Book Reviewed: Economics in the Age of COVID-19 by Joshua Gans

Economic choices during a health crisis

In this book, the University of Toronto economics professor Joshua Gans analyzes economics of Covid-19 pandemic. The principle question addressed here is how to balance the economy and the public health crisis. What epidemiological model should we use? Covid-19 impacts different demographics in different ways, and compounding the problem is the information flow or the lack of it made it harder. At the beginning of the pandemic, it was stated that the virus affects older population, but later we learnt that it also affects younger population with equal ferocity. The actual number of death reported for wealthy countries does not help. It should be based on percentage of population and the economic diversity of the community.

The author suggests government could lend loans to its citizens during a pandemic to ease the economic burden, and repayment of loans to the government over time through taxation. But this leads to massive bureaucracy, and such a model may work for few wealthy countries. The AIDS epidemic in Africa which devastated an entire generation depleted the workforce and hampered the economic development. Prioritizing the economy over health is not necessarily a wise choice. The author also suggests that an international harmonized response would help. But organizations like United Nations and World Health Organizations have become a strong ally of China which is mainly responsible for this global pandemic. Except for United States, no other country is calling for actions against China which may have committed criminal acts.

This book is written in hurried fashion since much of epidemiology of Covid-19 is not well understood. The author does not have any academic publications in peer reviewed journals in the economics of public health that calls for closer scrutiny of his ideas.

Book Reviewed: Discover Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics: A Playful Way of Discovering a Law of Nature by Arieh Ben-Naim

Entropy is not associated with Time's Arrow

The second law of thermodynamics is expressed in many ways, the simplest is that heat flows naturally from a hotter to a colder body. One of the outcome of this simple universal property is that the natural order of events is a transformation of a physical state from an ordered to a disordered state; a state with more useful energy into less useful energy; a system with more information to one with less information; and a system with slow moving molecules to the one with fast moving molecules. Therefore, for a closed system like this universe, the entropy or the chaos is always increasing, hence this sets an arrow of time for events that moves from past to future and never in the reverse direction. This is a distinct feature of second law of thermodynamics that is different from classical and quantum physics which are time reversible.

Boltzmann was first to associate entropy with disorder, but he did not "equate" entropy with disorder. The second Law is also known to be of probability, but Boltzmann did not elaborate on which probability it operated. is it between a state changing from lower to a higher probability or from high probability towards a maximum value?

The author makes a distinction between Shannon’s measure of entropy (SMI) and entropy; entropy refers to macroscopic systems at equilibrium, and SMI refers to all other systems containing either small or large number of particles, and near or far from equilibrium. Thus, instead of saying that the entropy increases with time, and then reaches a maximum at equilibrium, it is shown that entropy is proportional to maximum probability distributions (of locations and momenta of the particles). Thus, the author argues that the SMI, not the entropy, evolves into a maximum value when the system reaches equilibrium. His conjecture is that entropy’s association with time is misunderstood, but when it is redefined with SMI, it becomes clear that entropy is not directly connected to time flow.

This is purely an original idea and the author has a fascinating way of narrating his theory. Very readable and stimulating.

Book Reviewed: The Book of Dust: The Secret Commonwealth, by Philip Pullman

Demon Voices

This is a fictionalized book about mind and its fascination with demons. The physical manifestation of a person’s consciousness is duplicated in the form of a demon represented by an animal. The lead character of the story is Lyra, and her demon is called Pan. They exist as separate entities and hence can leave each other or be associated with someone else! The trilogy begins with a story of two children, Lyra and Will who cross into two parallel worlds and lost forever. The author narrates this story that combines theology, physics, neuroscience, and with the poetry of William Blake and John Milton. Adding to this confusion, he introduces demons which is born out of human psychology. Depression and addiction are examples.

The author is Eurocentric. He does not go beyond the rim of Christian theology. If the author is trying to relate consciousness with laws of physics and biological mechanisms, he must explore physical reality like a philosopher and a scientist. In his recent interview with journal “New Scientist” he freely criticizes scientists for focusing on mathematics and physical theories without a holistic approach about consciousness. He asks, how does consciousness emerge from organic matter? But he does not resolve this question with his futuristic novel that drags readers into array of bizarre episodes. The story is about Lyra who is in pursuit of a dangerous theism. There is graphic violence, rape, and Lyra’s sexuality. She seeks out the company of men who are not attractive, because she feels uncomfortable for being unfaithful to her boyfriend lost to a parallel world! What is the point of this story? The author’s work is hyped up by the media and some clever marketing tools.

