Book Reviewed: Evolution: The Human Story by Alice Roberts

Ancient history of humans Ancient relics such as fossils, stone tools, bones, footprints, genetic and hereditary information contained in DNA shed light on human ancestors. In few decades, a substantial amount of new evidence suggests origins and the demise of several closely related hominin species that lived in the last seven millions years. Modern humans are new kids on the block who are around for only about 200,000 years on a planet that created life 3.8 billion years ago. The palaeobiological and genetic studies have shown that the origins of modern human beings included interactions with other species like Neanderthals and Denisovans before they went extinct. Hominin species evolved in response to the numerous challenges of nature and selection pressures. Almost all species of hominin are now extinct except for Homo sapiens. Many of extinct species are now known from fossil remains, Homo Neanderthalensis (the Neanderthals), Denisovans, Homo erectus, Homo habilis, Homo ergaster, and various species of Australopithecus. Hominins are distinguished from other primates from their erect posture, bipedal locomotion, larger brains, and behavioral characteristics such as specialized tool use and communication. The living primates most closely related to hominins today are Chimpanzees and Bonobos. This book is essentially a monograph of history and archaeology of hominin species, and it features numerous colored images of closely related species and the paleoenvironments that included many modern-day wild animals. Their adventures invite us to think about becoming a human species and speculate on the natural section pressures on gene evolution on several dimensions. The reconstructions of extinct hominin species from their anatomical and skeletal remains tell the evolutionary history. There is a lot to learn about how hominin species and their habitats. Next time, when you are in New York City and If you have time, I recommend visiting the Anne and Bernard Spitzer Hall of Human Origins at the American Museum of Natural History and look at the exhibits. It features four life-sized tableaux of Homo ergaster, Homo erectus, Neanderthals, and Cro-Magnons in its natural habitat.

Book Reviewed: A Short History of Humanity: A New History of Old Europe by Johannes Krause and Thomas Trappe

Agriculture and farming lead to genetic changes in Europe Recent studies in archeology and genetics significantly helped our understanding of human evolution in terms of race and culture in Europe. In this book, the authors address the question of how multiculturalism and racial diversity in ancient world gave rise to the Caucasian race, a distinctive feature of modern-day Europeans. Much has been learnt in the last two decades by studying DNA from skeletons of ancient humans. These results suggest that the light skin seen across Europe today is due to the introduction of agriculture 8,500 years ago. Human genome underwent widespread changes, altering their height, digestion, immune system, and skin color. For example, the LCT gene evolved after intense natural selection to make humans lactose tolerant. Before agriculture and farming, humans ate meat and fish, but the need for LCT gene arose after they started consuming milk from farm animals. In the last 200,000 years of human history, Homo Sapiens were dark skinned for about 192,000 years. The hunter-gatherers, human descendants from Africa migrated to Europe 40,000 years ago. They remained dark as recently as 8,500 years ago, but farmers arriving from Anatolia were light-skinned, and this trait spread through Europe. A shift to agriculture reduced the intake of vitamin D, which may have triggered a change in skin color that were found in Anatolian farmers who migrated from West Asia, a region that includes modern-day Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, and parts of Egypt. Later, about 5,000 years ago a second wave of migration of Yamnaya population occurred from the steppes, north of the Black Sea, a region near the modern-day Ukraine. They had the knowledge of using bronze, proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilization. They also brought Indo-European languages to Europe that evolved into various European languages. The Yamnaya population were also pale-skinned and taller than the farmers from Anatolia, and both were even taller than hunter-gatherers. The European hunter-gatherers had dark skin throughout their stay in the cold climate. They had enough supply of vitamin D in their meal that consisted of meat and fish and did not need paler skin to synthesize vitamin D. A change in diet, and in parallel the living style and social factors played a key role in the evolution of modern humans. Farmers lived longer and had more children than hunter-gatherers. Among hunter-gatherers, the natural selection pressure did not arise to change skin color despite the fact they were in northern latitudes in cold climates. But it became dominant when they stopped the intake of meat & fish and started consuming agriculture and dairy products. The skin tone of early farmers came under selection pressure, only those with lighter skin could manufacture enough vitamin D. Several mutations were required to produce lighter skin. The gene variants like SLC24A5 and SLC45A2 lead to skin-depigmentation, and HERC2/OCA2 is also responsible for blue eyes, light skin, and blond hair. Among Anatolians in whom these genes first emerged were healthier, lived longer, and taller than hunter-gatherers. The farmers also had more children and less stressful life. A recent paper in New Scientist claims that social factors played a key role in the evolution of modern humans. The authors strenuously argue that since modern Europeans originated from a melting pot created by the human migration, earlier from Africa and the later two migrations due to Anatolian farmers and Yamnaya population. They observe that one must sustain the current wave of migrations from Africa and the Middles East. But I like to point out that human migration in the past occurred due to natural and environmental challenges, but the current migrations are influenced by politics, West-European colonialism, and religion, mainly Islam and Christianism. Manufactured religions have done much harm to human beings and my impact the evolutionary trends.

Book Reviewed: After Jesus Before Christianity: A Historical Exploration of the First Two Centuries of Jesus Movements by Erin Vearncombe et al.

Reflections of the first two hundred years of Christianism by Jesus Seminar During the first two centuries following the death of Jesus, Christianism and the New Testament did not exist as we know today. In fact, the Christian movement began from disciples of Jesus who tried to make sense of what they had experienced with him and what will happen to his ministry. There were splinter groups who followed other spiritual leaders like John the Baptist. There was much more flexibility and diversity within Jesus’s movement before it became a religious doctrine. The gnostic Christians had varied and diverse opinions about parables, crucifixion, and resurrection. Some of the earliest followers of Jesus were apocalyptic Jews. According to the Book of Acts, there were two groups; those who observed laws of Torah, and others welcomed gentiles without imposing any restrictions of Jewish laws. The authors of this book are the new breed of scholars of well-known Jesus Seminar and Westar Institute which was founded in 1985 by the late Biblical scholar Robert W. Funk and other leading academics of his time. In this book, this young breed of authors tries to continue the great tradition of unbiased scholarship in the historical evaluation of canonized gospels, gnostic gospels, Acts and Pauline Epistles. One of the questions addressed by the authors is the understandings of sexuality, family values, gender & gender fluidity. The authors observe that there was a resurgence of morality and new world order after Jesus Christ. Histories, traditions, and legends are discussed and debated in ways that I have not read in apocrypha or other history books of ancient Israel. They claim that followers of Jesus resisted the Roman Empire in defiance by practicing gender fluidity and flexibility; and lived with chosen non-traditional families. There were diverse races, beliefs and they believed that dying for a specific cause was a noble idea. The authors cite First Corinthians for the ambiguities about gender within early Jesus associations, and Gospel of Matthew is interpreted as an experiment with family. The earlier books by the Jesus Seminar were scholarly, highly readable, and extensively annotated with historical facts. They embarked on a new translation and assessment of the gospels including Gospel of Thomas. In pursuit of the historical Jesus, they used their collective expertise to determine the authenticity of more than fifteen hundred sayings attributed to him. However, the narratives in this book contrast the work of earlier scholars, and one chapter does not connect well with the next. The authors have overworked themselves as new breed of “woke” academics to cancel the existing culture. As you read this book you realize that they strenuously argue that gender fluidity and non-traditional families were common in ancient Israel. This does not reflect well on Jesus Seminar that worked fearlessly to challenge the dominance of Christian church. This book invents things that didn’t exist. At this rate one would like to question, what next for Jesus Seminar? Jesus was a gay guy?

