Category Archives: Reviews

The Spirit of Zen

By lytspeed Posted in Opinion, Reading, Reviews Leave a reply

The Spirit of Zen

By: Alan Watts

Type: Non-fiction

Setting: n/a

Description:

This is a small text that introduces us to some of the riddles of the Zen mindset without giving away the answers. (The book would be stripped of its buddha nature if it contained “the answers.”) 

Comments:

Though written in the 1930s, this book still applies to Zen buddhism today. The concepts haven’t changed much and the source material is still carried down. Watts also updated the book at least twice before his death to keep it current, though he was never happy with the introductory chapter. Especially interesting is a description of life in a Zen monastery. In the description, Watts avoids “telling” us what’s happening, and simply shows us through words, a very Zen thing to do. Zen masters are known for never answering questions about Zen enlightenment directly but for exhibiting the path to enlightenment in their manner. Watts tries to do this as well, while still maintaining the interest and satisfaction of western readers. 

Recommendations:

A basic research book into Zen. That’s about all there can be, really, for a true understanding of Zen can only come through devoted study in the discipline itself. It can not be communicated in words, only through the mind-jarring koans, regular meditation and the simple procedures of living everyday life.

The Planiverse

By lytspeed Posted in Computers, Opinion, Reading, Reviews, Science Leave a reply

The Planiverse

By: A.K. Dewdney

Type: Pseudo-nonfiction based on scientific extrapolation

Setting: A computer lab in Canada and the two-dimensional world of Arde

Description:

In a style reminiscent of an extended gedanken experiment, Dewdney explores the possibility of a two dimensional universe and attempts to chart its scientific, social, religious and artistic rules. Aided in this project by a battalion of colleagues and students, he creates a believable paradigm and weaves it nicely together with a story about how a group of students and himself achieve connection with this world through the development of a computer simulation called 2DWORLD. 

Comments:

Dewdney so carefully treads the line of speculation versus reality that I found myself often wondering whether he really believed in the story. He repeats several times in the text that hedoes belive that he has met an inhabitant of Arde, named Yndred, and that Yndred showed up in the University’s DEC-10 computer when the 2DWORLD simulation program attained a certain level of sophistication. He is most insistent on this at the end of the introduction, and at that point in the work he seems to almost transform into a Randolph Carter type of character, á la Lovecraft. The science is engaging and the touch of mysticism adds flavor.

Still, I found it hard to suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy the story at times. The way in which the Ardean world and ours relate is shaky, especially when Dewdney claims that Yndred spoke in English (despite having a completely foreign alphabet) and that the computer screen automatically takes on a different focus and detail than its programming dictates when they are in contact with Yendred. If Dewdney had not taken the Lovecraftian approach in the introduction, I think I would have been able to enjoy the story more. No doubt, Dewdney believes that two dimensional universes exist, and makes a good case for us to believe it too, but his tactic of trying to draw the reader into the story by describing the events as if they actually happened to him distracted me. 

Recommendations:

Despite the minor difficulty I had with the approach, I like the book. it is a good exercise in thought experimentation and shows a wide range of intelligence and credit to the reader. It is easy to read; in fact it is hard to put down at times. If you are able to suspend your disbelief on a few practicalities and jump into the culture of a two-dimensional world, you are likely to have a good time with this book and learn something about alternate perspectives.

Machinery of the Mind

By lytspeed Posted in Computers, Opinion, Reading, Reviews, Science Leave a reply

Machinery of the Mind

By: George Johnson

Type: Non-fiction survey of AI

Setting: N/A

Description:

During a year of intensive study, George Johnson travelled around the country to conventions, interviewed prominent researchers in the field of cognitive science and read just about everything there is to read on the use of machines to model human intelligence. 

