What the Dog Saw - Preface

I'm going to read Malcolm's Gladwell's: What the Dog Saw.

Not looking forward to it at all.

I hate Malcolm Gladwell.

Why am I reading it? I'm not even sure man.

The Greatest Show on Earth

I love evolution.

Beautifully simplistic and infinitely complex.

I recall hearing as a child that whales were mammals. I never truly understood the significance of this. We hear about why we classify whales this way. Something about hair, nursing young with milk, having hand-like things, needing to breathe air (not uniquely mammalian, I know), etc. I was like so what? It wasn't till I realize what whales being mammals truly meant. It meant that long ago there were descendants of whales that lived on the land and decided (for whatever reason) to live in the sea.

I think things like that blow my mind.

Dawkins has a bone to pick in this book. With good reason as well. There is an intended anti-intellectual movement going on in this world. It is attacking science because it goes against their beliefs. It's really sad to see. These are not new arguments. These are not people playing in the same field as all these evolutionary biologists. They use political games and inject their message in other ways.

Anyways, I'm enjoying the book so far. I'm taking my time with it. Non-fiction books just don't flow as well.

Finished Five People You Meet in Heaven

So I'm done.

I don't think I enjoy 'fate' book any more. I didn't enjoy the Alchemist at all. I suppose there was a price to pay for my atheism. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy books where it all wraps up. I like books where things chain together. I just don't like books that like to insert meanings into things. That isn't exclusive to books with religious undertones. It goes for Carl Sagan's Contact too.

Anyways, I'm done the book. It's a light read. Pleasant. Although, unfulfilling if you're not willing to buy what they're selling. Still a decent story 3/5.

New Books!

I couldn't freaking help buying:

1. The Greatest Show on Earth
2. What the Dog Saw
3. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Richard Dawkin's book is supposed to be SO dense that it'd take multiple readings just to understand everything he's saying. I spent a lot of time listening to evolution lectures and debates. I usually mention archaeopteryx or the fact that we share a lot of DNA with apes. That a fusion in our chromosone had occurred were two telomeres fused. Usually I announce these findings with a deadpan response. In other words, they haven't done enough research to reply. I haven't done enough research to advocate quite frankly but listening and reading has given me enough ammo to parry bad arguments very quickly. Russell's teapot takes care of most of these arguments anyway.

So ... why am I reading the Greatest Show on Earth? I'm not sure. I'm a big fan of Richard Dawkins and his bravery. Though, I must admit that I could barely get through the Selfish Gene. It didn't open my eyes at all. It was a bit tiresome to read. The God Delusion was rather good. But I got that on audiobook. On audiobook it is splendid.

Anyways ... so why #2? Because apparently a lot of these people love Malcolm Gladwell and Richard Friedman and the Freakonomics guy. These worthless clowns write stupid extrapolations from simple things and act as though they're profound thoughts. Why did I buy it? Because every single other idiot is going to want to talk about it. I need to read what they're reading so I can take a look into what their motivations are.

#3! I know nothing about this book. Only that Lisa is reading it (just joking! she doesn't read ... evidently). I'm probably going to give this book away after I'm done reading it.

Anyways, Robert's out.

The Five People You Meet In Heaven (1)

I'm reading the Five People You Meet in Heaven right now.

I guess it's an interesting juxtaposition that I'm reading this book alongside reading Richard Dawkin's "Greatest Show on Earth". Yes, the "Greatest Show on Earth" is not like the God Delusion in that he's not slamming religion. He's fighting creationism and intelligent design.

Anyways, back to the Five People You Meet in Heaven. It's an interesting story. It's a very quick book as I'm 60 pages into it right now. I seems interesting so far. The depiction of heaven is about what I expect. I don't think the author realizes that though. Heaven isn't ever depicted as clouds in the sky with an old man and harps. Heaven (similar to aliens) are usually depicted with some fuzziness and inner meaning. A lot of that stuff.

It case anyone is wondering. The Five People You Meet in Heaven is about an elderly gentleman's death. It's not surprise, I assure you. He meets the five most important people in life. I'm on the third person, thus far. The stories are interesting. You get a good feel of the character and their stories. I'm enjoying it so far. You feel for the main character. You relate to them and his purpose in attempting to find whether his death was in vain.

I say, it's a good read, so far.

Banned

I know it's stupid to put books we'll never read on this list but I'm just putting this out there:

MITs Sci-Fi society put this out there ... and ... I think they've made a good point.

Born to Run

I started running. I'm running a solid 4km once a week in a little over 20 minutes. Pretty hard to push myself but I want to go 6km soon. I have to train my body though. I barely finished 4 before ... but now I can clear it fairly well. I want to do the same thing but with 6km .... I just have to change my route. I feel as though I shouldn't finish my route every time. I feel as though it's mostly mental.

Anywho, here's a book about running that apparently a friend told me about:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Born-Run-Ultra-running-Super-athlete-Tribe/dp/1861978235