Nanotechnology

Recently, I read a few books on this topic written for the layman more or less. They were OK, but a little too superficial for my taste. It is clear that there is something for everyone in this new frontier though.

In any event, the topic is of great interest to me and to most of the corporate world it seems. I am now in a grad certificate program at George Mason University so that I can learn more. Will keep you posted.

The Gospels

I have been making my way through my reading list in the Bible over the last many months. Not long ago, I started on the Gospels, and today I finished the last one.

I think that Luke and Mark were the ones I liked the best - maybe Luke a little more than Mark. Third place was Matthew. I liked John the least - my unitarian streak I guess.

That being said, some of my favorite Gospel quotes are from John: Where are you going? (Quo vadis?) and What is truth? (Quid est veritas?). I am also partial to John's parable of the vines and the branches, or at least an interpretation of it I once read.

I had read or heard most of the Gospels in parts here and there, but had never sat down and read them in full before. I had some surpirses. First, they move pretty quickly and are not detailed stories following a tight time line. Second, Jesus is still a mystery to me in many ways - almost as much as before I read them this time. They were of course written in a different time - originally by hand no less. Maybe that explains how they seemed to me, well except for the remaining mystery perhaps.

That last part will require some thought on my part to resolve I suppose. Maybe that is as it should be.

If you have not read the Gospels all the way throught, give it a try and see what you think.

In Spite of the Gods

This is a recently published book by Edward Luce subtitled: The Strange Rise of Modern India. Overall, it is a great book, and I recommend it highly.

The book has only a few (small) bad points. It has some typos, and a sentence here and there was not exactly crystal clear. I mention this as I have been surprised to notice lately in my reading that editing is slipping very often these days for some reason. A shame, but don't let it deter you from reading this book as the problems are minor.

I did find the book a bit confusing at times given that the book is layed out by subject and not on a timeline. Of course, the author was writing on something that made the layout he chose best I think. He did give helpful references now and then to link things up.

As to more substantive surprises, I have always viewed India as somewhat chaotic, but still down deep a gentle culture - admittedly, I have never been there. This book was an eye-opener about serious crime, corruption, cruelty and growing (bad type) consumerism. The silver lining seemed to come mostly in how the poor can be very generous with what little they have. This is not to say that all the upper classes/those in power are bad people and don't care, but many are and their bad behavior is too often tolerated - at least according to this book. As to chaos, the author said that it seemed the Indians managed in spite of the chaos for the most part.

As one guru I read liked to say, India would be better off if it adopted Western efficiency and organization, but adhered to true Eastern morality - I think he may be right about that about India and everywhere else as well.

There is a lot of room for hope as the book explains in detail. I found it interesting how China and Pakistan were compared and contrasted with India. It seems that the U.S. government is reaching out to help India now more than before, but perhaps to make it a counterweight to China. I see India as a more natural ally than China for the U.S. and less of a rival, perhaps because Indian culture is more like ours than Chinese.

I think I would like to visit India with the author as tour guide. He seems to know where to go and who to talk to about everything. He is also even-handed in his analysis of what he finds I think.

If you have any interest in India or current affairs generally, you should read this book. Let me know what you think.

The Mind of God

This book is by Paul Davies, a professor of physics. Its revealing subtitle is: The Scientific Basis for a Rational World.

Overall, I liked the book, although some parts in the middle were a little dull for me. I think that the first and last parts made up for this though.

One thing I found interesting was the idea that Eastern peoples tend to view time as cyclic, while Western people tend to view time as linear. Also, Davies really helped me make sense of Plato's idea of the forms and all that.

That being said, Davies seemed to do lot of dancing around (for me) the fact that God made the universe. He illustrated how some scientists have gone to great lengths to avoid having God as creator, Occam notwithstanding. They seem to ignore the ultimate problem in the process which Davies sort of admits. Davies comes close to embracing God as creator, but does not get all the way down that road.

It was quite an amusing to me to see how much trouble atheistic scientists have to go to, so they can avoid having to admit that there is a God. They also seem to stop before the ultimate questions are reached, because they "know" they are in trouble if they go there. All their machinations seem to end up with the universe being from some magical coincidence or some such - and they accuse believers of being superstitous!

Davies example of evolution (polar bears) led me to realize how bad a theory evolution is, that is IF one insists on it being the only process going on. Overall, way too big a waste involved given how "Mother Nature" tends toward efficiency and order.

Getting back to the bears, Davies mentions that Darwin's ideas require a large population to select from - so where does that population come from ulitmately we should wonder - you get sort of an infinite projection there if you insist on no Creator. Of added interest perhaps is that the bears are pretty developed before the white ones get selected. Seems like these macro level selections are the favorite example for Darwinists.

Something seems missing in Darwinism. Seems like something else is going on too or gets it all started on a path with limits or somehow limits the possible paths down the line. Yes, I guess that is a combo of an Intelligent Designer and Darwinism. Well, so be it.

I did find the (too) brief discussion on Whitehead's process theology idea very interesting. I will be looking into that further.

Davies keeps getting to a limit of using reason to figure out the ultimate questions about our origins and that of the universe. Well, I say God is what comes next in this looking back. I think that Davies suspects this too.

All in all, I recommend the book. Lots of food for thought here.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I just finished the 7th and the last (or so it is said) of the Harry Potter book series. It is full of surprises, but I won't say too much in case you have not had a chance to read it yet.

The book does tie up the loose ends in the series, but this is not a book for young children. There is a lot of death and violence in it.

I have read books 3 to 7 and saw movies 1 to 5 - the last movie only yesterday. It appears that they became more slanted to adults as they went along. Maybe it made for a larger reader base, but it did get a bit intense for children, I think.

The Epilogue may be the basis for a new series of books. We'll see. I recommend it - for adults at least.