The Year of Living Biblically

This review brings two exciting news items: 1) I finally finished a book! It has been far too long, and I only have my ultra-short commute to blame. 2) I wonder if the book's author might ever read my review? As a self-confessed self-googler and regular amazon-checker, there is the slightest chance that he might actually come across my thoughts on the topic.

As for the book itself, I can say that I am very impressed and would recommend it to anyone who is interested in Bible-based religion and how it affects our society. This book is a chronicle of AJ Jacobs' "Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible" and focuses on his year-long attempt to follow all of the rules in Bible, no matter how ridiculous they may seem. Throughout the course of the year, he grows a monstrous beard, switches to wearing all-white, attaches tassles to his clothes, almost sacrifices a chicken, visits the Creation Museum, parties with Ultra-Orthodox Jews, and goes to a Bible Study at Jerry Falwell's church. And those are just the tangible experiences... through this project, he also learns to truly rest (sometimes), to put faith in something bigger, to truly respect other religions (including the fanatical ones), and even becomes a better person.

The greatest message that AJ/Jacob learned from his experience is that there is no such thing as taking the Bible 100% literally... those who argue against interpretation are - at some level - interpreting the stories also. He also comes to the conclusion that there is nothing wrong with appreciating parts of the Bible but not all of it - he eventually decides that he can take many of the lessons from the Good Book without becoming Ultra Orthodox or Fundamentalist.

From my perspective, AJ manages to examine the ins and outs of many takes on the Bible with an open mind and an open heart. His stories are peppered with laugh-out-loud humor and he manages to describe even the most outlandish situations with objectivity.

I once recommended this book for a book club analysis, but I have to wonder if its readers would be as objective as its author. In any case, I look forward to going back in time and seeing what AJ has to say about Britannica!

AAAS Science Roundup

This month's edition features a discussion on my future research topic:

Color and Cognition Color is a fundamental aspect of human perception, and its effects on cognition and behavior have intrigued generations of researchers. Previous research on how color affects cognition, however, has yielded inconsistent findings. For example, some research suggests that red enhances cognitive task performance as compared with blue or green, while other studies suggest the opposite. In a Report in the 27 Feb 2008 Science (published online 5 Feb), Mehta and Zhu sought to reconcile this inconsistency (see the ScienceNOW story by G. Miller). In a series of experiments, the researchers manipulated the background color on a computer screen while volunteers performed a variety of tasks. For those tasks that required attention to detail -- such as recalling words from a list or proofreading addresses -- participants performed better when the background was red, as opposed to blue or neutral. Blue, on the other hand, stimulated creativity. When subjects were asked to name as many uses for a brick as they could think of in a minute, they came up with more creative responses and earned higher creativity scores from a jury of their peers when the background was blue. The researchers surmise that the results reflect the different associations conjured by red and blue. Red often alerts us to danger or mistakes, signaling the need to be vigilant. In contrast, blue is often associated with peace and tranquility, which may put people in a more creative mindset.

Someday, when I publish my ground-breaking dissertation, we will all understand the quantitative impact of aethestics on usability!

Being Informed Doesn't Always Make Us Productive

Though I've read this in many forms many times, I can never find it in my heart to take the advice seriously: stop checking your email. I suppose this could apply to any sort of information that is obsessively reviewed - your friend's feeds, your reader application (which is, by the way, where I was reading about this: http://www.technotheory.com/2009/02/little-bit-of-productivity-great-bit-of-happiness), and most definitely your email. Lots of folks encourage us to be smarter about staying informed - pick and choose the things you spend your time on and the people you spend your time with.

Easier said than done... though if I listened, maybe I'd have more time to read actual books?

Jitterbug Perfume

For the last book club that I actually attended, we read Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins. This was my first foray into Tom Robbins books, so I guess it is not surprising that I was pretty surprised. It sort of reminded me of when I first read Christopher Moore and all of a sudden a very normal story of intrigue and oceanography turned into an epic adventure of the Whale People.

So it was a similar feeling when this medieval adventure introduced us to Pan; intermingled with modern-day characters in Paris, Seattle, and New Orleans; and tried to convince us that eternal life is achievable if you just focus on it hard enough.

In any case, this was a very interesting mix of the unbelievable, the overly-sexual, and some moral lessons about life. While it is interesting to think of the implications of a life that never ends - from the mundane business of avoiding detection to the truly deep question as to the purpose of life - it is hard to take that lesson from a guy who is also touting the sexy stinkiness of Pan and describing the nearly-lesbian adventures of two bartenders who can't seem to get it together.

A very interesting book, but it left me with more of a stunned look on my face than a smile. :?

PS: This book also made for a very interesting-tasting theme dinner!

Water for Elephants

I started and finished this book a few weeks ago on a trip out to Las Vegas. It's certainly an entertaining story, because I started it while I was waiting for my flight at Dulles and I finished it by the time I picked up my car at McCarran.

This was a bit of a depressing tale, when you consider what it says about human nature, the way we treat others, and the way we treat animals - especially the way we take out our feelings about other things on animals. The story as a whole really reminded me of Moulin Rouge and I could easily see Ewan McGregor as the main character. I had a hard time understanding why he felt that he had to protect his elephant for all those years - because who could really blame her for what she did?

While the ending was a bit fantastic, I thought it was more than needed to make up for all of the sad bits that let up to it. All in all, a good read, but not nearly as in depth or generally enjoyable as I had anticipated!

Gridlock

Check out the Tierney Lab's latest post and quiz - and take a turn at recording what you think! It's at http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com.

Parched

I picked this up at the bargain bin at Barnes & Noble and now I sort of understand why it was put there in the first place. While the premise of the story is interesting and uplifting, the actual telling of it is drawn out and overly dramatic. I'm not sure if I would feel differently if I had ever battled a horrible disease like alcoholism, but I kept wondering when she was going to be done describing the daily downs that accompany 24-7 drinking and drug use.

She definitely got the point across that she was not a likeable person during her addiction - and I liked her even less for the self-pitying narrative (however true it was at the time) that wove its way through the pages

You know from the beginning how the story ends (recovery inspired by family intervention) and as I was reading, I was just waiting for the big tearful meeting to occur. Additionally, the role of religion seemed like an afterthought to the story - again, maybe I would understand if I had ever had a sudden enlightenment of the spiritual persuasion

The most interesting bit about all of this was how immediately intriguing the quotes from her journal entries were. Acidic, scathing, sad, and b*tchy at once, they were truly insightful and amazingly written. I got the impression that the story would have been a better one if it only consisted of her journal entries!

All-in-all, not a bad read, but not a great one either.