Elektra by Jennifer Saint

We all know the story but sometimes its good to hear it from different mouths.

This one is no different apart from it narrates from the side of the 3 female characters of the story.

As always, this is a myth and a work of imagination. A cluster of stories, and characters which entwine with no end.

The story is immortal but the book will be forgotten as it doesn't really stand out for anything.

Love

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

It is difficult to say that Olive is a central character here. The whole book is more like different stories but somehow connected. And Olive gets a mention or appearance (central character many times) in all the stories but the whole construct is so, that it doesn't really bring her into the limelight. And, it still brings her whole image, and personality out even when she is not present.

A story of a whole town, and the families with their own tragedies. The things that they deal with on daily basis. The hopes, desires, disappointments and horrors they have been witness to.

It was a light one to read.

Love

Six Impossible Things by John Gribbin

The difficulty level was quantum :) 

It is a real nice (and quick) read on some of the key principles of quantum mechanics which is supposed to be the most difficult field of study out there. But what makes is difficult is not the principles but the explanation of those ideas in a common language. A lot of these principle work out of the purview of a regular observation capacity which makes it more difficult to find a similar example to explain the phenomenon. When they say that the particle was spinning up or down and the wave was travelling partially in the future and in the past, it is incomprehensible for human faculties.

But just because it is not easy to understand doesn't mean it is not happening. The universe exists even if we don't have a direct observation into it as a whole or in parts. And, the best part is that this field is expanding rapidly with the higher sophistications of instruments that can help run the tests at the quantum level. So, we can expect that in the future we'll have better explanation in what we call as "worldly terms".

You don't need a doctorate to read but it will be a bit difficult to understand specially as a standalone book if you are not privy to some other fields of science and maths which support quantum mechanics.

And, yeah, don't be bothered by multiverse :) 

Peace

Atoms and Ashes by Serhii Plokhy

This one is about the nuclear accidents, and is a record of all the key events during those accidents. It covers the six major disasters in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. This is something which was something more relevant to read with the war going around a nuclear power plant, and thinking about one miscalculation which can lead to another disaster, which will be unfortunate given that both the sides had been witness to one of the worst of the six.

Doesn't make sense to go through a summary of all six here but the main reason which one can gather is that the designs were not perfect. They were/are the best of their times but sometimes even the best is not enough. Some of these designs flaws got aggravated by human error in handling the setup which eventually come to a shape of a disaster followed by evacuation, casualties, and long term after effects.

The science of Nuclear is quite old since we started understanding how we can harness the energy at an atomic and sub-atomic levels. But putting this into action was always a challenge. There were multiple designs which tried to operationalise the whole process but none of them is meltdown proof. In fact, the latest one at Fukushima was caused by a rare (not unforeseen) external cause, tsunami.

There is always a balancing act to find out what factors of safety we can play with. Choosing between a less efficient and more polluting fossil fuel energy against a more efficient and less polluting but with catastrophic long term consequences is not an easy.

But there is optimism in expecting a future technology which will be better controlled (not meltdown proof) which comes with discipline of operations, and prepared for the possible natural or other events.

Peace

By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah

Of course for the Nobel prize winner :)

Story told by a broken man (Saleh Omar) who moves from Zanjibar to Gatwick in the old age. With no purpose left in life apart from just live the life. But the arrival in a different country brought back the memories of a life time not only for Saleh but also the forgotten son of his namesake.

Both of them cleanse themselves from the burden of the life when they found a lost relation in each other.

We rarely get to know the consequences of our actions, specially the ones driven by stupidity but when it does it brings back the futility of all the things which were given undue importance. But those mistakes are the important part of our human side which is more prone to make mistakes based on the reasons which even we don't understand. But the salvation lies in accepting them and moving on to be a different person, hopefully better.

Peace

The Molecule of More by Daniel Z. Lieberman

Dopamine is an old story now. The science is still researching all its affects but there is already some good content available all over the net.

When I picked this one, I was not aware that this is around dopamine otherwise may have not. And after finishing it I didn't get to know anything new that is out there. Most of the things mentioned in this book can actually be summarised in a well written article.

The only plus point was to have the stories with some use cases of dopamine going up/down or how it interacts with other neurotransmitters in the brain. But that was more decorative, and not really a value add.

For a real read on dopamine, maybe a good article but not this one.

Peace

The Children of Jocasta by Natalie Haynes

Ever heard about Oedipus complex? It is a psychoanalytic theory by Sigmund Freud.

