Which book are you reading now? Volume XIV

[Arakhor]

I'm not old enough to have seen the original series, but if you want to depress yourself, by all means, choose your own poison.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Pretty sure someone else read this here but I can't remember if they recommended it.

This book pulled off a pretty rare trick - it completely upended my conception of one of the central laws of science. The premise of this book is that the interpretation of evolution through natural selection is deeply flawed. What Mr. Milo shows is that while natural selection is valid and does happen, it is woefully over represented in the scientific explanation of how species came to be the way they are. Most often, species survive that are 'good enough' and it is only in select circumstances where natural selection takes over and actually drives change in the form of species. Much more often, the change of evolution is completely random and also predominantly neutral in its impact on the biological fitness of the species.

Evolution which happens that is detrimental to the fitness of species is usually strongly selected against - that is to say if some animal evolves into a form which is unable to feed, it will die off. But this does not carry over to positive selection. Species often change in ways which are completely neutral to their fitness and these changes are simply tolerated rather than selected for. The go-to example for the first half of the book is the giraffe. The long neck which evolved over time can be shown to have no real positive impact on their survival and certainly the incremental elongation over time cannot be proven to have been driven toward a 'more perfect' form. Basically, biologists look for meaning in evolutionary change and will retcon incremental changes as having served some purpose when most often they do not.

I actually think the heavy emphasis on the giraffe was flawed and in particular I think Mr. Milo used some pretty weak arguments with respect to the giraffe to make this point. He often ignored counterarguments to his examples that me, as a layman with no biological training, found very obvious and un-ignorable. Nevertheless, over the course of the book he makes a strikingly compelling argument against natural selection as the predominant force in evolution - especially so once the basic biochemical and body-form improvements were fixed by the end of the Cambrian period. He also makes a great case for how biologists have done a disservice to science by rejecting the null hypothesis and their constant search for meaning and purpose in all evolutionary developments.

I think for me it is a testament to the strength of his argument that I went from feeling mentally assaulted by this book in the beginning due to my own entrenched notions of how evolution works to complete acceptance by the end. Seriously, I nearly gave up on the book early on as I just could not accept his assault on the tenets of evolution as I understood them. The book is also beautifully written and Mr. Milo writes in a manner befitting a philosopher.

This eloquent writing did prove to be a bit of an impediment to my understanding of the book however - I listened to the audiobook version of this book on my bicycle which meant it was difficult/impossible to go back over wordy passages with unfamiliar words to properly digest them the way I would with a paperback. This shortcoming cannot be attributed to the book itself though and instead is my own failing.

 

[Birdjaguar]

@hobbsyoyo Thanks, nice review. Seems like it will be worth at least a look see.

 

[AmazonQueen]

I'm not old enough to have seen the original series, but if you want to depress yourself, by all means, choose your own poison.

Its the only way I can bear the news. Theres still worse imaginable.

 

[Ferocitus]

Forensic Science in Criminal Courts: Ensuring Scientific Validity of Feature-Comparison Methods.
Executive Office of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Sept. 2016.

A very troubling report on the dodginess of fingerprints, bite-marks, footwear and hair that are used by the FBI in criminal cases.
One of the co-chairs is Eric Lander who headed the Human Genome Project and who also gave a terrific free online Biology course through MIT.
Among the other co-authors are Eric Schmidt of Alphabet, several Professors of Medicine, Law and Statistics, and several former and current U.S. District Court and Court of Appeal judges.

The Jakarta Method - Vince Bevins.
How the CIA's murderous methods started in May 1962 in Indonesia, took its now familiar shape there in 1965 and also in Brazil in 1964.

 

[abradley]

Just finished The Rat Race by Jay Franklin first published in 1947

The Rat Race
By Jay Franklin

When an atomic explosion destroys the battleship Alaska, Lt. Commander Frank Jacklin returns to consciousness in New York and is shocked to find himself in the body of Winnie Tomkins, a dissolute stockbroker. Unable to explain his real identity, Jacklin attempts to fit into Tomkins' way of life. Complications develop when Jacklin gets involved with Tomkins' wife, his red-haired mistress and his luscious secretary. Three too many women for Jacklin to handle.

His foreknowledge of the Alaska sinking and other top secret matters plunges him into a mad world of intrigue and excitement in Washington—that place where anything can happen and does! Where is the real Tomkins is a mystery explained in the smashing climax.

