Book Reviews - Non Fiction

[Oldposts]

Thomas Moore was a devout Christain born in 1876 in Yorkshire, England.
He was very commited to male nuns, in the monastry of Islam.
He was also commited to establishing the extistentialist movement of the right wing militia group nuns in Bakina Faso (capital: Wonga Donga).

[Oldposts]

Hi all,

New kid in the block.

I've read Zen & the art of Motorcycle maintanence by Pirsig. Great book. I did't try his Lila.

I guess many have read Richard Bach's Jonathan
Livingston Seagull or Illusion.

- Anbu

[Oldposts]

Hi!
This is for " ZEN and...." fans...

did you read "LILA".. by Pirsig.. talks about more quality....and social heirarchy......

[Oldposts]

Voodoo Science by Robert Park: A very important book about the scientific way of living, continual attempts at perpectual motion machines, simple follies and frauds in science (including SDI and X-ray lasers). a great book that clearly exposes the likes of mahesh yogi, deepak chopra, ... . please read at least the last section of the book.

[Oldposts]

anu,
just tell us whats the real treat to heart and soul?

[Oldposts]

http://mif.freeservers.com

[Oldposts]

Hi,

Has anyone read Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer? It's simply fantastic. It's about the failed Everest expedition, the part of the unfortunate team, the writer was.

Does anyone have any recommendations for any interesting non-fiction books?
Udhaya, where are you?

[Oldposts]

I usually read fiction..(John Grisham,Jeffrey Archer etc) now I got APJ Abdul Kalam's Ignited minds with me. Its really inspiring. I would like it if someone recommended some works with a bit of humour.... thanx
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[mohan kumar]

I am a new comer. I WISH i could have been a member long ago. zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance I am reading it second time. His theory on Quality is very good. have any one read the monk who sold his ferrari by robin s.sharma .absolutely fantastic.

[gaddeswarup]

Recently I read Matt Ridley's "Nature via nurture", "The origins of virtue", Jared Diamond's "Guns, germs and steel", Peter Turchin's "War and peace and war" and Paul Seabright's "The Company of strangers, a natural history of economic life" and I am surprised how ignorant I am despite being in academics most of my life. These books discuss many things relevant to understanding things in everyday life and might have made a difference if I had read them earlier. This phenomenon of ignorance seems common. Here is an excerpt from Edge. From:
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/self...h06_index.html
"In the twentieth century, a period of great scientific advancement, instead of having science and technology at the center of the intellectual world — of having a unity in which scholarship included science and technology along with literature and art — the official culture kicked them out. Traditional humanities scholars looked at science and technology as some sort of technical special product. Elite universities nudged science out of the liberal arts undergraduate curriculum — and out of the minds of many young people, who, as the new academic establishment, so marginalized themselves that they are no longer within shouting distance of the action.

Yet it's the products of this educational system that go straight from their
desks at university literary magazines to their offices in the heart of the cultural establishment at our leading newspapers, magazines, and publishers. It's a problem that's systemic and not individual. Unless one is pursuing a career path in science, it is extremely difficult for a non-science major at a top research university to graduate with anything approaching what can be considered an education in science. I recently talked with a noted Italian intellectual, who is as familiar with string theory and as he is with Dante, and writes about both in his philosophical novels. In appraising this situation, he argued for restraint and compassion. "They just don't know," he sighed, "they just don't know." He might well have added, they don't even know that they don't know.

Somebody needs to tell them. Otherwise, we wind up with the center of
culture based on a closed system, a process of text in/text out, and no
empirical contact with the real world. One can only marvel at, for example, art critics who know nothing about visual perception; "social constructionist" literary critics uninterested in the human universals documented by anthropologists; opponents of genetically modified foods, additives, and pesticide residues who are ignorant of genetics and evolutionary biology. "

The current system seems to be leading people to reasonably successful
careers but somehow to a state "They do'nt even know what they do'nt know".
Perhaps we need some changes in the curriculam and meanwhile forums like this may help to educate each other. I think all the books are worth translating in to regional languages. I would be interested in translating ( to telugu) Paul Seabright's book first if there is a small group interested. Those who have note read these books can google for reviews; all have excellent reviews.
swarup