I heard about this complex long back but never gave it much thought. It was a bit absurd but that was what makes it complex. But like a lot of other theories, this one is also comes from Greek mythology where an abandoned boy eventually killed his king father and married her mother (without knowing).

This is a story and like all the mythological ones, this comes with cues, symbols and imagination. There is no real evidence that such a behaviour exists but a form of over possessiveness by kids towards parents which leads to more complications in the adult age is qualified as Oedipus complex. It rarely has any marriage or sexual consequences involved but a twisted emotions between the parents and children.

And, that is the part which gives the writers a lot of room to imagine and retell the old myths. This one is exactly the same. It tells the story of past and present together, one chapter after the other, which is, at times, a bit confusing to connect while reading. But the story eventually comes out well.

Most of the storyline is same which you can find in any traditional Greek mythology book, and it is the work of the writer to put flesh and meet on the bones (the basic structure of the story).

It is not the best fiction on Greek mythology but if you don't know much about the myth, it might interest you. And, it does leave you with puzzling about what was true because there was none.

Love

French Braid by Anne Tyler

It is a generational novel which starts in 19050s till 2020.

I picked it up from aisle just like that but after reading so many serious ones, this one was a breather.

It is a story of families, and the different personalities in it. It has all the characters that you can find around (even like Mercy who turned their lives altogether).

We never know how we love our families. How to like, dislike or pass them all our lives. But then it is true for almost everything. The not so clear impressions about the people around us make us wonder what did we miss. And, we do notice when there is something which we don't consider normal yet.

Real nice read.

Love

The Dead Are Arising by Les Payne

Is it better to read a well researched biography or an autobiography?

Whatever be the answer, both of them come with the writer's bias. Even if a well researched biography may tend to omit some details or it is less likely to gloss over the things.

So, I picked up a biography over an autobiography. And it confirmed when it tells you the incomplete or missing or inflated incidents in the narrative.

It is difficult to judge a person who comes from a different time but one thing which we can see is that Malcolm made the wrong choices. He was always a hustler with intelligence, wit and oratory. However, he just couldn't choose the right path. Even after the early life situations/mistakes, he ended up choosing a religion with a misplaced identity of a leader. He was devoted to this leader and its cause but blind to a lot of obvious points which he chose to ignore. Violence was never a solution which is why civil movement was far more successful as compared to any other armed conflict. It is a long way but a one worth following.

And even after that he still ended up thinking of choosing a religion to be the answer of a problem which was more civic in nature than religious. He ended up being the opposite of King with a different religion and violent approach but same goal. The idea of choosing a religion to solve the problem of 22 million people looks more of an emotional choice, and raises the doubt if these thoughts were well evolved before it were put into action.

An intelligent man with the right motives who could have changed the history of America as we know it couldn't outrun his past.

After reading this, reading the autobiography may not be required.

Peace

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

Of course I'm reading it for the one word Meta. Just out of curiosity for the origin of the word Metaverse I picked this up.

This is a sci-fi and like most of books in the genre it is a mix of speculations, history, and mythology which is a bit deceptive mix. Deceptive because an inattentive reader will end up mixing all of them with reality, and getting the inaccurate view of the things.

For the book, it has fairly standard narrative with a lot of loose threads which generally leaves the fans of this genre curious for the next in the series.

From a non-sci-fi fan, I've read better unless curiosity for the one word gets you.

Love

Puneet

How the World Really Works: A Scientist’s Guide to Our Past, Present and Future by Vaclav Smil

This is not a guide to how world works. That is a really complicated topic.

This is more focused on how the industrialisation and science has evolved and contributed to the current state of mankind.

It talks largely covers four important drivers which are steel, food, ammonia, and fuel. But it focuses on a lot of myth busting. The ideas that take root in our understanding without knowing much about how we reached it. And that is the beauty of rationality. It has a lot of number crunching to drive a point why something is different (not better) than other.

It doesn't take side, and just put some arguments based on the numbers. We can always contest the data but that should not stop a discussion. This discussion is important to give us different perspective.

E.g. technical and chemical advances helped in delivering the food requirement of world's rapidly growing population or we can take the example of crude oil/coal as how it contributed a lot to how we live today (a lot of dependence on energy obtained from fossil fuel). But from the advances in both the fields, we saw equally negative effect on environment. Plus this was unevenly distributed which created a myopic view.

We can't turn the clock back and go back to how we were surviving in Palaeolithic age but there are still a lot of things that we can do not only at a global level but also at an individual level.

