Challenger by Adam Higginbotham

 Science and adventure comes with a challenge which changes the world for good or for bad.

The journey of space program is a lot about science but it is also about how the people who were not scientists end up having a bigger say in what is to be done or not, knowing or not knowing the consequences.

Challenger is a milestone in space program. But it had its bad moments and while reading this book, we can see that a lot of them were avoidable. This is the thought in retrospection, and it is not easy to understand what was driving the actions and decisions when it was actually happening.

Oneupmanship, greed and sycophancy was driving a lot of these disasters but the lives lost is an eternal black spot on all the success that Challenger program achieved. The lives which were sacrificed for the advancement of the research, and largely to stay ahead in the space race.

The memory of the dead will fad away one day and only the shining achievements will remain. Its an injustice but justice was not the first thought when it all started.

Peace

The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk

Of course it was picked up for Nobel prize; a fiction in a long time.

But yeah, the story!

Becoming Beauvoir by Kate Kirkpatrick

How is it possible that the life of someone becomes bigger than their work?

This is the case here when people who don't know anything about Beauvoir's work have a working knowledge of her personal life and affairs. Even Sartre was not untouched by this curiosity.

Gossip is a part of social discourse but why does it over power the existence of a human being behind that gossip. It over shadows so much that a serious school of thought gets lost (not even second position) behind the scandalous stories true or otherwise.

This book also fall a bit short but can still be excused that this is a biography and not a commentary of Beauvoir's work. But still it over does it. The idea that the details which sell and which makes a person who they are are two different things but their is always a choice.

Beauvoir was not an ordinary person in her intellect and in life.

Surprisingly, her life story still sells but not her ideas.

Peace

Nobody's Girl by Virginia Roberts Giuffre

Wounds heal but how does the recovery of deep scars look like?

It would have looked like the life of the author. A child haunted by early memories all her life with nobody to talk to. Always reliving the trauma but still going strong to bring justice to the perpetrators. Also denying the victimhood that brings the allegations of being a sellout.

This was not an easy life to live that ended in a tragic death. And the world can go all philosophical about resting in peace but what was expected was to facilitate a living in peace.

Love

The World After Gaza by Pankaj Mishra

Its a short history which leaves with a bigger thought.

How far the war can go to establish the irony of one sided balance. The world we know today is still recovering from the long time colonisation but still comes face to face with the same force which is wearing a different mask. We always hear war and peace as opposites but they are really not opposites. They are two independent phenomenon, the absence of one doesn't mean the presence of the other. War never leads to peace and vice versa.

The wars will always be there but the reasons and the after effects need to be recorded. These records will not change anything and are less likely teaching anyone worth teaching. But it is a memoir of what led to what. The people who are going to wage a war are not likely to read any of these records ever but that doesn't lower down the needs for these.

Peace

The Hour of the Predator by Giuliano da Empoli

Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

There is no real analogy between power and money but it has been historically established that one leads to another in no one direction. But what happens if they are directly proportional in nature. A person with money ends up with power beyond comprehension. And this exposes the irrationality of a person.

Humans are driven by passion (its presence or abundance) but the passion doesn't always bring sanity. Bringing the two together is a lifetime project. Add money/power to it and it will never come together.

The cases in this book shows the hunger for that power, and what extent do people go to get it or maintain it. 

Peace

Murderland by Caroline Fraser

Does the environmental damage caused by heavy industry which emitted lead, arsenic and other poisonous chemicals, serial murderers have anything to do with the serial murders in the America of 70s and 80s?

The narrative goes in four broad directions, the environmental impact of heavy industries (particularly smelters), serial murders, faulty bridge and some lived experiences of the writer.

There are long researches about the impact of the smelters on the environment and it is also well recorded how far did these industries go to deny it. There was a whole list of specialists whose full time job was lying and not doing/examining the actual research. The people who denied all the credible evidences of the devastating affect of the pollutants on the health of the worker and civilians in and around these plants. And how they were allowed to keep doing it for a very long time until the profits dropped.