Book Reviewed: Fugitive Pedagogy: Carter G. Woodson and the Art of Black Teaching by Jarvis R. Givens

Was African American education in early 20th century was forged in slavery? A young black kid growing up in Michigan once told his eighth-grade teacher about his intention of becoming a lawyer. But his teacher killed his enthusiasm instantly stating that his ambitions were unrealistic for a “nig*er” and suggested to become a carpenter. This kid would come to be known as Malcolm X, described as how this encounter became a turning point in his childhood, and later, trouble with the law in his adolescent years. His fascinating perspective of racism in America is narrated in in his autobiography. Despite this, black education continued against a background of increased violence against African Americans in the South. After Democrats regained power in state governments, they instituted legal racial segregation and a variety of racist laws. They also disfranchised Black people by constitutional amendments and electoral rules from 1890 until 1964. But the enslaved people learned to read despite widespread challenges. Teachers developed covert instructional strategies, and creative responses to the persistence of White opposition, from slavery through the Jim Crow era. Forged in slavery, embodied by Carter Woodson and W.E.B. Dubois is a tradition of escape mentality of slaves and later for black teachers says the author of this book. One major flaw is that the author is using the same material he wrote for his PhD dissertation. This book leaves out the role played by many African American educators. I understand the PhD dissertation focuses on a specific narrative of educator Carter G. Woodson. But the author missed out numerous achievements early in the African American history. Some of the highlights that could have been incorporated in this book includes the creation of Clark Atlanta University founded in 1865. Lucy Craft Laney founded Haines Normal and Industrial Institute in Augusta, Georgia. Hired as principal of the new normal school (for the training of teachers) in Tuskegee, Alabama, Booker T. Washington opened his school in 1881. Based on his experience at the Hampton Institute, Washington intended to train students in skills, morals, and religious life, in addition to academic subjects. Washington urged the teachers he trained to return to the plantation districts and show the people how to put new energy and new ideas into farming as well as into the intellectual and moral and religious life of the people. Later he became the President of the Tuskegee University, Alabama. Mary Bethune Cookman, well known for starting a private school for African-American students in Daytona Beach, Florida, later became Bethune-Cookman University. George Washington Carver, a well-known plant biologist worked at Tuskegee when Booker Washington was the president of the university. In 1897, W.E.B DuBois became a professor in history and economics at the historically black Atlanta University in Georgia.

Book Reviewed: Killing for Krishna: The Danger of Deranged Devotion by Henry Doktorski

Hare Krishnas and the New Vrindaban community “Killing for Krishna” is an intelligent and impeccably researched work on the early events of ISKCON - New Vrindaban, a rural community of Hare Krishnas in Moundsville, West Virginia. The author who lived and witnessed events during his stay acknowledges ambiguity in this inherently complex narrative. He offers clarity to the history of one of the major temples in the United States. The main character of the story is Swami Kirtananda also called Bhaktipada, the charismatic man who was the first disciple of Srila Prabhupada. Kirtananda helped build the very first temple in New York City before he moved to Moundsville. He was primarily responsible for expanding the spiritual movement of Hare Krishnas in the United States. The major event in the history of the commune was the 1986 murder of the devotee Steven Bryant (Sulochan Dasa), and the involvement of senior disciples of Swami Kirtananda in this crime. Bryant was a resident-devotee of New Vrindaban and worked for Kirtananda at the temple for few years before the relationship soured. The hostility of Bryant towards Kirtananda became personal when he blamed Kirtananda for breaking his family and separation from his wife and children. His first book, “The Guru Business,” attempts to exposes illegal activities at New Vrindaban and put the blame on Kirtananda, but his attempts fail. He refuses to give up, upon more research at Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT) in Los Angeles, California, he digs more dirt on Kirtananda and start campaigning with devotees at various American temples. The close followers of Kirtananda become involved in the murder of Steven Bryant. ISKCON leaders denounce the murder and distance themselves from New Vrindaban. The ISKCON Governing Body Commission (GBC) urges Kirtananda to resign from the GBC if he is indicted. Kirtananda agrees, but when he is indicted, he refuses to resign. In September 1986, New Vrindaban lays off their entire work force of 187 employees. All money at New Vrindaban goes to Kirtananda’s legal fund. All projects are neglected, including the dairy, and many protected cows at the New Vrindaban community die from starvation. The closure of New Vrindaban Elementary School directly affects forty children of the devotees. Kirtananda Swami inaugurates a year-long “First Amendment Freedom Tour,” during which he appears on ninety radio shows and sixty television shows, including CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, Larry King Live, and the Sally Jesse Raphael Talk Show and West 57th Street. In April 1987, Rolling Stone publishes an article entitled “Dial OM For Murder,” about the murder of Steven Bryant. The authors claim that Kirtananda ordered the assassination of Bryant to silence him from sharing information about Kirtananda’s illegal and immoral activities. Most New Vrindaban devotees believe the charges against their spiritual master are “rumors and hearsay.” The book offers a one-sided look at the dark history of the temple, but several things written in this book are unsubstantiated from independent sources. Despite all the ills, the New Vrindaban at present is a prosperous community for a large population of devotees in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Over the past twenty years, this temple has emerged as one of the important spiritual centers of ISKCON organization that has lived up to the teachings of Srila Prabhupada.

Book Reviewed: The Origin of Satan: How Christians Demonized Jews, Pagans and Heretics by Elaine Pagels

The spiritual battles with Satan (five stars) The study of the Satan in the biblical literature is fascinating. Author Elaine Pagels offers an interesting discussion largely from the point of New Testament. The crucial issue is the irreconcilable paradox: if God is benevolent and omnipotent, then why does He permit evil? Or do we live in a world made of two forces, God, and the Devil? Satan is also called Lucifer. In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, often identified as the serpent in the Garden of Eden. In Christianism, he is considered as a fallen angel who rebelled against God but retained power over human beings. In the Synoptic Gospels, Satan tempts Jesus in the desert. He is identified as the cause of illness and temptation (Mark 1:12–13, Matthew 4:1–11, and Luke 4:1–13). Satan plays a role in some of the parables of Jesus, namely the Parable of the Sower, the Parable of the Weeds, Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, and the Parable of the Strong Man. According to the Parable of the Sower, Satan influences those who fail to understand the gospel. The gospel of Mark mentions angels only in the opening verse (1:13) and in the final verses of the original manuscript (Mark 16:5-7). He characterizes Jesus' ministry as involving continual struggle between God's spirit and the demons who belong to Satan's "kingdom" (Mark 3:23-27). For nearly two thousand years Christians believed that Jews killed Jesus and the Romans were merely their agents. Examination of synoptic gospels in the historical context reveals that they are theological treatise of a historical biography. The authors of Matthew and Luke based on the gospel of Mark revised in different ways. They each added their own interpretation of the source materials from earlier traditions like, oral tradition, anecdotes, and parables. The gospel of Mark was written more than a generation after Jesus' death, and the other synoptic gospels nearly two generations later. The gospel writers tended to downplay the role of Romans in the aftermath of the unsuccessful Jewish war against Rome. In fact, the Jesus' execution was imposed by the Romans for activities they considered seditious. Each author of synoptic gospels shapes a narrative to respond to circumstances that surrounded them in ancient Israel. Christians as they read the gospels have identified themselves with the apostles. They have also identified their opponents, Romans, Jews, pagans, and heretics with forces of evil. The book is academic but numerous references are provided for readers interested in the history of gospels and the evolving idea of Satan in the New Testament. Highly recommended to those interested in the ancient history of Israel and the early Christian traditions.

Book Reviewed: Mae West by George Eells

Mae West, an America icon This is a fascinating study of Mae West, an actress, playwright, screenwriter, and iconic sex symbol. The author reveals a radically subversive artist consciously creating her own image. Her screenplays made her a cultural icon for sexuality and social subversion. In the 1930s, she was not only considered scandalous but dangerous to the American society. She achieved her success through hard work and dogged persistence by employing fair or foul means, trickery, and ruthlessness in the rough-and­ tumble world of show-business. She dimmed Marlene Dietrich's allure, outshone glossy Joan Crawford, and overpowered Greta Garbo's subtle eroticism. Depression era audiences were stimulated by her unapologetic exhibitionism and cynical behavior. In her films she was the first woman to function as a leading man. For all the variety of the scripts she wrote, the constant factor was West’s personality to ridicule social attitudes toward sex. She was a sensation on Broadway with her play “Sex.” In 1926, she was convicted of obscenity, and spent ten-days in prison but emerged as a star. The movie “She Done Him Wrong” single-handedly saved Paramount Studios from probable bankruptcy, or it may have improved Paramount's fiscal condition and probably saved it from being merged with MGM Studios. Enigmatic life of Mae West was spent in the Brooklyn subculture of boxers and underworld figures. Her journey through burlesque, vaudeville, Broadway, and Hollywood, where she became one of the big screen's most popular and colorful stars. This book is well-written and the author’s narratives of West’s life and her interactions with other leading ladies is fascinating. Reading this book is a pleasure!

