Each essay is a masterpiece of condensed information in this collection. The layout of the book with the text interwoven with the images and the illus...moreEach essay is a masterpiece of condensed information in this collection. The layout of the book with the text interwoven with the images and the illustrations is worth the distraction every time.(less)
Raises very potent questions but answers almost none. Dennett is content with showing 3-4 potential ways of looking at any question and then telling u...moreRaises very potent questions but answers almost none. Dennett is content with showing 3-4 potential ways of looking at any question and then telling us that to go beyond is a challenge even for modern science.
The arguments are smooth and the book gives a good evolutionary understanding of the way we frame thoughts and ascribe consciousness. The model of mind that Dennett has created is a bit dated for me, but I enjoyed the long range perspective he brought into it. the section on dogs was probably the best part for me.
PS. References to Susan Sontag is becoming overwhelming in books I read and I guess I will end up ordering one of her books soon.
Another review has been put up here. That one is equally bad and confused, you might as well just skim this:
Still dazed by the stupor of melancholy an...moreAnother review has been put up here. That one is equally bad and confused, you might as well just skim this:
Still dazed by the stupor of melancholy and perversion that Humbert Humbert has exposed my poor brain to. Still trying to make sense of the monster/poet/victim and of Lolita, the symbol of our age. Who exploited whom, who were the villains and who were to be punished, these thoughts are still swirling in my head; desperately trying to ascribe meaning beyond the mere acts of the novel, to read into the disparities between nature and actions. A see-saw of poetry and debauchery. I also wonder how much I missed out on due to my handicap of not knowing french.
The primary effect of this beauty and poetry is that we keep geting charmed by this old-world, aristocratic protagonist who can talk in such a poetic way and then he gently turns around and reminds us of what he is contemplating doing to that young girl and we draw back in revulsion again, only to be ensnared in his honeyed prose a few lines later. And so it goes, tiring you out and enchanting you.
So, a review will come as soon as I can reconcile the beauty of the novel with its deep, dark underbelly and some meaning that is not merely moral emerges.
That might take many readings and I am not sure that is something I am willing to put myself through. But a review, however small, helps clarify the book in my head and, for that I will try.
Another thing I want to make sense of is this - Nabokov’s account of the old newspaper story that inspired him to start a work such as Lolita presented in the novel’s afterword "On a Book Entitled Lolita" - The story was about “an ape in the Jardin des Plantes, who after months of coaxing by the scientists, produced the first drawing ever charcoaled by an animal: the sketch showed the bars of the poor creature’s cage." - Isn't that just surreal? The connection with Humbert is right there at the edge of my imagination, in his own prison maybe and maybe in the prison that was his life's lust. I don't now, but what pleasure to ponder.
One thing I can confidently say even with my shock at the rest of the novel is that the opening paragraph is perhaps the most beautiful and alluring one I have ever read - It draws you into this perverse universe where every dark secret thought is open to scrutiny like some succubi, a beautiful mermaid or Lamia who lures you only to crucify you. The mind thrills and the eyes laze over the paragraph and you are aglow in the ecstasy the rest of the book seems to promise, thinking of the beauty that is waiting for you in those pages, the plays of language, the thrill of appreciating such wonder and you are happy that this book, Lolita, that you have heard so much about is going to be a delight. But of course, the book is just like a nymph as described in it, it tantalizes with ethereal beauty only to expose our world to the harsh reality of man's nature - at least I think so. The book is the real Lolita not any character in it.(less)
Definitely worth reading - 1) With Pride and Prejudice by Nayantara Sehgal 2) All About H. Hatterr by G.V.Desani 3) Games at Twilight by Anita Desai 4) B...moreDefinitely worth reading - 1) With Pride and Prejudice by Nayantara Sehgal 2) All About H. Hatterr by G.V.Desani 3) Games at Twilight by Anita Desai 4) Big Bill by Satyajit Ray - Probably the best of the lot 5) Toba Tek Singh by Saadat Hasan Manto 6) Sharmaji by Anjana Appachana
Little diamonds each of these, in a treasure trove of a book.(less)
I started this in high spirits as my updates show: "fifth re-read, how thrilling it is to plumb new depths in old wells of wisd...moreThe wolves will come...