The world is not coming to an end but we don't have a magic pill either so rather then going for any extreme measure, it would require a more balanced approach and a dedication towards what we want to achieve. Announcing the goals to be achieved in the years which end in 0 or 5 without real action is just a gimmick.

Peace

The Gate by Natsume Soseki

Of course its a classic.

It takes good time to build up an emotion and when it delivers, it doesn't feel like it is some sort of high moment in the story. It goes more like a narrative of a day to day life of a clerk Sosuke and his wife Oyone. A life as ordinary on surface but scarred with its own demons.

Sosuke and Oyone looks like an ordinary couple (this was so made for each other) with their own past. A couple who carry the burden of their love and what it led to. And the story doesn't go into a lot of details, but just drop few hints here and there.

Is it possible that a single decision in life set the whole course for you, and you accept it with no resistance? Is it possible that you can stay passive (stoic) in the face of all the complexities that life brings? A different couple in a different time/place could have chosen otherwise but then it wouldn't have been the same story.

It is difficult to move on, and it could take a lifetime but is the resignation to the fate a solution?

Love

The Right to Sex by Amia Srinivasan

It was just a coincident that I read this one after reading Piketty's 'A Brief History of Equality'

This one is a collection of essays, and I got to know about Amia from her essay with the same name which I read earlier. That essay (part of this book) was not very clear in communicating any idea but I was curious to read some more from her.

Rest of the essays in the book fails equally to deliver any clear concept. It quotes a lot of other writers, and famous court cases but doesn't really provide any original thought. It sounded so ambivalent that it can be interpreted in any direction, which is not an ideal format when you are talking about such topics.

On top of it, the whole narrative is so narrow that it just doesn't go beyond a preconceived notion of injustice, society, traits and politics. It promptly negates the other views which are not inline with the books concepts.

Maybe not the best one to start with but the readers can come back to it after some more mature work on the topics covered in these essays to see for themselves.

Peace

A Brief History of Equality by Thomas Piketty

Equality is a bit of abstract idea. And it is defined differently by different people based on their achievements and lifestyle. So, if a billionaire thinks that his wealth is well deserved due to what he created and the others are not there because they lack something (nobody knows what). Or, a man being the highest earning member of a family can treat others as a lesser being.

Piketty is an amazing writer and I didn't read the other two books just because of the sheer number of pages :) and I'm glad I found this one. And, yes, most of his arguments are based on the data.

The unequal ownership of wealth, real estate and what not vs the contribution to the taxes. Sharing with the larger society vs the philanthropy facade. Speaking of equal rights for all, irrespective of gender, class, colour, citizenship, but lacking the action. Being on the top of consumption chain (maximum contribution to Carbon emission, indirectly to global warming) but reluctant to the take responsibility for the plans. And, yes, the repatriation.

They are all forms of inequality. And even after seeing the march towards equality progressing, it still sounds like a utopia.

Can a world with inequality will function as it does now? Most likely yes. But the larger problem is that anything that brings us closer to the equality hurts the vested interests of the people who are responsible for this inequality. Its more of a personal barrier that needs to be overcome here by the larger wealth holders. Top 10% people holding 70% of the wealth (in US but other countries have the similar ratios) are the biggest levers to make it happen but vested interest is a big word and a bigger idea which needs different understanding/treatment.

Unfortunately, inequality is going to stay.

Peace

Pachinko by Lee Min-jin

This was on the list for quite some time now, and glad to finish this one.

Of course, its a tragic novel. Most of the characters are at low points in their lives or suffering from negativity.

And, there is God. Not as an influencer but more like the fall back for the characters.

Life is full of choices, and it is sad to see that some end up making the negative ones which lead to the downfall, more moral in nature. The over thought about non-existing things and not being thankful to what the characters had is the core of every single character in the whole story. Life is tough due to different factors be it being an immigrant, poor, war or the other moral dilemmas which narrow down the vision to look at the brighter side of the things.

It is a long one but it covers many generations, and does have many sub plots running in parallel. So, don't complain if the book looks thick.

Love

Every Good Boy Does Fine by Jeremy Denk

The title is the acronym for EGBDF in case the non-musicians don't know :) 

This an autobiography where Jeremy, a pianist (I didn't know he is so famous :) ) recalls his music learning journey, and literally starts from his childhood teachers.

