Teachers and Bosses: Banker to the Poor

Banker to the Poor

by Muhammad Yunus

Muhammad Yunus creation of the Grameen Bank has been a success and classic case study in poverty alleviation strategies. Although he is an economist and a large component of his success is due to economic principles, he rightly recognizes the human aspect of his organization.

I am happy that they consider me more as a teacher than as a boss. With a boss, one has to be formal, but with a teacher the relationship is more informal, even spiritual. One can discuss one's problems and weaknesses more freely. One can admit personal mistakes without fear of triggering an official sanction. Traditional bank officials need their office, their papers, their desk, and their telephone for support. They feel lost without these props. But you can strip everything away from a Grameen employee, and still at heart he or she remains a teacher.

Hearing Language: The Language Instinct

The Language Instinct

by Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker's classic book, The Language Instinct, helped decipher some complex theories of modern day linguists. He presents his case for an inherent ability to learn and communicate language, as the book title indicates. He provides much evidence, including the passage below:

When engineers first tried to develop reading machines for the blind in the 1940s, they devised a set of noises that corresponded to the letters of the alphabet. Even with heroic training, people could not recognize the sounds at a rate faster than good Morse code operators, about three units a second. Real speech, somehow, is perceived an order of magnitude faster; ten to fifteen phonemes per second for casual speech, twenty to thirty per second for the man in the late-night Veg-O-Matic, and as many as forty to fifty per second for artificially sped-up speech. Given how the human auditory system works, this is almost unbelievable. When a sound like a click is repeated at the rate of twenty times a second or faster, we no longer hear it as a sequence of separate sounds but as a low buzz. If we can hear forty-five phonemes per second, the phonemes can not possibly be consecutive bits of sound; each moment of sound must have several phonemes packed into it that our brains somehow unpack. As a result, speech is by far the fastest way of getting information into the head through the ear. 

Patent Awards in America and Europe: Lords of the Harvest

Lord of the Harvest 

by Dan Charles

Lords of the Harvest takes an in depth and non-partisan look into the rise of biotechnology. A key part in the development of this industry regarded patents in both the EU and America.

The European patent office, because it grants patents strictly based on who files an application first, awarded inventorship rights to Schell's group. In the United States, which awards patents based on who has first invented something....

Although this fact is somewhat well known as a result of Einstein (some accuse him of taking advantage of his position as a clerk in a Swiss patent office) but is still a very interesting fact. I am curious as how other countries around the world go about issuing patents...anyone with any experience?

Hobos: When You Are Engulfed in Flames

When You Are Engulfed In Flames

by David Sedaris

David Sedaris has not only a knack for storytelling, but his behavior is so unique that the pairing is always entertaining. He explains that when he was a child, he often used to dress as a hobo for Halloween. He explains:

...from then on I was always a hobo. It's a word you don't often hear anymore. Along with “tramp,” it's been replaced by “homeless person,” which isn't the same thing. Unlike someone who was evicted or lost his house in a fire, the hobo roughed it by choice. Being at liberty, unencumbered by bills and mortgages better suited his drinking schedule, and so he found shelter wherever he could, never a bum, bu something much less threatening, a figure of merriment almost.

I enjoyed this passage for it's colorful and somewhat accurate depiction of a hobo but I really enjoyed it after I read this article in the Economist some weeks later.  

Distance of Light: A Brief History of Time

A Brief History of Time

by Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking excels at providing complex scientific information and theory in an accessible manner. His books are full of so many facts and mind blowing analysis that it's often difficult to absorb. When dealing with the limits of humans perception, he speaks about viewing much of the universe through images from telescopes. This ultimately depends on our perception of light and because light has a finite speed, we are seeing mostly light that has traveled from a far distance.

Similarly, we do not know what is happening at the moment farther away in the universe: the light that we see from distant galaxies left them millions of years ago, and in the case of the most distant object that we have seen, the light left some eight thousand million years ago. Thus, when we look at the universe, we are seeing it as it was in the past.

If this doesn't blow your sensory perception mind, I don't know what will. 

Relativity and decisions: Predictably Irrational

Predictably Irrational

by Dan Ariely

Relativity can be complex and seemingly contradictory when it comes to our decision making. As Dan Ariely explains in his book, Predictably Irrational, the human mind has all types of tricks and processes that allow us to make choices. He gives a great example of relativity in the following passage:

Let me explain with an example from a study conducted by two brilliant researchers, Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman. Suppose you have two errands to run today. The first is to buy a new pen, and the second is to buy a suit for work. At an office supply store, you find a nice pen for $25. You are set to buy it, when you remember that the same pen is on sale for $18 at another store 15 minutes away. What would you do? Do you decide to take the 15-minute trip to save the $7? Most people faced with this dilemma say that they would take the trip to save the $7. Now you are on your second task: you’re shopping for your suit. You find a luxurious gray pinstripe suit for $455 and decide to buy it, but then another customer whispers in your ear that the exact same suit is on sale for only $448 at another store, just 15 minutes away.