I started this in high spirits as my updates show: "fifth re-read, how thrilling it is to plumb new depths in old wells of wisdom..."
But, as I read on towards the last few pages, I couldn't shake the feeling that this is Moby Dick set in an alternate universe.
In this alternate universe:
The Giant Leviathan is a noble, unseen fish - steady and without malice. Captain Ahab is transformed into a gentle, wise old zen master. Santiago - a humble fisherman with no legendary crew to command and only his frail body instead of a Pequod to do his bidding. Ishmael is a young boy, who instead of being a "end is nigh" Nostradamus is a loving, weeping young boy who cares deeply about the world. Queequeg is probably the dolphin which was the old man's only hope against his foe, his brother.
Now Moby Dick for me was the grand struggle of an obsessed genius with his destiny (in fact, about the creative struggle) - it proves that life is a tragedy and in the grand conclusion, you go down with a mighty confrontation and your ambitions take you down to the depths of the sea - no trace left of either you or your grand dreams except a mist of madness propagated as a half-heard story.
This was profound and it moved me to tears - but it was still grand, was it not? The great struggle, the titanic battle and the heroic capitulation! It was operatic and it was uplifting - even amidst the tragedy, the mighty bellow of man's cry in the face of the unconquerable; that gave me goosebumps.
But Hemingway and his Old Man has turned the story in its head.
It takes you beyond the happily-ever-after of Moby Dick (!) and as always those unchartered waters are beyond description. This alternate universe is much more cruel and much more real. There is no grand confrontation that ends in an inspirational tragedy.
It turns it into a battle of attrition - you are inevitably defeated even in success and life will wear you down and leave no trace of your ambitions.
It makes you battle to the last breaking point of every nerve and sinew and lets you win a hollow victory that you cannot celebrate as life has worn you out too much in your pursuit of your goals and the destiny, the destiny too now seems more and more unreal and you ask yourself if you were even worthy enough to start the battle.
And as you turn back after that jaded victory, then comes the sharks, inevitably, inexorably. And then begins the real battle, not the grand epic, but a doomed, unenthusiastic battle against reality - with the knowledge that no grand ambition can ever succeed.
And the old man tells it for you - "I never should have gone out that far!"
The alternate universe is depressing and it is Zen at the same time, I do not know how. I probably have to read this many more times before any hope, any secret light in it comes to illuminate me - for today, for this reading, Hemingway has depressed me beyond belief and I cannot remember how I always thought of this as an inspirational fable!
The scene in which the restaurant lady sees the bones of the once great fish sums it up for me - In the end you give up hope of success and only wish that at the very least you might be able to bring back a ghost of the fish so that people can see how great your target really was - but all they see is the almost vanished skeleton of your idea; your grand dreams are just so much garbage now and who will have the imagination to see the grandeur it had at its conception?
“They beat me, Manolin,” he said. “They truly beat me.”
Half way through the book, I had decided that this book merits only a one sentence review: Seth Godin, surprisingly, turns out to be Mr. Obvious.
Afte...moreHalf way through the book, I had decided that this book merits only a one sentence review: Seth Godin, surprisingly, turns out to be Mr. Obvious.
After finishing the book, I have realized that this would not be fair. I particularly liked the section on Intellectual Integrity and Seth's point that anyone not putting his ideas into the world is actually stealing them from the world and should be treated as such. Yes, every section in the book is repetitive and makes the same exhortation again an again - Start Innovating. And maybe, just maybe, even the obvious facts need to be drilled in.
The book is mildly inspirational and some anecdotes are nice but all in all, his succinct blog entries would be a better investment for an interested reader's time than going through this book. The book does not poke the box; it is not stimulating and original enough but the central idea is worth restating: If the only reason you are not initiating your quest is that you are afraid to start, perhaps you ought to think about what is at stake. Have you fully understood the cost of not starting?(less)
Liked only two sections in the book: the description of pre-aryan food habits and the section on regional cuisines. Wanted to try and reproduce an ext...moreLiked only two sections in the book: the description of pre-aryan food habits and the section on regional cuisines. Wanted to try and reproduce an extract on Kerala food for my blog. I hope all foodies find this to be a delight, so here goes:
Kerala Food
Five distinct groups live in the state of Kerala, and each has a distinctive food list. Let us take the ancient community of Syrian Christians first.