He talks about his different teachers and yes, the family also shows up strongly in the first half. However, it focuses more on how the teachers in advanced learning affected his learning. With being well known and all, I believe it worked out really well for him.

He does talk about his struggles with love and competitions but those are the natural parts of an autobiography. Of course, he mentions his success more often. Being a prodigy he has the bragging rights deservedly.

It was difficult to imagine a lot of points around the music where a particular piece is mentioned and he talks about the intricacies because most likely a non-musician has not heard those pieces.

You may actually end up with a playlist if not the best autobiography.

Love

Mother Night Kurt Vonnegut Jr

If a reader doesn't know it then it is easy to end up believing it to be a true story which it is not.

This is the story of Howard, a budding writer who became a short time spy. While on the mission his cover was being the person responsible for propaganda. Apparently, he did so well that the people who didn't know his cover ended up hating him eventually.

Now, a 70 year old Howard which nothing much left to look forward to in life wants a trial. This small whim can lead to the gallows, and that's where he tells his story.

It is a bit of a dark account of a person on death row with humour and some moral questions. The idea of being right or wrong. The area which is beyond black and white. It can be in-between and could have been called grey but what if it was a different colour altogether?

The blank eyes of a person who doesn't know what to do. The only thing he can think of doing is what others tell him to do, and in that moment he will do anything.

Peace

A Molecule Away From Madness Tales of the Hijacked Brain by Sara Manning Peskin

A body is a complicated structure irrespective of which biological family it belongs to.

The whole DNA which writes down the future of a living being has do to the best balancing act that nobody sees until it goes off balance. In humans, it gets a lot complicated because a bigger brain comes into the picture. This solves and creates a lot of thought problems but it is also so prone be adversely affected by a change at the molecular level.

A molecule as small as a protein (and it is just not the one you consume after a training session) can cause havoc in life. It can make you go weak, forget, imagine and even cause fatalities.

Only Medical science has the potential to answer the questions posed by these life altering changes. Dementia and Alzheimer's are just more famous, and this books gives you a wider range of neurological complications that can be caused by the tiniest changes, or the one which are already ticking like a time bomb in you DNA.

This is an amazing read which gives a lot of complicated information in easier terms and does tell a lot about how the Neurology as a field has evolved over a period of time. It might be the youngest of all the -logy but it is going to make the maximum impact on our understanding a lot of things that have been unanswered for decades.

Recommend for anyone who is interested in the scientific advances of neurology and its history but don't start looking for the symptoms on your own.

Peace

The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus

Camus is a different kind of writer. He goes from philosophy to myth and back in a lyrical writing style. It is sometimes so fluent to read that only going through those complicated phrases amazes you with the beauty of it.

The title comes from the story for Sisyphus but he doesn't really appear until the end where the whole thought around the idea of staying alive in the face of absurdity of life comes to a full circle.

Camus starts with the idea of suicide (why people do it) and moves from one character to the other (Don Juan may not be the right choice) explaining what should be idea of life for any person. What keeps us going through the monotony of life and what happens when one sees the absurdity of this rhythmic living. Does this evoke a question of why life exists or what is the point in being alive while you are destined to roll your own stone daily like Sisyphus?

There is no simple answer to existential doubts but here we can read what Camus has to suggest. The problem with such questions is that they are all unique and there is no general answer which fits all, and that is the beauty of it.

This is a quick read until you start contemplating on these thoughts, which is a chore for lifetime.

Peace

The Long Game: China's Grand Strategy to Displace American Order by Rush Doshi

I fall for the game in the title.

It is really long, repetitive and takes a lot of assumptions.

This is not a real analysis but withdraws conclusions in the light of different events, and the response against those events. It repeats a lot of terms like trifecta, blunting, coercion, power and strategy. And, it does have a lot of instances where it over analyses the things or maybe don't have the best assumptions.

Foreign policies are not a very exciting subject, and this is actually my first one on this subject. But I can say that it is not a long game, it is more of an eternal game. There are just different players in a given time frame. And, yes, different levers to pull but they always follow more or less same illusion of being the best.

Sad thing is that everyone thinks to be picking the right side without knowing what it means. It's not the best place to discuss what a nation state is supposed to do with it's foreign policies or growth strategies. It doesn't matter if you are going to sketch a bigger line to shorten the others or going to take care of your own line irrespective of the size. The important thing is what these states contribute to the betterment of its citizens and world without hurting the efforts of others. But again, it is a good thing to say but rarely followed.

Not worth a read until you are into these subjects.

Peace