The Greatest Show On Earth

Book Name : The Greatest Show On Earth
Author : Richard Dawkins

What is it about : A wide range of evidence are presented in this most readable book, showing that evolution is alive and kicking, and happening right here and now and in its many forms and ways. The book is an attempt by the author to plug the gap in his formidable series of books on this topic where he has already covered other aspects such as gene-centric view of evolution, arguments against intelligent designs and the application of probability to evolution and such likes. Numerous experiments have been presented which showed life forms evolving in a matter of weeks and months - the one that caught my eye was the jump in the population density of bacteria when it evolved and "discovered" how to digest citrus substances on top of its ability to digest glucose - extremely fascinating !

Some thoughts after having read the book : The author is well endowed with all-round skills and the power of communication to get the messages over. Not only the author presented the book like a persuasive TV presenter, but more valuable were the experiments and data he dug up. For example, the Appendix detailed that, a 2008 poll showed that 42% of Americans believed that all life on Earth has existed in its present form since the beginning of time ! Another poll showed that roughly a third (32%) of Italians thought the earliest humans lived along side dinosaurs !!! The Appendix alone was worth my time in taking this book out from the local library.

Would I recommend this book to you : A book for all occasions - enjoying it in the sun and on the beach, over a cup of morning coffee and contemplating on life, quick firing bullets to shoot down Creationists' dubious arguments or mulling over the BIG questions in Life, you know, where do we come from, where are we heading, is there anyone out there etc. The author's eloquence and the on-going astonishing experiments made this book read like, you are watching a mega-hit movie - a must-read for both enthusiasts and the casual reader !

What's Up God ? A Romance Of The Apocalypse

Book Name : What's Up God ? A Romance Of The Apocalypse
Author : Simon Louvish

What is it about : The End is nigh ! Yep ! The Archangel Gabriel was sent down to us and announced (on TV) to the human race that The Resurrection was set for April 30, 1999 and the Judgement Day seven days thereafter. Non one would be spared, whatever your creed - believers, atheists, the lot. Everyone's dead relatives, friends, foes, bosses, right up to the neanderthals would be back from their graves and came knocking on the door; including the dead girlfriend of our hero, Jerry Davis. The Book focused on Jerry's dilemma, fate and journey to meet his Maker.

Some thoughts after having read the book : The Book did have its moments with Jerry meeting up with his resurrected teenage sweetheart; Karl Marx contemplating the present day capitalism in Jerry's father living room and of course our man Jerry had to get shot and returned like his dead counterparts in an angelic "bubble car". The scene I liked most was - in the process of getting ready for their trip to the pearly gates (or otherwise), Jerry's father dressed up in his overall with a spanner thrusted out from his breast pocket, a hammer and screwdriver on either side of the studded belt looking as if he's ready to fight a on-coming gang of hooligans; and Jerry's mother "more pragmatically" packed her wash bag with mosquito lotion, anti-septic cream, bandaids, scissors and threads, mini-coffeemate, pocket torch as if she were going for a weekend's camping in the Lake District. Definitely the best and funniest set piece I had read for a long while.

Would I recommend this book to you : Entertaining at first, but messy and confusing to end. The last ten pages would see Jerry's journey to his judgement and the text read like someone lost inside a submarine or on board an abandoned capsized freight carrier. At times the drama did brighten up my day but don't expect tightness in plot or a grand finale to finish.

The Life And Death Of Charles Darwin

Book Name : The Life And Death Of Charles Darwin
Author : L.R. Croft

What is it about : By piecing together the evidence gleamed from Charles Darwin's own words, personal letters as well as comments from collaborators, relatives, friends, critics, clerics, the book presented Darwin The Man. The Book also gave tentative answers to Darwin's mysterious illness, the probable reasons behind the years' delay on publication of his mind-altering masterpiece - The Origin Of Species; as well as the question of : did or did he not, on his deathbed, recant his theory of evolution by natural selection and his eventual conversion to Christianity ?

Some thoughts after having read the book : Having read Darwin's many great books and stories, this book gave me pause for thoughts. My own image of the Great Man before reading this book, had been a "Hall-Of-Fame" hero of the scientific world. This book however, made me think of Darwin as a devious, wavering, publicity-seeking self-server, who inadvertently fanned the flames of racism, who despicably included other's data in his research and never had the magnanimity to give credits to those with the original ideas and experimental data. As to Darwin's final conversion to religion, I surmise that this act was another of his "let's be on the safe side" tactic. Great work he did, not sure about the man himself.

Would I recommend this book to you : Yes. It was a highly enjoyable read and exciting to follow the Author's track of thoughts in analysing the materials available and finally arriving to a clearer picture of the (not so) Great Man. The Book read a little like a detective story where the P.I. investigated a dubious character with the assistance of a F.B.I. psychological profiling specialist.