Same is with the criminals. There was a long list of missing girls but there was hardly any record of the law agencies taking note of it. The remains that were found after two - three years or even decades were all found because of accidents and not because of someone was looking for them.

And, of course, the bridge which was designed for accidents and never corrected even after regular loss of lives which shows the civil neglect of duties.

There is not a single life which couldn't have been saved but was not in the absence of greed, apathy and accountability.

Peace

A Little History of Everything by Tim Coulson

The problem with the words little and everything is that they never do the justice to the topic discussed when used together.

This is exactly the case here. The book has something of everything and tries to give a lot of information in a very small chapter. Technically, each chapter can be a book of its own but then it was never the idea for the author.

This book is only understandable when the reader has a good background in all the basic fields of science which means that you need to be well aware of all the fundamental principles and terms of physics, chemistry, maths, biology and evolution together. If you don't understand the terms like periodic table, particle physics, types of forces etc it may be difficult to comprehend.

Or you have the grit to learn and read the references in detail.

Love

This Is for Everyone by Tim Berners-Lee

This is not an autobiography of Tim Berners-Lee. It is more like a journal of how the web evolved to what we see today as internet.

CERN is a big place with a unique identity of its own, not because it has one of the biggest machines in the world which is exploring the biggest secrets of the universe but because it brings the most inquisitive brains together to do something which can be just imagined at the very first stage.

Web was one of the biggest invention which changed how the world interacts. It created an ecosystem which brought people closer. And while reading the book one can see that the potential of it was never recognised in the early days. Once it was set free and adopted by larger public, it showed what it can do.

Tim Berners-Lee did design the first rules of the web but eventually it was built by all the people who adopted it in their own creative sense. Making it productive, operational, and useful. Which is the point where you can see that if it was not set free and commercialized from the very first moment it would have never become what it is today.

The most beautiful thing about the book is all the mentions of people who contributed to the progress of web which gives the sense that it was built by a community which worked on an idea of common good, and some people with commercial interests. It made a lot of people very rich but that story of wealth needs a different book to record the honest collaborations and the commercial dishonesty.

From the very first page/protocol to the current AI products, technology has come a long way in a short time but nobody can say for sure how far it can go.

Peace

Namesake by N.S. Nuseibeh

How far you can go in the history to understand where you come from?

This book says very far. So far that the writer ends up connecting the lineage with a historical figure which may or may not be true. But that doesn't matter if you're sincere enough in your search. So, even if we don't know if Nusayba bint Ka’ab al Khazrajia was a real person or not, her mythical stories of fighting are true or not, her life mattered in the grand scheme of things or not, she was a figure which the writer eventually connected with.

Most of the information about Nusayba bint Ka’ab al Khazrajia are not established facts. In fact all of it is deduced from different passages. And the whole narrative in the book is imagined from different perspectives. But it doesn't dilutes the overall message of the essays.

Yes, its a collection of essays or a memoir in progress but has all the nuances of human experience from separation to migration to finding your own identity and relevance in the world around you.

And a lot of food!

Love

Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green

Tuberculosis is one of the oldest disease which has survived millions of years, and has been infecting humans for a long time. It is still one of the biggest curable disease which records higher mortality.

But how does a curable disease which has a known medication for more than fifty years is still lethal

There are two broad reasons, first is how a patient is getting diagnosed, and second which part of the world this patient comes from.

India has the highest total number of deaths globally but Lesotho and other African countries have higher mortality rate per person.

TB has a romantic historical charm since many of the big literary figures succumbed to it, and their work was more looked from a perspective of an artist with a tragic end. It doesn't devalue their work but does offer a romantic narrative to their stories. Remember the coughing blood in the rags and the very thin portrayals of the patients.

