Of late, I’ve thought it would be fun to learn to make some of my Chinese favorites — e.g. Kung Pao Chicken (宫保鸡丁,) Twice-Cooked Pork (回锅肉,) and Sesame Chicken (芝麻鸡.)
PROMPT: Foods
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BOOKS: “Introducing Freud Wars: A Graphic Guide” by Stephen Wilson & Oscar Zarate
Introducing the Freud Wars: A Graphic Guide by Stephen WilsonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Website
I’ve always been fascinated by a question about Sigmund Freud. I can’t think of another scholar in modern times who managed to become not only a household name but virtually synonymous with his discipline while being so spectacularly wrong on so many levels. Sure, if you go back to ancient times, you have individuals with similar name recognition (e.g. Plato and Aristotle) who made some major league intellectual boners, but that was ancient times — pre-scientific method and in an age when employment of any rationality at all set one apart. The question of interest is: How did Freud pull it off?
This book helps one better understand the issue, and to answer a crucial related question: “Did the establishment, in Freud’s day, swallow his ideas hook line and sinker?” The answer is “no,” and that is the central theme of the book, the opposition faced by Freud in his day. Wilson frames the debate, presenting both sides. (And sometimes three sides, for there were a number of “super-Freudians” who felt that Freud didn’t lean hard enough into his own ideas about childhood sexuality being the key to an individual’s adult psychology.) It should be noted that this series has a book that is on Freud and his work. I haven’t read that book, but presumably it focuses less on Freud’s detractors and the nature of their criticisms and more on the entirety of Freud’s ideas (not just the most intensely refuted among them.)
This book focuses heavily on Freud’s controversial sex-centric ideas, particularly those involving infant sexuality, the Oedipal complex, transference, penis-envy, and hysteria. It does touch upon other Freudian ideas, such as dream interpretation and the “Superego,” but these are much less intensely explored, probably because they were less controversial. (Which is not to say they were correct, but that they were less potentially damaging.)
I found this book interesting, and believe I had a better grasp of Freud and his ideas and even had a more sympathetic view of him by the end.
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DAILY PHOTO: Guardian Lions of Wat Mae Yen
Stingproof [Haiku]
the Buddha sits:
untroubled by the bees
enticed by garlands.
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“Ah! Sun-flower” by William Blake [w/ Audio]
Ah Sun-flower! weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the Sun:
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the travellers journey is done.
Where the Youth pined away with desire,
And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow:
Arise from their graves and aspire,
Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.
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PROMPT: Dogs or Cats
Dogs or cats?
I prefer either to humans, generally speaking. I prefer dogs when feeling the need for affection, but cats when I want my space. Since the latter is more often my state of being, I guess a slight edge to cats.
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BOOKS: “Languages: A Very Short Introduction” by Stephen Anderson
Languages: A Very Short Introduction by Stephen R. AndersonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Website
This is a quick guide to the (not so briefly answered) question of how many human languages there are. SPOILER ALERT: There is either one or some number of thousands, depending upon one’s philosophical leanings and a range of factors touched upon by this book. Given that there is clearly not a consensus answer, much of the book deals with what obstructions hinder a clear count, as well as some related questions that influence the number of languages over time.
With respect to the trouble spots of counting languages, the core question is what exactly is a language? Can two people who can understand each other (e.g. as I’ve been told Russians and Ukrainians can) be said to be speaking two different languages? If yes, the number of languages will be higher than if not. But then, how well do you have to understand each other? There are short and simple sentences in German that I understand, but that doesn’t mean I could understand a German, or a German would understand me (well, they probably would because most speak English as an Other Language.)
The related questions dealt with in the book include: why is number of languages shrinking, and is it inevitable? Can a globalized world be consistent with thousands of tribal-scale languages, and — if so — how?
The book also discusses the diversity of sign languages, and how signed languages differ from (and are similar to) spoken languages. The final chapter considers a number of questions, including how language separates humanity from wildlife, or — alternatively stated — what is it that makes human language different from the communication systems of other species of which we’re aware.
This is a readable book that deals in some interesting questions.
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DAILY PHOTO: Sri Adinarayana Swami Temple
Trails [Kyōka]
wildlife trail:
a subtle part in the grass;
human trail:
a bald and dusty line..., but
a buck 'd be hell on your rug, too!
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PROMPT: Lose Track of Time
Reading, thinking, and learning.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 