The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World by Riley Black

Of course it has a catchy title.

But it is not really a scientific record. It is a mix of the information that we have from decades of research packed in a fun way with imagination. And it does a great job.

Dinosaurs have a special image that attracts a lot of people. The mystery around these giant creatures (not all of them are giants), which got a boost by Jurassic Park franchise, is a real crowd puller. You build a good story around that and you will have the audiences.

The narration mostly revolves around the events post the asteroid strike. And it puts the details in a very illustrative format. This was actually one of the times when I went through the elaborated post scripts.

In the last chapters the writer also shared what caused her fascination with dinosaurs, and she end up connecting some personal/philosophical/existential thoughts and it was really nice to read them.

With the new discoveries old facts will go outdated and our understanding of a lot of historic events will keep changing. Which means there is nothing set in stone, and you can stay flexible in your understanding. Carbon dating is just 70 odd years old and it is already answering a lot of million year old questions. You throw in the genome sequencing and all the upcoming technologies in it and it is going to open up new windows if not the doors.

If you are looking for a more rational account with a lot of facts and figures then this might not be the right choice but if you are looking for a lighter way to read about the events which caused dinosaurs going extinct, then this is a good place to start.

Love

Rembrandt's Whore by Sylvie Matton

This is such a sad piece to read but those were the days when the woman was considered a sub-human and can be labelled as whore for taking independent decisions.

This one was more revolutionary because Hendrickje was actually a servant girl who chose to live on her own terms. There is no doubt that Rembrandt himself was not considered the best artist of his own time and led a miserable life (of poverty and personal losses) but never he was awarded such a nickname.

The church treated her equally bad. Given that a larger part of narrative talks about god, and a strong faith in his judgement, this was lost to church officials who couldn't accept the fact that a christian woman is living with a man out of marriage. A man in a similar position could have caused nothing more than a few raised eyebrows.

Hendrickje longed for the recognition which she never got but that doesn't mean she didn't live a fulfilled life. This narrative is a mix of facts and imagination but she is immortal now in the paintings of her lover. A lover who couldn't provide for what she wanted apart from honesty which she accepted.

There are Hendrickje in our time also and I hope they wish for the right thing (not the social recognition) and live their life on their own terms because love is sufficient to make a life worth living, even if sounds like a cliche.

Love

First, They Erased Our Name: a Rohingya Speaks by Habiburahman, Sophie Ansel

Statelessness is a modern curse but it looks too small compared to prejudice.

The people who are hated for the otherness go through a lot of hardship and this one is an account of the same.

It is difficult to think of it as a story but more of a journal of a refugee. There are always perpetrators but the sad part is the people who lost their sympathy and their help comes with a price.

It was difficult to digest the stand of the peace politicians but we never know the full truth about a person or situation.

The other surprise was how this all stayed hidden and it took a mass exodus of half a million people to bring the word out that there is something wrong.

Unfortunately, this is not the last such instance. We will find a way to hate each other for one reason or the other. If not, someone will feed it to us.

Peace

People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present by Dara Horn

This is such a conflicting account to read.

It has so many opposite thoughts that it doesn't move beyond the cover page.

The first problem is why people worry so much about holocaust and not the people who survived it. I agree there is a lot of literature available but that doesn't justify the point that the Jewish literature doesn't get enough spotlight. People love Anne Frank because it is a sane voice even if one believes that the tragic end pumps its emotional quotient.

Secondly, it is full of anger against the people who don't agree or think otherwise. It is again an irrational line of thoughts.

Thirdly, a different line of thought which tries to establish that rationality or open argument is a religion specific trait. Following any religion doesn't increase boost anybody's mental faculties.

Lastly, belittling the efforts of a lot of people by calling it a whim or not enough or behavioural issue sets a wrong precedence. All the myths should always be busted but not just the ones which look convenient. 

Holocaust was an unimaginable event of history, and it is not a wonder that a lot of post analysis drown all the other voices. There will always be the people who imagine and believe in different ideas/theories. The way out is to have an argument which is as generic as possible without favouring anyone. This sounds difficult to accept and even more challenging to propagate but this is where anyone can start.

Peace

The Viking Heart: How Scandinavians Conquered the World Arthur Herman

Let's start with correction in the title Scandinavians 'did not' conquered the world.

This the problem with writing popular history. You take some pointers from history, and try to make them popular. And, how do you make them popular? You cherry pick and sensationalise the events. And the second thing is the imagination, which you use in absence of a concrete evidence/narrative.

It might be quite a pressure to keep writing the bestsellers but after reading the 484 pages (cover to cover) I can say that this sounds more of a propaganda then an actual book which has anything to do with actual history. The book starts with the history of vikings (Scandinavians) which was dominantly blood and raids (can call it pirates), followed by the political unrest (kings, queens, princes like everywhere else), and lastly the new age people (inventors, generals, scientists and daredevils).

The writer has picked the people to paint a picture of a clan of people who come with a special heart (what is a viking heart??) and did unimaginable things. There is a brief mention of the very first acts of barbarism which has been glossed over with tough living conditions (slaves, decimated cities, brutally killed people and what not).

It will not be an exaggeration to say that any person who has not been exposed to the world history will end up thinking that the Scandinavians built the world we see today. This can give an artificial sense of pride for belonging to such an inheritance. Which in turn results into the superiority complex which has been proved catastrophic historically. And there is no point in arguing that the history can't repeat itself.

Lastly, it quotes a lot of great people who have been phenomenal in different fields but the larger point is that, were they able to do it because they come from a particular lineage. Unfortunately, the book ends up pressing this point too much. It ends up labelling all the great achievements to one thing, the lineage.

These amazing people did change the course of history and world can't thank them enough but this has nothing to do with their lineage. It is always the circumstances which brings the best or the worst out of a person. And it is an injustice to attribute their feats to a single lineage because once they reach the pinnacle of their lives they stopped belonging to anything apart from humanity. Any effort to prove otherwise is dubious and should be looked at cautiously.

This is too big a book (obviously given the scope) but should be seen in a larger context of history, and the popular part should be read carefully before it starts putting the wrong ideas.

Peace