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Mary, Mary
By James Patterson
A first Patterson for me, but its not bad. Perhaps the cheesiest cover I read, the short chapters and big letters have cheapishness written all over it, and it reminds me of Gu Long. However, you have to admit that shorter sentences, paragraphs and chapters do excelerate tbe pace of the story. The three paralell progressing perspective make the story round and add suspension. The only unnessesary part is the ending when Storyteller jumps out to strike the detective - a pointless move. Not entirely out of expectation though - so far, none of them seems to be able to conclude a story gracefully.
Of course there are the usual package that comes with the law enforcement forces - divorce, customdy battle, romance with colleagues, etc. Yet fortunately, the author doesn't let them slow down the story too much.
Generally speaking, a good surprise after several stories in the same color. I am not sure I'll come back to this author though, at least for a while. It's interesting but not pleasant reading.
A first Patterson for me, but its not bad. Perhaps the cheesiest cover I read, the short chapters and big letters have cheapishness written all over it, and it reminds me of Gu Long. However, you have to admit that shorter sentences, paragraphs and chapters do excelerate tbe pace of the story. The three paralell progressing perspective make the story round and add suspension. The only unnessesary part is the ending when Storyteller jumps out to strike the detective - a pointless move. Not entirely out of expectation though - so far, none of them seems to be able to conclude a story gracefully.
Of course there are the usual package that comes with the law enforcement forces - divorce, customdy battle, romance with colleagues, etc. Yet fortunately, the author doesn't let them slow down the story too much.
Generally speaking, a good surprise after several stories in the same color. I am not sure I'll come back to this author though, at least for a while. It's interesting but not pleasant reading.
The Lighthouse
- An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery
By P. D. James
One disadvantage of reading one book from a series is that you have to tolerate a lot details, romantic ones typically, of the main characters that absolutely unrelated to the development of the story. And this is the case with the Lighthouse, in which many pages and even some short chapters you can safely skip.
The story develops in the same fashion as Murder on the Oriental Express or Gosford Park. It contains fairly interesting suspensions and surprises, but the ending is rather disapointing. It comes with a sudden enlightenment upon the detective (by SARS?) that only connects to a few unexciting details revealed earlier. Like most of the suspense, it ends rapidly with a very unnessesary scene at the lighthouse. Another tiger head and snake tail.
As for the writing, apart from the dragging details about major characters romantic relationship, the book is full of pretnetious quotes which make the reading less serious.
By P. D. James
One disadvantage of reading one book from a series is that you have to tolerate a lot details, romantic ones typically, of the main characters that absolutely unrelated to the development of the story. And this is the case with the Lighthouse, in which many pages and even some short chapters you can safely skip.
The story develops in the same fashion as Murder on the Oriental Express or Gosford Park. It contains fairly interesting suspensions and surprises, but the ending is rather disapointing. It comes with a sudden enlightenment upon the detective (by SARS?) that only connects to a few unexciting details revealed earlier. Like most of the suspense, it ends rapidly with a very unnessesary scene at the lighthouse. Another tiger head and snake tail.
As for the writing, apart from the dragging details about major characters romantic relationship, the book is full of pretnetious quotes which make the reading less serious.
Misquoting Jesus
- The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why
By Bart D. Ehrman
Interesting Points:
1. The original version of the Bible was written in Greek, and was lost.
2. Jesus was a Rabi who believed in and taught Torah. His interpretation of God's wordswas different than Mose's sometimes. E.g. adultery (M: should not commit; J: should not even look at a married woman with lust) ; divorce (M: should be documented; J: it's an act of adultery).
3. Ancient world had a low literacy rate (less then 10-15%); Christian circle was even lower, because it composed of poor people.
4. Someone who could only sign his name may be regarded as literate.
5. Ancient Greek was written in the same way as Chinese, scriptuo continua. There's no punctuation mark, no upper/lowercase letters, no space between words. (Godisnowhere = God is now here or God is nowhere.)
6. Most of the copying was done by professional in Roman world, but in early Christian world, by people who wanted the books (indicating more mistakes).
7. Examples of later add-ons: a) John 7:53-8:12, The Woman Taken in Adultery. (Only appears in John, not appeared in the earliest available versions, unique style and vocabulary.) b) The last twelve verses of Mark, about what happened after Sabbath. (In addition to the common evidence, Mary Magdalene was introduced as she never appeared before.) The verses were added to avoid an abrupt ending of the Gospel whick was actually common in Mark's (according to Mark, the disciples rarely understand Jesus.)
