Archive for the ‘Common-Place Book’ Category
Shermer's Science Friction
Here's another title that I finished a couple of weeks ago: Science Friction: Where the Known Meets the Unknown., by Michael Shermer (New York : Henry Holt and Company, 2005). This, too, is a miscellaneous collection of essays, assembled under the general theme of skepticism and its central role in science. Some of the essays […]
In: All, Books, Common-Place Book
Lightman's A Sense of the Mysterious
Another of the books I've completed in recent weeks — but only get around to mentioning now — is A Sense of the Mysterious, by Alan Lightman. Lightman is known as a physicist turned novelist, and he has taught both subjects at MIT. As a physicist and writer of fiction I feel a certain kinship. […]
In: All, Books, Common-Place Book
Ifill on Imus
Gwen Ifill on Meet the Press, 15 April 2007 (transcript via Think Progress): A lot of people did know and a lot of people were listening and they just decided it was okay. They decided this culture of meanness was fine — until they got caught. My concern about Mr. Imus and a lot of […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Current Events
Protecting One-Celled People
The dependably wry Robert Park had this* to say about the sanctity of "one-celled people": 1. STEM CELLS: PRESIDENT BUSH VOWS TO PROTECT ONE-CELLED PEOPLE. The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act passed the Senate 63-34, but President Bush promises a veto. He said the use of embryonic stem cells in research "crosses a moral line." […]
Finlay's Jewels
I have been reading plenty lately, just not writing so much about the books. Now I'm trying to catch up a bit, which may be a hopeless task. One of the several fascinating titles from recent weeks was Victoria Finlay's Jewels : A Secret History (New York : Ballentine Books, 2006). It's an interesting read. […]
In: All, Books, Common-Place Book
"Official" Birthstones
I've always wondered at the particularly American penchant for "official" pronouncements, regardless of their origins. I wrote previously about the "official beginning of summer", as an example. In my recent reading, I was happy to discover just how "official" is that list of "official birthstones", particularly since a few years back I saw Hallmark promoting […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Naming Things
Simpson on "Immoral"
In World War II, a British mathematician named Alan Turing led the effort to crack the Nazis' communication code. He mastered the complex German enciphering machine, helping to save the world, and his work laid the basis for modern computer science. Does it matter that Turing was gay? This week, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of […]
On Reading Vaccine
A little while back I finished reading Vaccine, by Arthur Allen (New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 2007). I admit a prior interest in reading some history about vaccination, but I didn't expect to enjoy it nearly so much. Until I discover a better example, this book strikes me as the book to read on the […]
In: All, Books, Common-Place Book, The Art of Conversation
Ball's Critical Mass
A week or two ago I finally finished reading Philip Ball's Critical Mass : How One Thing Leads to Another. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004. (My book note about it, with different quotations, is here.) I've become quite a fan now of Philip Ball's writing; previously I was wowed by Bright Earth, […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, It's Only Rocket Science
Native Plants
How far can one go with fear of the "other"? I recently read a fascinating book by Robert Sullivan called Rats (more at my book note). My attention was drawn to the observations in this footnote about things "native": The term native when used in regards to plants and animals can be complicated. In an […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, The Art of Conversation
On Reading A History of Reading
A few nights ago I finished reading a unique and interesting book: A History of Reading (New York : Viking, 1996), by Alberto Manguel. It's what it claims to be and is a lovely, literary and poetic tour through ideas associated with "the history of reading". (I have more to say about it in my […]
In: All, Books, Common-Place Book
Tyrian Purple
This excerpt is from my current reading, an excellent book by Philip Ball called Bright Earth (citation below). This bit struck me for two reasons: for filling in details about Tyrian purple (i.e., Roman Imperial Purple) and its manufacture, plus the sense it provides that the rich and powerful have always gone to considerable lengths […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Naming Things
RIP Gerald Ford
I think they [same-sex couples] should be treated equally. Period. –President Gerald Ford, in 2001 interview with Deb Price of the Detroit News [quoted in Tom Musbach, "Gerald Ford supports federal gay rights", PlanetOut, 29 October 2001.]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Current Events
Avoid False Modesty
Back to back, they were: The Associated Press noted the departure of Donald Rumsfeld with a curious retrospective, quoting a biographer who suggests that he is a "tragic figure" because of his wasted "talent and promise." But Nixon, who called him a "ruthless little bastard," had Rummy's number from the start. His "talent" was as […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Current Events
The Xmas Quagmire
As a dedicated secular humanist, I must regretfully acknowledge that the War on Christmas has not been going well. Some would use the word "quagmire," and urge a phased redeployment to other fronts, like Easter and Mardi Gras. Others argue that we simply need more boots on the ground, and that our allies, such as […]
Just Sing Along
Frank Schaeffer reflects on his childhood as an evangelical: By the early 1970s the evangelicals had come up with a whole alternate America—"Christian" education, radio, rock, makeup, publishing, schools, weight loss, sex manuals, and politics. It wasn't about being something but about not being "secular," about not having nudity, sex, or four letter words. What […]
Straw-Farms & The Estate Tax
Avedon Carol offers up* this quotation which she says is from Dean Baker's The Conservative Nanny State. I haven't looked at the source, but I liked the quotation. Of course, in reality the battle over the estate tax is an issue that is almost exclusively about wealthy people who don't want wealthy children to be […]
Gore on 9/11 & Bush
The following bit of exchange is between one Lisa DePaulo, for GQ Magazine, and Al Gore, from an interview ("Al Gore: Movie Star") published online. I will admit that I was not overwhelmed by the depth of the questions asked by Ms. DePaulo, but I found this exchange illuminating: Okay, on to 9-11. What were […]
The Nast-Cartoon Administration
This [election year, 2006] will be known as the year macho politics failed — mainly because it was macho politics by marshmallow men. […] Republicans were oddly oblivious to the fact that they had turned into a Thomas Nast cartoon: an unappetizing tableau of bloated, corrupt, dissembling, feckless white hacks who were leaving kids unprotected. […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Current Events
Webb on Class Struggle
This is an unusually long excerpt (for me) from a piece in the Wall Street Journal by Jim Webb, "the Democratic senator-elect from Virginia." It's an op-ed called "Class Struggle" (15 November 2006). This ever-widening divide [between the wealthiest in America and the less wealthy] is too often ignored or downplayed by its beneficiaries. A […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Current Events