87 / How's your holiday reading going?
Great, thanks. As usual I have four or five books on the boil. The one started earliest is Between the Monster and the Saint, by Richard Holloway (reflections on the human condition); Holloway is a cleric - yet, the book often is a lot of fun. Get this, "The fact is that nature is a vast food-chain and killing is as intrinsic to its purpose as sex. The fight is as fundamental as the fuck." Oh really?! … former Bishop of Edinburgh, former Professor of Divinity.
The next is the Lao Te Ching by Lao Tsu; then The Capitalism Delusion by Bob Ellis; The Language of God (a scientist presents evidence for belief) and finally - I received it from Amazon in the beginning of the week, it's not in stock in the usual bookshops - The Next Fifty Years by John Brockman (25 essays on science in the first half of the twenty-first century.)
The Lao Te Ching is the most amazing text (scripture?) I have delved into for awhile. Its style of prose is not easy to digest, the way its concepts are dealt with is truly foreign, ancient - yet its content is still pertinent for our times, 2500 years after it was written. My favourite passages so far:
There is a thing confusedly formed
Born before heaven and earth
Silent and void
It is capable of being the mother of the world
I know not its name
So I style it 'the way'
Knead clay in order to make a vessel
Adapt the nothing therein to the purpose in hand
And you will have the use of the vessel
Cut out doors and windows in order to make a room
Adapt the nothing therein to the purpose in hand
And you will have the use of the room
In a home it is the site that matters
In quality of mind it is depth that matters
In an ally it is benevolence that matters
In speech it is good faith that matters
In government it is order that matters
In action it is timeliness that matters
Bob Ellis is true to form with his capitalism critique: "Many, many shopping-mall massacres, or school-house massacres, or church-congregation massacres, are carried out by young men who have lately been 'let go' or 'laid off' or are ending their school or college years and see ahed of them no chance or worthwhile future employment. Their pride has been smashed, and they end, like suicide bombers, by attacking and killing neighbours, a small and frantic and pitiful equivalent of blowing up the world." Do go to his website - there is a link on my blog front-page - click on Essays, read 'Why are we in Afghanistan?'
The Language of God is by Francis S. Collins, head of the Human Genome Project. Now, I'm not in danger of becoming a believer in the God of religion, but the book is a satisfying read as it throws up some surprises: "… now that molecular mechanisms, genetic pathways and natural selection are being put forward to explain … complexity, diversity and beauty … you may cry out, 'enough, you take all the divine mystery out of the world.' Do not fear … for me there is not a shred of disappointment or disillusionment in these discoveries about the nature of life … How deeply satisfying is the digital elegance of DNA. Evolution, as a mechanism, must be true. For those who believe in God, there are reasons now to be more in awe, not less." His position certainly is closer to Einstein's than Dawkins' (for Albert Einstein's view on religion check out this famous letter and don't omit reading the commentary - analysis - below it. In short, Einstein clearly stated his view on God: "I believe in Spinoza's God, who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of all that exists, but not in a God who concerns Himself with the fate and doings of mankind." Lao Tsu calls it 'The Way' - I won't argue with either.) Here's my essay on Einstein.
The Next Fifty Years is an account of where we stand now, where we want to be and how to get there - with the use of science. Brian Goodwin is a professor of biology: "A large and increasing fraction of the world's population still lives in hunger and poverty; agricultural land and natural resources are being destroyed; the pollution of land, sea and air is affecting all life on the planet; the atmosphere grows more and more turbulent as a result of global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels … and the ability for nation-states to protect their citizens dwindles with the rise of transnational organizations that enforce unregulated global trade in goods and services …" Bob Ellis would go along with that - however, the professor comes to an un-Bob-Ellis-like conclusion: "We do indeed have the means to liberate all human beings from hunger and poverty, with the production of wealth and goods achieved through the application of scientific knowledge and the expansion engine that drives capitalism." As Bob Ellis would say: Discuss. Can't wait to get to Paul Davies' and Richard Dawkins' essays.
Goodness, who needs cricket!?