8. Alexandria, Egypt had the most scupulous scribes, and therefore, preserved a pure form of early Christian writings.
9. At the beginning of the 4th century, church began to use professional scribes.
10. The Bible used by the Western Church - Jerome's Latin translation.
11. The explanantion of Trinity only appeared in the published Latiin version of the Bible, not in the original published Greek version (16th century), but was added to the Erasmus' Greek version by translating the passage from Latin. Erasmus' version later became the base for King James' English version.
12. John Mill's Apparatus, some 30 thousands of variations to the Textus Receptus, the "original" Greek Bible.
I read the first half of the book with great enthusiasm, though it is only a background knowledge on bible textual criticism. This is the part that relates to what I did for several years with early historical texts in Chinese and this is the part the author can speak with confidence and authority. The core of the book, which is the last three chapters, are understandably dragging to me. The reasons are given by many reviews to the book available online.
One of the major criticism of the book is that it elaborates the only examples one could find while indicating that there are more. This may sound very unscientific to a lay person, but a textual critics would sympathize that that one single spark is exciting enough to lure one to spend the rest of his career on the topic - you believe that you have a sound theory developes from it, and eventually, that's still the only thing you got. This totally reminds me of the good old days with Shiji, the feeling that I had come close to something, and in the end, the very reason I leave it all behind.
One other thing I have to agree with those reviews is that, the title is somehow misleading. It's an obvious attempt to sell the book. On the other hand, the author has mastered the penmanship well to deserve a best-selling. Still a fun reading against all the odds.
By Bart D. Ehrman
Interesting Points:
1. The original version of the Bible was written in Greek, and was lost.
2. Jesus was a Rabi who believed in and taught Torah. His interpretation of God's wordswas different than Mose's sometimes. E.g. adultery (M: should not commit; J: should not even look at a married woman with lust) ; divorce (M: should be documented; J: it's an act of adultery).
3. Ancient world had a low literacy rate (less then 10-15%); Christian circle was even lower, because it composed of poor people.
4. Someone who could only sign his name may be regarded as literate.
5. Ancient Greek was written in the same way as Chinese, scriptuo continua. There's no punctuation mark, no upper/lowercase letters, no space between words. (Godisnowhere = God is now here or God is nowhere.)
6. Most of the copying was done by professional in Roman world, but in early Christian world, by people who wanted the books (indicating more mistakes).
7. Examples of later add-ons: a) John 7:53-8:12, The Woman Taken in Adultery. (Only appears in John, not appeared in the earliest available versions, unique style and vocabulary.) b) The last twelve verses of Mark, about what happened after Sabbath. (In addition to the common evidence, Mary Magdalene was introduced as she never appeared before.) The verses were added to avoid an abrupt ending of the Gospel whick was actually common in Mark's (according to Mark, the disciples rarely understand Jesus.)
8. Alexandria, Egypt had the most scupulous scribes, and therefore, preserved a pure form of early Christian writings.
9. At the beginning of the 4th century, church began to use professional scribes.
10. The Bible used by the Western Church - Jerome's Latin translation.
11. The explanantion of Trinity only appeared in the published Latiin version of the Bible, not in the original published Greek version (16th century), but was added to the Erasmus' Greek version by translating the passage from Latin. Erasmus' version later became the base for King James' English version.
12. John Mill's Apparatus, some 30 thousands of variations to the Textus Receptus, the "original" Greek Bible.
I read the first half of the book with great enthusiasm, though it is only a background knowledge on bible textual criticism. This is the part that relates to what I did for several years with early historical texts in Chinese and this is the part the author can speak with confidence and authority. The core of the book, which is the last three chapters, are understandably dragging to me. The reasons are given by many reviews to the book available online.
One of the major criticism of the book is that it elaborates the only examples one could find while indicating that there are more. This may sound very unscientific to a lay person, but a textual critics would sympathize that that one single spark is exciting enough to lure one to spend the rest of his career on the topic - you believe that you have a sound theory developes from it, and eventually, that's still the only thing you got. This totally reminds me of the good old days with Shiji, the feeling that I had come close to something, and in the end, the very reason I leave it all behind.
One other thing I have to agree with those reviews is that, the title is somehow misleading. It's an obvious attempt to sell the book. On the other hand, the author has mastered the penmanship well to deserve a best-selling. Still a fun reading against all the odds.
