More Ramblings From Afar

Books: Bones of the Earth

2007-02-13T16:22:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading Michael Swanwick's Bones of the Earth. Yes, I know, I know, I was reading Freedom & Necessity, well I got distracted by this. I've been wanting to read more stuff by Michael Swanwick ever since I read The Iron Dragon's Daughter which was a phenomenal book, so when I came across this I simply had to snap it up. Originally I was a little sceptical about the dinosaurs all over the cover, and some of the blurbs seem to make this sound like it was a rehash of Jurassic Park, but it was Michael Swanwick after all so I gave it a go.

So here's my mini-review (and then I'm going back to Freedom & Necessity).

The premise of Bones of the Earth is an interesting one. Inhabitants of Earth’s distant future have established a system of time travel and have made it available for use to palaeontologists of the 21^st century to study the Mesozoic era. In return, they are expected to use the system responsibly and avoid the creation of paradoxes that may tamper with time. It seems like a godsend to the scientific community, but this gift threatens to become a dangerous tool in the hands of mavericks looking to bolster their own reputations, and to fanatical ideologues looking to destroy ‘Darwinian heresy’ and prove creationism. And there are a few who wonder just why their ‘benefactors’ from the future have established this system in the first place.

In terms of narrative structure, characterisation and quality of prose, Swanwick displays once again his inventiveness and literary ability. Bones of the Earth starts off well, with a pacey narrative and interesting characters. The structure of this tale of time travel is also interesting, with plot twists and surprising developments unfolding swiftly one after the other. Michael Swanwick juggles the complexities of cause and effect and time-travel paradoxes gracefully and intelligently, building an intriguing mystery and making for a compelling storyline. With different narrative threads featuring different characters at different times to follow, one might think that there is a danger of the author getting tangled in a cat’s cradle of narratives, but this never happens.

The book does however, seem to somewhat lose focus towards the end, when the author chooses a narrative thread to follow which, while having its high points, doesn’t quiet satisfy in terms of providing explanations in the most satisfying manner. Indeed it feels as if what should be the main climax of the story is brushed over quickly in order to move to the denouement.

That said, Bones of the Earth is a compelling and well written novel. Any fears that a book that features dinosaurs so prominently on the cover will be “sci-fi lite” are unfounded. This is first and foremost a work of speculative fiction, rooted firmly in the great science fiction themes of time travel and evolution, with dinosaurs being a secondary (though also provocatively handled) feature. More generally, the book is also an impassioned defence of scientific endeavour, and on this level is succeeds most admirably.

IZ

Book: Hominids

2007-02-18T03:56:00.000-08:00

The first in a trilogy called “The Neanderthal Parallax” Hominids is a book that uses various debates and discussions in paleo-anthropology, evolutionary psychology and socio-biology to posit a world in which Neanderthals rather than Sapiens are the highest evolved intelligent life form (more on that later). Through an accident that occurs while working on a quantum computer, a Neanderthal physicist is dropped into our (parallel universe) world – where Neanderthals died out tens of thousands of years ago (or according to another theory were bred out of existence) and homo sapiens became the dominant species. The Neanderthal spends the next few days learning about and debating various features of our social world with various humans. Like Voltaire’s Candide, or Usbek in The Persian Letters he is an outsider who reveals the flaws, follies and contradictions that are part and parcel of our world, including sexual mores, the institution of the family, notions of privacy and liberty, ecological destruction, religion, racial discrimination and capitalism.

What first drew me (and I suspect will draw many others) to this book was the fact that it won the Hugo Award for best Science Fiction Novel in 2003. Despite the Hugo Award having been awarded to some real clunkers in the recent past (Forever Peace anyone?) this is why I decided to give the book a chance, though I thought I would read it before forking out any cash on any of the rest of the trilogy. My qualms were due, to a large extent, to the many negative reader reviews I came across on amazon.com, accusing the book of being too didactic in tone, or too thin on plot, or even playing too fast and loose with science, or, predictably enough, too harsh on the finest achievements of human civilization. After reading the book through its only the accusation of dodgy science that seems to have merit.

