4 posts tagged “book”
Coming back from the elections, I promise myself to start reading other stuffs which I've postponed for sooooo long. After all, I think reading things outside your usual zone makes a better person, gives a broader perspective of the world and generally creates a better persona. However these two books cost me around RM200. Ouch! But I think it's well worth it, as history from the other side of the world is generally not reported in our mainstream newspapers (good for propaganda only) And I love stories, his-story !
I came across some rather entertaining articles from Time about Dr. James Watson, the Nobel prize winner in 1953 for the discovery of the double helix structure of the DNA, together with Francis Crick. It is interesting to read about colourful characters.
He will be publishing a new book titled "Avoid boring people" ! From a scientist and a Nobel prize winner...should be interesting.
Taken from the Times Online:
Dr Watson’s tips for success
- Always make necessary decisions before you have to
- Be the first to tell a good story
- Don’t back schemes that demand miracles
- Never be the brightest person in the room
- Only ask for advice that you will later accept
Anyway he is drawing criticism and flak for his alleged comments such as,
“inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – whereas all the testing says not really”
suggesting a link between skin colour and sex drive – hypothesising that dark-skinned people have stronger libidosthat fat people don't get hired because they lack ambition
abort baby with gay genes
“If you could detect it pre-natally, could a woman abort a child
who was homosexual? I said they should have the right to, because most women
want to have grandchildren, period. We can’t do it, but it’s common sense.
Other interesting quote regarding the higher incidence of schizophrenia in offspring of older parents,
“Viagra is fighting against
evolution” – because if evolution has selected for erectile-dysfunction
disorder, it is to prevent older men fathering children. He suggests that
“men should store sperm at 15 to be used if they want to be fathers at 80”.
I wonder whether there is a distinction between personal and professional opinion or there's no way to separate them. Anyway it's his personal opinion. Can't he have them? I'm no way defending his opinion. To me, he's just getting the extra attention because of his past glory.
In any case, it's quite an entertaining read...hahaha
"Don't believe any scheme that promises miracles either" hehe
I really didn't know about this Non Profit Organization ship previously until it stopped by the city this week. I was rather curious and eager to visit this floating bookshop, not for the books actually but for the experience of boarding the ship and exploring around ;)
This ship is the oldest sea going ocean ship. Check out their site here
The weather was hot, real hot but that didn't stop us. There was a huge crowd in the ship. Saw some crew members and they looked like from many different countries. They were young and looked good actually. The books were really cheap though somewhat not the latest ones. Really a bargain especially for kids.
How nice to be able to go round the world like this! ( turning green with envy but I am quite sensitive to motion sickness, so not really a good idea for me )