Book Reviewed: Microbes: The Life-Changing Story of Germs by Phillip K. Peterson

Living with microbes Microorganisms like bacteria, fungi, archaea, protozoa, algae, and viruses are too small but they have tremendous impact on our lives. The wilds of the human microbiome, where for thousands of years, bacterial and human cells existed in a peaceful symbiosis and in equilibrium to foster healthier bodies. The dialogue between the gut and the brain has been recognized by ancient healing traditions such as Ayurvedic medicine in ancient India, which is confirmed by the recent studies that show the microbes in the human body communicate with mind from the gut. Our personality may be shaped by your microbiome, the lack of biodiversity can make one sick which is supported by an old proverb, “you are what you eat.” Because diet has a profound effect on both physical and mental health. Most of the body’s immune system is in the gut, so pathology and dysfunction in the gut and imbalanced gut flora can cause neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative disease. This book will fascinate you about the intriguing world of good and bad bugs discussed in three sections. In the first part, the author discusses friendly microbes responsible for our current oxygen-rich environment that supports life and how they are our intimate bodyguards in making our very existence possible. The second part deals with infectious microbes that can harm us, and the final section is a futuristic story of how we can harness the power of microbes to make us healthier and safer. In this book you learn that most microbes are beneficial to humans, animals, and plants, but the belief that germs are our mortal enemies-hasn't changed. A vast majority of germs are either harmless or genuinely essential to human health. This book is written for a casual reader with very little scientific data. There are several books available in bookstore that is creative and generate enthusiasm and curiosity to learn more about microbes than this book.

Book Reviewed: The Gnostic Paul: Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Letters by Elaine Pagels

Was Paul a gnostic believer? The New Testament describes apostle Paul preached Christian communities all his life as the leader of the ministry of Jesus Christ in the first century. But what is known about Paul comes from Sunday school stories that were meant to keep kids reverent and obedient. Volumes have been written after the discovery of early Christian and Gnostic texts discovered in Nag Hammadi in 1945. These texts shed light on early Christianity and give glimpses of Paul, and project him as the apostle of the heretics. What does divinity school scholarship tell us about the enigmatic thirteenth apostle who looms larger than life in the New Testament? Gnostic beliefs clashed strongly with accepted Christian doctrine in the first two centuries. By the end of the second century, Gnostics broke away from the church. Their core belief was dualistic in nature which proposes that that there are two realities, the physical and spiritual realms. They believed that the material world (matter) is evil and therefore one must achieve spiritual realm to find everlasting peace. This concept is remarkably like the Sankhya Philosophy of Hinduism founded by the sage Kapila in 800 B.C.E. In this book, the author examines and interprets the texts of the Pauline Epistles; 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Hebrews in the historical and cultural context. She considers each of these non-pastoral epistles, and questions about their authorship. She examines how the Pauline epistles were read by second century Valentinian Gnostics and argues that Paul was in fact gnostic. Valentinus, a leading gnostic and follower of Paul in the second century preached that only spiritual people received the gnosis (knowledge) and they would find the Divine Pleroma, while non-gnostic Christians with material nature will perish. Maricon, another major gnostic leader from Sinope (present-day Turkey) in 150 C.E., preached Gnosticism followed a version of New Testament that included a redacted gospel of Luke and ten edited epistles of Paul. One of the difficulties in understanding Paul with the earliest Christianity has been explaining his lack of relationship to the early “sayings” tradition (the transmission and quoting of the sayings of Jesus also called “Oral” tradition). Paul quotes few sayings of Jesus in his epistles. But he became a Christian in Syria and spent the first fifteen years of his ministry there. It is in this area, the “sayings” tradition was the strongest in the first century C.E., Was this because his heretic beliefs conflicted with the parables and canonical gospels? Princeton University Professor Elaine Pagels offers a thorough analysis of the early Christian beliefs and the gnostic traditions that influenced apostles like Paul, Thomas, and Mary Magdalene

Book Reviewed: River of Blood: American Slavery from the People Who Lived It by Richard Cahan

Amazing Grace: Words and wisdom of American slaves The book is about the formerly enslaved people who lived to tell the story of their bondage and freedom. This is a human account of what it meant to assert a place in this country, as Black people and as Americans. The words and the photographs are profound, and they offer vivid reality of how tough it was for African Americans to have basic dignity in everyday life. There are intimate details provided by the last survivors of slavery, and the violence perpetrated by the KKK . This is a well-researched book on the legacy of slavery and its imprint on centuries of American history. In 1936, the Federal Writers' Project (FWP), a branch of the Works Progress Administration, a government agency was set up to provide work to the one-quarter of Americans during Great Depression. Notable projects of the FWP included the Slave Narrative Collection, a set of interviews that culminated in over 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and five hundred black-and-white photographs of former slaves. These narratives are available online from the above-named collection at the Library of Congress website. More than seventy years after the Civil War, the people interviewed for this project were in their seventies, eighties, and nineties. Notable pictures are of Sarah Gudger born into slavery in 1816 in North Carolina and believed to be one of the oldest people when she died at the age of 122. Betty Boomer, born into slavery in Texas, and she was one of the African Americans terrorized by the Ku Klux Klan. Donaville Broussard born into slavery in 1850 in Lafayette, Louisiana. but like so many others he lived in the ominous shadow of the Ku Klux Klan and white hostility. Many formerly enslaved recall torture, dislocation, extreme overwork, severe abuse, inadequate nutrition, constant stress, and a multitude of other trauma produced serious psychological and physical scars. The book also highlights the cabin of former slave in Putnam County, Georgia, slave quarters in Cecil County, Maryland; Caruthersville, Missouri; and St. Charles Parish, Louisiana; and an African American cemetery in Person County, North Carolina. The book is a tremendous illustration of formerly enslaved people and I recommend this to anyone interested African American history.

Book Reviewed: Marlene: Marlene Dietrich, A Personal Biography by Charlotte Chandler