Book Reviewed: Mary Pickford: Queen of the Movies by Christel Schmidt

The legend of Hollywood

In the early days of cinema, fans recognized Mary Pickford in movies when actors were unmentioned in credits. Her magnetic talent and appeal made her the first movie star. In his 1923 autobiography, studio founder Sam Goldwyn wrote; there was no detail of film production which she had not grasped more thoroughly than any man, and she knew pictures not only from the standpoint of the studio, but also from that of the box office. If we look back at her career from her humble beginnings, she emerges as a Hollywood phenomenon. By the age of twenty-four, she was running her own production company, the Pickford Film corporation. Three years later, she cofounded Hollywood’s first independent film distribution company, the United Artists (UA). She knew the industry inside and out. For her, it was an art, and a passion.

This is a knockout biography by Editor Christel Schmidt. Each chapter is written by a film historian, and they recreate Pickford's life meticulously. This book explores the intricate psychology tied to her mother and analyzes Pickford's brilliant innovations in film acting and movie business. There are several illustrations and photographs from the Library of Congress and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences which helps the reader to connect with her life. The story of Pickford is described extremely well. This is a highly readable book.

The Edge of Physics: A Journey to Earth's Extremes to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe, by Anil Ananthaswamy

Doing astronomy at remote places to get the best view of the cosmos

Gigantic telescopes with high resolutions are necessary to get a good view of the heavens, but we also need an unimpeded look with a clear sky, free from clouds, wind, and dry atmosphere 365 days a year. Such an environment helps us gather images of galaxies billions of light-years away that would answer many fundamental questions of astronomy and physics. Hence large telescopes are built at places like Atacama Desert in Chile at Paranal Observatory. The author provides his personal experiences of visiting these places and reporting the experiments conducted there. Other places of interests include an abandoned iron mine in Minnesota, where experiments are conducted to study dark matter particles. In Antarctica, 1.5 miles into the icy ground, efforts are underway for the detection fundamentals particles like neutrino. Lake Baikal in Siberia, the world’s oldest and deepest lake is also a hotspot for detecting neutrinos, and the Indian Astronomical Observatory in the Himalayas to study galaxies with optical, infrared, and gamma-ray telescopes. This book is not so much about the experiments or astronomy research, but it is about the experience of visiting these places.

Book Reviewed: Let the Cow Wander: Modeling the Metaphors in Veda and Vedanta by Michael W. Myers

Perspectives from Hindu thought

This book is written for readers of philosophy which requires familiarity with Vedanta philosophy, and the ancient Hindu scriptures of Rigveda and Upanishads. The author uses the term “modelling the metaphors of Vedas and Vedanta” to describe the emergence Vedanta philosophy as a leading metaphysical system that sought to reform the Hindu faith away from the ritual and sacrificial practices of Rigveda in ancient India. Brahma sutra, one of the foundational texts of the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy is primarily about the nature of human existence, the cosmos, and metaphysical concept of Ultimate Reality called Brahman. It distinguishes the physical reality we observe and experience from the Absolute Reality. Brahman has no attributes but an entity that encompasses omniscience (infinite knowledge), omnipotence (unlimited power), omnipresence (present everywhere), Omni benevolence (perfect goodness), immutable, divine simplicity, and eternal existence. Brahman’s qualities are personal and impersonal which exists in space-less and timeless dimensions in an unchanging reality amidst and beyond the realm of a universe. The Pure Consciousness and the Supreme Being transcend all possible laws of physics, all dimensions, and all physical realities in the multiverse.

The author of this book distinguishes the sacrificial aspects of Rigveda and the teachings of Brahma Sutra (Vedanta, Principal Upanishads, and Bhagavad-Gita) respectably as scientific realism and Idealism (Absolute Truth). Sacrifices of Rigveda expound scientific reality in terms of observational astronomy in relation to altar-construction, and geometry. Vedic Hymns were chanted during the sacrifice to invoke gods and goddesses to seek heaven, freedom from sins and long healthy life. In contrast, Idealism of Brahma Sutra asserts that Upanishads describe the knowledge and meditation of Brahman, the ultimate reality. Brahman is the source from which the universe came into existence, and eventually to which it returns.

Sacrifice was also practiced and commanded in the Torah of Judaism. The animal sacrifice for zevah shelamim (the peace offering) and olah (the "holocaust" or burnt offering) included a bull, sheep, goat, or a dove that underwent shechita (Jewish ritual slaughter). The Hebrew Bible says that Yahweh commanded the Israelites to give offerings and sacrifices on various altars. Jesus Christ, referred to as "the Lamb of God" was a sacrifice as an atonement for human sin, this idea is derived from the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh.

The discussions in this book are sometimes vague and incoherent and the title of the book is little to do with the material presented in this book.