He later explains that the way to combat this type of perception is to broaden our focus by asking ourself the question “Where can that $7 go that is more useful?” and this allows us to see the value of $7 matched up against itself, not relative to a huge sum of money like hundreds of dollars.  

Boundaries of economics: Small is Beautiful

Small is Beautiful

by E.F. Schumacher

A classic economics book published in 1973, Small is Beautiful has only become more relevant as globalization and pursuit of economic growth continues. His main point is that our current economy is unsustainable and he is particularly harsh on the field of economics. He brings about a great point regarding the capabilities and restriction of economic theory. 

If he remains unaware of the fact that there are boundaries to the applicability of the economic calculus, he is likely to fall into a similar kind of error to that of certain medieval theologians who tried to settle questions of physics by means of biblical quotations. Every science is beneficial within its proper limits but becomes evil and destructive as soon as it transgresses them.

Western Responsibility: The Chomsky Reader

The Chomsky Reader

by Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky has long been one of my favorite 'radical' minds and one of the reasons I like him so much is his relentless pursuit of the truth and his view that intellectuals have a responsibility. This responsibility extends beyond the intellectual elite, rather it encompasses entire advanced societies. 

In the Western world at least, they have the power that comes from political liberty, from access to information and freedom of expression. For a privileged minority, Western democracy provides the leisure, the facilities, and the training to seek the truth lying hidden behind the veil of distortion and misrepresentation, ideology, and class interest through which the events of current history are presented to us. The responsibilities of intellectuals, then, are much deeper than what Macdonald calls the “responsibility of peoples,” given the unique privileges that intellectuals enjoy.

Waking and Dreaming Worlds: Fragments

Fragments
by Heraclitus

One of my favorites quotes from an old Greek philosopher...I think it's time we all wake up!

“The waking have one world in common; sleepers have each a private world of his own.”

Working within the system: Rules for Radicals

Rules for Radicals
by Saul Alinksy

Rules for Radicals was written in the early 1970's as a guide for newly inspired "radicals" in America. The emphasis on the book was providing insight and advice on organizing and empowering community groups to fight for change. While the book focuses on low income groups in America, some of the messages are both universal and timeless. I particularly enjoy two passages where he speaks about "fighting within the system". As someone who feels that much needs to be changed in the world, I often flip-flop between wanting a full scale revolution in which we burn down Wall Street and the White House, and a more pragmatic and realistic approach where I write my senator and march in protest.

As an organizer I start from where the world is, as it is, not as I would like it to be. That we accept the world as it is does not in any sense weaken our desire to change it into what we believe it should be — it is necessary to begin where the world is if we are going to change it to what we think it should be. That means working in the system.

Effective organization is thwarted by the desire for instant and dramatic change, or as I have phrased it elsewhere the demand for revelation rather than revolution.

Church Banning Music: This is Your Brain On Music

This Is Your Brain on Music
Author: Daniel Levitin

This Is Your Brain On Music looks at the psychology of music. The book talks a lot about our relationship between music, our brain, and the social constructs that influence our interpretation. An interesting passage points to the absurdity of medieval church and the power of music on emotion.

The Catholic Church banned music that contained polyphony (more than one musical part playing at a time), fearing that it would cause people to doubt the unity of God. The church also banned the musical interval of an augmented fourth, the distance between C and F-sharp and also known as a tritone (the interval in Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story when Tony sings the name “Maria”). This interval was considered so dissonant that it must have been the work of Lucifer, and so the church named it Diabolus in musica. It was pitch that had the medieval church in an uproar.

Science and spirit: Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers

Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers
Author: Robert Sapolsky

Though I do not fall in the religious camps, I can understand the complexities between modern day science and spiritual beliefs. This extends not only to religion, but also to arts, nature and other things that we feel an "intangible" and "higher" process or feeling.

I love science, and it pains me to think that so many are terrified of the subject or feel that choosing science means you cannot also choose compassion, or the arts, or be awed by nature. Science is not meant to cure us of mystery, but to reinvent and reinvigorate it. 

Joy of understanding, not facts: What Einstein Told His Barber

What Einstein Told His Barber
Author: Robert Wolke

Although What Einstein Told His Barber is full of fun facts and interesting science, one of the most interesting passages is found in the beginning of the book. The passage helps explain the format of the book and perhaps warns the reader that the content isn't merely a list of facts, rather it is full of detailed explanations.

This is not a book of facts. You will not find answers here to questions such as “Who discovered …?” “What is the biggest …?” “How many …are there?” or “What is a …?” Those aren't the kinds of things that real people wonder about. Collections of answers to such contrived questions may help you win a trivia contest, but they are not satisfying; they don't contribute to the joy of understanding. The joy and the fun come not from mere statements of fact but from explanations— explanations in plain, everyday language that make you say, “Wow! Is that all there is to it?”