Blue Angel Author Charlotte Chandler reminisces about her conversation with Marlene Dietrich when she was leading a reclusive life in Paris. It relies extensively on the star’s own words to reveal her intriguing and fascinating life, but the focus of discussion changes from one section to the next often confusing the reader. For example, in one section the author describes how actor Mae West described Marlene’s friendship but used Dietrich’s own words. This biography is incomplete which depends on Dietrich’s words rather than researching her life with documents and interviewing friends, family, and her associates. The facts provided in this book comes in sharp contrast to the narratives of other biographers who researched Dietrich’s life. Dietrich devoted herself to glamour for over forty years: in stage performances, on screen, and in concert. A modern and transgressive woman, she didn’t hesitate to break the rules by dressing in menswear (she was Yves Saint Laurent’s muse for his iconic tuxedos). She didn’t mind being with her husband and her lovers (both male and female), but it was Dietrich’s unwavering confidence, gender fluidity, and firm stand against Nazism that made her a revolutionary and an icon. Dietrich would stand up to the Nazis and galvanize American troops, eventually earning the Congressional Medal of Freedom. In her final years, she would make herself visibly invisible, devoting herself to the immortality of her legend. Marlene Dietrich crafted and maintained her professional career, but her personal life was anything but normal. She enjoyed thriving gay bars and drag balls of 1920s Berlin. She defied conventional gender roles by training in boxing at a local boxing ring. Dietrich had affairs with actors like Gary Cooper, John Gilbert, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., James Stewart, John Wayne, Yul Brynner, Errol Flynn, Kirk Douglas, and Frank Sinatra. Playwright and political activist George Bernard Shaw, President John F. Kennedy, and his father Joe Kennedy were also her lovers. Her female sexual partners include, Suzanne Baulé, a coach and cabaret host, Cuban American writer Mercedes de Acosta, Ann Warner (wife of Jack L. Warner of the Warner studios), female actors, Lili Damita (wife of Errol Flynn), Claudette Colbert, Dolores del Río, and French singer Edith Piaf. Few facts of Marlene’s life are ignored in this book. For example, Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo were big rivals in Hollywood. Both were European imports of the 1920s studios system. MGM Studios brought her to the United States to cash in on her beauty and sex appeal. Paramount Pictures responded to that challenge by bringing Marlene Dietrich from Germany. Both women worked in Berlin in 1920s and throughout their career denied having ever met each other even when the two simultaneously shared lovers like Mercedes de Acosta, Erich Maria Remarque (husband of Paulette Goddard), and John Gilbert who was once engaged to be married to Garbo but left him at the wedding altar. Biographer Diana McClellan did research into their lives for her book “The Girls - Sappho Goes to Hollywood” and provide evidence that they worked together in the 1925 German film G. W. Pabst’s 1925 movie “Die Freudlose Gasse” (Joyless Street). Marlene's appearance was uncredited in the film, but she appeared in publicity stills. Another interesting fact author Charlotte Chandler reveals is about the time when Marlene becomes pregnant with James Stewart when she was casted in the western-comedy “Destry Rides Again (1939). Marlene informs her secret with Stewart, but his reaction stunned her, and she was deeply hurt when he asked, “what are you going to do about it.” Marlene recalls how it felt when he should have said “what are we going to about it.” This story is different from what I read in another biography of Dietrich, in which it said that writer/director Peter Bogdanovich revealed that Marlene Dietrich had told him that she became pregnant with James Stewart and had a surreptitious abortion without the knowledge of Stewart. The story revealed in this book is believable. There are several biographies about Dietrich, and Maria Riva’s biography of her mother, Marlene Dietrich has the depth and resonance that captures the passion of her mother. But this book, despite some inaccuracies still makes a fun read.

Book Reviewed - Scale: The Universal Laws of Life, Growth, and Death in Organisms, Cities, and Companies by Geoffrey West

The nature of complexity The philosophical framework presented in this book represents a physicists’ perspective which states that one universal principle of scaling law applies for all complex systems such as living systems, cities, or companies. And this scaling law reflects systematic regularities from geometric and dynamical behaviors. For example, for a mammalian system, the author argues that a network that supply energy and remove waste from the animal’s system leads to the outgrowth of circulatory network constructed according to size of the mammal in question. This is the principle of scaling law that he argues also applies to all complex systems like cities and corporations and to living systems. The scaling law falls short of explaining the complexity that arises when matter (non-living) transitions to living matter (living cell) by caging a set of biomolecules in a highly organized manner that appears to contradict the second law of thermodynamics. In this scenario, less information creates more information, disorder becomes order, non-living matter becomes living where the newly created entity becomes independent and self-regulating that becomes aware of surviving, adapting, growing, and multiplying itself. Consciousness seems to pervade the living cell that continues to adapt and evolve. Consciousness seems to pervade spacetime where matter and energy behave according to the laws of physics. The physical reality we observe, and experience is based on the reality we perceive here on earth. The observable reality consists of 5% of visible matter and the rest 95% is made of dark matter and dark energy. We still don’t know the nature of spacetime and how reality appears for other living species in the cosmos. Near extreme gravity, where spacetime is highly curved (close to black holes,) the images look highly distorted. Scaling law is a highly simplified concept, and one may question author’s contention that it has universal application. The author is from the Santa Fe Institute (SFI), a reputed research institution dedicated to the multidisciplinary study of complex adaptive physical, computational, biological, and social systems.

Book Reviewed: Our Monongalia: A History of African Americans in Monongalia County, West Virginia by Connie P. Rice

The race and reconstruction in Mon County, WV In 1619, a group of thirty-two African men, women and children arrived on the shores of Virginia by the English privateers. They were kidnapped from the African nation of Angola. Thus, the migration of slaves started flowing into the new world. The first recorded African Americans in Monongalia County, West Virginia was in 1766, and a second group arrived in 1769. Part One of the book deals with colonial and early post-colonial period. Technically the slavery ended in 1863 when the state of West Virginia was born. The second part focuses on freedom and reconstruction, the legalized segregation, and the civil rights era. There were no personal diaries, letters, or legal documents of slaves or free blacks in Monongalia County in the early days of slavery, but part two comes from census reports, church records, school board minutes, and newspapers like Morgantown Weekly Post. Throughout the history of Monongalia County, African Americans have played a vital role in building and shaping the community. Both slaves and free blacks were among the first settlers of Monongalia County, and both groups contributed to the building of "Morgan's Town." Between 1770 and 1863, people of color never constituted a large percentage of the population of the county. The highest percentage was in 1820 when 4.45 percent (3.39 percent slave and 1.06 percent free) of the population was black. One of the interesting part of the history is the story of Henry Dorton of Clinton District. His story is the best documented among the free African Americans in Monongalia County. Dorton was born in 1748 near Bladensburg, Maryland, the illegitimate son of a white indentured servant named Anne Dorton and a black father. He moved to Monongalia County in 1790. He was a farmer and owned a substantial amount of land in the district. There are several grammatical and spelling errors, I wished the editor could have done better. This book is interesting to anyone interested in the African American history.

Book Reviewed: Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth by Noa Tishby

Israel’s resilience Over many centuries, the Jewish population have overcome incredible sacrifice to do inspirational things such as creating a nation of their own. They thrive against all odds. For them, survival isn't optional, it's a necessity. Israelis routinely carry on with their day-to-day lives not just when things are calm and peaceful but when rockets are launched at them, during conflicts and wars and unofficial waves of gruesome terrorism that precede wars. They not only survive, but they thrive. This is not a history book per se. But it is more of author’s story book, about her mother and grandparents. The author argues that over the course of recorded history, the land of Israel belonged Jews, Romans, and others but it was never a sovereign Palestine. Jewish people have built a state of their own on a piece of desert that was nearly uninhabitable, but they turned into a flourishing community of agriculture and booming economic growth, a foundation for the state Israel today. The author observes two potential problems in how the conflict with Israel is viewed by the larger Islamic world. The international community started paying for the protection of Arabs to a tune of $1.2 billion a year, and the United Nations help to perpetuate the problem. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) provide crucial assistance such as food, education, and healthcare to 5.7 million Palestinian refugees. Children under UNRWA are taught antisemitic propaganda and encouraged for violence and martyrdom. For Palestinians, the best way to keep the war with Israel alive is to maintain a perpetual "refugee problem" under UN legitimacy, which maintains an international concept of "right of return. This has become a conflict of Israel with Islam that is mobilizing opinion against Jews across the globe and the continuation of attacks by terrorist proxies of Iran. Every time a peace process starts, the Islamic radicals resist the attempts. When Israelis send soldiers into Gaza or the West Bank to deal with terrorists, Palestinians are killed, and the cycle of violence continues, which is exactly what Iran, and its proxies are after. The second problem, the author points out is the "boycott Israel" movements that have become legitimate. Activists are crying for sanctions and boycotts, effectively stopping Israel from helping the world and Arab neighbors advance in technology, science, healthcare, and agriculture. When you weigh the entire region and look at Israel's unique freedoms (of religion, speech, gender, LGBTQ+ rights, etc.) it is hard to understand why it feels like everyone wants to drag Israel down. The reality is that once Golda Meir, the first prime minister of Israel said that "If the Arabs put down their weapons there will be no more war. If Israel puts down her weapons, there will be no more Israel.” This is precisely what much of Palestinians and the Islamic world is after.