But a modern world which has all the tools available to prevent it fails miserably when it comes to the poor population. So, a one time romantic disease is a disease of poor now.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the bacteria which causes this but the treatment lies in the right mix of antibiotics and living condition. Out of the two medicine is the tricky part but the living conditions are more likely to affect if the medicine is going to be available and prove effective for a patient which makes the difference between surviving and succumbing.

Peace

Empire of AI by Karen Hao

Ideas are born as a root/seed or a stem/trunk?

When the ideas take shape they are very different from how they were conceived. And this is true for anything be it philosophy, science, technology or any thing else.

This book does highlight how OpenAI developed over a period of time, and does focus a lot on the founder as a person. It very well covers the ups and downs of a company and how it became as valuable as it is today. But the ecosystem is not driven by one company, and anyone who follows this can see that OpenAI is not what it was when it launched the first version. The world has changed a lot since then and though it is still a major player, it doesn't stand taller than anyone in the game.

The book also delves into the persona and personal life of the founder but this is where it diverges a bit from the main narrative, and starts reading like a blurb. The founders do represent a company but it doesn't really define how the company is going to fight in the market. There is no love in the market which tests everything on rationality and profit margins. So, even if a company is able to delay the end game, it is set to loose in the absence of strong fundamentals.

The book follows all the developments and discourse around OpenAI closely which is what is the highlight of the book. An interested reader will skip all the details which are more personal, and less to do with how it was built, and executed.

Love

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

The major point of a non-fiction book is that it should be as neutral as possible, and not include a lot of points which are on tangent but don't really align with the argument.

This book puts so many important points but the argument against a system of inaction is a bit far fetched. There is some inaction from the heads of different countries but on a more grass root level the issue was not only flagged but fiercely pushed ahead for action. And this did result in some developments.

The interest of different head of states can't be really justified as a moral standing of people. The revolution comes from inside, and can rarely been influenced from outside. And implementing the personal experience in context of what is happening is a bit far fetched.

Of course xenophobia is a true but it is not driven by what is happening in a country. It is driven by what the leaders sell to their population which owns the view in majority or minority. Which does define a few nuances of the discourse but doesn't really impact the decision making.

Peace

Chokepoints by Edward Fishman

Chokepoint is a point of congestion or blockage effectively. But in this book it is explained as an strategic tool that can be used to build pressure in an economic eco system which follows the strongest buyer.

There was a time in not too distant past when the countries used to come together to build resistance against a global malevolent force. But eventually this exercise in collaboration turned into the force of coercion. With more and more vested interests merging together the whole idea changed from a tool to a weapon. A weapon which listens to the strong and not the right.

The book cites a lot of cases where this was used effectively to get a polarized opinion on what is best without taking into account of what is most inclusive. The groups that travelled the world to threat the nations and not convince them to work towards a common goal. An instrument which was all stick and no carrot.

It has been painted in a very positive terms without highlighting that this eventually created the opinions which were not based on common good but of getting ones own wishes come true. A world that became more siloed than collaborative. An option which was exercised so many times with no trust around it that it eventually lost its might. Because that uncontrolled usage led to the building of an ecosystem that could survive the onslaught.

Power doesn't make the things happen. Its always the more human qualities like trust and empathy which lead to a positive result.

Peace

Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson

Can we see the future from the retrospective, and make it better?

It sounds like an obvious solution to look at past, and use that as a basis for everything we can do better in the future. This is true in some cases when there is a rational point is discussed. But that is not the case when we're looking at something from an emotional perspective.

We can always review the rules, and regulations for construction. We can think of having a different approach for production and recycling. We can even change the idea of how a society should be governed and operated. But while it sounds amazing how easy it is do in real time when everyone has a different point of interest. Everyone is expecting a different outcome. When there is a constant disagreement about how things should be done.

Reading this book sounds like a utopia where everything will be bigger, better, smarter, wiser and what not. But is this even possible to manage so many stakeholders? Which is where this book hits the reality. From urban housing to global warming to recycling everything is marred by constant blocker from every direction that any development or movement seems impossible.

