Saturday, April 28, 2007

Eniac by Scott McCartney

The story of Mauchly and Eckert, brilliant guys who built Eniac, the first real computer and got no real credit. It is mostly a story of men ahead of their time, underfunded and underappreciated. A very believable badly-needed revision, or rather correction of the history of the development of the electronic computer.

Personal Injuries by Scott Turow

Fairly enjoyable. Main character is likeable but very flawed. I take some glee in the seaminess of lawyers. Construction as a narrative by "George" gives an interesting observer's viewpoint. Writing is good; a cut above usual bestsellers.

Reflections on the Psalms by C. S. Lewis

Vintage Lewis. A fine vintage indeed. He deals with the imprecatory Psalms, with inerrancy (interesting but I am so bold as to disagree. I think one can accept the literary caveats without accepting "errors" and "contradictions." I think he well states the problem and correctly treats Job, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, perhaps even the creation account).

His two pages on Psalm 19 are wonderful. His discussion of the Emmaus Road sermon (unknown but apparent) is delightful in its view of scripture applied.

His discussion about why the OT and NT are a hodgepodge is, I think, right on the mark.

I need to buy this book! For library.

O is for Outlaw by Sue Grafton

Interesting story with usual ambiance. As usual, Kinsey is my absolute "anti-person," opposite to me in every way. Something I enjoy to contemplate, how different one can be from another. The book nothing stellar but a mood that is fun, warm, sunny, rings true about human nature.

Drink with the Devil by Jack Higgins

An enjoyable plot and same cast of characters and same Irish setting, fun and engaging, plot within a plot, Clinton makes an appearance.

Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter L. Bernstein

This book, which supposedly Clinton took on vacation, is a comprehensive story of the mathematics of probability and its application to politics, economics, markets, war, and other endeavors. Probably because I found the math to be a review of recently read math history, and economics held little interest, I found the book to be less interesting. However, I think it is well written and possibly very interesting to others.

Friday, April 13, 2007

The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

This is a gem. Taking an engaging if apocryphal story and deftly and sensitively telling the real story which is just as wonderful. The story of the OED and the editor and a major volunteer contributor are all intertwined with skill. I enjoyed this book a great deal.

Prisoner's Dilemma by William Poundstone

This is an interesting introduction to game theory. Also has interesting chapters on John von Neumann. I think both these points have probably been better treated elsewhere. von Neumann, though brilliant, is not really that interesting. Game theory also is less interesting to me.

My Brain is Open by Bruce Schecter

A second, much better book on Erdos has all the facts of Hoffman's (previous post) but better written and delves a bit more into the math, although in a very clear, accessible way. Erdos was a real and very sociable mathematician. The one book I would read about Erdos.

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers by Paul Hoffman

This book about Paul Erdos was well-written and interesting and successfully presents math without losing the reader. I enjoyed the stories of his various collaborations. The stories of the main quirks of his life are fun and interesting.

Mother Earth, Motherboard by Neal Stephenson

This 66-page article from Wired Magazine is the best nerd writing I've read since Tracy Kidder and "Soul of a New Machine." More than you ever wanted to know about undersea communication cables written in an irreverent style with all kinds of literary and historical allusions. With chapter previews like Gulliver's Travels and Pilgrim's Progress and Robert Louis Stevenson and Robinson Crusoe. I found the wandering style very entertaining and the author never fails to come back to the point. Read it at http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/ffglass_pr.html

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

In the South Seas by Robert Louis Stevenson

This is a delightful collection of travel stories. At first I was a somewhat disinterested reader. Then I realized that I was looking for action; when I recognized the magic of his descriptions and that this was his purpose and zeal, I began to read in a different light. He describes topography, local two-bit kings, languages and customs. Naturally Eurocentric, he avoids chauvinism by deep interest, thinly veiled compassion, and a more deeply veiled almost encrypted faith. Unspoken but obvious, his honesty and good will bonded him to those he met. He is somewhat critical of missionaries but in awe of them as well. His description of the Hawaiian leper colony is moving and dramatic. The more I read, the more entranced I became with the South Seas. Stevenson is weaving the web that trapped him.

The Puzzle Palace by James Bamford

About the NSA, interesting in parts, notably the still-secret parts seem to continue to be a problem now. Cryptography has a fascinating history. Breaking codes now seems impossible - or is it? Only the NSA knows!

Southern Cross by Patricia Cornwell

Poor writing, obsessed with guns, multi-threaded plot frayed in places, caricature instead of character ("relaxed fit jeans," for example). So much poorer than the other Scarpetta books one wonders if it was ghost written.

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Human Universals by Donald E. Brown

A brief note on a book basically skimmed. Good chapters on the witting or unwitting wrong conclusions of Margaret Meade in Samoa which ever after made cultural relativism a sociological dogma.