Book Reviewed: The Tyranny of Big Tech Hardcover by Josh Hawley

The tech giants and freedom of speech Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri describes as how the Big Tech companies drain prosperity and power from society by creating an oligarchy. These new-age corporations collect consumers’ personal data, they are tracked and fed into a vast data machine to produce algorithms that manipulate users with advertisements tailored for them. The author observes that this presents dangers to everyone through its addictive model, surveillance and data theft, psychological effects on children, censorship, and predatory form of globalism. These tech giants that include Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Amazon, and Apple also control the flow of information to censor, manipulate, and ultimately sway the opinion of the masses. A network of whistleblowers inside Google, Facebook and other companies explains how the tech giants are controlling the information we receive. For example, the market abuses of Google shows that it controls upwards of 90 percent of the market for online searches, both in United States and globally, and it has systematically used that market dominance to favor its own platforms. With Google-owned YouTube, advertisers pay a king's ransom to get their digital ads on YouTube, and then, according to the platform's customers and competitors, YouTube insists that these advertisers promise to use Google ad services to place ads on other sites. That's known in the antitrust world as "tying," the practice of conditioning the sale of one product to the purchase of a separate product. The famous example being Microsoft's effort to tie its Internet Explorer web browser to its Windows operating system in the 1990s, which a court ruled illegal. Google has tied access to ad space on Google Search in the same way, leveraging its dominance in both video and online search to create dominance in a third market. Even the information in Wikipedia is tailored to promote liberal values. In many instances the information is hyped up to promote the values Wikipedia sees fit. The author says that both Google and Facebook are ripe targets for antitrust enforcement and breakup, Google should be forced to give up YouTube and its control of the digital advertising market, and Facebook should lose Instagram and WhatsApp application. The author suggests that there are other antitrust changes Congress should make, to crack down on mergers involving digital platforms by giving the Department of Justice the power to designate major tech firms as "dominant." And those "dominant" firms should be prevented from merging with or acquiring another business, and all of them must undergo rigorous antitrust scrutiny. Senator Hawley concludes that by tearing down Big Tech's empire of surveillance and manipulation, the congress could send the power back to its citizens.

Book Reviewed: The Unfit Heiress: The Tragic Life and Scandalous Sterilization of Ann Cooper Hewitt by Audrey Clare Farley

The case of heiress Ann Cooper Hewitt This book narrates the sad tale of Ann Cooper Hewitt, the daughter of famed engineer and inventor Peter Cooper Hewitt, and how her case about eugenics, arranging human reproduction to increase the occurrence of heritable characteristics regarded as desirable. This was not only common but widely accepted in the United States and it targeted poor women and racial minorities. When Ann was caught with her hands down her under-garment by her mother Maryon Hewitt, she 3 years old girl. Her mother became overly concerned that her little girl has inherent deformities that may lead to promiscuity. The doctors back in 1920 confirmed the anxiety of her mother and later sterilized without the knowledge of Ann Hewitt. Much of the book discusses the legal and medical scholarship that worked to expose the inequities in the system regarding eugenics. When Peter Cooper Hewitt died in 1921, his estate was worth over $4 million, the future equivalent of about $200 billion in 2021, compounded at 4% interest rate. According to his will, Ann would receive two-thirds of this amount, and her mother would receive one-third. A caveat, however, stipulated that should Ann die childless, her share would revert to her mother. At this time forced sterilizations was widely accepted. Involuntary sterilization of poor, disabled, and wayward individuals gained quick acceptance to reduce the number of unsound people in the population. Ann’s mother Maryon Hewitt was first charged with “mayhem” in 1936 for her daughter’s sterilization, but charges were dropped, and Ann filed the civil suit against her mother for $500,000 in January 1936, alleging that she paid the doctors to remove her fallopian tubes without Ann’s knowledge. Soon after, the San Francisco district attorney charged Maryon and both doctors with “mayhem,” a rare charge that was reserved for cases involving the act of disabling or disfiguring an individual. Judge Tuttle dismissed the case against her mother and declared. “The prosecution has completely failed to make a case against the defendants, mother Maryon and the two doctors. According to the judge, sterilization in California was not a crime; therefore, mayhem had not been committed, and there had been no conspiracy to commit it. The judge disagreed with the prosecution that the timing of Ann’s sterilization (occurring within a year of her 21st birthday) was meaningful. He claimed, “The law makes no distinction between a case where the minor is 19 years of age and where the minor is five years of age.” From a legal perspective, “both are under the identical disability so far as consent to an operation is concerned, and the parents or guardian have the same power to consent in each case.” If this reality leads to situations that are unjust, “then the remedy is with the legislature and not the courts.” At that time, there was not a single protest, riot or even op-ed written to criticize the decision, recalls author Audrey Farley. In doing so, the ruling lessened the burden of proof to demonstrate a woman’s unfitness for motherhood. Also, in denying that mayhem had been committed, the case might have affirmed individuals’ right to sexual pleasure. Prior to 1936, legal scholars had struggled to apply the definition of mayhem (the “unlawful and malicious removal of a member of a human being or the disabling or disfiguring thereof or rendering it useless”) in sterilization cases because they couldn’t pinpoint the primary purpose of the female sex organs. If the organs’ primary purpose was reproduction, these scholars reasoned, then a case of mayhem could indeed be made. However, if the organs’ primary purpose was gratification of sexual desires, then there was no case for mayhem. Which was it? The defense suggested that pleasure was a right of all women, but procreation is a privilege of the certain few that hurt Mexican Americans in California who were branded as reckless breeders. This meant that now more than ever, eugenicists needed to emphasize societal interests over individual ones. Rather than simply claiming that sterilization was protective or even curative, they needed to stress the impact to society when defective individuals reproduced. Author Farley offers a fascinating discussion of medical ethics and legal responsibilities of the legislatures and judicial systems. This exposes the hypocrisy that existed 100 years ago when it was believed that upper class and wealthy have more rights with regards to reproduction because they have healthy hereditable characteristics.

Book Reviewed: They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers

The southern female slave owners In this book, the author describes the role of Southern white women in the plantation economy and slave-market system and disputes the belief that they played a passive role in slaveholding. In fact, she contradicts the stories told by some white sympathizers regarding slavery and female slave owners. Author Jones-Rogers examined the testimonials of formerly enslaved people archived by the Federal Writers' Project, and bills of sales of slaves bought and sold by white women. It turns out that 40% of bills of sales from South Carolina in the 18th century were white women buyers, and/or sellers. It focuses on how white women were groomed to become plantation mistresses from girlhood through various social norms and often exacted cruelty and sexual violence onto enslaved people. It dispels the notion that white women were gentler than white men. Slaveholding was a key mechanism for them to build wealth and maintain financial independence from their future husbands, and they skirted losing enslaved people to their husbands through various legal tools. The narratives are strong and clear containing no shortage of appalling stories of the violence and cruelty endemic to southern slavery. Within months of confederates surrender in 1865, enslaved people began placing advertisements in "Information Wanted" and "Lost Friends" columns of southern newspapers. They were searching for their loved ones. These ads described mothers, fathers, children, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, many of whom were not seen for decades. They wanted to know if they were still alive. The ads were filled with yearning and despair, and often named white women owners as responsible for their separation. The author also looks at the other side of arguments in which the white women and their female descendants wrote remarkably different stories. Interwoven within tales of privileged living, these women constructed narratives that omitted the trauma of separation, loss of self-determination, or brutality of living conditions. In fact, they portrayed themselves and their female forebears as forever sacrificing women. They regarded that slaves should be happy that white southerners freed from the “African savages.” Took comfort in the notion that slavery was "God's own plan" for helping these inferior people, and white women were just following this divine instruction. Many of them opposed abolition, and the white women's economic investments in slavery lay at the heart of such accounts. Information obtained from slave auctions, courtroom documents, the ads from pages of local newspapers, military correspondence, and formerly enslaved people's pension applications provided figurative and literal platforms upon which white slave-owning women paraded their economic ties to the institution of slavery. The author concludes that Southern white women's roles in upholding and sustaining slavery form a larger history of white supremacy and oppression, and through it all, they were not passive bystanders, but they were co-conspirators.