Book Reviewed: Damsels and Divas: European Stardom in Silent Hollywood by Agata Frymus

Tinseltown and the European rhapsody

Studying the female performers on American cinema during early 1900s is fascinating. The success of European women in Hollywood was particularly noteworthy. This book discusses the lives of three women from Europe: Pola Negri, Jetta Goudal, and Vilma Banky, and it attribute their lack of success in showbusiness is due to their “ethnicity,” “femininity” and the cultural process of “Americanization.” This argument is somewhat strange since all of them were white and their spoken language and accents did not matter since the movies were silent. Despite this, all of them gained good roles opposite well-known male actors, and they lived comfortably amidst success during the silent era. The transition from silent film to the “talkies” in the late 1920s transformed the movie industry. Many American icons could not make it into talkies successfully. It hurt more American actors/actresses than European performers who had voice and accent issues that made it harder. Despite this shortcoming, some European women succeeded, like Greta Garbo, Marlena Dietrich, Alla Nazimova, and others.

The author repeatedly uses ethnicity and feminine nature of European performers. There was nothing special about the feminine nature of these three women that contrasted others in Hollywood, Vilma Banky spoke little English. But she got to costar with matinee idols like Rudolph Valentino and Ronald Coleman. Some of them like Jetta Goudal was casted as Mexican or Asian was due to the available roles in their studios. American actresses like Loretta Young, Katharine Hepburn, Myrna Loy, Mary Pickford, Gale Sondergaard and Barbara Stanwyck have played roles of an Asian character. The author’s labeling Jetta Goudal as physically different from the ideals of white femininity is groundless and unwarranted. How can European be a racialized spectacle? The logic behind the author’s judgment is unreasonable. Despite this shortcoming in author’s assessment, the book covers the personal and professional career of Pola Negri and Vilma Banky to an acceptable level.

Book Reviewed: Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success, by Joseph McBride

Success in Hollywood: Director Frank Capra Story

Director Frank Capra is well known for the Christmas classic “It's a Wonderful Life,” but he is also known for other successful films like; It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, You Can't Take It with You, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. He worked with some of the most successful actors in Hollywood and produced epic films. This book chronicles a story of his struggle during his career in Tinseltown against politics, bureaucracy, and rivalries for the creative freedom.

Director Capra had a reputation for fierce independence when dealing with studio bosses. On the set he was said to be gentle and considerate, and his films often carry a message about basic goodness in human nature and show the value of unselfishness. His style is often termed "Capra-corn." Sometimes, "Capraesque" for the dramatic ends as we see in “It’s a Wonderful Life” and other Capra’s movies. His films championed the common man, as well as his use of spontaneous, fast-paced dialogue and goofy, memorable lead and supporting characters, made him one of the respected filmmakers of the 20th century.

Each film of Frank Capra is discussed in separate chapters in this book that provides fascinating details about his challenges in working with studio executives and movie stars. His passion for creative stories and transforming them into Capra-Corn style movies is memorable for movie fans. My favorite film of Frank Capra is the 1932 film “American Madness,” which illustrated his mastery over making movies, he was a visionary and a had a unique style. In fact, Capra was disappointed, according to the author, when the Academy did not nominate him for that year’s Oscar Award in the “Best Director” category. This book is informative and readable.

Book Reviewed: The Theoretical Minimum: What You Need to Know to Start Doing Physics, by Leonard Susskind & George Hrabovsky

An easy guide to learn classical mechanics

This is one of the best books to learn the math behind classical physics. Written beautifully by Stanford University Professor Lenny Susskind, and George Hrabovsky, it provides strong introduction to classical dynamics/Newtonian physics for college-level students of physics, chemistry, engineering, philosophy, and others interested in understanding the physical reality.

This book begins at the simplest level. It develops the basics and reinforces fundamentals, ensuring a solid foundation in the principles and methods like calculus. Vectors, integral calculus, and partial differentiation (dynamics) is introduced at the basic level. It is very well explained to do math. The highlight of the book includes space and time (coordinates), particles (matter), energy (kinetic and potential), motion in spacetime coordinates, momentum, electric & magnetic forces, force of gravity, acceleration, and energy. Application of Newton’s laws of physics, principles of least action, symmetries, conservation laws, Hamiltonian mechanics and invariance of time-translation are fascinating. You have everything you need to get mathematical perspectives of classical physical reality.

I read the book from beginning to end; and revised a second time, I got a much better understanding of the calculus. There are companion videos on YouTube from Lenny Susskind which is helpful. Mechanics and calculus are also described by many other physicists on YouTube that also assist in your learning experience. You can do this at your own pace. This book is enjoyable to read, and it is highly recommended.