The rice appam, a pancake also called vella-appam, is common to all Keralites, eaten with a meat stew by Syrians, and with an aviyal of vegetables by Nampoothiris and Nairs. Syrians favour the kal-appam, baked on a stone griddle rather than a clay one. The kuzhal-appam, as its name implies, is a fried crisp curled up like a tube, and is typical of Syrians. There are two other Syrian appams, very different in character, and both sweet. The acch-appam is a deep-fried rose-cookie made of rice, the name coming from the frame (accha) needed to make it; this is dipped in batter, drained, and then immersed in hot oil. The nai-appam, called athirasam in Tamil Nadu, is a deep-fried, chewy, dark doughnut, fashioned from toddy-fermented rice and jaggery. There are two other breakfast items common to all Keralites. The idiappam is a dish of cooked rice noodles, eaten with sweetened coconut milk or with a meat or chicken curry.
The puttu consists of rice grits and coconut shreds, which are alternately layered in a bamboo tube. The latter is then affixed to the snout of a vessel in which water is boiled. The mass is pushed through after it has been steamed. Being rather dry, puttu is commonly eaten with bananas, or with a spicy dry chana. Another rice-coconut combination uses fried rice, and is called avalose, a Syrian speciality. It can be moulded into an unda (ball) with sugar syrup. The churutta (literally cigar) is rice-based again, and has a crisp, translucent outer case, filled with rice grits and sweet, thickened palmyra juice (called pani}. The unni-appam, eaten by all Keralites, consists of a mash of ripe jackfruit, roasted rice flour and jaggery, folded in the form of a triangle in a vazhana leaf and steamed. Jackfruit cooked with jaggery and cardamom constitutes chakka-varattiyathu.
The Syrians eat beef, and eracchi-olathiyathu (fried meat) is a wedding special, a dry dish of beef chunks and coconut pieces fried in its own fat. To make eracchi-thoran, cubed beef is first boiled with vinegar and salt, then shredded on a grinding stone, lightly fried with spices, a coconut-masala mixture added, and the whole briefly steamed. Kappa-kari has pieces of tapioca in the beef, and is finished by frying in oil. Most curries, including meat, always have a lot of coconut milk. Meen-vevicchadhu (cooked fish) is cooked differently in different areas even by Syrians. Both in Kottayam and Trichur, river fish is used; this is cooked in Kottayam with the sour kokum fruit rind, called kodampuli, and is very red in colour with added chillies and even colouring matter; in Trichur, tender mango as the souring agent and coconut milk are used. Meen-pattichadhu uses very small fish like oil sardines, or even prawns, with coconut grattings. For Christmas there may be a wild duck, cooked as mappas, or roasted with stuffing.
Wild boar cooked with a strong masala, or pickled in oil, is also a Syrian speciality. For pouring on dry dishes, buttermilk mixed with turmeric and spices is used, called kachiya-moru. Some sweet items have been mentioned earlier. A wedding special is thayirum-pazhakku pani, in which sweet palmyra juice is thickened by boiling down and poured on ripe bananas mashed together, and eaten with curd Another deep-fried savoury snack there is pakku-vadai, a version of pakoda.
The Muslims of Kerala are called Moplah, a corruption of mahapilla or mapillai, meaning bridegroom or a person held in high esteem. They are descendants of Arab traders who married local Kerala women, later expanding their ranks by conversion. Though the Kerala usage of rice, coconut and jaggery is evident, there is Arab influence to be seen in the biriyanis and the ground wheat-and-meat porridge aleesa, elsewhere called harisa.