Book Reviewed: From Soul to Self by James Crabbe

Connecting to soul This edited book is disappointing. The chapters written by a neurobiologist and several philosophers makes extensive references to Greek philosophy but no mention of Sankhya philosophy of Hinduism that dates to eighth century B.C.E. This philosophical system formed the foundation for Yoga and Vedanta schools, and for Buddhist, and Jain philosophies. Even a verse from Katha Upanishad (Verses II, 18-20) is cited as Buddhist scripture in this book. The first metaphysical intellection of self and soul started in India before Greece. But very few books on science and philosophy mention the contribution of Hindu philosophers to abecedarian issues connecting life, cosmos and the creating entity. The essential feature of Greek thought is that the Self is the unification of consciousness and unconsciousness that represents the psyche. It is a product of individuation that integrates various aspects of one's personality. The Soul is the energy or essence of an individual. Self is a carrier of the Soul. Spirit is the anchor connecting the soul and self with the cosmic entity. According to Sankhya Philosophy the evolution of universe is due to interaction between ‘Prakriti’ (Primordial form of Nature, matter) and ‘Purusha’ (Self or Soul). The interaction of Prakriti and Purusha creates 23 elements during the evolution of life and cosmos. Samkhya is dualistic realism in which creation is attributed to two ultimate realities: the Prakriti (matter) and Purusha (self or soul). But in Vedanta, there is only one Ultimate Reality that combines the concept of Prakriti and Purusha into one Supreme Soul (Pure Consciousness) also called Brahman that has no attributes. it is a formless entity that encompasses omniscience (infinite knowledge), omnipotence (unlimited power), omnipresence (present everywhere), Omni benevolence (perfect goodness), immutable, and eternal existence. Brahman’s qualities are personal and impersonal which exists in spaceless and timeless dimensions in an unchanging reality amidst and beyond the realm of a universe. The Pure Consciousness or the Supreme Soul can transcend all possible laws of physics, all spacetime dimensions and all physical realities in an unlimited space. Another difference between Samkhya and Vedanta schools are that Sankhya proposes that there are countless Atmans (Self), as many as the number of living entities in the cosmos. Each self is unique and different. But according to Vedanta, there is only one supreme soul. Our current understanding of physical reality from laws of physics is in close agreement with the views of Vedanta philosophy. Space, time, matter, and energy seem to behave differently at large scales (cosmos, classical reality), and at small scales (fundamental particles, quantum reality). Quantum reality requires the interaction of consciousness (conscious observers) with matter because fundamental particles have wave-particle duality. When they are not observed, they exist as waves, but when an experiment is conducted to detect them, they appear as a particles. In addition, two entangled particles sitting at the opposite sides of the universe remain connected and seem to “communicate” with each other instantaneously despite such vast cosmic distances. Understanding the physical properties of matter and energy as a collection of information may help understand the connection between consciousness and matter in spacetime. Integrated Information theory (IIT) provides a detailed account for the emergence of conscious experience from interconnected information and information-processing. This Information is both causal and structural. Artificial intelligence like robots and androids operate by processing information and future androids would have consciousness. Mathematical equations and laws of physics are written in the form of formulas, but who translates them into energy – mass relationship that works in the of spacetime fabric? There is deep interconnectedness between information contained in the physical properties of matter in spacetime. This is what is referred to as Pure Consciousness or Brahman in Vedanta Philosophy. It suffices to know that elements, metals, and non-metals, that makes each living cells may have come from many stars in the cosmos. Elements with atomic numbers above that of iron came from supernova explosions of giant stars that existed in the early cosmos.

Book Reviewed: Sex, Love, Race: Crossing Boundaries in North American History by Martha Hodes

Interracial Intimacies in colonial and post-colonial America This book edited by NYU historian Martha Hodes illustrates interracial intimacies, which existed in colonial and postcolonial days, was motivated by sex, economic circumstances, love, and lust. This may intimidate common beliefs and prejudices, but this book illustrates the existence of such unions even in conservative states. There is a record of violent encounters, devoted relationships, legal battles, political struggle, commercial exchanges, class antipathy, radical & conservative activism. Many chapters in this volume focus on specific relationships that illustrates coercion, persecution, affection, and ambivalence. Based on diaries, letters, and contemporary legal and historical documents, oral history, and memories of descendants, the essays from 1690s to the 1970s resonate with various contemporary dilemma. One chapter discusses force and consent in the lives of black and white female laborers in the early republic. There is a story of a slaveholding free man of color in antebellum Virginia: Ro Wright, married and divorced one white woman, then formed a partnership with another. Both unions were accepted by neighboring white slaveholders. After Wright's death, family members of African descent asserted their property rights, and won their court cases. This shows that in some cases, racial identity in the slave South could be mediated in unusual ways by class status than the race. In another chapter the story of the daughter of a slave and slave-owner, Amanda America Dickson grew up in her white father's household in Georgia's Black Belt, inherited his estate, married white man, and died wealthy. The life of Rachel Knight, a slave of mixed ancestry participated in anti-confederate uprising of white deserters in Mississippi. In South Carolina, an elusive gay encounter between two black men and one white man in early twentieth century shows how a false accusation of sexual assault would find the black men guilty. One chapter examines an unusual alliance between Garveyite black nationalists and white supremacists in their campaigns of supporting a Virginia law intended to prohibit racial mixing Several chapters suggests that the property rights and inheritance were main stumbling blocks in accepting an interracial relationship. Conservatives feared that the economy may be dominated by the biracial children. One chapter focus on consensual sex between blacks and whites in New York City when black and white abolitionists worked together in the city. The conservatives argued that such relationship is an "amalgamation" process. Following the violence of 1834 such relationships were discouraged. However, the economy of the city demanded performers where many jazz clubs, bars and performing theaters needed black performers. In addition, the Irish immigrants who were migrating to United States found an economic partnership with black community of the city. With the advent of black freedom after the Civil War sex between white women and black men provoke extreme white alarm. Following the upheaval of war and emancipation, transgressors were targeted by the Ku Klux Klan in a pattern of violence that culminated in unprecedented white terrorism by the end of the century. Since 1750s, Quakers engaged in abolition were actively involved in the economic, educational, and political well-being of the former slaves. Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College and the Quaker Collection at Haverford College, both located Pennsylvania are jointly the custodians of Quaker meeting records. They have records of the life stories of many slaves and their stories. These readings are energizing narratives of the African slaves. Professor Hodes is a well-known historian who researched and published several books about the relationships and intimacies existed between white women and black men during the days of slavery.

Book Reviewed: 2121: A Tale from the Next Century by Greenfield, Susan by Susan Greenfield

Bad science Not many famous scientists write fiction to convey a scientific idea. The accepted tradition is to publish experimental results in a peer reviewed journal with scientific data that is open to discussions. But Oxford University neurobiologist Susan Greenfield chooses the former route. This high priestess of the British cult with the mentality of English colonists weaves an unbelievable story belittling the wisdom of science book readers. The author does not shy away from expressing her opinion wildly from her Oxford University pulpit. Greenfield's hypothesis is that our exposure to modern technologies like social media and computer games affect our brains leading an abnormal human evolution. It is a sort of mind change she claims, the human brain will adapt to whatever environment in which it is placed. The cyber world is offering a new type of environment for brain to change. She suggests that this is like climate change which also due to environmental change created by the human civilization. The story is this: In 22nd century, the human beings evolved into two groups: The Hedonists referred to as “Others,” are technologically advanced beings who live inside geodesic domes playing video games have grown out of traditional values of humans as we know now. And on the other side of the same planet live the neo-puritans (NPs) who follow the traditional beliefs focused on intellectual pursuits like neurobiological research. The NPs send their top neurobiologist to study the others and perhaps change them! Doesn’t this feel real! That is the same strategy used by the English colonists, who believed that they are more civilized, and hence they can colonize countries in Asia and Africa. This book is full of dull narratives and terrible characters and even weird discussion about sex and reproduction. I wonder if this reflects on unfulfilled sexual fantasies of the author who loves to wear miniskirts, high heels, and deep lipstick, and always eager to pose for a fashion magazine than delivering a lecture at a science conference. Fellow Oxford Professor Dorothy Bishop points out that there is no scientific evidence to support the mind change ideas of the author.

