TED Talk Picks

   Lately I've been watching a lot less television.  Instead I've been
   listening to various podcasts and watching stuff via the internet.  One
   particularly rich source of interesting and instructive content is TED:
   "Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world"
     <http://www.ted.com/pages/about>
   "TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out
   (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds:
   Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever
   broader."

   Here's a selection of TED talks I've enjoyed watching recently...

   1. "Benjamin Zander on music and passion"
     <http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/benjamin_zander_on_music_and_passion.html>
   "Benjamin Zander has two infectious passions: classical music, and
   helping us all realize our untapped love for it -- and by extension,
   our untapped love for all new possibilities, new experiences, new
   connections."
   BTW the piece featured is Chopin's Prelude in E Minor, Op. 28 No. 4.

   2. "Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation"
     <http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html>
   "Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with
   a fact that social scientists know but most managers don't: Traditional
   rewards aren't always as effective as we think. Listen for illuminating
   stories -- and maybe, a way forward."

   3. "Barry Schwartz: Using our practical wisdom"
     <http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_using_our_practical_wisdom.html>
   "In an intimate talk, Barry Schwartz dives into the question 'How do we
   do the right thing?' With help from collaborator Kenneth Sharpe, he
   shares stories that illustrate the difference between following the
   rules and truly choosing wisely."

   4. "Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on flow"
     <http://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow.html>
   "Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi asks, 'What makes a life worth living?' Noting
   that money cannot make us happy, he looks to those who find pleasure and
   lasting satisfaction in activities that bring about a state of 'flow.'"

   5. "Alain de Botton: A kinder, gentler philosophy of success"
     <http://www.ted.com/talks/alain_de_botton_a_kinder_gentler_philosophy_of_success.html>
   "Alain de Botton examines our ideas of success and failure -- and
   questions the assumptions underlying these two judgments. Is success
   always earned? Is failure? He makes an eloquent, witty case to move
   beyond snobbery to find true pleasure in our work."

   6. "Dan Gilbert asks, Why are we happy?"
     <http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html>
   "Dan Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness, challenges the idea that
   we’ll be miserable if we don’t get what we want. Our 'psychological
   immune system' lets us feel truly happy even when things don’t go as
   planned."

   7. "Clifford Stoll on ... everything"
     <http://www.ted.com/talks/clifford_stoll_on_everything.html>
   "Clifford Stoll captivates his audience with a wildly energetic
   sprinkling of anecdotes, observations, asides -- and even a science
   experiment. After all, by his own definition, he's a scientist: 'Once I
   do something, I want to do something else.'"

Mini-Reviews of Books Read, April 2011

   For a few reasons, April turned out to be bit of a lean reading month.
   Quite by chance, all four of the novels I did manage to read were the
   first novels for each author.  My pick, if you're up to something
   challenging, is "The Solitude of Prime Numbers", the debut novel by
   Paolo Giordano.  For something a little easier, try Chekhov's "The
   Shooting Party".


   1. "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe
     <http://www.amazon.com/Things-Fall-Apart/dp/0385474547>

   The novel is set in the late 19th Century in Umuofia, a fictional
   village in what is now Nigeria.  Okonkwo is a proud, tradition-bound
   warrior and prominent clansmen of his tribe.  Early in life he sought
   to make amends for lazy, debt-ridden and "unmanly" father.  After
   gaining prestige in battle, and working hard on his farm, he achieved
   an important rank in the community.  However, his hot-temper causes an
   incident that would bring dishonour and exile.

   Greater challenges await for Okonkwo after his return from exile, with
   the arrival of white colonists and their new ways.  Okonkwo fears tribal
   culture is unravelling, and wants to prevent this.  In the face of
   change, he is an immovable object about to be met by an irresistible
   force.

   This was an interesting and thought-provoking story.  The author doesn't
   try to glorify pre-colonial life in West Africa, but rather he describes
   it as it was.  The novel was well-received when it was published in
   1958, and is apparently widely read in schools.


   2. "The Shooting Party" by Anton Chekhov
     <http://www.amazon.com/Shooting-Party/dp/0140448985>

   Chekhov is mostly renowned for his short stories and plays.  This story,
   while not very long, is his only "full-length" novel.  It's a murder
   mystery, told in the form of a story within a story.