The roti is the distinctive podi-patthiri, a flat thin rice chapati made from a boiled mash of rice baked on a thava and dipped in coconut milk. The ari-patthiri is a thicker version made from parboiled rice and flattened out on a cloth or banana leaf to prevent it sticking. Nai-patthiri is a deep-fried puri of raw rice powder with some coconut, fried to a golden brown. All these patthiris are eaten at breakfast with a mutton curry. Steamed puttus, eaten with small bananas, would figure also at the morning repast. A wedding-eve feast could include the nai-choru, rice fried lightly in ghee with onions, cloves, cinnamon and cardamom to taste, and finally boiled to a finish. A wedding dinner would necessarily mean a biriyani of mutton, chicken, fish or prawn which is finally finished by arranging the separately cooked flesh and the cooked rice in layers and baking with live coals above and below. Several flavoured soups are from both rice and wheat, with added coconut or coconut milk, and spices. A whole-wheat porridge with minced mutton cooked in nut milk is called kiskiya. A distinctive and unusual sweet is mutta-mala (egg garlands), with a snow-like pudding called pinnanthappam made from the separated egg whites which have been whisked up with the remaining sugar syrup steamed, and cut into diamond shapes.
The Thiyas are a community that formerly tapped toddy but have now entered many other professions. Appam and stew are the breakfast fare, the stew being varied: fish in coconut sauce with tiny pieces ot mango, mutton in coconut milk or simply a sugared thick coconut milk. A speciality is nai-patthal, in the shape of a starfish. The curd pacchadi may be of pumpkin, and the sweet dessert may be a prathaman, which is mung dhal boiled in coconut milk and flavoured with palm jaggery, cardamom and ginger powder, and laced with fried cashewnuts, raisins and coconut chips.
The Nairs are the Nakar, the original warrior class of Kerala, whose cooking skills are famous all over the south. Breakfast again is either the vella-appam or the bamboo-steamed puttu, eaten with sweetened milk and tiny bananas. Certain vegetable specialities, though eaten by all Keralites, have special Nair associations. The sambhar of tuvar dhal with added vegetables is a regular item. Aviyal is a mix of vegetables like green bananas, drumsticks, various beans and green cashewnuts (this is distinctive to the Nairs) cooked in coconut milk and then tossed with some coconut oil in spiced sour curd. Kalan is the same dish that uses green bananas alone, and olan is a dish of white pumpkin and dried beans cooked in coconut milk and coconut oil. A wedding feast of the Nairs will include several types of pacchadis, pickles, chips and payasams based on milk, coconut milk, rice, dhal and bananas. No meat is served at a wedding, though normally meat is eaten. Such domestic meat and chicken cooking, though spiced, uses a great deal of fresh coconut and coconut milk which tempers the dish to mildness. Small pieces of asfigourd or raw mango cooked with coconut, curds and chilli paste is pullisseri and puli-inji is fried sliced ginger.
The Nampoothiris are the brahmins of Kerala who may have first arrived there about the 3rd century BC. They are strict vegetarians who favour the idli, dosai and puttu for breakfast with a coconut or curd accompaniment, and eat their rice with kootu, kalan and olan. Use of garlic in cooking is avoided. The thoran is usually made from the pods of green payaru (lobia) cut into small bits, stir-fried in oil and finally finished by cooking with a little water. Green bananas, spinach, cabbage and peas can all be made into thoran, and eaten with rice. Aviyal and erisseri, a pumpkin curry, are in use. All Kerala groups eat yellow banana chips fried in coconut oil and lightly salted. The best ones are reputed to be made in Kozhikode, which also boasts of a special sweet halwa made of bananas. The payasam of Kerala uses rice and milk, but the prathamans have milk with fruit or dhal, or with paper-thin shreds of a rice roll, cooked separately and added to the sweetened milk to give palada-prathaman. Chatha pulisseri is a shraddha speciality, a sour buttermilk preparation with pepper, salt and coconut paste, thickened by boiling down.(less)
Nothing particularly new is told but Ray writes with such a passion and gusto that the book becomes a joy to read. References to stories and novels th...moreNothing particularly new is told but Ray writes with such a passion and gusto that the book becomes a joy to read. References to stories and novels that I have not read abound and hence it was difficult to follow the train of thought. The poems at the end were a real bonus.(less)
Jared sticks to the basic premise and plugs every hole in his argument so well to construct a magnificent explanation of evolution of all societies. W...moreJared sticks to the basic premise and plugs every hole in his argument so well to construct a magnificent explanation of evolution of all societies. What makes the book great is of course the intimate hands-on experience that Jared has on the wide variety of fields required to attempt a book like this.
