DAILY PHOTO: Tree & Cascade, Jog Falls
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Author Archives: B Gourley
Mumbai Limerick
There once was a dabbawalla from Mumbai, carrying curry, rice, roti, and dal fry, got hit by an auto whose driver was blotto, but still made his deliveries on time.
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BOOK REVIEW: Outlandish by Nick Hunt
Outlandish: Walking Europe’s Unlikely Landscapes by Nick HuntMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
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There are many beautiful and wonderous sights that come to mind when one thinks of Europe: forests, meadows, alpine vistas, or cities of stunning architecture. However, there are other sights that one wouldn’t expect at all: tundra, jungle, desert, or steppe, but those are the unexpected destinations that Hunt takes his reader. In some cases, a destination under discussion doesn’t meet the technical definitions for said ecosystem, but they’re the closest that Europe has to offer, and that’s enough to make them outlandish.
The book takes the reader on a tour of four uncharacteristic ecosystems of Europe: Cairngorms arctic tundra in northern Scotland, Poland’s “jungle” – the forest primeval of Bialowieza, Spain’s Tabernas desert, and the Hungarian Puszta (i.e. the Pannonian Steppe.) For each of these places, the reader is treated not only to vivid description of the locale and its flora and fauna, but also some fascinating folklore, cultural peculiarities, and indigenous mysteries. In Scotland, this involves inexplicable reindeer and the legend of the Big Grey Man. In Poland and Belarus, we learn about legendary forest folk deities and about the last Soviet standing. In Spain, one gets a lesson in Spaghetti Westerns. In Hungary we see birders, neo-Nazis, and Central Asian immigrants all traipsing the same ground.
I found this book to be an engaging read. It helps raise consciousness about climate change without collapsing into a gloomy doom-fest. This discussion is most notable in the most extreme ecosystems, Cairngorms and Tabernas, but most of the intense discussion is saved for a brief epilogue entitled “The Last Snow.” The book offers rudimentary maps, but relies entirely on text to paint a picture, but I felt the author did a great job of bringing the places to life through words.
If you’re interested in learning more about a few of the globe’s lesser-known natural settings, I’d highly recommend this book.
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Debrecen Limerick
An old organist from Debrecen couldn't decide which organ to play when. The big church had two - one old and one new, and they sat them at opposite ends.
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DAILY PHOTO: The Crowd at Jog Falls
BOOK REVIEW: Philosophy of Biology: A Very Short Introduction by Samir Okasha
Philosophy of Biology: A Very Short Introduction by Samir OkashaMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
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Excepting the final chapter, this wasn’t the book I expected, but it did raise some compelling questions. The book did devote more space to semantic and categorical questions than I found useful or interesting. These are the kinds of questions which philosophers may find joy in catching peers in paradoxes, but which are pure navel-gazing, offering no insights on how to achieve the well-lived life or to better understand the grand questions of the universe.
The book looks at the metaphysical and epistemological ramifications of evolution, species classification, genetic and memetic transmission, and the degree to which humans are or aren’t constrained by our evolutionary history. Among the questions I found most interesting were: Is it useful to speak in terms of “function” (i.e. “what a thing is for”) when discussing biological entities, given that those words seem to imply an intended purpose inconsistent with evolution? Does selection occur at the level of the individual, the group, or both? How does one reconcile the Mendelian notion of a “gene” with that of molecular biology? Lest one think Mendel’s ideas were partially formed and are now supplanted, they do internally explain dominance and recessivity, a thing molecular biology can’t yet do. Is it reasonable to apply the logic of evolution and heritability to the cultural domain?
I got a lot out of this tiny guide. It may have spent more time on semantics and categorization than I would have liked (as well as more time reviewing basic biological science,) but it did raise some intriguing questions that I didn’t anticipate as well as illuminating new dimensions of those I did. Your patience with the insubstantial questions will be a major factor in how much you get out of this book.
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Hidden Thunder [Haiku]
Boxing Day Blues [Poem]
the clash of colors and thunderous noise the box, the paper, the Christmas day toys the scree of excitement lies, toppled down and all that's left is our cold, silent town
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DAILY PHOTO: Bull Oversees the Line at Soylent Green Production Facility