Hominids is a throw back to the golden age social science fiction of the 50s and early 60s. Many of its tropes are similar, many of its themes have already been explored in one way or another by several stalwarts of the sf canon. Despite this, it stands on its own feet as a exemplar of the genre and a fine synthesis of these themes with modern scientific ideas. The science is subordinated to the needs of the story and Sawyer’s deft, uncomplicated prose makes for a smooth read. If you’re like me, and not overly credulous of many of the claims made by either evolutionary psychology or socio-biology, you may raise an eyebrow at how Sawyer believes the biological differences between homo sapiens and homo neanderthalis would have been the basis of a radically different society, but this is a minor point and doesn't have any bearing on the enjoyment of the book. As an example he posits that the Neanderthals' heavy reliance on a meat diet and significantly greater musculature would have meant that they would not take to agriculture or domesticate animals for labour which would have set lower limits to how much their population could grow, which in turn would affect the ecological impact of their society. At the same time, Sawyer posits that their impressive tool making abilities and the fact that their brains were 12% larger than that of homo sapiens would have meant that they would have been able to develop technologically. Also particularly interesting is how he feels gender relationships would develop differently based on the Neanderthals highly developed sense of smell.

This is all fair enough, but there is some dodgy use of science later in the book, where Sawyer tries to marry concepts of quantum entanglement, the notion of parallel universes and the rise of human consciousness. God as a unified network of human consciousness is not a new idea (the anime Serial Experiment Lain touched on this idea), and the notion of a "divine" observer that pegs each quantum event one to another in a chain that essentially creates reality (or verifies one reality over all possible others) has also been explored before in fiction (Dan Simmons’ The Hollow Man was one example). Both are intriguing concepts in their own ways. My problem is that the theory put forward by one of Sawyer’s characters puts Man, i.e. human beings (whether homo sapiens or homo neanderthalis), very much at the centre of the universe. The idea is far too anthropocentric, even for a non-gaian like me. And claiming that consciousness exists only in humans, and that too in humans only from 40,000 years ago (when we have the first significant evidence of art, religion and “sophisticated” tool making) seems to be tough to swallow.

Still, be that as it may, the science in the book never eclipses the narrative and I for one, unlike some readers, never felt that it was being rammed down my throat. Some fans of hard-sf are very exacting in their demands of the science of a sf book, but like I had said earlier, this is primarily a work of social science fiction and not hard sf. The science is necessitated by the narrative and not the other way round. The book’s greatest asset is that it is well written, has engaging characters, a swift-flowing narrative and much food for thought. Its these elements that drew me into the book, so much so that before I was finished, I had gone out and bought the next two in the series, Humans and Hybrds.

1000 and Counting!

2007-02-23T15:46:00.000-08:00

Ladies and gentlemen, I bid you all doff your caps to commemorate a most auspicious event - the acquisition of my 1000th (that's right, one thousandth) fiction book.

And the book that has the fortune of being the millennial work of (prose) fiction in my library is 'Whit' by Iain Banks. Needless to say, I shall dive into reading it as soon as possible and then post up my thoughts on it here. I'm quiet looking forward to it - it seems like a most interesting read.

I now have 1009 works of fiction in my library.

My recorded non-fiction library currently stands at 474. And for those of you who are simply dying to know, the 474th book is Cloak and Gown, Robin W. Winks' historical study of the connection between scholars from Yale and the OSS (which would later become the CIA) from 1939 to 1961.

I have the original hardback which has a different cover, but this one looks kind of cool too, so there you go.

IZ

Book: Humans

2007-03-05T07:06:00.000-08:00

Humans turns out to be a somewhat tepid follow-up to the fascinating Hominids. The story picks up where it left off in the previous book and revolves around the growing relationship between the Neanderthal Ponter and the human Mary (technically Neanderthals are also human, but for brevity’s sake I'm using the term to stand for Homo Sapiens). Mary travels with Ponter to her world as the portal between the two alternate Earths is opened up for trade. There we get a closer look at Neanderthal society as Mary tries to adjust to its norms. Ponter also finds that he has to come to term with how his time on our Earth and his love for Mary has changed him.