The last four or five chapters start to get very repetitive, but except for that Diamond has taken a stunningly large scale view of history that keeps you enthralled throughout the 13,000 years we cover in this book. (less)
Lively and full of non-technical examples... but too shallow unless it is the first book on the subject that you are reading. Get a better book if you...moreLively and full of non-technical examples... but too shallow unless it is the first book on the subject that you are reading. Get a better book if you are serious about the subject, there are some very good ones out there. Not worth a full review I guess.(less)
To take up the task of giving an introduction to Vedanta is indeed a very ambitious project and what a jumble of incoherent thought the author has mad...moreTo take up the task of giving an introduction to Vedanta is indeed a very ambitious project and what a jumble of incoherent thought the author has made of it. With no underlying purpose, the book randomly skims the surface of this sea of thought and whenever it seems like the author might plumb even the shallowest depths, he shrugs it off with the phrase "you need a Guru to understand such things."
The result is a patently shallow attempt that is a waste of any serious reader's time. The book has no particular structure or sequence and after taking more than half the pages in convincing the reader why vedantic study is vital, it spends a few pages touching on the "core and peripheral teachings" and gives a few translations from Upanishads and Brahma Sutras before going into a long concluding chapter which talks about why the reader should study Vedanta! Thanks for the value add.(less)
Till the eighth chapter, the characteristically real-life examples add to the effortless simplicity in explanation of the outlandish concepts to make...moreTill the eighth chapter, the characteristically real-life examples add to the effortless simplicity in explanation of the outlandish concepts to make it a joy to read. The book construction is much the same as in Rock, Paper, Scissors and borrow heavily from other famous works. But the long 8th and 9th chapters on heuristics and the tedious chapter summaries seem like a page-filling exercise as Fisher has nothing more to say about the topic and considers 250 pages a minimum requirement for a book.
The opening chapters about swarm intelligence in locusts, bees and birds are amazing and opens a window of wonder into this beautiful science. The applications to human crowds and networks and to computer systems are also wonderfully executed. Fisher borrows extensively from Malcolm Gladwell and then disses him in the Notes section of the book - I wonder why. He does the same to Avinash K Dixit in Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game Theory in Everyday Life.(less)
The book started well as it provided a fresh and clear take on Mahabharata without rationalizations and without apology. Devdutt adopts a very traditi...moreThe book started well as it provided a fresh and clear take on Mahabharata without rationalizations and without apology. Devdutt adopts a very traditional stance and uses his small boxes to put in folk tales and other views on the topics.
Some of the illustrations are breathtaking in their honesty and imagination and is worth every penny spent on the books.
But as the book progresses the reader gets the feeling that the incidents are treated a bit too cursorily. Pattanaik has a wonderful way of looking at things, I only wish he had cared to look deeper with that vision.
The amount of space dedicated to any given incident is too less and this makes the whole exercise a bit too shallow. There is not much new insight in the book if you are familiar with the epic. A few interesting folk tale traditions and the author's take on what the driving philosophy is makes the book a worthwhile read but it all smacks a bit strongly of buddhism.
In the end, I was disappointed that so litte was explored by an obviously very insightful author. I will be readin g his other books soon with hope for more of the same clarity and less of the cursoriness. (less)
Watching the movie first was a big mistake - but maybe the movie had a finer dramatic tension to it, being less inclined to be so philosophical and cr...moreWatching the movie first was a big mistake - but maybe the movie had a finer dramatic tension to it, being less inclined to be so philosophical and cryptic?(less)
The most reverent, lyrical and aesthetically pleasing treatment of Indian thought that I have come across since The Discovery of India. Zimmer was a g...moreThe most reverent, lyrical and aesthetically pleasing treatment of Indian thought that I have come across since The Discovery of India. Zimmer was a genius much ahead of his time.(less)
How Kawabata combines a journalistic narrative voice with such a rich literary tradition baffles me more than the intricate game of Go and it's comple...moreHow Kawabata combines a journalistic narrative voice with such a rich literary tradition baffles me more than the intricate game of Go and it's complex representation of the structural game in society the novel is supposed to explore, and what a beautiful structure Kawabata takes us through, peeling such thin layers of meaning with each inflection and each crafty Go move between the classic master and the iconoclast challenger.(less)
The last book for the year. The soothing, gentle, unimposing yet wise voice of Rilke - what better way to fold up one more chapter in life and open an...moreThe last book for the year. The soothing, gentle, unimposing yet wise voice of Rilke - what better way to fold up one more chapter in life and open another, with hope for more suffering and joys in apt measure. This little book has been my companion for four years now, always half-finished, and it feels strange to finally remove the bookmark and to keep it aside.