An Urchin In The Storm

Book Name : An Urchin In The Storm
Author : Stephen Jay Gould

What is it about : The authoritative voice in the field of evolutionary biology aired his views freely on various science topics. From presenting critiques on his peers' technical papers and deductions to books and biographies he had read and reckoned the public needed other viewpoints and insights (his).

Some thoughts after having read the book : You ever heard a New Yorker rant on and on ? Yep, at first the book read that way and a migraine slowly crept up on me after the first ten pages. With patience, I stuck to reading the author's no-nonsense points of view and his seemingly annoying tone of voice, until I became used to his style of telling the reader the way he saw it, and all became good. It was kinda like getting to know someone (in this case, a brash New Yorker) and after a while you found him to be quite a good guy really and he had a point. I particularly enjoyed getting to know the stories related to Social Biology research and conclusions done on brains and IQ of men and women, blacks and non-blacks back in those un-informed early 1930s'.

Would I recommend this book to you : Enjoy SJG's all round skills encompassing opera, musical, evolution, history and point-blank attacks on many mis-understandings, mis-representations, red-herrings on various modern science topics; but you have been warned, it's helluva of a New Yorker coming at you at gale 10 force ! Think Mcenroe on a suspected line call ...

Death In Venice And Other Stories

Book Name : Death In Venice And Other Stories
Author : Thomas Mann

What is it about : Seven short stories (I actually only read five of them) including the celebrated Death In Venice, have been included in this Everyman's Library series. A masterful 20-page Introduction by Daniel Johnson should ring the bell of what would be installed - a literature giant at full force, recounting or perhaps embellishing the themes, philosophies and episodes of his life. Taking the titled story for instance, a renowned author going through should one say, a middle-age crisis, infatuated by a Polish boy as he was on vacation on the shores of Venice. Subsequently, he spied on, stalked upon, and killed himself in his own tangled web of love; unknowingly perhaps, willingly maybe, through the fatal contagion of the virus from the lowland swamps.

Some thoughts after having read the book : A Wordsmith, A Great Communicator (through sentences), A　Literature Giant, A Profound Thinker - descriptions which came to mind as I read through these stories. The Author had, the power of choosing the right words, the patience to fully form the setting, the depth of human knowledge to create the characters (including a dog). Take for example, the story " A Man And His Dog", I felt as if I knew this dog when it was still a puppy, I felt I even owned the dog and had taken it on numerous walkies and the experience of anxiety and helplessness when it coughed blood.

Would I recommend this book to you : An excellent way to enlarge your vocabulary as well as great lessons in learning how to apply the appropriate wordings to form the scenarios. However, I felt that the stories in the book would not break new grounds in achieving enlightenment; neither were the stories any page-turners or cat-and-mouse chases, just pure literature. For the literature type, an absolute god-send; for the beach-goer, time to go back to the book shelf for another book; for the general reader, a good solid read but nothing earth-shattering and write home about; write a book review like this one, may be...

A Little History Of The World

Book Name : A Little History Of The World
Author : E.H. Gombrich

What is it about : Forty short essays of the more significant chapters of the world history as we know it, told by the Author in a grand-fatherly voice, in a manner that made me think of him possibly holding his mug of hot coco while he spoke. The Greats, The Terribles, The Conquerors, The Dictators, The Wars, The Peace and The Faiths, were all there, described at a high-level, but without sacrificing the importance and impacts of the roles and events. The book covered much of the Western spheres with a few interesting add-ons from the East such as The Buddha, Confucius et al.

Some thoughts after having read the book : I finished the book over a surprisingly fast one week period, all to show the writing and summation power the Author garnered as well as the skills in presenting those "boring" stories I dreaded in Primary School. The Author successfully turned cold historical facts into interesting, relevant and insightful messages. The personal experience of the Author during WWII added extra dimensions and relevance and he gave his heart-felt comments on that sad chapter of human history.

Would I recommend this book to you : Excellent, relaxing reading and I could just dive straight in to the parts of our history that tickled my fancy, without having to read the book in a chronological sequence. I would recommend the book especially to early teens whom at that age would have started studying HISTORY and might as I did, find the subject daunting, boring, impersonal, irrelevant - the book would go a long long way to entice the teenage readers and turn these aspects around.

The Rebirth Of East Europe

Book Name : The Rebirth Of East Europe
Author : Michael G. Roskin

What is it about : A fairly detailed historical account of the lands squeezed between the four empires - Ottoman, Habsburg, Tsarist (and later Communist) Russian and Prussian (Germany). Who are these peoples who prospered and suffered as these empires peaked and ebbed ? The explanations of why these lands became the battle grounds of the two World Wars were presented. And of course included were the colorful accounts of those starring roles played out by the royalties, heroes, villains, puppets and bystanders. The author spared no blushes in presenting a critique of how and why Communism failed and as all good thesis, gave a few pointers of the hopeful future at the end of the book.