   Zinovyev, a former investigating magistrate, visits an editor with a
   novel he has written about one of his old cases.  In that novel, a young
   woman, Olga, has been found murdered, and Zinovyev is entrusted with the
   investigation.  The actual murder doesn't take place until well into the
   novel.  The plot leading up to the murder and the subsequent "investi-
   gation" portrays most of the characters in an unflattering light.  In
   fact, several of the main male characters have had their eye on the
   beautiful, but sadly now dead "girl in red".  First, there's the jilted
   husband, Urbenin, estate manager for Count Karneyev.  The Count was
   Olga's latest beau and she had recently moved in with him.  We also
   learn that Zinovyev (i.e. the author) had had an affair with Olga.
   Drunkards, gypsies and uncouth peasants also round out the cast.

   It's obvious to the reader (and this includes the editor) that the
   magistrate has a conflict of interest, which influences both the
   investigation and the telling of the story.  After the "inner" story
   ends, the editor confronts Zinovyev with his theories about the murder.

   I enjoyed this novel.  It's nowhere near as long as novels by Chekhov's
   Russian contemporaries, so that's not an excuse.  My only real complaint
   is that the translation of Russian peasant speech as Cockney English did
   grate a bit.  This seems to be common for British translations of
   Russian novels set in the 19th Century.  Fortunately it doesn't detract
   too much from this entertaining novel.


   3. "The Solitude of Prime Numbers" by Paolo Giordano
     <http://www.amazon.com/Solitude-Prime-Numbers/dp/B0040RMEEO>

   This is the story of two damaged individuals, both haunted by events in
   their childhood.  Alice, left with a permanent limp after a skiing
   accident, develops an eating disorder.  Mattia, who feels responsible
   for the disappearance of his twin sister, inflicts pain on himself.  The
   pair meet up in high school, and an unlikely friendship begins.

   Mattia has managed to take advantage of his solitude, developing an
   interest in numbers into a promising career as a mathematician.  After
   completing his degree, he accepts a research post at a foreign
   university.  This is an opportunity to escape his parents and his past
   Alice doesn't do quite as well scholastically, but manages to use her
   passion for photography to get a job as an assistant for a commercial
   photographer.

   The relationship between Alice and Mattia is close but they're not a
   typical girlfriend/boyfriend.  At various times they individually
   consider taking things further, but circumstances always intervene.  At
   one point Alice reflects: "she and Mattia were united by an elastic and
   invisible thread that could exist only between two people like
   themselves: two people who had acknowledged their own solitude, each
   within the other."  Mattia sees themselves as two prime numbers, close
   but always separated by at least one other number.  As the book's title
   suggests, Mattia's meditations on prime numbers get right to the core
   of the novel's theme.

   This is a challenging book.  In addition to the two main characters,
   many of those around them have their own flaws and issues with
   intimacy.  The story is told through a series of key episodes in the
   lives of Alice and Mattia, rather than as a single, flowing narrative.
   Overall, it's an unforgettable and poignant story about flawed and
   enigmatic individuals.

   In 2008 Giordano received the Premio Strega, awarded to the best work
   of prose fiction by an Italian author.


   4. "The Big Sleep" by Raymond Chandler
     <http://www.amazon.com/Big-Sleep/dp/0394758285>

   Philip Marlowe is the original private eye.  For $25 a day plus
   expenses, he'll go about his work discreetly.  Poor old General
   Sternwood has a couple of tearaway daughters, Vivian and Carmen, who
   look for trouble and never fail to find it.  One of his daughters is
   the subject of a blackmail attempt, so the General hires Marlowe to
   get to the bottom of it.

   Set in Los Angeles' underworld of the late 1930s, the brash characters
   and snappy dialog keep the story moving at a fast clip.  Maybe a bit
   too fast, since it does get a little confusing at times.  Marlowe seems
   to stumble across guns-out action wherever he goes.  Yet luck always
   seems to be on his side.

   In its day it was hailed as a new, distinctive type of crime novel.
   While it mostly still holds up, the long trail of imitators and its
   ongoing influence in film and television have diminished its impact
   these days.  For example, growing up I've watched a lot of PIs on TV:
   The Rockford Files, Charlie's Angels, Magnum P.I., Moonlighting,
   Remington Steele, etc.  While set in different eras, they do share
   the plot twists, wisecracks and underworld intrigue.

   A movie was made in 1946, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
   I don't remember having watched it, but with those stars, one can
   imagine the fireworks.