Read it with a forgiving bend. Keep in mind that Rilke never wrote them with an intention to publish, it was mostly an attempt to convey a few truths to a fellow poet. Read it in that spirit - If you read with critical intent, the magic of the book will be lost on you.
My only complaint with the book is that it presents only one half of the conversation. It would have been a wonderful piece if both the young poet's and Rilke's letters had been printed in succession. I wonder if such an edition is available somewhere...(less)
Turned out to be very different from what my expectations were. The thing about the book is that it just marginally qualifies as a novel, but then I t...moreTurned out to be very different from what my expectations were. The thing about the book is that it just marginally qualifies as a novel, but then I thought the same about Flaubert's Parrot too, so you might discount the opinion - both have been booker shortlists after all.
It is highly entertaining and the choice of narrator in each fragment is a feat of imagination. Barnes'obsession with history and its telling comes out in this book too but this time not as a doubting narrator doggedly working against stacked odds but as exuberant narrators who gain vitality from the fact of their inconsequentiality to the story. The underlying motifs and themes connecting these seemingly disparate stories and speakers is probably what prompts Pamuk to dub it as a major work of post-modernism.
Wonderfull constructed and wittily told, this book shows fans the full range of the authors'interests.(less)
More of a historical tome on the politics and religion of 16th century Europe than a biography, the book meanders through every avallable detail, bori...moreMore of a historical tome on the politics and religion of 16th century Europe than a biography, the book meanders through every avallable detail, boring for the most part and bordering on the interesting and the sensational at times. Not recommended for light reading.(less)
More of a travelogue than an environmental book, Crude World is a collection of nation wide case studies. With incisive and bold investigative journal...moreMore of a travelogue than an environmental book, Crude World is a collection of nation wide case studies. With incisive and bold investigative journalism Peter Maass has brought out the unambiguous reality of the 'Resource Curse'. The chapters on Saudi Arabia and Russia were particularly interesting. Maass however provides no new insights or solutions except to reiterate that it is ultimately in our hands.(less)
The play explores the pivotal moment in human history, at least in western history, when man confronts for the first time the proof that his conceptio...moreThe play explores the pivotal moment in human history, at least in western history, when man confronts for the first time the proof that his conceptions of truth were entirely wrong.
Galileo comes alive as a larger than life genius from the pages, full of witticisms and blustering energy. Even his betrayal of his own science tends to be easily forgiven by the audience because he is such a genial revolutionary.
More than the drama of science standing up to the bully called religion, I liked more the instances of Marxism creeping into the play. In the discussions about Latin and how writing science in English will spell doom to the nobility, we get a sense that the real danger that Galileo represented was not just contradictory new knowledge but that the knowledge was suddenly out in the public realm. Galileo had to die because he was not just an academician, he was a new kind of preacher - a preacher of logic.
These instances are woven into the grander drama with small scenes of Galileo ranting about professors having to teach all seven days and having not "time for research and about "knowledge as commodity", these are the scenes that to me made this a play of our times.