In terms of plot structure and inventiveness, Humans is inferior to its predecessor. Ponter and Mary aside, the other supporting characters don’t develop at all and seem to recede into the background. None of the new characters take on three dimensions. We don’t see much of Neanderthal society that we haven’t already seen before. Even the social and political ramifications of the establishment of links between the two worlds is avoided altogether. The only plot threads with any weight are those of the love between Ponter and Mary and Ponter’s growing ambiguity about religion – a concept he had initially dismissed as illogical and even detrimental to the functioning of a well-adjusted society. These are interesting themes but neither are handled well enough to give the book the kind of depth and pull of Hominids.

This is not to say that Humans is a poor read. Sawyer’s prose is as fluid and easy on the eye as ever, and our interest in this interweaving of the two Earths carries over from the first book. The urge to discover what happens next provides a powerful incentive to keep reading. All in all, it’s a decent read and forms a bridge to the third book that is sufficiently entertaining, for the reader to want to complete the journey.

IZ

DM of the Rings!

2007-05-22T06:32:00.000-07:00

This is one of the funniest web-comics I've ever come across. Its a hilarious look at Lord of the Rings, as if it were an AD&D campaign that today's players were playing through.

Particularly funny if you have at any point in time played AD&D. Even funnier if you have been a DM in an AD&D game.

Here's a taste:
Now go to the site and read it from the beginning

IZ

Hell, its About Time!

2007-05-22T06:55:00.000-07:00

Ah... its been a long time coming. But now its finally on its way.
IZ

P.S. User-Friendly is another amusing web-comic.

It's About Time - Part II

2007-05-27T03:29:00.001-07:00

It's so true!

IZ

Blair at War

2007-06-07T01:21:00.000-07:00

Last week we took the opportunity to visit the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery at Trafalgar Square. Alas, we went a day too late to catch the sight of the square covered in grass. From the look of this photo from the bbc website it would have been a sight worth seeing.

Still we got to see the statue of one of my favourite imperialist wannabe-conquerors, Charles Napier (I'll try and explain why I like him so much in another post - possibly on my other blog). It was alas a dreary, rainy day. Here's a photograph I took of the National Gallery:

But the topic of this post is an exhibition we chanced upon at the National Portrait Gallery - a photo-essay called Blair at War. In the run up to the Iraq war, photojournalist Nick Danziger and Times correspondant Peter Stothard were given access to the PM and his cabinet. This exhibition showcases some of Danziger's photographs and its really an extraordinary insight into those times.

Much has been made of one photograph in particular, which was taken in the ante-chamber of the PM's office in Downing Street. In an article where he talks about this and another photograph, Stothard tells us:

It is 7.55am on March 20. The Americans have dropped their “shock and awe” on Baghdad somewhat earlier than their best ally had been expecting. Before the first War Cabinet meets its members are musing on how they heard the news: Gordon Brown from the BBC World Service, Jack Straw from a policeman pummelling at his door, David Blunkett from Radio Five Live.

And to make matters worse:

The current Prime Minister is on this occasion out of shot. Tony Blair, no slouch now at war leadership himself, is behind the closed door to the right – with his chief of staff and security chiefs, in the meeting which ministers suspect is “the real meeting”.

Here's the photo:

So that's how the British cabinet came to learn they were at war. Read the full article here, its quite interesting. Stothard has also blogged about it here. Zoe Williams in a piece for the Guardian also points out:

The woman on the right, looking like the "don't" photo in a dos and don'ts of how to mingle at a party, is Joan Hammell, special adviser to John Prescott. Subsequent photo-reporting will show her to be at the very core of Prescott's entourage.... Here, she is being actively excluded by these grim-faced men.

And then ends with this ringing endorsement of the Blair cabinet:

Before you even consider that they are on the wrong side of the door anyway (which, furthermore, is locked), these are still the last people you would want to be in charge of anything. You wouldn't let them babysit.

