fatal. A common argument says that we take a lot more risk each time we merge on a freeway or cross a street. The difference is that out there help can be a long way away.
All in all it has further enticed my curiosity and i intend to read a lot more about this.
Expectation from Documentaries
Documentaries are truly a modern tool for improving the intellectual of the masses, superseding books and other written material. I also find them to be more entertaining that much of mainstream media. But documentaries have a sense of credibility associated with them. They are assumed to be accurate with the content they present and the people who make them are respected as well.
I am an avid documentary watcher and am very grateful to the people who are putting in the efforts to make them. They make it possible for a lay man to understand concepts and get insight in matters that otherwise would be too tedious. But watching too many documentaries also has led to side effect. I have become more skeptical now both about the information they convey and the motives of the people who make them. Again i mean only skeptical not critical or ungrateful. I still love watching them. The reasons are to do with the accuracy of the content that they present. Especially since many documentaries are biased in that they only present one side of the story – this may not be intentional, since in most cases the motive is to shed light on some issues that involve grave concerns, jeopardize the future of humanity or even expose crime
I think that there are certain steps that documentary makers should follow to ensure viewer’s confidence in their research and data. Such as…
- Never present charts, graphs without sources. All that needs to be done is to display the source in some corner of the screen
- Whenever clips from newspapers and other magazines are shown display which newspaper was it from and what the issue date was
- When playing an interview especially of a expert in the concerned topic display the name & qualification of that person – to show what is it that makes the person knowledgeable on that topic and why her opinion should be given any consideration. And show this information each time the person appears on screen. Many documentaries show this only once and the viewer cannot be expected to remember this.
- The tone of the narrator should not express opinion or take sides. It should simply report. Let the viewers decide based on the evidence
- Do not use excessive graphics – this particularly applies to documentaries in the fields of cosmology, quantum physics, time etc. For e.g. portraying the Big Bang as a colorful explosion (We know that we cannot observe it from the outside)
- Try harder to get opinions from both sides of the story. Many times documentaries just stop at saying that the alleged side declined their requests for interview(s). But I don’t want to be too harsh with this point as I can understand the problem
- Do not get expert opinions from non-qualified people and do not harass people you interview
Again, this is just my opinion. I can imagine many situations where the incentive may clearly be not to follow any of these points.I just think documentaries are such an excellent tool and hope they stay away from corruption, prejudice and sub-standard research
Why Beautiful people have more daughters – Alan Miller & Satoshi kanazawa
This is the first time ever I read a whole book non-stop. Went to Borders and purchased it around 2 pm and by midnight I was done, breaking only to go out and fetch dinner.
The book attempts to explain various aspects of human behavior using Evolutionary principles. This field of science is called ‘Evolutionary Psychology’. Although I did not learn anything fundamentally new from this book it helped me correct my terminology and strengthen arguments about the concepts I understood before. The issues dealt with in the book and the arguments presented would make fascinating dinner table discussions. If you are looking for interesting topics to discourse on then read through it. The topics are such that they force the reader into pscho-analysis and introspection.
The authors primarily engage sex and reproduction as the underlying motive and reasoning for almost all of human behaviour. And they are not wrong since evolution is in effect all about sex and reproduction. Only in the very last chapter of the book do the authors deal with more interesting issues (for me) such as religion and somehow manage to connect them (although cautiously) to sex & reproduction as well. I guess any investigation if given evolution as the tool for reasoning will end up doing so. I have found some interesting reference links though for further reading and will get around to them soon. Although to their credit most of the theories listed seem plausible.
It would be even better if ‘Evolutionary Psychology’ could be put under the test of prediction like many other Scientific theories do. What I mean is that we make predictions using ‘Evolutionary Psychology’ and see if they turn out to be true (how to do this? I do not yet know). At the moment it seems that it only accounts for things in hindsight i.e. having come across an observation seek an explanation for it.
The most enjoyable part that I found is at the very end of the book where the authors dicuss questions that ‘Evolutionary Psychology’ yet cannot explain. One of them is ‘Why do parents in advanced industrialized nations have so few children?’ – this is my view is not just a mere mystery for Evolutionary Psychology, but a sizable blow and must be averted.
Genome – Matt Ridley
I am trying out a more creative way of expressing my joy of reading this book. It has an almost perfect balance between technical discussions, political & social issues & history on the subject. Highly recommend this for anyone interested in light reading on genetics.
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hilarious!
This website is absolutely hilarious
Continuing Studies…
After a break in the summer (mainly due to lack of any interesting courses being offered) I have enrolled again for a couple with Stanford Continuing education. The first one is ‘Statistics – A Gentle Introduction‘ taught by Prof. Michael Walker. The course apparently will focus primarily on examples from biomedical applications which is exactly what I am looking for.
The other one should be really fun – the course title is ‘Mountaineering‘ and the instructor is Prof. Frank Sarnquist. This is just a two day course with 6 hrs instruction on each. The course advertisement even says that there may be an opportunity for interested students to join the instructor in the ascent of a technically easy but high peak in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The reason of pursuing this one is my crave for one day taking this up as a serious activity. I have been hiking for the past year and have planned a couple of more trips in the next month. One day i wish to leave my footprint high up in the Himalayas. So far time is the only thing keeping me away from this but I am working to resolve this. One option i am already considering is ‘Project Himalaya‘
Bad Science – Ben Goldacre
This is the second book I read on this month’s India trip. Can’t believe just how productive transit time can turn out to be.
I would call this book ‘Bad Medicine’ rather than ‘Bad Science’, nonetheless its principles apply to any stream of science.
From Homeopathy & mainstream medicine to the MMR hoax, the author has expressed educated criticism of how bad scientific practices are widely prevalent, endorsed and accepted. The author has not shyed away from criticizing personalities made famous inspite of their pseudo scientific practices. In fact he has written dedicated chapters aiming the blow the cover of famous personalities in the business of nutrition science. I don’t follow this field, so I was intrigued to learn about it.
I am thoroughly impressed by all the information that has been compiled and presented in this book. Lots of references to studies and facts and figures.
The main lesson to be learnt here is how to conduct unbiased and largely accurate research (mainly clinical trials). This is a good read for any skeptics or scientists alike.
Some of the more interesting chapters of the book deal with the role of journalists and their ineptness leading to the spread of bogus scientific stories, treatments and claims. The point to note is that the reasons for their support of substandard scientific stories is not necessarily malintentions but sheer lack of knowledge & skills – knowledge about how research (more specifically clinical trials) should be conducted so as to get the right results and skills to identify inadequacies in methods used for medical research.
The problem i feel is much more grave. A layman has to rely on information conveyed by the mainstream media. One cannot expect him to be able to verify every possible claim that he comes across in the news. It simply is not possible. So he has to rely on journalists & the so called specialist and their opinions to make his own decisions. That, I think simply cannot change.
So what can be done? One thing that popped in my head as i was reading was a simple law, stated as follows – “For any claims made in media the entire evidence to support that claim must be made publicly available” (Clearly my linguistic skills in legal settings leave a lot to be desired). But i know – as for any law the real burden is in effective enforcement and not in the legislation.
I am reading another book similar in nature called ‘Panicology’ – first impressions seem moderate.