The book's scathing critique of cultural relativism is welcome but its consequent embracing of evolutionary explanation of societal universals is not.

God, Jews, History by Max Dimont

This is a good book in the sense that it covers the scope of the world history of the Jews. It is fairly evenhanded and fair, with due amazement at the survival of the Jews as a distinct people. His discussion of Pharisees and Sadducees and Essenes is very different than my understanding and clouded by an indecipherable or at least confusing use of "liberal" and "conservative."

Naturally his view of Jesus is different than mine and seems fair on the surface but to me is really too conveniently dismissive of every really crucial fact and too accepting of the usual "great teacher preaching peace" etc.

The sections on the Talmud were very good. Most interesting were the sections on the flourishing of Jews during the Mohammedan reign in the middle ages. He is very graphic in describing the middle ages as feudalism which enslaved everyone, nobles and serfs alike, except the Jews, who were the early middle class.

His section on antisemitism is balanced; his comments on Arab-Jewish relations seem remarkably naive.

Blind Man's Bluff by Drew Sontag

This is a fascinating glimpse into the secret use of the silent service, submarine spying during the cold war. Shadowing Russian subs, brazenly going into enemy harbors, tapping undersea cables. The technology race was sometimes hampered by leaks and espionage and traitors. It is a harrowing story and probably just the tip of the iceberg.

Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer by Michael White

This book was a disappointment. Discussing in minute detail with an exhaustive review of the literature, the author deals with one of the greatest men of the millennium, and paints him small, petty, and mean.

The first charge is that of alchemy. Newton spent years doing meticulous work in his lab, investigating reactions and metallurgy. The author himself states that the borders between science and mysticism were blurry and that many of the greatest scientists of the day dabbled in alchemy. In fact, the author credits Newton himself for being the first to present a thoroughly scientific-mathematical theoretical method, merging hypothesis and experiment with mathematical rigor. Then Newton, who is credited with bringing science out of the swamp of conjecture, is criticized for having feet wet with alchemy.

The author even credits his alchemy with allowing Newton to make the intellectual leap from the idea of ether mediating gravity to action at a distance because of the spiritual aspects of alchemy. Reading the book I would instead credit another of Newton's "weaknesses" with this influence, his Christianity.

In this book we don't find the Christian Newton as "the most pious of men" nor as described by his early biographers called by the authors "hagiographers." Instead we see a narrow puritanical (as opposed to Puritan) believer, brilliant in science but strangely backward in his preoccupation with the Bible and prophecy. He cannot even get his Christianity right but has to hide his shameful Arianism.

In summary, rather than needing the author to break through the aging crust of the beatification of Newton, I fear the man - a devout Christian seeking truth in all of life with a painful awareness of his sins and impatience with lesser men - must be found shining through the lines of this revisionist biased history. Newton: The Magician of Physics grounded in Faith.

Einstein's Miraculous Year edited by John Stachel

Five papers by Einstein in one year, 1905, reminiscent of Newton's miraculous year. The introductions are very good, the papers surprisingly accessible. The math is either very subtle or fairly easy. An amazing genius seen from inside; I wish I had the time and help to go through the math.

The Testament by John Grisham

Very fun read dealing as it does with smarmy lawyers. Has sympathetic depiction of a devoted Christian missionary, a Christian minister and an alcoholic lawyer who finds sobriety through faith in God and prayer and Christian fellowship.

Sunday, April 1, 2007

The Intellectuals by Paul Johnson

Interesting book, defines intellectual as one who thinks that by his own knowledge, understanding and force of character he can guide society on a better path. Johnson basically trashes all these intellectuals mostly on moral grounds and hypocrisy. Several I found interesting or revealing: Marx, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Russell, Sartre. He has a really good passage on social engineering when discussing Chomsky.

The White Nile by Alan Moorehead 1960

A wonderful, well-researched compendium of the exploration of the Nile, featuring the most amazing cast of characters: Burton, Baker, Speke, Livingstone, Stanley, Gordon, Emin Pasha and assorted kings, Mahdi, Musselman, and tyrants. It is written in a fair, restrained but opinionated style I find refreshing. Confident but free of cant. Unafraid of religion and aware of its power but not captive to it. While deftly understated, the rigors of jungle, desert, and disease are clear and one is in awe of these extraordinary men (and occasionally women - especially Mrs. Baker).

Point of Origin by Patricia Cornwell

Well, the author must be into helicopter piloting now. Gory gruesome plot, sad but exciting. Helicopter in last ash-spreading scene seems totally contrived; written for a TV movie. Not great literature, probably the worst of the series.

Damascus Gate by Robert Stone

This novel is a very interesting story of Jerusalem as firmly rooted in past, present and future. Eclectic and erudite with interesting characters. I didn't find the ending that surprising. It has the interesting collision and interface between cynicism and belief, spirituality and madness, Judaism, Islam, and fundamentalist Christianity. A good but not a great book.