Not only did the cabinet have no clue that the war had been launched, but they were excluded from direct briefings about the course of the war by the military and intelligence chiefs. Stothard quotes a member of the cabinet as saying he was expecting explanations, but rarely received any.

The socialist worker also has a good article about the exhibition, as well as images of a couple more of the photographs. There's a very good one of Jacques Chirac lecturing Blair, having "waved away his aides and interpreters to give Blair his direct opinion on events". Chirac, you will recall was the most vocal global leader to oppose the war.

To round up I've leave you with this image of Bush and Blair with assorted aides at Camp David soon after the war had begun (from the National Gallery site). Nick Dazinger called it the 'Reservoir Dogs shot' because it mirrors the image of the opening scene of the Tarentino movie Reservoir Dogs. Heres the photo side by side with a still from the movie (taken from filmreference.com):

Reservoir Dogs is a movie about an attempted heist that goes spectacularly wrong and ends in a tragic bloodbath. Sound familiar?

IZ

Neat Photography - Grace Weston & David Alesworth

2007-06-19T13:49:00.000-07:00

Check out Grace Weston's website.

Some amazing photography, mostly using children's toys, like this:

I found this on Neatorama. Some interesting stuff on there.

Grace Weston's work kind of reminded me of some of the photography of a former colleague of mine, David Alesworth. Unfortunately I can't find much in terms of his work on line except for this picture that was titled 'Snow White and Bubble Boy':

Its one in a series of fabulous photographs of second hand toys found at Itwar Bazaar. I've tried fishing around on the internet but alas can't find much of David's work at all. He has a website, which does not seem to have been tended much apart from the main page and there is a section on him here at the website of the Vasl international artist's collective, but little else apart from that.

That's a real pity because David really has a keen aesthetic sense and a real eye for possibilities and incongruities that make him a stand-out photographer. He's a sculptor by training but his sculpture has never resonated with me in the way his photography has. I don't pretend to have seen a great deal of his work, but some of his photographs have to be amongst the most interesting visual art that's come out of Pakistan in the last decade and a half.

IZ

Sanjay Subrahmanyam on Naipaul

2007-10-31T23:38:00.000-07:00

Sanjay Subrahmanyam has some very interesting insights into Naipaul and his views in his review of Naipaul's latest book of essays in the London Review of Books here.

The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans

2007-07-30T04:17:00.000-07:00

An interesting review of Jean Pfaelzer's book at the NYT.

“Driven Out” cites records of more than 100 roundups, pogroms, expulsions and ethnic cleansings (to use Pfaelzer’s various terms for these actions) in which white Westerners united to drive the Chinese out of their communities from 1850 to 1906. They used warnings, arson, boycotts and violence to achieve their goal. In many circumstances, labor organizations led the campaigns, casting the Chinese as competitors for jobs and depressors of wages. But middle-class civic leaders often acted in alliance with workers.

Tintin's Problematic Past

2007-07-20T02:50:00.000-07:00

I loved the Tintin comics when I was a young lad, and they still hold a place of affection in my heart. Recently controversy seems to be swirling around the publication of 'Tintin in the Congo', one of the two early Tintin works that had never been previously printed in English (along with 'Tintin in the Land of the Soviets'). The author/illustrator of the comics, Herge himself had distanced himself from these early works before his death in 1983.

The works were problematic firstly because they were written as propaganda pieces - the one meant to educate Belgian youth about the evils of communism; the other meant to illustrate the benefits of Belgian colonialism. It is the second that has drawn opprobrium, with the Commission for Racial Equality in England insisting that it is not suitable for sale to children due to its use of offensive racial stereotypes. The other reason they are problematic, was because they were created as a comic strip for a far right Belgian newspaper that became the mouthpiece of the Belgian fascist party in the 1930s, and whose leading lights were collaborators with the Nazi occupation in World War 2. (For an interesting discussion of Herge, Tintin and his changing relationship with fascism, check out this informative article in the Guardian.)