Some thoughts after having read the book : As I was reading through the book, one question in particular repeatedly stood out - how come A Shining White Knight never came to the rescue ? OK, how about an Iron Chancellor, a charismatic politician or a forceful peasant leader - no, none of those. These lands never united to form a force and had no luck in bringing out a formidable leadership and the result was devastating - a battle ground and the spoils of war for the taking. Sad but intriguing to learn the history of these countries.

Would I recommend this book to you : I read this book as background for our trip to these countries in May 2013 and the book provided more than enough for that purpose. In fact, the core materials would stand you in good stead in passing an O-Level on this topic. However, I did find the author at times, opinionated and not as subjective as I would like; but looking at it as the author telling you strictly his points of views, then the book became a fascinating "Western" commentary. Pick it up for an easy and interesting read.

Lord Of The Flies

Book Name : Lord Of The Flies
Author : William Golding

What is it about : A survival story about a group of British school boys aged around six to mid-teens, stranded on an island. Simple enough, but the story soon turned dark as the menacing ignorance of human instincts came into play with the loss of rules and order and the emergence of crooked logic and wicked justification started to dominate. The story came to an abrupt end as our heroic teenage leader, Ralph was saved from the pursuing bloodthirsty "tribes".

Some thoughts after having read the book : I had come across other books which had been called page-turners, tour-de-force and so on but believe me, the latter half of this book was truly a Master-At-Work. I was reluctant to put the book down even for a minute, as I read astounded at the speed with which the innocent boys turned to killers. The parallel which could be drawn from this story, of our own human experience of the lust of waging wars and the longing of peace was only too clear - any reason to start a fight - don't you find that in our present world ? By the way, my favourite passage was the description in the book about the parachute man which was exquisitely written !

Would I recommend this book to you : As I read, I had wished that I had read this book during my early secondary school years as this was a book about quite an adventure of the boys lost on an island. But having said that, reading the book now with a bit more life experience would be more rewarding as the meaning of war and peace came through more obviously which I would have found it difficult to grasp if I had read it during my school years. The book had been turned into movies around the world and the book could be read as easily as watching a motion picture and I would recommend the book as a challenge to a Primary Six student and to be read again later in adult life.

The Master And Margarita

Book Name : The Master And Margarita
Author : Mikhail Bulgakov

What is it about : A fantasy fiction about the havoc wreaked on Moscow when Satan and three sidekicks came to town - one of whom was a walking and talking malicious tom-cat ! Anyone who unfortunately crossed paths with these guys ended up either in the madhouse, had his head cut off by a tram, had their clothes disappeared and walked the streets naked or turned into a witch - basically Moscow burnt down and Muscovites running around for their lives as they watched ! The legend about the betrayal by Judas for 30 pieces of silver, supposedly all those years ago, made an interesting interlude of "a story within a story".

Some thoughts after having read the book : Crazy, surreal or pure magic - take your pick on deciding the book's nature. I would go for all three. It was hard going to get used to the style and translation to start but I actually ended up liking the book for the choice of words, structure and composition. The interlude as I mentioned above was vivid and electrifying and felt as if I was right there to witness the execution of the three prisoners. I thought that this historical interlude wrapped up nicely and intelligently towards the end of the book with the passing away of the Master (title).

Would I recommend this book to you : Ever watched Bettlejuice, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Harry Porter etc. - yeh that line of movies; well the book was a bit like that. Crazy, mind-boggling, unsettling and even fun sometimes. To that I would add poetic as well because the book was written beautifully. Free your pre-conceptions and let the book take you for a fantastic and crazy adventure and you would enjoy the ride.

The Blind Watchmaker

Book Name : The Blind Watchmaker
Author : Richard Dawkins

What is it about : The authoritative voice in the business of Evolution putting his arguments forward in the debate of the complex design of organisms. The book discussed in great depth the failings of alternative evolution theories including Creationists, Lamackians etc.; presented and dissected the clever inner-workings of good designs such as the human eye and the bat's echo-location ability; explored the probability of plausible theories of The Very First Beginning - the organic "soup" being sparked by a chance lightning and the  Inorganic Crystal Growth Theory. The author also illustrated how to reason like a "true" Darwinian through an imaginative conversation with Darwinian Caricatures and die-hard Mutationists.

Some thoughts after having read the book : Had I been tutored by such a logical, philosophising, thought-provoking, subjective and witty teacher, I would definitely have gotten some good grades if not an all-round and deep understanding of the subject of Evolution. The author left no stones un-turned, no arguments left un-debated and his straight forward humour punctuated the book throughout - "...I personally would consider it an honour to be fossilised...". Not being well-versed in this subject, I did find the parts on Chromosomes and Taxonomy heavy-going.

Would I recommend this book to you : I would consider this book a Must-Read. If you are a biologist / zoologist / genetic engineer, then you would gain an all-round insight on the Subject as well as likely good grades in your examination essays. If you are a philosopher and logician, you would appreciate the Author's reasoning manner of presenting the materials and discussions about Life in general or even if you are a member in a school debating team, you would learn to put your case forward as comprehensive and water-tight arguments !