Hub Culture
- The Next Wave of Urban Consumers
By Stan Stalnaker
The topic definitely sounds interesting, but the writing doesn't sustain the title. So after many years of seeking peace of mind is suburbs, things are still or will be happening in cities. I get that part. This trend worths understanding because that's how you gonna focus your marketing campaign. That's logic. Then here comes the traveling and telecommunication. So advanced they re-center our lives, and how that affect the hubs? Because they are not just connecting Tokyo to New York, or Beijing to LA, they are merging Sunnyvale to London and Paris to Dalian too. To me, the only difference between a giant hub like NYC and a suburban area is the night life. Internet can get you everything else. The fancy restaurants, shows and pubs do make great differences cultural wise, but the author misses it. The idea of hub culture is insightful but unfortunately, not easy to grasp even for the author.
Finally, I have to admit that I didn't do justice to the book because I only glance through it. It's too boring as a pop reading and too frivolous as a study.
By Stan Stalnaker
The topic definitely sounds interesting, but the writing doesn't sustain the title. So after many years of seeking peace of mind is suburbs, things are still or will be happening in cities. I get that part. This trend worths understanding because that's how you gonna focus your marketing campaign. That's logic. Then here comes the traveling and telecommunication. So advanced they re-center our lives, and how that affect the hubs? Because they are not just connecting Tokyo to New York, or Beijing to LA, they are merging Sunnyvale to London and Paris to Dalian too. To me, the only difference between a giant hub like NYC and a suburban area is the night life. Internet can get you everything else. The fancy restaurants, shows and pubs do make great differences cultural wise, but the author misses it. The idea of hub culture is insightful but unfortunately, not easy to grasp even for the author.
Finally, I have to admit that I didn't do justice to the book because I only glance through it. It's too boring as a pop reading and too frivolous as a study.
Ender's Game
By Orson Scott Card
This is the first science fiction I read through, and fortunately for me, it's a really interesting one. It is an intense mind game from the beginning, and in a genre of high-tech fantasy, the author tries to locate the inteligence and insigts of human being. The only sci-fi part is the flatness of the characters. As if to assimulate the vastness of the universe - people of similar ages could live into 75 and 25 at the same time simply because they choose to live at different places, Ender's destiny decides that, the six-year old Ender is no different than the 23 year old one. There's no real changes, no growing up, only self-revealing.
I haven't decided whether to pursue the series yet.
This is the first science fiction I read through, and fortunately for me, it's a really interesting one. It is an intense mind game from the beginning, and in a genre of high-tech fantasy, the author tries to locate the inteligence and insigts of human being. The only sci-fi part is the flatness of the characters. As if to assimulate the vastness of the universe - people of similar ages could live into 75 and 25 at the same time simply because they choose to live at different places, Ender's destiny decides that, the six-year old Ender is no different than the 23 year old one. There's no real changes, no growing up, only self-revealing.
I haven't decided whether to pursue the series yet.
The Hostage
by W.E.B. Griffin
Griffin has a reputation in writing about the military and being a bestseller writer, I assume he should be a good one. It turns out that he lives to his reputation as an expert in US military, but as a writer, rather untalented and boring. Striping off the extensive and often times unnecessary details of army procedures and structures, the story line is so simple and predictable that you can expect to doze off in the course. Not to mention the romance, as disgusting as a piece of sausage!
Griffin has a reputation in writing about the military and being a bestseller writer, I assume he should be a good one. It turns out that he lives to his reputation as an expert in US military, but as a writer, rather untalented and boring. Striping off the extensive and often times unnecessary details of army procedures and structures, the story line is so simple and predictable that you can expect to doze off in the course. Not to mention the romance, as disgusting as a piece of sausage!
Freedom in Exile
- the Autobiography of the Dalai Lama
From entertaining point of view, this is a rather boring book to read. Being deprived of a personal life at the age of 3, Dalai's knowledge and view of the world is understandably limited and biased. Though he experienced a great deal of political ups and downs, his involvement is only to a certain degree, and his information only indirect. However, if your interest is to find out at least some of the causes behind the chaos in Tibet, this is must-read.