Completely delightful, wholly provocative, the Rat Race is a striking novel of the American Scene.

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Description:
Novel, a heady mixture of science fiction and political intrigue. It starts in April 1945 when an atomic bomb explodes on board the U.S.S. Alaska. But the bomb uses thorium Wikipedia rather than uranium! In the explosion's aftermath, Lieutenant-Commander Frank Jacklin finds himself in someone else's body, and that's when things really start happening. The anonymous reviewer at Fantasy Book thought it was one of the best books of the year: "A fast-moving satire of American life, sharp, funny, and to the point." For Groff Conklin (Galaxy, October 1950) the novel lacked credibility: "There have been incredible pieces of pseudo-science fantasy in the past... But this book really should take a prize." [Suggest a different description.]


https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20180617

Worth a read

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[Kyriakos]

Tried reading Richard III, but gave up 1/3 in. It's not believable that he would fool the nobles as presented and it became boring.

But I did like this line: (not spoken by the protagonist)

"Had you such leisure in the time of death
To gaze upon the secrets of the deep?"

 

[EnglishEdward]

I don't blame you.

I had to study three Shakespeare plays at school, and Richard III was easily the worst of them.

McBeth was by far the best of them.

 

[Takhisis]

Also Richard III was three years old when one of his victims was murdered, but he's said to order it himself (I don't want to dig up my Shakespeare-All Plays volume but it's in there somewhere). Shakespeare ‘historical’ plays were filtered and influenced by the fact that the Tudors were cutting off heads left and right so he'd better not write anything that might make them look bad.

 

[Smellincoffee]

I just finished Vladimir Bukovsky's To Build a Castle, his memoir of dissent against the Soviet union from the fifties to his being expelled in the seventies. I've read Gulag Archipelago and Sharansky's Fear No Evil, so there weren't any real surprises -- but the writing is powerful, speaking truths of not only the state but the human spirit.

 

[EnglishEdward]

I have just finished the:

Christmas Truce

by

Malcolm Brown and Shirley Seaton

that seems the definitive book.

 

[Synobun]

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

A friend bought this for me for Christmas. I avoid reading paper books unless they're educational, so it took me a while to get to this as the library holds for the ebook were long (12+ weeks) and then I had other holds to get through when it finally opened up.

She said she bought it because I asked for it, and that I really wanted it. I have no recollection of this whatsoever. If I had to guess, though, someone told me the writing style was similar to mine, and then I told her about it. I'm fairly vocal about utterly despising how I write fiction; it is the complete opposite style of the fiction I like to read, so writing things takes a certain stubbornness and disgust to suffer through.

The beginning of the book was quite a slog. Like I said, I don't like reading the way I write, and it rings true that the style used in this book is similar to mine. I was very close to giving up on it.

But I persevered, and my enjoyment of the book quickly ramped up. At my settings, the book was 2060 pages long. It took me a week or so to read the first 900 pages and then I read the remaining 1100 in a single day.

I saved a lot of excerpts from the book. First time I've done that. The last page, in particular, felt very "me."

 

[Timsup2nothin]

It took me a week or so to read the first 900 pages and then I read the remaining 1100 in a single day.

For the record, just about every novel I have ever found to be really memorable ran a very similar timeline to this, so if that's how you write be proud of it.

 

[Takhisis]

Satire is often a balm. Re-reading the Wilt series works as such during these troubled times.

 

[FriendlyFire]

I was reading Ivans war
Hard to get books on the Eastern front from the perspective of the Russians without the heavy handed Soviet censorship, and fantasy that they made up to cover up there failures.

I also reading Fields of Gold, Release that witch for light entertainment
For some reason Iam not really gaming and instead find myself reading a lot, I recommend both of these if you enjoy the Isekai genre. Release that witch is science heavy fantasy though the ending left a lot to be desired, as their were a lot of unexplained loss ends.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

A Guide to Modern Cookery (1907 English translation by William Heineman of Le Guide Culinaire, Cornell University Library PDF on archive.org) is Auguste Escoffier's attempt to codify the emergent fin de siècle restaurant cuisine of France. The preface addresses the constant cry for novelty in menus and emphasizes the need for high-quality ingredients. Part I is on the fundamentals of cooking, starting with stocks and sauces, which Escoffier regards as the key ingredients of any preparation. This is followed by other elementary preparations and an overview of cooking methods. Part II goes through recipes involved in restaurant menus from appetizers to desserts.