For a taste of Tintin in the Congo, check out this excerpt. Interestingly enough, this is from the revised version from which Herge removed even more objectionable sequences such as when Tintin educates the natives about their motherland - Belgium. (This brings to mind the Algerian-French movie Indigienes (Days of Glory) in which North African troops sign up to fight to liberate the 'fatherland' from the Germans in World War 2). Despite these changes, Herge was happy for the titles to drop into obscurity, calling them "sins of my youth".

Herge often revised many of his works. The Land of Black Gold originally had a storyline set in Mandate Palestine with a three way war between the Zionist Irgun, Arabs and the British. The story was dropped, incomplete, because Herge considered it impolitic to continue the story under Nazi rule. After the end of WW2 he went back and rewrote the story, setting it in a fictional Arab country and leaving out the Irgun. In Tintin and the Shooting Star, anti-semitic scenes of Jews celebrating the impending end of the world because they will not have to repay their debts were cut, and the evil New York Jewish millionaire Blumenstein was changed to a banker named Bohlwinkel from fictional Sao Rico.

The condemnation of Tintin in Congo and the move by some bookshops to remove it from the children's section and stock it in the adult graphic novels section has been condemned with histrionic cries of censorship and 'political correctness gone insane' as well as 'left Nazism' etc.

But personally I think its the right thing to do. While the gentler racism of some of the later Tintin works can grate, there is much in the books to recommend them for kids, particularly Tintin's insistence on support for the underdogs and the oppressed, and a growing awareness of some of the issues of race in some of the books (attributed to Herge's friendship with the real life Chang Chong-Chen). As the Guardian article puts it:

It was a meeting, a friendship, which was to change Hergé’s life. All of a sudden, Tintin appeared to grow up. In China, in the story called Blue Lotus, he begins by defending a rickshaw driver who has had an accident with a westerner, who beats him, shouting, "Dirty little Chinaman! To barge into a white man!" Later, the white man complains to his friends, "What’s the world coming to? Can’t we even teach that yellow rabble to mind their manners now? It’s up to us to civilise the savages!"

But Tintin in Congo is a different kettle of fish - an outright propaganda piece written to promote the civilising mission of Belgian rule in Congo. Anyone who has read Adam Hochschild's book, 'King Leopold's Ghost' about the horrors of Belgian rule in the Congo would be as disgusted with Tintin in Congo as they would by a comic that promoted Nazi rule and its mission to promote 'racial purity'. The genocides perpetuated by both regimes were, after all, similar in scale. (6 million by the Nazis, 8 million by the Belgians.)

Personally I think its right to keep it in the adult comic books section rather than the kiddie section of the bookstore. Parents are free to buy it for their children, but at least they will be aware that there is problematic content in it of which they should be aware.

What's interesting is reading all the angry posts online railing against PC-ness. Many go on to say things like there is nothing racist about the book, or assert that colonialism was such a wonderful thing and look what a mess the Africans are in without our benevolent hands guiding their lives etc.

Sad.

Here's an excellent blog article on the affair.

IZ

William Dalrymple [and Tipu Sultan]

2007-07-16T11:49:00.000-07:00

I came across William Dalrymple's website while browsing. Dalrymple is of course the author of the excellent travel/history books 'City of Djinns' and 'From the Holy Mountain', as well as the author of a collection of articles about South Asia 'The Age of Kali' and the excellent history book 'White Mughals' (about Europeans who married Indians and joined the courts of Indian princes in the eighteenth century).

His website also links to a number of his articles and book reviews. Of particular interest are this one VS Naipaul and his dodgy understanding of history and this one on Tipu Sultan and the propaganda war launched to justify an invasion of Mysore:

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a politician in search of a war is not over-scrupulous with matters of fact. Until recently, the British propaganda offensive against Tipu has determined the way that we - and many Indians - remember him. But, as with more recent dossiers produced to justify pre-emptive military action against mineral-rich Muslim states, the evidence reveals far more about the desires of the attacker than it does about the reality of the attacked.
Recent work by scholars has succeeded in reconstructing a very different Tipu to the one-dimensional fanatic invented by Wellesley. Tipu, it is now clear, was one of the most innovative and far-sighted rulers of the pre-colonial period.

