I have dipped in and out of this book, not a thorough reading at all. Here for my own purposes, I will record only the list of people towards the back of the book who have in some way epitomised knwoledge and occasionally wisdom, who might be worth knowing more about some time. This is … Continue reading Knowing what we know by Simon Winchester
In university in the early 90’s a group of us came across the Santa Fe Institute. It wasn’t part of the syllabus, it was an outgrowth of the discussions of a group of wonderful friends, studying mathematics, statistics and actuarial science: shout out to Greg, Steven in particular. If I recall correctly it was Greg … Continue reading Complexity – A Guided Tour by Melanie Mitchell and the Santa Fe Institute
Based on the book Dominion by Tom Holland, this post covers the period of the Enlightenment c 1750 through to the modern Era A Jewish student of Manasseh, Baruch Spinoza, expelled by the Jewish synagogue in Amserdam, in 1656, writes a book, his Theological-Political Treatise in defence of religious liberty. He brought a new philosophy, … Continue reading A brief history of Christianity (part 4 of 4)
Based on the book Dominion by Tom Holland. This post covers The discovery of the New World, the reformation period from c1500 to c1750 and overlaps with what we now call the Renaissance era… In Spain Isabella is queen of Castile, and her husband, king Ferdinand of the neighbouring realm of Aragon have pushed back … Continue reading A brief history of Christianity (Part 3 of 4)
Based on Tom Holland’s book Dominion. This section covers c1000 to c1500, including the Latin Reformatio, and the crusades. In c1025 some clerics in Orleans claimed there was no such thing as the church and are the first to be executed as heretics. Up to this point priests, unlike monks, had never pledged themselves to … Continue reading A brief history of Christianity (part 2 of 4)
This is based on my reading of Dominion by Tom Holland, who gives a detailed narrative the history of the development of Christianity and its influence on global thinking over two millennia. In the words of Jewish scholar Boyarin, Christianity emerges from the Roman Empire as ‘the most powerful of hegemonic cultural system in the … Continue reading A brief history of Christianity (1 of 4)
If you haven’t watched it, stop now, go and rent it, and watch Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One“ (RPO). The movie is set in “the Stacks”, a high density city of container homes situated in Columbus Ohio in 2045. It is a world where everyone spends most of their time online in Virtual Reality world … Continue reading Ready Player One: a vision of the future
What a brilliant novel. I will keep this short but suffice it to say, one of the best books I have read in many years, beautifully constructed. The story is historical fiction centred on a fictional industrialist pre World War One, built around a spy/murder who-dun-it plot. What makes it brilliant is the construction where … Continue reading Stone’s Fall by Iain Pears
This will be a short review of this Fantasy Novel recommended by a podcast, I took it up for holiday reading. It was a hard slog for me, 538 pages of very dense ornate prose, with a slow moving story. Sort of “Midnight in the garden of good and evil” set just outside of New … Continue reading Little, Big by John Crowley
This book was recommended by so many podcasts and work colleagues and I finally got around to reading it. It’s an excellent read I would thoroughly recommend it as one of the most potentially life changing reads you could complete. As a society we don’t understand sleep, and don’t value it. This book will change … Continue reading Why we sleep by Matthew Walker
Here's something that inspired me... 