It is interesting to note that bible presses permanently attach bookmarks to their bibles for use in church or prayer groups. Proof of attention to subtle detail in spreading the word.
I left my ‘main’ book at home today, so at lunch I continued with Letters from the Earth, by Mark Twain. (I’m only just beginning to really appreciate his sense of humor.)
FYI… There are several of his (e-)books on Amazon for Kindle on the iPhone for free.
Take care,
Derek
Have you ever read his essay The War Prayer? It ranks with Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal as brilliant social commentary.
Has anybody read What Darwin Got Wrong? I am still deciding if I should get it. If you’ve read it, what did you think?
Fodor’s new book? It’s gotten horrible reviews by virtually everyone who knows anything about evolution. Fodor has had it in for an evolutionary approach to the mind throughout his entire career, FWIW.
We regret that two such distinguished authors have decided to publish a book so cavalier in its treatment of a serious science, so full of apparently scholarly discussions that rest on mistakes and confusions—and so predictably ripe for making mischief.
The clue is given at the end, when the authors start to quote - as examples of dreadful Darwinism - claims that human nature might have been fashioned by natural selection. At the beginning of their book, they proudly claim to be atheists. Perhaps so. But my suspicion is that, like those scorned Christians, Fodor and Piattelli-Palmarini just cannot stomach the idea that humans might just be organisms, no better than the rest of the living world. We have to be special, superior to other denizens of Planet Earth.
The Quants:How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It by Scott Patterson.
This is a very interesting read. The over reliance on algorithms and the belief in their own infallibility, the hubris, of these
seriously intelligent people knows no bounds.
Having just finished Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable I can’t help but think
if the quants could have read this tome we could have avoided Aug/Sept 2007 or at least the worst of it.
Ever Since Darwin by Stephen Jay Gould - kind of dated, but interesting nonetheless. Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris
finishing Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond - just need to finish the last chapter. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - worth another read.
a barrage of baby books - seeing as I’m a new father - including some Piaget…
Interesting piece… The ending was sadly not surprising. 