Dalrymple goes on to remind us of why the East India Company felt the war was necessary:

Tipu also tried to import industrial technology through French engineers, and experimented with harnessing water-power to drive his machinery. He sent envoys to southern China to bring back silkworm eggs and established sericulture in Mysore - an innovation that still enriches the region today. More remarkably, he created what amounted to a state trading company with its own ships and factories dotted across the Gulf. British propaganda might portray Tipu as a savage barbarian, but he was something of a connoisseur, with a library of about 2,000 volumes in several languages.

Both are interesting articles and are worth reading.

IZ

2007-07-07T05:16:00.000-07:00

The people at 'A Tiny Revolution' came up with this amusing parody of the TV show 'Intervention'. The man undergoing the intervention is none other than a Mr. George W. Bush.

IZ

God is Not Great

2007-07-05T17:43:00.000-07:00

A great review of Christopher Hitchens' new book 'God is Not Great' here. This digested "summary" of the book in the Guardian is worth a look in as well.

Its absurd that this man is taken so seriously. Its setting the level of discussion of these issues to caveman standards.

IZ

Saqia Aur Pila

2007-07-03T03:08:00.000-07:00

These days I'm completely caught up listening to the Sabri Brothers. Specifically 'Saqia aur pila' which is available on their album 'Ya Habib'.

The version on the album is the real deal, kicking in at 27 minutes length. A truncated version, with not terribly great sound quality is available on youtube here. And a gentleman has taken up the task of translating the lyrics to English (and providing some commentary here).

The title translates to 'Cupbearer, pour me more.'

Saqi is the word for a cupbearer. Its often translated as 'bartender' in traditional English translations. But a cupbearer was more than just a bartender in Sufi literature. The position was in many ways analogous to a muse in western literature and the wine that the cupbearer was asked to bring symbolised more than just a drink.

The longer length version is split into three parts. In the first part the drunkard is begging for more to drink, and expounds on his thirst, asking not to be put off with excuses and expressing impatience, arguing that he must have more drink now. He fends off arguements that drink is bad for him and forbidden. i particularly like this verse (not in the shortened version):

To Sari dunya ko bhoolnay kay leye
Talkhir mai say pyar kar ta hoon (???)
Log Logon ka khoon peetay hain
Mai to phir bhi Sharab peeta hoon

Not sure about the second line, but from what I can make out, the drunkard justifies his addiction by saying that to forget the world, he loves from the the bottom of his cup, and while he just drinks wine, there are people in the world who drink the blood of their fellow men.

Alas, all too true.

The second part of the poem comes when the cup-bearer has a dialogue with the drunkard, asking him what kind of wine he wants. Does he want the wine that Mansoor drank which led him to mount the cross? Mansoor was a Sufi poet who was crucified in the 9th century after he exclamations of "Truth is me!" and "I am God!" while in an ecstatic trance. Mansoor epitomises the quest for God - something that can only be achieved by shedding of the self, which is what Mansoor did - first by shedding his ego and then his material existence. The drunkard however, replies that this isn't the wine he wants.

The dialogue continues in a similar vein, the cup-bearer giving examples of various key figures in Sufi traditions including Tabriz, Moses, Jesus and Job, each time, asking if the wine the drunkard wants is the one they drank of. The drunkard replies in the negative and in the end asks for the wine drunk by Hussain, the grandson of the Prophet at Karbala.

The third section of the poem then follows with a traditional praise of the Prophet's grandson, and a dialogue between Shimr, who was said to be the general of Yazid at Karbala, and Hussain. Shimr repeatedly boasts of his worldly power - his army, his post, his wealth, his ample supply of water (at Karbala, Hussain and his companions and family had no access to water and were besieged in the desert) etc. In each of his replies, Hussain displays his faith, patience, fortitude and all the other such praiseworthy qualities and refuses to bow to Shimr's tyranny. Finally when Shimr warns Hussain that his body will be given no shroud to rest in, Hussain replies that he will be garbed in a raiment made in Heaven.