We need a lot of hope or some unprecedented events which brings all of us together and put our efforts in one direction to deliver this. But that doesn't look like an immediate future.

Love

Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams

Careless is a mild word you can use describing your friends, family or the people you know mostly in personal capacity.

Which is why is struck like a very safe word to use because the rest of the title (A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism) doesn't really go with the word careless. But the people in the book are shown in the the light of power and greed. There was never an idealism from the beginning.

If anyone is aware of the case, and the latest testimonies, the book doesn't offer much apart from the inside gossip. Of course, with a lot of money around the parties go crazy, people get in the power dynamics, harassment is a norm, and revenue is the holy grail.

The writer shows herself like she was on a mission to change the world but it was just a hustle for getting a job. A job which she eventually lost not.

But reading this is not about her experience but to understand how she saw other people around her. For everything else there are better written books.

Peace

The Strange Death of Europe by Douglas Murray

This is such a strange book. It has the arguments which are wrong at so many levels that it is a bit of a surprise that someone wrote something like this when the world around us are changing so fast.

It sticks to the idea that the world around us is changing so fast, and people are doing nothing about it. It dreams of a utopia where all the people will be same. A lot which speak same language, eat same food, are of similar skin colour and what not. Anyone else is either not desired or has to change to this mould. Of course, you can go exotic but on my terms.

It is no different from what is already out there in the news, on the streets, and in the politics.

Peace

Open Socrates by Agnes Callard

The philosophy is more about the right questions rather than right answers. Which is why it is labelled as a subject for rich or lazy.

Socrates lived a long life considering the era he was living in, and he did influence a lot of people who were either his students or the fellow citizens from a closed successful/ambitious group. His students build him a pedestal which immortalized him but his philosophy is not an answer for everyone. Of course people from all walks of life fall into a type of philosophical bucket knowingly or unknowingly but then it is more of a way of life which the modern philosophers try to templatize.

And often the most important part of all philosophies is debate which is mostly not a constructive discussion but more of a one-upmanship.

So, in this book the writer shares a lot of what is said and written about Socrates along with her personal experiences and views but by the end of the book it looks like you don't really get much of this. Maybe it requires a re-read but that is to be seen.

Philosophy is not what we read in the books but it is something that people live by.

Love

Foolproof by Sander van der Linden

In the age of information, information is considered to be the biggest challenge. But it is not the information which is a challenge, it is actually mis-information which causes all the trouble.

And what is the reason for this mis-information? Of course, the vested interests of different groups be it commercial, public, political or anything else. This mis-information is cultivated, and nurtured to create an environment which nourish those vested interests.

This is one thing because morality never serves these interests. But the mechanism behind how these get accepted and adapted in a real world should be real focus point. The sad part is that it doesn't take some brilliance to build these informations but the sheer operation that goes into amplifying it. And the repercussions of it.

The book does cover a framework of how this can be countered but this doesn't sound like foolproof. Important thing to note is that the people should never be considered to be fools to fall for this but most of the times there is no chance to survive the onslaught. The whole narrative gets so murky that it is next to impossible to separate the chaff from the grain.

There is not coating in the world that can shield people from mis information but eventually it depends on what tools people have to counter any mis information. It is a huge task to equip people but it is more important to create an environment where the mis information falls flat, and countered by natural element of knowledge and rationality. Easier said than done.

Peace

Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here by Jonathan Blitzer

Choosing a different life while leaving everything behind is not an easy decision but it comes with extreme situations caused by various reasons.

This book focuses on the story of the migrants from the central america but this can be easily replaced by other names, cities, and languages, and the narrative will remain same. People do look for a different life which is expected to be better which is why these migrant stories are important. While these people are looking for a better life others are looking for a narrative. Migration is not because of the narrative, it is because of the migration different narratives come up.

The book is well researched, and goes deep into painting a wider picture. Of all the things peace was the most important thing that featured above all of what people were looking for. But maybe that was not so easy to come.

Peace