Book Reviewed: The Bowery: The Strange History of New York's Oldest Street by Stephen Paul DeVillo

Bowery: The 19th Century New York City Neighborhood This book is an exploration of Manhattan's historic neighborhoods in the southern part of the district that had secret spots and colorful characters. This includes the Five Points location; It was the scene of riots, scams, saloons, brothels, and drunkenness. Bowery encompasses Chinatown on the south; Lower East Side and the East Village to the east; and Little Italy to the west. Historically, it is considered a part of the Lower East Side of New York City. In the 17th century, this area was owned by Dutch fur traders who gave way to farmers, these farms in turn gave way to taverns, saloons, circuses, tattoo parlors, flophouses, and brothels. By the 1890s, the Bowery was a center for prostitution, and bars catering to gays, lesbians, and orgies at various social levels. One investigator in late 1800s noted that six saloons and dance halls were the resorts of "degenerates" and "fairies." Even though it was ravaged by crime and poverty, it also invented tap dance, Jazz music, arts, theater, entertainment, and show-business. The poverty of this area was shared by immigrants of Irish, Jewish, German, Italian, Chinese, and African Americans population of that time. In this book, author DeVillo describes the history of Bowery with few illustration and pictures. This book is overshadowed by several books on this topic by other authors which I found more entertaining and had more historical facts. I did not find this this book engaging. However, the book contains some images of Bowery district from late 1800s that is of some interest to the readers. But many of these pictures are obtained from Library of Congress which may also be accessed directly on the Library of Congress website.

Book Reviewed: Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe by Lee Smolin

The cosmic evolution In this book, physicist Lee Smolin argues that time is a real phenomenon, and suggests that the laws of physics evolved over cosmic timescale, and the current laws came into existence because of cosmological natural selection like biological evolution. One of the principal reason is that this theory avoids the use of anthropic principle which claims that the universe came into existence with current laws that support living systems, but for Lee Smolin, since this idea is not scientifically falsifiable, therefore that it is not scientific. The book is philosophical than physics since it lacks scientific explanations as to why cosmos was born with different laws than we have at present. There are no scientific explanations except for ideas of an imaginative thinker. There is a conflict between relativity and quantum mechanics with regards to the concept of time. It is measured and malleable in relativity but remains as background (and not an observable) in quantum mechanics. Time emerges mainly from the second law of thermodynamics, a law that is statistical in nature which does not depend on the nature of individual particles but the behavior of a collection of particles. Time is not an irreducible element or concept required to construct physical reality. It is a human construct that differentiates present from our memories of the past. According to Einstein’s theory of relativity is that there is no absolute time, no absolute space, but everything is relative. This is a block universe, made of four-dimensional space-time (three space and one-time dimensions) structure where time is like space, in that every event has its own coordinates, or address, in spacetime. The malleability of space and time mean that two events occurring far apart might even happen in one order when viewed by one observer, and in the opposite order when viewed by another. Hence, time change really is an illusion according to relativity because there's nothing that's changing; it's all there, past, present, and future. But the laws of quantum physics are symmetric and reversible, hence that time could have moved in a backward direction or in the forward direction. For example, according to the ‘big crunch’ theory, the universe is expanding since its birth, but at some time in future it will stop expanding and starts contracting back in on itself. This will require time to flow backwards, and the cosmos will collapse into a big crunch into its initial state when big bang happened. Physicists like Sean Carroll, Andreas Albrecht, and John Polkinghorne believes that the flow and direction of time are real but do not claim that it permits the evolution of laws of nature over time. But physicists like Julian Barbour, Max Tegmark, Carlo Rovelli, and philosopher J. M. E. McTaggart are strong proponents of time being an illusion. Lee Smolin considers that space is an illusion and only time is real and paramount to the way the universe evolved to its current state.

Book Reviewed: Hollywood's Lost Backlot: 40 Acres of Glamour and Mystery by Steven Bingen

Filming in the iconic Culver City Studio backlots called 40 Acres Movie studios are magical locales where films, stories, legends, and matinee idols are created. Although some movie studios offer tours, few guests from outside the Hollywood community have ever witnessed the artistry and the production skills that go into making successful movies and television shows. Backlot trips at the Universal, Warner Brothers and Paramount Studios show a glimpse what goes into creating carefully orchestrated scenes visible during the studio trips. In this book, Hollywood historian Steven Bingen opens the forgotten gates of 40 acres backlot, as it was known in its heydays in Culver City, a suburb of Los Angeles, California. This book has stunning behind-the-scenes photos, maps, and a revealing backstory. It is your ticket to a previously veiled Hollywood paradise. Built in the 1920s by producer Thomas Ince, this was the home for many iconic films and television shows that included numerous stars. This magical place was the location for Tara, a neighborhood in the legendary film Gone with The Wind, and several locations that is supposed to be in Atlanta, GA., scenes from King Kong, Superman, and Cecil DeMille’s 1927 classic King of Kings. This backlot was leased to Cecil B. DeMille’s production of The King of Kings on which he constructed historical Jerusalem at a colossal cost. But that structure remained for the RKO production of King Kong in 1933. TV shows like Andy Griffith Show, Hogan’s Heroes, Gomer Pyle, Bonanza, and Star Trek were also made on this backlot. Stars like Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Fay Wray, H.B. Warner, and Warren Beatty worked here. Legendary producers like David O Selznick and Cecil DeMille, and TV stars like Andy Griffith, Ron Howard, Don Knotts, and many others dazzled in this little area called 40 acres backlot. This backlot, unfortunately is no longer here and has been razed to make new construction amid rapidly grown Culver City, CA. The RKO Pictures originally owned Forty Acres Backlot and later by several other owners including RKO-Pathé Studios, and Desilu Productions of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. This book narrates the tale of one of the most influential and photographed places that were seen on the screen. There are numerous pictures, many in color, of the scenes from Gone with the Wind, King Kong, King of Kings and Andy Griffith Show. This volume makes a great coffee table book. Highly recommended to readers interested in the history of Hollywood.

Book Reviewed: Hollywood's Hard-Luck Ladies: 23 Actresses Who Suffered Early Deaths, Accidents, Missteps, Illnesses and Tragedies, by Laura Wagner

Images of women lost during the early years of Tinseltown This book discusses the lives of 23 ladies of entertainment industry of the 1930's, 1940's, and 1950's who were known in their heyday but are virtually unknown today to anyone under the age of 50 unless you watch Turner Classic Movies (TCM) regularly. That was the Golden Age of Hollywood, between 1920s and 1950s, when the studio system ruled the film industry. The Big Five studios controlled the business, they created stars and owned their work contracts and marketed their talents like a product. There have been many tragedies in Hollywood history. The well-known are, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Natalie Wood, Sharon Tate, Jean Harlow, Thelma Todd, Carole Lombard, and Jayne Mansfield. But there are many stories which are less documented, and they found it either difficult to navigate the rough waters of entertainment industry or saw their dreams shattered by hard luck. Many girls braved the entertainment industry. They were looking for long and lucrative careers, but they never attained stardom, but their stories deserve to be heard, and this book narrates the stories of each of them. They had pressures of work and competition that exacerbated the performer's drinking and her already fragile mental stability. Some suffered from mental illness, drug addiction, victims of accidents, suicides, and murder. There were few medical treatments for mental illness those days, and some were victims of bipolar disorder like Lynne Baggett, Mary Castle, Mae Clarke, and Mayo Methot. With no medications to ease their pain, alcohol and controlled substances was their escape which complicated their careers. Actress Suzan Ball lost a leg to cancer; a hunting accident paralyzed Susan Peters; a car crash put Marjie Millar out of commission. Lynne Baggett and Helen Walker were involved in vehicular homicide that affected them emotionally. Car crashes brought untimely deaths to promising screen personalities like Dorothy Dell and Judy Tyler. Actress Susan Cabot was clubbed to death by her own son. Morphine addict Mary Nolan was in and out of hospitals many times. There are too many fascinating stories in this book that makes an interesting read. TCM cable channel offers a great opportunity for movie fans. I have watched the films of many women in this book over the years and it has helped me connect with their work and challenges. Some of them endured harsh circumstances in their short and unsuccessful careers. You will find inspirational stories which are sad, but there were also brighter moments of joy and victory in their lives.

