The Malaysian Insider :: Books
The Malaysian Insider :: Books |
| Bentley backs limited Casino Royale reprint Posted: 28 Sep 2013 10:27 PM PDT The Bentley link is in reference to James Bond's affinity for the performance cars, and Random House furnishes the limited edition accordingly. Its hand-bound beluga leather case comes from the same tannery as Bentley's interiors, the metal spine is reminiscent of the marque's tread plates, and a secret compartment hides a special set of playing cards. The Bentley edition of Casino Royale is to go on sale from November 1, with orders being taken via telephone numbers available from Fleming's official website. Though novelist Ian Fleming created the grey 1930 Blower Bentley as Bond's personal drive, the fictional secret agent later became known for his association with Aston Martin in nine of the films based on Fleming's character. — AFP Relaxnews, September 29, 2013 |
| Book Review — Scepticism: Hero and Villain Posted: 28 Sep 2013 08:24 PM PDT Originating with the ancient Greeks, the sceptics get their name from the Greek word σκέπτομαι, meaning to think or consider. The central tenet of their philosophy was that it was impossible to assert anything as true or false. Yet far from being serial disbelievers or hardened cynics, sceptics can be characterised as perennial learners. One definition from the Oxford English Dictionary describes the sceptic as "A seeker after truth; an inquirer who has not yet arrived at definite convictions." In a new collection of essays collected by Sir Roy Calne and William O'Reilly, inquirers from a multitude of backgrounds set out again on this search for truth, coming up with some fascinating insights on the history of scepticism on the way. The subject is undoubtedly close to the heart of Sir Roy Calne, co-editor of the volume and a pioneer of transplant surgery. In his essay on Scepticism in Medicine, Organ Transplantation, Gene and Stem Cell Therapy, he describes how his groundbreaking work in the development of immunosuppressant drugs and organ transplant was met with scepticism, if not downright opposition from the medical community. Yet he is careful not to make an enemy of this valuable philosophical stance; scepticism is both hero and villain in the book's title, neither role offering the full picture. The volume ranges over the fields of science, the humanities, and political sciences, with chapters varying from a couple of pages to more weighty in-depth studies. This variety is both the appeal and the weak point of the book. With subjects stretching from brain surgery to digital manipulation of photographs to sumo wrestling match-fixing, the theme is constantly refreshed and reinterpreted when placed in the hands of a new expert. Yet one can't help but feel that the volume lacks a strong idea of its audience. Produced in a textbook-sized format and with a large majority of contributors deriving from Cambridge University, the content veers between university lecture and anecdotal musing; leaving the reader occasionally unsure of quite how much homework they should have done the night before. Again, this delving into unknown territories is part of the book's allure, but the uneven quality of the book's production, with some chapters omitting abstracts or even missing whole pages of text, raises the question of where this volume is positioning itself on the spectrum of academic study to coffee table book. The question of editing aside, the book has many successes. Michael P. Hobson's fascinating opening chapter on the history of scepticism in cosmology is one of the stand-out pieces. The reader is provided with the author's definition of scepticism and a map of his narrative before heading out into a dense but gripping investigation into the evolution of our modern understanding of the universe. Ending with the disturbing statistics that showed that, in 1990, 16% of Germans, 18% Americans and 19% of Britons still held that the sun revolves around Earth, it seems that the scepticism of 16th-century church leaders lives on today. John Pickard's chapter on brain surgery gives an excellent introduction to the brain for layman, and the memorable statement, "death is a process rather than an event" delivers exactly the kind of well-judged blow to commonly held perceptions that one looks for in this kind of study. Some of the most interesting chapters hinge on the question of what can be held as truth or reality at all. Ian Winter's chapter, The Reasonableness of Doubt: Scepticism and the Law, draws the reader's attention to the fact that the legal system of many countries, including England, relies on proof rather than truth to underpin its decisions. He demonstrates how scepticism can take us into the realm of the surreal, using the following exchange between an empirically-minded pathologist and a sceptic US attorney: Attorney: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse? Witness: No Attorney: Did you check for blood pressure? Witness: No. Attorney: Did you check for breathing? Witness: No. Attorney: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy? Witness: No. Attorney: How can you be so sure, doctor? Witness: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar. Attorney: I see. But couldn't the patient have still been alive, nevertheless? Witness: Yes it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law. The title may label scepticism as both a hero and a villain, but Winter reminds us that it can also be a fool on occasion. A similarly probing look into the nature of truth and reality are found in Dillwyn Williams' and Keith Baverstock's essay, Scepticism and Radiation, in which media sensationalism is shown to overshadow accuracy. An emotionally-charged documentary that came out in the wake of the Chernobyl explosion, focussing on one child with deformities which could have been caused by the use of thalidomide caused a storm of public reaction, severely lacking in scepticism, against nuclear power, much to the dismay of a more informed scientific community. Throughout the volume, emotion is seen as the enemy to the living out of sceptical principles. Andrew Verity's chapter on economic scepticism gives an excellent behind-the-headlines breakdown of the economic crises that have rocked the world recently, positioning emotional irrationality at the very heart of the failure of the international financial collapse. There are many other chapters worthy of note, including Maria Tippett's segment on Inuit art, Jose de Souza Martins' chilling descent into the tradition of lynching in Brazil, and Stephen Chittenden's debunking of the myth that sport takes place on a level playing field. There are also a couple of claims that might awake the reader's inner sceptic, such as Daisy Christodoulou's assertion that scepticism is a particularly modern concept. But perhaps the journey from reader to sceptic is a testament to this volume's success in communicating its lesson. Montaigne's question still has no answer, but Scepticism: Hero and Villain certainly gives the reader a fine set of tools to start figuring out what that question means — but not necessarily the answer, for the sake of scepticism perhaps. — September, 29, 2013 |
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