Comments:

Although a few years out of date, Johnson’s book is still a fresh, easy to understand look at the advances in the new science of artificial intelligence (or cognitive science, as some researchers prefer to call it.) Johnson is a good writer, and is obviously an intelligent man. He understands the concepts presented in his book, even though the knowledge comes from many different fields, all of which meet at the center of cognitive science. MotM makes a valient effort to present different sides of the artificial intelligence issue, devoting time to the “engineers,” the people concerned with presenting a working product that doesn’t necessarily have to model human intelligence, and the “scientists,” the heavy-hitters in the AI world who are trying to accurately model the workings of the human mind, whether it is practical or not. I got the impression that Johnson favors the pure research side more than the commercial aspects. 

Recommendations:

This is a great introductory text to artificial intelligence research. I wish I had had it when I started reading Gödel, Escher, Bach many years ago!.

Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics

By lytspeed Posted in Opinion, Reading, Reviews, Science Leave a reply

Alice in Quantumland:  An Allegory of Quantum Physics

By: Robert Gilmore

Type: Allegory

Setting: Quantumland

Description:

We follow the adventures of Alice as she tours Quantumland and meets up with such strange individuals as the Classical and Quantum Mechanics, scores of electrons and other subatomic particles and scientific principles (and principals!) 

Comments:

Lewis Carroll meets Werner Heisenberg and the gang. Throw in a pinch of The Phantom Tollbooth and season heavily with Gödel, Escher, Bach and Voila! Imagine being introduced to the worlds of Newtonian and particle physics in an Alice in Wonderland setting. That is what Gilmore’s book is all about. He remained true to the spirit of the original Through the Looking Glass, which Lewis Carroll wrote as an excercise in mathematics and logic for his neice, Alice. This book is also designed to educate, and it does a fine job of explaining some of the tougher aspects of modern physics.

Particularly enlightening are Gilmore’s descriptions of subatomic particles and the gedankenexperiment in which we learn that electron spin information is transferred seemingly instantaneously when one electron’s spin is measured. He also does well in introducing the theory that matter is merely a subcategory of energy, and that it is more accurate to say that energy is conserved in all reactions, rather than mass. Evidently, photons and other subatomic particles are created and destroyed constantly, but the sum total of the energy in the reaction is always the same, even if some mass has been created or destroyed. 

Recommendations:

If you are interested in understanding modern physics, but can’t get past the technical jargon or math, this book provides an excellent way to visualize the processes through metaphor.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

By lytspeed Posted in Opinion, Reading, Reviews Leave a reply

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

By: Robert Pirsig

Type: Philosophical Novel

Setting: The highways and backroads of the north central United States, as well as the cerebral roads of Mind and Memory

Description:

Pirsig takes us on a mental and physical journey into what makes up the realms of Quality and balance, whether those entities are definable (if they even need to be), and how to strive for them. Beautifully interlaced with the philosophical and metaphysical aspects of the story are scenes involving Pirsig and his son, Chris, which provide us with character sketches and the reminder that the people in the story are all too human, despite Pirsig’s lofty ideals. The sketches also serve to show us that being human isn’t all that bad. Keeping in mind that Chris was murdered outside a Buddhist temple many years after the book was written adds an eerie feeling to the exchanges between father and son, as well. 

Comments:

Zen is the kind of book you can reread several times and still get something new out of it each time. It changes levels with you as you learn, and I suspect that is why it continues to be a classic book of modern light philosophy. It is not always easy to like Pirsig’s characterization of himself; some of the things he does and says are inconsistent, but the reason becomes apparent as the book progresses. The book leaves you with the feeling that you can’t tell how much of it it is based in truth and how much isn’t, but that’s not the point. The point is to teach people that they can accept responsibility for their actions and can learn how to keep their bodies and minds in good repair, just like a good motorcycle. Our Selves need maintenance just like our machines do, and Pirsig gives us a few wrenches to work with, as well as showing us what happens when we let ourselves slip out of balance. 

Recommendations:

Though not for everyone, this book is ideal for young adults looking to find a path to follow after their college or high school lives are over. Zen is also useful for those of us who feel we have lost our sense of ourselves, those who thought we knew ourselves well only to find that we have a few surprises left.