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