Nonfiction (mostly): Homo Deus

 
Homo Deus
by Yuval Noah Harari


Insightful look into mankind in the past, the present, and possibly the future. There's all kinds of cool facts and syntheses of facts here, too much to relate. Clearly Ms. Harari is a deep thinker of the sort we need in the world--a person who goes where the facts lead and doesn't pretend to sugar-coat the future. What purpose will humans serve in a world where human endeavor is unneeded? What is the real meaning of "free will" and is there even any such a thing? Stuff like that.

Too deep for me to criticize...but I have a couple of points. My background is this: I was a biology student in college; I've read a lot about evolution and natural selection; I have been working as a computer programmer for many years.  So when he dismisses the notion of "free will" as an evolutionary unnecessary fiction, I have to wonder if he really understands evolution. Genetic mutation and recombination provide the raw material for natural selection; selection acts to weed out the unfit and promote the genes that work in the particular environment that the organisms find themselves. But--and this is a big but--the genes that are selected to reproduce themselves are not always those that seem obvious to us big-brained apes. Evolution is full of accidents, errors, and mis-fitted pieces that hang around even if they're of no use at all or of less use than a better designed piece might have been. Humans, for example, have all kind of parts that work poorly or have no purpose at all.

So his argument is that there is no such thing as "free choice" or "free will" or even a degree of random curiosity in the mind, because it would be of no evolutionary purpose. Ridiculous! Why wouldn't a gene that promoted a tendency to wander randomly through a habitat be of tremendous use? Take a coyote--a coyote who is curious about new things might find himself caught in a steel trap--but he also might find himself enjoying an hot apple pie he found on a windowsill. Mr. Harari has made the assumption that he (or other deep thinkers) know more than they do. He's made no space in argument for the "known unknown."

And the other issue I have is that he thinks that if "an algorithm" can play chess or diagnose illness better than the best human mind, eventually the human mind itself will be obsolete. But where does he think the algorithms come from?

Possibly, maybe, if an algorithm can be developed to create algorithms, I'll hang up my computer keyboard and go sit on a beach and sip smoothies for a living.

So, ignore what I just wrote and go read (or listen to) Mr. Harari's book. It's fascinating. Just keep an open mind and prepare to have it blown away!

Waited a while for this one

Rock Bottom Treasure
by S.W. Hubbard

Another estate sale organizer mystery! I have a strong affection for these characters and would enjoy them anywhere, anytime. I'm not sure that would be true for all readers, so I hesitate to recommend the series. It's lively, amusing, perfectly character-driven, and doesn't rely on cheap cliches to advance the story. For example, Augie's husband is a homicide detective, working on a case that seems to be tangentially connected with her business. But their interactions are blessedly free of the "stay safe and keep out of my business" attitude from him and she doesn't have to "prove" to him that she can use her brain to figure out things. Nor does she single-handedly solve the crime by a womanly intuition, nor does she get attacked repeatedly and have to be rescued by her brainy and brawny cop partner. None of that--this is much more sensible and Audrey is no clueless meddler in matters she doesn't belong in.

Gardening in My Roots, not really

 Not gardening now, but I did get out and do some digging and pull up the remaining turnips. Between the cows, the dry weather, and the two very cold nights, I lost the one bunch of lettuce and the four or five little bunches of Swiss Chard. Even the turnip tops were unusable.

But I have these little sweet things:

More travels, more!

 Travels With Rachel:
In Search of South America
by George Mahood

Funny, funny. Loved it. Want more.

Mr. Mahood and his wife (or is it girlfriend?) take a quick, backroads journey through a few of the countries of South America. There are lots of places they don't get to, but they do enough to make for a wonderful journey offroads and on.

Don't expect to get a real "feel" for the common people they meet along the way--they don't seem to interact with the locals too much, other than travel guides, hotel managers, and bus drivers. I'm not saying this as a criticism--they're definitely not snobs or jerks in any manner at all. They just seem to keep busy in the well-rubbed travel circuit and don't go out poking around in peoples' homes.

But for what they set out to do and see, they do magnificently. Loved it.

Short one, sorry

 The Mapping of Love and Death
by Jacqueline Winspear

Sorry I've not much to say here. I guess I'm getting a little bored with Maisie Dobbs. Or maybe the author is? No, it's probably me, because there is some very interesting stuff here. If anything, the life story is better than ever. The mystery, however, is not especially exciting.

A Small Cooking Adventure from 2021

I tried to make this Shrimp Cream Sauce, served over baked crappie. The crappie was good but the cream sauce kind of blah. I'll save the recipe, but only to remind myself not to try this one again. However, I will note that it called for Creole Seasoning, but all I had was Old Bay.  + a little Cayenne pepper. That does NOT cut it.

Mostly memorable memoir

 The Girls in the Wild Fig Tree: 

How I Fought to Save Myself, My Sister, and Thousands of Girls Worldwide

by Nice Leng'ete

What a lovely story of a sad life with a good ending! (No spoiler--you know how it ends from the subtitle) But what you don't know is how much tragedy befell the author in her early years, and what amazing fortitude got her through it.

It's above all a tribute to her father, her mother and her sister. Her father taught her to be a leader, to aspire for progress for herself and her people, and most of all, that before she could change people, she first had to listen to them. What a great man he was!  Sorry I don't remember all her mother's contributions, but I do remember admiring her sister with all my heart.

Although the story it told was a joy to read, the book was awfully repetitive and a little uneven. Some parts were thick and juicy; other parts thin--no more than words on a page. Maybe Ms. Leng'ete couldn't remember the details and so the editor had to stretch out the simple facts to make a complete life history. It's a shame.