Tuesday, November 22, 2016

The Memory Illusion by Dr. Julia Shaw

This book's full title is The Memory Illusion: Why you might not be who you think you are. We have semantic and episodic memory. It is the episodic one that defines us. However, any event, no matter how important, emotional or traumatic can be forgotten, misremembered or even entirely fictitious. This is interesting stuff. The author, Dr. Julia Shaw has her own web site here.

There are good reviews at Good Reads. The book was well received and appreciated. I understand that as we can understand that our memories are not perfect (and neither is anyone else's). There is an interesting review by Jon Hernandez on CBC News. Brian Bethune wrote a good review in the Maclean's Magazine.

There is a good interview on her site here. Dr. Julia Shaw also wrote an article for Scientific American. There is an interesting video by Dr. Julia Shaw on YouTube. This video is how to plant false memories and it is on YouTube.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

Friday, November 18, 2016

The Bonobo and the Atheist by Frans de Waal

This book’s full title is The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates by Frans de Waal. This is an absolutely wonderful book. But I am sure that he rattled a number of people with his views. Saying that he went easy on religion is only the mildest comment.

I cannot help but agree with him in calling Christopher Hitchens an Evangelical Atheist. I think some people have made atheism into a religion. I also think that some people have made socialism into a religion. When people only talk dogma and that their way is the only true way, to be it sounds like religion. There are religious people who do not respect other people’s beliefs or opinion. However, there are atheists who are exactly the same.

I am sorry, but agree with Frans de Waal. I grew up in going to the Presbyterian Church. The churches I was exposed to were places where people were not afraid to question anything. I am not religious, but I am also not against it. I just do like Fundamentalist. I think that communism is the fundamentalist form of socialism and this to me explains its murderous bent.

Of course there are some good reviews on Good Reads. Frans de Waal certainly hit a nerve with some reviewers. I do like the review by W. W. Norton on Scientific American. Tessa Kendall puts out a well-written review on The Guardian.

AC Grayling takes a short at Frans de Waal light pass on religion at Prospect Magazine. Here Tessa Kendall defends Frans de Waal on her Blog.

Frans de Waal talks about Moral behavior in animals on TED. Werner Haag talks about Frans de Waal at the Atheist Community of San Jose. Science journalist Lone Frank interviews Frans de Waal.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Edward III by Richard Barber

This book's full title is Edward III and The Triumph of England; The Battle of Crecy and the Company of the Garter. I love English History and I have read a lot of it. I found this book quite enjoyable, but only half of it was really about Edward, the other half was information about knights.

There is a good review by Ben Wild in The Guardian. He is right that reading the book can be a bit frustrating at times. I just went with it and tried to just seat back and enjoy the ride. There is also another great review by Nigel Jones in The Telegraph. For both these reviews, I loved the included illustrations. Often British newspaper reviews are the best and of course there is nothing comparable to English History books for there to be lots of English Newspaper reviews. Ian Mortimer wrote a review at History Today. It is a rather odd book and not typically the way history is written. But it has its charms.

There is an interesting article on the Battle of Crecy at Crecy Museum site. Edward's victory over the French at Crecy on 26 August 1346 astounded all of Christendom. I cannot find any video by Richard Barber but he has an entry in Wikipedia. He has his own website here.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.