Karbala ends with the beheading of Hussain. The Sufi interpretation of these events see this as symbolic of Hussain's final detachment from his ego, removing the final barrier between himself and God. The sequence of events at Karbala and Hussain's rejection of all the trappings of worldly desires one by one mark him coming closer to this final goal.

IZ

The Hathor Legacy

2007-06-27T01:33:00.000-07:00

Came across an interesting site: 'The Hathor Legacy'. Its essentially posting on books, film and some general cultural issues from a feminist perspective. What's interesting is the authors' interest in science fiction/fantasy genre fiction. Reading through a few of the posts, (and the comments) such as this one on the "legacy" of Octavia Butler proved illuminating and so up it goes on my blog roll.

And now I have a new book to look out for: 'Zahrah the Windseeker' by Nnedi Nkemdili Okorafor-Mbachu. Looks interesting.

IZ

Strictly For Fans of Michael Jackson's Thriller

2007-06-28T11:59:00.000-07:00

Okay, so first have a look at this. Just watch the first minute so you get an idea of what its all about. Then, please direct yourself to this clip, which is essentially the same video except that some guy has decided to add a 'translation' based on the closest English words that approximate the lyrics.

I know, I know, call me juvenille but I almost had a fit while laughing. An 80s Indian version of Thriller is funny enough, but the English 'lyrics' just allow it to transcend to a higher artistic plane.

IZ

On Libraries

2007-06-22T02:58:00.000-07:00

Now here are some interesting and telling statistics. Who knew that they are more public libraries in the United States than there are MacDonalds'? Or that on average Americans go to libraries more than twice as often as they go to the movies in a year?

All this and Federal spending on libraries is 54 cents per person per year.

Does Karachi have more public libraries than MacDonalds? I'm not sure. Some digging around turns up this list of libraries which hearteningly enough, is more than the 13 outlets I seem to recall MacDonald's having in Karachi. But a few of the public libraries I've seen are to a proper public library as a bun-kabab stand is to a MacDonald's. Frere Hall, which is one of the better ones, alas has seen better days.

IZ

Going Green

2007-06-21T01:54:00.000-07:00

So, any thoughts on the new template? Any adjustments to be made? Or should I dump the whole thing? Comments please!

IZ

Rumi at the Caravansary

2007-06-18T05:58:00.000-07:00

Hey, look what I found. And its like so close to me. I must check this out soon, and I'm so there at the Sufi music concert. If only I had known about this earlier! There's no way I would have missed the drumming workshop in the park!

IZ

Edit: Also, this is an interesting article about women scholars in the classical Islamic age. I like this quote:

Akram’s entry for someone like Umm al-Darda, a prominent jurist in seventh-century Damascus, is startling. As a young woman, Umm al-Darda used to sit with male scholars in the mosque, talking shop. “I’ve tried to worship Allah in every way,” she wrote, “but I’ve never found a better one than sitting around, debating other scholars.”

t2f: The Second Floor

2007-06-18T05:06:00.001-07:00

Hmmm. A bookshop/coffeeshop in Karachi? With its own blog team? And, to top it off, one which claims to be "a platform for opinion, outrage, and graphic agitation"?

Interesting.

IZ

Edit: I originally posted this in my other blog. Then sanity returned and I realised it belonged here.

Things Look Like Things

2007-06-17T07:20:00.001-07:00

Well this is a pretty extraordinary blog. Basically they put up images and photographs of various things that bear some kind of uncanny resemblance to completely different things.

Simple, but often visually stunning. Its going up on my blogroll.

IZ

More xkcd

2007-06-15T15:21:00.000-07:00

Unsatisfied

2007-06-14T14:57:00.000-07:00

I find that I am unsatisfied with the fonts, colours and general design of this blog. I find that to do something about this I will have to dig deep into the guts of Blogger and mess around with things until it improves.

But that sounds like a great deal too much work. At least for now. Perhaps later I shall fiddle around and see what happens. So, please don't be surprised if over the next few days things start to fluctuate on this blog. Oh, and do drop in your thoughts on any changes.

IZ