Temples of Books

‘Temples of Books’ Is an Ode to the Grandeur and Democratic Ideals of Public Libraries

Colossal

Lots of lovely images of libraries. I can almost smell the books!! Click on the link or on the image below…

Predictor

This is a warning. Please read carefully.

By now you’ve probably seen a Predictor; millions of them have been sold by the time you’re reading this. For those who haven’t seen one, it’s a small device, like a remote for opening your car door. Its only features are a button and a big green LED. The light flashes if you press the button. Specifically, the light flashes one second before you press the button.

What’s expected of us | Nature

Short story by Ted Chiang, published by Nature.com in 2005, nearly twenty years ago. 

Thinking about free will is like thinking about afterlife or whether we have a soul. Could be an interesting debate but how useful is it? 

I imagine, if given enough information, AI could figure out my answer to most questions, most of the time. It would seem like magic.

I like the name Chiang would prefer to use instead of AI, which he terms a poor choice of words from the 1950’s: Applied Statistics. John Gruber suggested, and then retracted, adding the term System, for a better acronym.

Planta Sapiens

Current reading, after finishing two Inspector Gamache mysteries by Louise Penny, is Planta Sapiens, by Paco Calvo. 

Plants learn from experience: wild strawberries can be taught to link light intensity with nutrient levels in the soil, and flowers can time pollen production to pollinator visits. Plants have social intelligence, releasing chemicals from their roots and leaves to speak to and identify one another. They make decisions about where to invest their growth, judging risk based on the resources available. Their individual preferences vary, too—plants have personalities.

Planta Sapiens | Paco Calvo, Natalie Lawrence | W. W. Norton & Company

and

…he demonstrates that plants are not objects: they have their own agency. If we recognize plants as actors alongside us in the climate crisis—rather than seeing them simply as resources for carbon capture and food production—plants may just be able to help us tackle our most urgent problems.

Read a review of the book in the Guardian.

The book covers some familiar territory, after reading The Ways of Being, and I am looking forward to the experience.


Combine with looking at the website Crime Pays But Botany Doesn’t!!

 

Fado

Last year I read A Small Death in Lisbon and enjoyed it. This year I started reading another book, by the same author, that also takes place in and around Lisbon. Here is a character from the book The Company of Strangers, by Robert Wilson, speaking about Fado and Lisbon. This takes place in 1944.

The Portuguese controlled the trade that made food taste good… and then they lost it all and not only that… their capital was destroyed by a cataclysmic event. The earthquake. On All Souls Day, too. Most of the population were in church. Crushed by falling roofs. The flood and fire. The perils of Egypt, minus the plague and locusts, were visited on them in a few hours. So that’s where Fado comes from. Dwelling in and on the past. There are other things too. Men putting out to sea in boats and not always coming back. The women left behind to fend for themselves and to sing them back into existence. Yes, it’s a sad place, Lisbon, and fado provides the anthems. That’s why I don’t live there. Go there as little as possible.

It’s fun to recognize streets and squares and parks where the story takes place. The sadness the character describes, however, I don’t recognize today. Fado, Flamenco, the Blues, they are all more universal than any horrible event or terrible loss. To me, they speak of being human. There isn’t a family alive that hasn’t dealt with loss. It comes in different shapes and colors, but we all know it, we recognize it, and we feel its echo in the music.

(((I wonder whether some day sad music might be outlawed, as books are being outlawed now, because being sad can make us reflect on our lives, can make us introspective and less excited about climbing ladders and shopping.)))

Books

Think before you speak, read before you think.

— Fran Lebowitz