There are voices who blame Dalai for supporting the separation of Tibet from China, voices who critisize China's invasion and inhuman occupation of Tibet, but little ever being said about how things come to such an end. From this book, we see Dalai as a sincere and simple man, who is easy to be manipulated. Unfortunately, these characteristics of such an important figure were not fully exploited by the Chinese. As I always believe, there are two ways to deal with foreign religious or ethnic group when it comes to conquer. The brutal way is the American way. Kill most of the Indians and drive the rest onto small and seperated reserves so that they could never post any threats to the majority. The peaceful way is also the American way. Respect or even more closely, neglect the differences we have, let drink coke, eat pizza, and listen to the same music. Eventually, you'll come to my way because it is more dearer to human nature. The brutal way is fast but bloody, the peaceful way is very very slow but chocolaty and applaused by the modern world. Instead of choosing either ways, the Chinese government, as its culture predicts, chose a middle way. We beat the people but not terminate them, and we give them candy wraps in stead of candy. Above all, the Party screwed up twice. First in the 50s, when the PLA first entered and tried for a decade to pacified Tibet, and eventually it led to the exile of Dalai Lama. The second time is after the Cultural Revolution, when everyone wanted to give it a try again. It's not clear that whether the Chinese leaders really have no insights in dealing with this kind of problem, or, they in fact really don't care about Tibet that much. After all, Dalai is only one man, and he could live for only so long.
From entertaining point of view, this is a rather boring book to read. Being deprived of a personal life at the age of 3, Dalai's knowledge and view of the world is understandably limited and biased. Though he experienced a great deal of political ups and downs, his involvement is only to a certain degree, and his information only indirect. However, if your interest is to find out at least some of the causes behind the chaos in Tibet, this is must-read.
There are voices who blame Dalai for supporting the separation of Tibet from China, voices who critisize China's invasion and inhuman occupation of Tibet, but little ever being said about how things come to such an end. From this book, we see Dalai as a sincere and simple man, who is easy to be manipulated. Unfortunately, these characteristics of such an important figure were not fully exploited by the Chinese. As I always believe, there are two ways to deal with foreign religious or ethnic group when it comes to conquer. The brutal way is the American way. Kill most of the Indians and drive the rest onto small and seperated reserves so that they could never post any threats to the majority. The peaceful way is also the American way. Respect or even more closely, neglect the differences we have, let drink coke, eat pizza, and listen to the same music. Eventually, you'll come to my way because it is more dearer to human nature. The brutal way is fast but bloody, the peaceful way is very very slow but chocolaty and applaused by the modern world. Instead of choosing either ways, the Chinese government, as its culture predicts, chose a middle way. We beat the people but not terminate them, and we give them candy wraps in stead of candy. Above all, the Party screwed up twice. First in the 50s, when the PLA first entered and tried for a decade to pacified Tibet, and eventually it led to the exile of Dalai Lama. The second time is after the Cultural Revolution, when everyone wanted to give it a try again. It's not clear that whether the Chinese leaders really have no insights in dealing with this kind of problem, or, they in fact really don't care about Tibet that much. After all, Dalai is only one man, and he could live for only so long.
Raising America
- Experts, Parents and a Century of Advice About Children
By Ann Hulbert
Once in a while, you have the feeling of being over serious, and simply want some cheap or even cheesy reading, just to humor yourself, gather some gossip material, something that you can shock your fellow chatters on the bbs. Well, this is what I was looking for when I open this book, but only find it over serious about itself. It's actually a history of child development research of the last century. It's too knowlegeable to be fun. This is could be a very well book at another time, but right now, I simply don't have the appetite for it.
The way some people quote or summarize the book can be so misleading!
By Ann Hulbert
Once in a while, you have the feeling of being over serious, and simply want some cheap or even cheesy reading, just to humor yourself, gather some gossip material, something that you can shock your fellow chatters on the bbs. Well, this is what I was looking for when I open this book, but only find it over serious about itself. It's actually a history of child development research of the last century. It's too knowlegeable to be fun. This is could be a very well book at another time, but right now, I simply don't have the appetite for it.
The way some people quote or summarize the book can be so misleading!
Freakonomics
- A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
By Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Interesting Points:
- New York City murder rate in 1990, 2245, 2003, 596. Contribute to the drop of crimes in late 90's and early 2000's, Roe v. Wade.
- The single most important factor in preventing a postwar revival of KKK in the North, Stetson Kennedy, through Superman radio show.
- Words to avoid in a real estate ad: Fantastic, Spacious, !, Charming, Great Neighborhood.
- Listerine, invented in 19th cent. as surgical antiseptic, later sold as floor cleaner and a cure for gonorrhea. Since 1920s, it claimed to be a solution for bad breath.