Detailed recipes along with a glossary and index position the book as a key culinary reference. Due to the author's post in upper crust London restaurants, the dishes are of a bourgeois persuasion with English influences. The dishes are rich and rely heavily on animal products, which conflicts with the emphasis on healthy plant-based food a century hence. The book trumpets the mistaken notion of searing in meat juices, via an explanation that can be refuted once the reader realizes muscle tissue does not work that way. Overall, the book is a good exploration of the historical codification of French haute cuisine, but not really that useful for today's average cook.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

A Guide to Modern Cookery (1907 English translation by William Heineman of Le Guide Culinaire, Cornell University Library PDF on archive.org) is Auguste Escoffier's attempt to codify the emergent fin de siècle restaurant cuisine of France. The preface addresses the constant cry for novelty in menus and emphasizes the need for high-quality ingredients. Part I is on the fundamentals of cooking, starting with stocks and sauces, which Escoffier regards as the key ingredients of any preparation. This is followed by other elementary preparations and an overview of cooking methods. Part II goes through recipes involved in restaurant menus from appetizers to desserts.

Detailed recipes along with a glossary and index position the book as a key culinary reference. Due to the author's post in upper crust London restaurants, the dishes are of a bourgeois persuasion with English influences. The dishes are rich and rely heavily on animal products, which conflicts with the emphasis on healthy plant-based food a century hence. The book trumpets the mistaken notion of searing in meat juices, via an explanation that can be refuted once the reader realizes muscle tissue does not work that way. Overall, the book is a good exploration of the historical codification of French haute cuisine, but not really that useful for today's average cook.

I cook quite a few of Escoffier's recipes, they're lovely. I like Poulet Poêlée. Though much of French cooking is also homely and comfortable. I particularly like 30 Cloves of Garlic Chicken: https://www.thefrenchcookingacademy.com/30-cloves-garlic-chicken/

Another absolutely favorite is Boeuff Bourguignon and, lately, Cassoulet. Cassoulet is just way too good to exist. Not sure I agree the book is "not really that useful for today's average cook", quite a few of the basic recipes are a godsend. The Five Mother Sauces (TM), making a proper demiglace, a soufflet, stocks, etc. Homemade stock is severely underrated. It is true that it's very heavy on animal products, but that's most of french cooking really.

But you are correct of course about many things being unscientific or simply uneccessarily, like the "sealing in the juices" meme which somehow still has not died off. A lot of french techniques are also very labor-intensive, like making a Mayonaise or a Hollandaise by hand via double-boiler. I can procure that stuff in the matter of seconds with a stick blender and it will have better consistency to boot.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Maybe I did overstate a bit, but I highly doubt many recipes can become 30 minute meals for those with long commutes and long hours. Maybe just for meal prep Sunday, and just hope Escoffier's creations freeze well. Cassoulet is a simple enough and hearty recipe, but I imagine its suitability is due to its origins in French peasant cooking.

 

[Birdjaguar]

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

A friend bought this for me for Christmas. I avoid reading paper books unless they're educational, so it took me a while to get to this as the library holds for the ebook were long (12+ weeks) and then I had other holds to get through when it finally opened up.

She said she bought it because I asked for it, and that I really wanted it. I have no recollection of this whatsoever. If I had to guess, though, someone told me the writing style was similar to mine, and then I told her about it. I'm fairly vocal about utterly despising how I write fiction; it is the complete opposite style of the fiction I like to read, so writing things takes a certain stubbornness and disgust to suffer through.

The beginning of the book was quite a slog. Like I said, I don't like reading the way I write, and it rings true that the style used in this book is similar to mine. I was very close to giving up on it.

But I persevered, and my enjoyment of the book quickly ramped up. At my settings, the book was 2060 pages long. It took me a week or so to read the first 900 pages and then I read the remaining 1100 in a single day.

I saved a lot of excerpts from the book. First time I've done that. The last page, in particular, felt very "me."

I downloaded it just now. [crosses fingers]

 

[AmazonQueen]

Maybe I did overstate a bit, but I highly doubt many recipes can become 30 minute meals for those with long commutes and long hours. Maybe just for meal prep Sunday, and just hope Escoffier's creations freeze well. Cassoulet is a simple enough and hearty recipe, but I imagine its suitability is due to its origins in French peasant cooking.

This is true for a lot of modern cook books as well though.