The true gist of the play comes out in the penultimate scene. I would like to put some of it here so that even if someone does not have the patience to read the play, they can still get the spirit of its core argument. This occurs immediately after Andrei discovers that Galileo has been working on a scientific treatise even during his imprisonment:
GALILEO: I had to do something with my time. ANDREA: This will found a new science of physics. GALILEO: Stuff it under your coat. ANDREA: And we thought you had become a renegade! My voice was raised loudest against you! GALILEO: And quite right, too. I taught you science and I denied the truth. ANDREA: This changes everything, everything. GALILEO: Yes? ANDREA: You concealed the truth. From the enemy. Even in the field of ethics you were a thousand years ahead of us. GALILEO: Explain that, Andrea. ANDREA: In common with the man in the street, we said: he will die, but he will never recant. You came back: I have recanted, but I shall live. Your hands are tainted, we said. You say: better tainted than empty. GALILEO: Better tainted than empty. Sounds realistic. Sounds like me. New science, new ethics. ANDREA: I of all people ought to have known. I was eleven years old when you sold another man’s telescope to the Venetian Senate. And I saw you make immortal use of that instrument. Your friends shook their heads when you bowed before a child in Florence, but science caught the public fancy. You always laughed at our heroes. “People that suffer bore me,’ you said. ‘Misfortune comes from insufficient foresight.’ And: Taking obstacles into account, the shortest line between two points may be a crooked one.” GALILEO: I recollect. ANDREA: Then, in 1633, when it suited you to retract a popular point in your teachings, I should have known that you were only withdrawing from a hopeless political squabble in order to be able to carry on with your real business of science. GALILEO: Which consists in ... ANDREA: . . . The study of the properties of motion, mother of machines, which will make the earth so inhabitable that heaven can be demolished. GALILEO : Aha. ANDREA: You thereby gained the leisure to write a scientific work which only you could write. Had you ended in a halo of flames at the stake, the others would have been the victors. GALILEO: They are the victors. And there is no scientific work which only one man can write. ANDREA: Then why did you recant? GALILEO: I recanted because I was afraid of physical pain. ANDREA: No! GALILEO: I was shown the instruments. ANDREA: So there was no plan? GALILEO: There was none.
Definitely a play worth reading, not for a scientific or historic perspective but for a picture of how reason and logic broke free from dogma and of how one man made the whole world tremble by unfolding a telescope!
It is indeed a marvelous portrait of intellectual betrayal. The angry impotence of a man who realizes that he is ethically unequipped to deal with the consequences of his own genius.(less)
What a wonderful wonderful novel. No, not a novel, or a novella; it was a poem, with rhythm, repetition, and cadence, looping back on itself. Yes, it...moreWhat a wonderful wonderful novel. No, not a novel, or a novella; it was a poem, with rhythm, repetition, and cadence, looping back on itself. Yes, it can only be called a poem - a poem about time, about forgotten time, long gone cold.
Having laid off from new Booker winners after a traumatic experience with Adiga, I started on this book with a lot of trepidation. But I was drawn in from the first paragraph and the amazing childhood anecdotes seemed to be promising a night of unbroken reading! I went through it loving every line and anguishing over how I could never write like this - A patchy memory of life laid out in scattered pieces, excruciating in what is left unsaid and what is perhaps falsely remembered.
I finished the book in a day and promised this - 'Full review to follow.' I am thinking about this again today but maybe I'll fulfill this promise tomorrow? The book touched me on many personal levels and I want to do justice to it, maybe even read it once again before attempting an extensive review.(less)
Irawati Karve strips the great epic of its embellishments and additions to lay out before us this stark, thought-provoking. character study. This pict...moreIrawati Karve strips the great epic of its embellishments and additions to lay out before us this stark, thought-provoking. character study. This picture forces us to expand our views on the epic and the people tossed about in it. Full review to follow.(less)
The book is a very realistic explanation of Buddha's teachings and a modern reinterpretation of the basic ideas. It also forms a non-esoteric and easi...moreThe book is a very realistic explanation of Buddha's teachings and a modern reinterpretation of the basic ideas. It also forms a non-esoteric and easily applicable practice manual on Buddhism for a novice entrant/dilettante. Highly recommended for anyone interested in extending their understanding of Buddhism into a more practical sphere. I will try to put up a concise summary of the book soon.(less)
This was definitely much more than just your average popular science book. Never have a I read a non-fiction book that is so multi-faceted - science,...moreThis was definitely much more than just your average popular science book. Never have a I read a non-fiction book that is so multi-faceted - science, superstition, ethics, family troubles, violence, estrangement, racism - what a cocktail! Full review soon.(less)
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