Contrived Economy: Capitalism and Slavery

Capitalism and Slavery
Author: Eric Williams

It's interesting to look back in history and pinpoint policies, contrived or real, that influenced behavior that remains today. As someone who has lived in the West Indies for two years, I can tell you the importance of salted cod (or salt fish) in West Indian cuisine, especially Jamaican cuisine. It seems a bit odd that a fish from hundreds of miles away would be popular in an island country located in the marine rich Caribbean  And turns out, it doesn't make logical sense, but it makes (or made) economic sense.

The peculiar economy developed in the West Indies concentrated on export crops while food was imported. Most important of all the food supplies was fish, an article dear to the heart of every mercantilist, because it provided employment for ships and training for seamen. Laws were passed in England to encourage the consumption of fish. Friday and Saturday were set apart as fish days. Fish was an important item of the diet of the slaves on the plantations, and the English herring trade found its chief market in the sugar plantations. The Newfoundland fishery depended to a considerable extent on the annual export of dried fish to the West Indies, the refuse or "poor John" fish, "fit for no other consumption." A West Indian tradition was thereby fostered. Imported salted cod is still today a normal and favorite dish in all but the well-to-do West Indian families; whether it is still "fit for no other consumption" is not known.

Development Complexity: Mountains Beyond Mountains

Mountains Beyond Mountains
Author: Tracy Kidder

In one of my favorite books, Mountains Beyond Mountains, Dr. Paul Farmer poses a fiery response to the question of development in rural areas of Haiti. In the world of international development, everyone wants to make sure their investment for boreholes, livelihood projects and other aid are good investments. However, this is easy for educated western people to think, when in truth, we must also take the reality of local people into consideration.

There’s also a sociopolitical lesson to draw, of course: “Look at Alcante’s family. It’s intact, the kids are bright and clever, and the father can’t walk. And they just can’t make it. It’s fucking unfair. The woman who said to me years ago, Are you incapable of complexity? That was an epiphany for me. Are you going to punish people for thinking TB comes from sorcery? It’s like the guy on our own team, a nice guy, who said he would help with a water project in a town here, but only if the people really showed they wanted it. What if that standard had been applied to me when I was a kid, before I knew that water could carry organisms that made people sick?”

Virtues: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Author: Benjamin Franklin

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is a stunning read, though it can be a bit difficult at times with the archaic English. Though the language may be outdated, the musings of a genius remain timeless. One of my favorite segments of the book comes when Franklin speaks about personal improvement and what he views as crucial virtues. Franklin writes 13 characteristics of personal character and subsequently spends time to "fix" each of areas. As Franklin says, important virtues have long been named and classified, though I find his groupings particularly lucid and relevant.

1. TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
2. SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
3. ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
4. RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
5. FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
6. INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
7. SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8. JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
9. MODERATION. Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10. CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
11. TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
12. CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
13. HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates

Atoms and Smaller: Cosmos

Cosmos
Author: Carl Sagan 

Another interesting clip from the classic book from Carl Sagan: 

Democritus invented the word atom, Greek for “unable to be cut.” Atoms were the ultimate particles, forever frustrating our attempts to break them into smaller pieces. Everything, he said, is a collection of atoms, intricately assembled. Even we. “Nothing exists,” he said, “but atoms and the void.”

Marinate on that for a second.

Religious Tolerance: The Economist

The Economist
November 24th, 2012

These quotes come from a great article in the Economist about Islam and religious tolerance. I think they did a great job highlighting the fact that followers of Islam are not homogeneous, rather there are various sects all over the world existing within a diverse set of cultures. It also gives me some perspective on the controversial approach of mixing church and state.


Indonesia, for example, demands that people declare themselves as one of six religions; atheism and agnosticism do not count. Egypt’s draft constitution makes room for only three faiths: Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

It's always nice to know a quote from a religious text if you are conversing(or debating) with people about religion. I thought this quote is particularly pertinent:

The Koran’s notably tolerant Sura 109 includes words such as “For you is your religion, and for me is my religion.”

Legal tricks: The World According to Monsanto

The World According to Monsanto

by Marie Monique-Robin

A great read, The World According to Monsanto provides a startling look at the corporate titan. While discussing the legal problems of Monsanto in regards to their improper PCB disposal in Alabama. It brought up an interesting point about corporations, individual responsibility and the loopholes in our legal system. 

The status of corporations as “persons” in United States law generally shelters company officials from individual liability. “In the American legal system,” said Cook, “it is very rare for executives or managers of companies to be found criminally liable. On the other hand, companies can be sued in civil court, and they are made to pay. But in fact, the damages they pay decades later are only a fraction of their profits. So it pays to keep secrets. I wonder what secrets Monsanto is keeping now. You can never trust a big company like Monsanto to tell us the truth about a product or a pollution problem. Never.”

New word- hyponym: Dictionary

Occasionally I'll post an interesting word that I've learned while reading. I don't claim to have the largest vocabulary so I apologize if these are too low brow for you.

hy·po·nym  n. a word of more specific meaning than a general or superordinate term applicable to it. For example, spoon is a hyponym of cutlery. Contrasted with HYPERNYM.