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What have I been reading?

The God Delusion – 6 reprints already!

By on October 20, 2006 in Uncategorized

Wow. It seems that Richard Dawkins’ new book has been reprinted 6 times since it was release in September. it’s selling like hotcakes. A quote from the publisher:

Publishing Director Sally Gaminara, who commissioned the book for Bantam Press, said she had always thought the book would be a success. She said: “We have had the book reprinted six times and it was only published at the end of September. That’s an awful lot for a hardback book. I always have high hopes for my books and always tipped this book to sell well since the day I read the manuscript and thought it was absolutely wonderful. The book is very much of its time, with an increasing amount of conflict over religion. I do see this book on top of the bestseller list at Christmas. It is an ideal present — how many people celebrate Christmas for religious reasons?

Happy days.

The God Delusion – Richard Dawkins

By on October 14, 2006 in Uncategorized

I finished Richard Dawkins new book The God Delusion last week. I’m not sure many people will be surprised to learn that I agree with the points and argument presented in the book almost completely. There are a few minor points that I don’t agree totally with. One being the invocation of the The Anthropic Principle, in the guise of a planetary version, in relation to the discussion of the origins of life on Earth. I don’t think it’s required. Obviously as the Earth contains life then, from a weak anthropic standpoint, the conditions we find on Earth must be favourable. But I don’t think we need to invoke a planetary version of the Anthropic Principle for this. Dawkins argues that the formation of the original life was probably a very improbable event but given the number of stars and planets in our galaxy, indeed the Universe, then if on even a very, very small number of these planets such an improbable event occurred then there would be many planets where life had started. We just happen to be living on one of them.

I’m comfortable with the Anthropic Principle (the weak form) when used in relation to the Universe. If the Universe didn’t have laws that allowed creation of stars, planets etc. then we simply wouldn’t be here to ponder and discuss it. But I don’t think we need to use it to explain the origins of life. The laws of chemistry show that molecules self assemble. So in any environment that has the correct chemicals then I think molecules will form and some of those molecules will be able to catalyse the formation of copies of themselves. Some will be better at this than others and therefore will be subject to Darwinian natural selection. Thus in any system where molecules can form and compete for resources we have the first step up the far side of Dawkins’ Mount Improbable.

The God Delusion is a wonderful book. Everyone should read it. Seems many are as it’s top of many best seller lists and has had several reprints to take the number in print, in just 2 weeks, to 100,000+. I promised several people a review of the book here. I plan to read it again and record references in Endnote for future use in discussions with creationists and ID proponents. I’ll post more comprehensive thoughts after that. But the bottom line is get a copy and read it.

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The Trouble with Lichen – John Wyndham

By on August 5, 2006 in Uncategorized

I finished Wyndham’s The Trouble with Lichen a few days ago. It was all right. Nothing special. Certainly not as good as the other 3 of his books I’ve read recently and outlined in previous posts. This I’ll take a break from Wyndham for a while. Reading Getting Things Done by David Allen at present to try and get a handle on all the different projects and tasks I have on the go. Certainly need the help!

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The Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham

By on July 25, 2006 in Uncategorized

I couldn’t resist. I had to put Oxygen aside and get into The Day of the Triffids. Like my post about The Kraken Wakes I found this book to be different from what I expected it to be. The Triffids are largely incidental to most of he book. The main theme is the collapse of society after an event makes most people blind. Of course if you can’t see the Triffids you are in trouble…

All in all a very enjoyable read. Next up Wyndham’s The Trouble with Lichen. It’s got a periodic table on the cover so it’s bound to be good! 🙂

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Dune (The Movie)

By on July 12, 2006 in Uncategorized

Watched the 1984 version of Dune on DVD today (it’s a holiday in Northern Ireland). If ever a film needed an extra hour added its this one. It’s not often you hear people asking for scenes to be added to a film. I don’t think it would be possible to understand the film if you haven’t read the book. Urban legend says that the first cut of the movie was 5 hours long. Interviews in the DVD Extras reveal that David Lynch wanted to release a 3-hour version in theatres but the producers wanted a 2-hour cut. Lynch was correct I think. It’s interesting in this era of long films that in the 1980’s it was deemed that a 3-hour release would be too long. Hopefully one day we will see a restored David Lynch Director’s Cut.

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The Kraken Wakes – John Wyndham

By on July 12, 2006 in Uncategorized

I’ve been on a bit of a John Wyndham binge lately. Sparked off by rereading The Chrysalids. Fuelled by The Midwich Cuckoos. Just finished The Kraken Wakes. It was really good. If anything it was too short as the end seemed a bit rushed and maybe has a bit of a deus ex machina quality to it. The story itself was nothing like I thought it was going to be. I did expect sea monsters à la those encountered by Captain Nemo 🙂

It’s not like that at all. The story is told as a retrospective account of events by a pair of journalists who are husband and wife. Due to their position they have access to important characters and events. I like the way it’s done, apart from the rushed ending. Like in The Chrysalids I want to know what happened next! The character interactions towards the end of the book reminded me a lot of Adam Roberts’ The Snow. Wyndham’s book was first though I’m sure many others have used similar themes. I’m starting to think of Wyndham in the same terms as H.G. Wells. I’ve got The Day of the Triffids sitting here and three other books of his on order. I think I’ll take a break though and read Oxygen by Nick Lane as I’ve been wanting to get into that for a while.

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Good Omens – Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

By on July 3, 2006 in General

I first read this book when it came out years ago. I lost my copy a few years ago when I lent it to a mate and never got it back (Brian – you own me a pint!). I bought a new copy from Amazon UK recently as the release of the remake of the Omen film gave me the urge to read it again. It’s brilliant. It tells the story of the antichrist growing up on Earth after there is a mix up at the maternity clinic. Rather than being raised as the son of an American diplomat, he ends up in Lower Tadfield in middle England. He therefore doesn’t get the required demonic education…

There are several strands to the book that are expertly tied together at the end. Good stuff. It also contains a very interesting insight in the music of Queen and car stereos!

The Chrysalids – John Wyndham

By on May 21, 2006 in Uncategorized

I took the urge to reread John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids a few days ago. Don’t know what made it pop into my head. I’d dumped my old paperback copy, that I’d had since secondary school, in a book bin at the local recycling centre a few months ago. So I ordered a copy from Amazon UK along with a copy of The Midwich Cuckoos.

I read a bit of The Chrysalids over a few nights but last night I was up to 03:30 finishing it. It really is an excellent read. I won’t outline the plot or anything about it as that’d be a spoiler for anyone who hasn’t read it. I’d highly recommend it. It’s a pity that there was never a sequel. Not that the the story is left needing one, but I’d like to know what happened to the characters in the years after the end of the book. On to The Midwich Cuckoos. I’ve never read this but it was the filmed as as Village of the Damned and dramatised on BBC Radio 4 about 3 years ago. I’ve got the BBC one on my iPod. It’s excellent.