There once was a mischievous macaque with a knack for invading knapsacks. When a zipper stuck, 'twas his terrible luck to get locked in a trunk & run out of snacks.
Stowaway [Limerick]
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Author Archives: B Gourley
Quick Peek [Kyōka]
a weaver pokes its head from the nest, looks both ways, & decides to stay in. i know the feeling.
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DAILY PHOTO: Barid Shahi Memorial Park Mosque
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Hyderabadi Limerick
There was a plump man of Hyderabad who was known to be quite a tightwad, but he ate his biryani and never was scrawny. He had a Hyderabadi biryani bod-y.
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Mind in the Cloud [Limerick]
There was a man who moved into the Cloud, being the first machine-mind, he was quite proud. Until someone tripped, and his switch was flipped. "Tape that cord down, for cryin' out loud!"
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DAILY PHOTO: Barachukki Falls Overbrimming
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BOOK REVIEW: The Information by James Gleick
The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood by James GleickMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Information is one of those topics that remains obscure not because it’s rare or hidden, but because it’s everywhere and the term is used for so many purposes it’s not thought of cohesively. It might seem like a book on this topic would be hopelessly boring by virtue of the fundamental meta-ness of the material. Instead, Gleick had a vast sea of topics and stories involving intense stakes for humanity from which to choose, e.g.: how did we learn to communicate and advance said capability until it was arguably the most important feature of our species, by what instructions are people “assembled,” might the most fundamental layer of reality be informational, and – in recent decades — will our species drown in flood of cheap information?
Given the vast sprawl of the subject matter, organization becomes a crucial question. In a sense the book is chronological, presenting humanity’s experience with information in more or less the order we came to think about the subject. I think this was a wise move as it starts from what most people think of when they think of information – i.e. language and its communication. That makes it easier to wrap one’s head around what comes later, and to see the conceptual commonalities. This approach might seem self-evident, but an argument could be made for starting with information as the word is used in Physics (as addressed in Ch. 7 – 9,) an argument that that approach is more fundamental and generically applicable, and while it might be both of those things, it wouldn’t be as easily intuitively grasped.
I found this book to be fascinating and easily followed — even though it covers some conceptually challenging topics, it does so in an approachable manner. It is over a decade old, but holds up well – though I think there is much more to say these days about the detrimental effects of information overload, a topic discussed at the end of the book. I recommend it for nonfiction readers.
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Spawning Clouds [Haiku]
clouds rise like smoke from turbulent cascades -- ghosts ascending
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DAILY PHOTO: Coracles on the Kaveri
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BOOK REVIEW: Introducing Semiotics: A Graphic Guide by Paul Cobley
Introducing Semiotics: A Graphic Guide by Paul CobleyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
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Semiotics is the study of how symbols and signs are used to represent various things and actions in language and communication. This brief guide traces the subject from its origins with Saussure and Pierce (late 19th century) to the present day. It’s not a well-known discipline and overlaps with others (e.g. information science, linguistics, etc.) so as to further obscure it’s boundaries. It’s generally considered a sub-discipline of philosophy.
I’ve read several titles in this series. This one had the fewest and longest chapters – i.e. most of these books have sections that are only a page or two long, but here the sections were generally several pages long. The book looks at differences between American and Soviet approaches as well as discussing the Prague School and the influence of prominent philosophers on the subject.
I felt that I learned something about this obscure subject, though – I must admit – knowing so little of it, I can’t say that I would have recognized if there were any glaring oversights or mistakes in the book. As should be expected of such a concise introductory guide, it’s readable and not difficult to follow. However, it can be dry; though I suspect that’s difficult to avoid, given the subject matter.
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