- Parents, who you are is much more important to a kid than what you do for parenting. But this may be only true for school performance at younger age, not life time achievements.
A light and interesting read, and once again, data rips off common sense. The book is full of insigts, but no unifying theme. From my own experience as an once-upon-a-time PhD candidate, this is the early stage of a research, the most interesting part maybe, and the part that most people couldn't go beyond. The last part about naming and parenting is a little bit dragging and lost focus.
By Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Interesting Points:
- New York City murder rate in 1990, 2245, 2003, 596. Contribute to the drop of crimes in late 90's and early 2000's, Roe v. Wade.
- The single most important factor in preventing a postwar revival of KKK in the North, Stetson Kennedy, through Superman radio show.
- Words to avoid in a real estate ad: Fantastic, Spacious, !, Charming, Great Neighborhood.
- Listerine, invented in 19th cent. as surgical antiseptic, later sold as floor cleaner and a cure for gonorrhea. Since 1920s, it claimed to be a solution for bad breath.
- Parents, who you are is much more important to a kid than what you do for parenting. But this may be only true for school performance at younger age, not life time achievements.
A light and interesting read, and once again, data rips off common sense. The book is full of insigts, but no unifying theme. From my own experience as an once-upon-a-time PhD candidate, this is the early stage of a research, the most interesting part maybe, and the part that most people couldn't go beyond. The last part about naming and parenting is a little bit dragging and lost focus.
The Lincoln Lawyer
by Michael Connelly
The book is categorized as mystery by the library, but the development doesn't seem to exemplify that genre. Less than half way through the story, it is pretty clear about who did what. However, this is not to say that this is a less interesting novel. The detailed and assumably accurate depiction of the legal system is the strong point of the book, and is what makes it attractive. We are led to discover the mental process of a criminal defense lawyer, a profession most people can't understand that well.
The author definitely worth to return to. From the beginning, an atomosphere of complete authority is well maintained, and not vanished till the very end, which is rare.
The book is categorized as mystery by the library, but the development doesn't seem to exemplify that genre. Less than half way through the story, it is pretty clear about who did what. However, this is not to say that this is a less interesting novel. The detailed and assumably accurate depiction of the legal system is the strong point of the book, and is what makes it attractive. We are led to discover the mental process of a criminal defense lawyer, a profession most people can't understand that well.
The author definitely worth to return to. From the beginning, an atomosphere of complete authority is well maintained, and not vanished till the very end, which is rare.
Social Psychology
- Social facilitation
- increased performance as a result of the mere presence of others. (E.g. cyclist achieve better times when they race in company of others than when they race alone. Norman Triplett, 1898)
- Emics
- characteristics specific to one or a few cultural groups. E.g. norm of trust/truth/turn-taking in dialogue.
- Etics
- behaviors that are found in most societies.
- Correlational Techniques
- correlation is different from causation; correlational studies are suitalbe for situations in which variables can be observed but not manipulated.
- Self
- the sense of self; self-perception; self-presentation.
- Self Presentation Strategies
- ingratiation, intimidation, self-promotion, exemplification, supplication (even more - self-handicapping).
- Self-complexity
- people with high levels of self-complexity cope better with stressful life events.
- Attitude
- can be based on Affect, Behavior and Cognition.
Search, Research, etc.
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Google: The Missing Manual
Basics:
1) use "+" to include small words, e.g. +the piano
2) A (B or C)
3) * - wildcards for full-word
Short cuts:
4) define xx; or define:xx (the latter returns only definitions)
5) calculator
Syntax:
6) inurl:"x y"
7) intitle:x
8) intext
9) inanchor
10) site
11) cache
12) filetype
13) ~X (synonyms of X)
The book is comprehensive up to its date about Google basics. The search part is not as useful as Google Hacks as the latter provides useful searching tips along Google syntax explanations.
1) use "+" to include small words, e.g. +the piano
2) A (B or C)
3) * - wildcards for full-word
Short cuts:
4) define xx; or define:xx (the latter returns only definitions)
5) calculator
Syntax:
6) inurl:"x y"
7) intitle:x
8) intext
9) inanchor
10) site
11) cache
12) filetype
13) ~X (synonyms of X)
The book is comprehensive up to its date about Google basics. The search part is not as useful as Google Hacks as the latter provides useful searching tips along Google syntax explanations.
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