We set out to see parts of the Eastern US we’d never been to. [photo gallery] Our secondary goal was to find hiking and bicycle trails along the way. It turned out to be very difficult to identify acceptable cycling trails on the Web. The various “trails” websites, etc. are frequently misleading. For example, we were looking [...]
This classic is finally available as an audiobook!
Still relevant after all these years, and a must read for anyone interested in political history.
Government remains the paramount area of folly because it is there that men seek power over others — only to lose it over themselves.
Previous Post and Quotes
I’ve been a fan of Imogen Heap for several years. Her latest album Ellipse has one of my all time favorite songs—Earth. It describes how a frustrated [Mother] Earth deals with her rambunctious offspring, homo sapiens.
These Legoland empires choking out mine/Now you’re everywhere, everywhere multiplying around me child/A strain on my heart/This rock can’t tolerate anymore// [...]
This entertaining little book sheds light on many subjects. First, it is a concise biography of the life and ideas of René Descartes. He outlines how Descartes’ Discourse on the Method led to the birth of the modern era. He also gives a clear overview of Cartesian Dualism and why we struggle with it to this day.
Second, [...]
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Bill Bryson (2004)
Just finished reading this delightful survey of modern scientific thought and the history of how we got here. Some of the biographical vignettes are truly inspiring, and others heartbreaking.
I found only one area where recent discovery has superseded his account—so called “junk” DNA. It is now known that these areas [...]
I’m currently reading A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. About a third of the way in he introduces Clair Cameron Patterson who could be the model of the modern citizen/scientist.
Here is a short synopsis of his career: Born in Iowa; attended Grinnell College, U of Iowa, U of Chicago; participated in the Manhattan Project to [...]
This is essential listening/viewing for anyone concerned about the current financial crisis, how and who got us here, and who’s still trying to “fix” the problem!
PBS Frontline Site
Frontline Podcast
Audio-Only MP3 Version
Just a brief post to mark the passing of a true American hero, Norman Borlaug. Here are several links of interest…
New York Times Obituary
1997 Profile in The Atlantic
“Why Famines Still Exist” Video Interview from wsj.com
My 2008 Posting
I found this recent article in Slate fascinating. It draws on the research legacy of James Olds, who did some of the seminal experiments with electro-stimulation of the brain. He referred to certain reward centers for basic drives such as hunger and sex. These became known collectively as the “pleasure centers” of the brain.
Fine so [...]
One of the great novels of the twentieth century. Also one of the most powerful expressions of existentialism and humanism ever written. I reviewed this book for the Narrative Medicine Series in 2003. See also the article A Hero for Our Times published in The Guardian.
The Plague is an allegorical novel set in the [...]