Book Reviewed: Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory and the Search for Unity in Physical Law for Unity in Physical Law by Peter Woit

A quarrel with physicists being lost in math This is an interesting book by the Columbia University physicist Peter Woit who started a war of words with string physics community. String theory is purely mathematical and speculative that lacks testable predictions. The theory is largely unverified despite that it attempts to unify theory of relativity (physical reality at large scales) and quantum physics (physical reality at subatomic scales). The quantum field theory explains the behavior of elementary particles, and three of the four forces of nature. The Einstein’s general relativity explains the fourth force, gravity that becomes relevant at much larger scales. These two theories are logically and mathematically incompatible. String theory proposes to solve this problem by replacing elementary particles with strings as nature’s most fundamental entities. Therefore a “Theory of Everything” was needed to fully describe the physical reality we observe and experience. But string theory, unlike Einstein’s relativity, is not a specific set of equations, but rather a framework, or a class of equations of a particular style. Since string theory is not experimentally verified, the author calls this a failure, and criticize this as arrogance of physicists for promoting this for the last four decades. He has urged federal agencies like the National Science Foundation to cut funding for research in string physics. After more than a decade, he still thinks string theory is a gory mess. Most string theorists have gone back to their work undeterred by Woit’s criticism. Some compared him to a terrorist and even called an “incompetent, power-thirsty moron” and a “stuttering crackpot-in-chief.” This is an odd mix of intellectual jousting. His moderated weblog on string theory and other topics titled "Not Even Wrong" is still active on his Columbia University webpage. It continues to be widely read by physicists and mathematicians and still open for debate. Part of the book feeds on drama. Superstring theory explains things like multiverse and brings in new ideas for the fact that space and time is not limited to one universe such as ours. Space can expand and contract at much faster speed than the speed of light, and it does not require energy for its expansion. In addition, mathematical correspondence discovered by Princeton physicist Juan Maldacena implies that string theory has deep mathematical connections to quantum field theory. Peter Woit doesn’t give enough credit to a whole bunch of interesting things about quantum field theories that we’ve learned from string theory. I caution that some of the chapters are technical but there is also interesting take-home message from this book. His most recent blog written on Marc h 24, 2021 still makes an interesting point.

Practicing bhakti (devotion) in the worship of Lord Krishna This is a book of 688 pages that describes the teachings of Bhagavata Purana, one of the most commented texts in Hindu literature. This sacred text teaches that bhakti (devotion), the unconditional love for Lord Vishnu, or his reincarnation Krishna as most fundamental to find salvation from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. The Sanskrit scripture consists of twelve books (skandhas) with 332 chapters that comprises 16,000 to 18,000 verses depending on the recension. The tenth book, with about 4,000 verses is the most popular and widely studied with the philosophical implications of Vedanta, Yoga, and Samkhya. The author offers an introduction to the definition and practices of bhakti, provides translations of key tales and some popular stories from Krishna and other reincarnations of Lord Vishnu. The original text is filled with prayers, hymns of praise, and narratives aimed at inculcating a devotional sensibility in its followers. The key feature of this book is the description of bhakti yoga, an offering the unconditional love for Krishna. In fact, this is one of three spiritual paths taught in the Bhagavad Gita. Bhagavata Purana, like other puranas, discusses cosmology, astronomy, genealogy, geography, legends & tales, but it also presents a form of religion (dharma) as an alternative to Vedas, wherein bhakti leads to self-knowledge, bliss, and complete unification with the Supreme Lord. The often-quoted verses from Bhagavata Purana 1.3.38-41 are used by the followers of Hare Krishna movement. The Gaudiya tradition of Vaishnavism, founded by Chaitanya (1486–1533), is one of the popular schools in Western hemisphere that inspired the founding of ISKCON (Hare Krishna organization) by Srila Prabhupada. There are several other traditions that interpret this purana differently. For example, the Warkari-tradition (worship of Vitoba and Rukmini) is another tradition of Vaishnavas with notable saints like Jñāneśvar, Namdev, Chokhamela, Eknath, and Tukaram. The Ramanandi tradition emphasizes the worship of Rama and Vishnu, but all Vaishnava sects considers Bhagavad-Gita and Bhagavata purana as the two major texts sacred to their belief system. The Bhagavata Purana is known to be founded on the principles of Vedanta, Yoga and Samkhya philosophies. Eminent commentators belonging to these schools have interpreted that this purana that supports their school of thought. Of these the oldest and the most respectable annotator is Sridhara Swami of Advaita Vedanta, Sukadeva of BhedaBheda Vedanta, Vallabhacharya of Shuddha Advaita Vedanta and Srila Prabhupada supporting Dvaita School of Vedanta. Other interesting features of this Mahapurana are the tales of dying that explores many-sided images of death and dissolution. King Yayati seeking to curb aging; the epic heroine, Savitri, refusing to accept her husband’s death, rescues him from Yama, the Lord of Death; and demon kings like Ravana and Hiranyakasipu strive for immortality by drinking amrta (sacred drink of eternity). Another section of significance is the Uddhava-Gita (Hamsa-Gita), the message of which is the same as Bhagavad-Gita is a part of this purana. This is the direct teaching of a Master (Krishna) to His disciple Uddhava who had no other aim in life but to attain union with Him. It is a unique confluence of poetic imagery, eclectic philosophy, and religious mystery. The English translation of Bhagavata Purana by Srila Prabhupada has many similarities to the translation by Bibek Debroy. And this book is strongly influenced by the interpretation of Srila Prabhupada and bhakti movement of Hare Krishna organization. I recommend other works by Indian scholars like Surendranath Dasgupta, G. P. Bhatt, J. L. Shastri, and G.V. Tagare published in the “Ancient Indian Tradition and Mythology” series for an unbiased and broader view of Bhagavata Purana.

Book Reviewed: Solemn Reverence: The Separation of Church and State in American Life by Randall Balmer

Freedom of Religion Numerous books have been written about the First Amendment of the constitution, especially the separation of church and state component. This short book of 112 pages reads quickly, but the author’s review of few supreme court cases falls too short to convince the readers of his conclusion that it has served the nation remarkably well. This is by no means a thought-provoking book compared to other books available in the literature, but nonetheless some points need to be made with regards to freedom of religion. One of the contentious issue is who holds majority in the supreme court, the liberals, or conservatives? With the recent appointments of conservative judges, the court has tilted to a more conservative interpretation of the constitution. The First Amendment codified the principle that the government should play no role in favoring or supporting any religion. The prohibition on an establishment of religion includes prayer in a government settings, or financial aid for religious individuals, or institutions to comment on religious questions, free expression of one’s religious beliefs, etc. There is a fine line between freedom of religion and fundamental human rights. Cases liker a baker refusing to bake cake for gay couple, or a group of high school students conducting prayers during lunch time were network news until recently. But the pundits teaching at law schools must discuss freedom of religion openly and honestly instead of taking a politically correct position. The demographics in the U.S have changed since the establishment of U.S. Constitution. For example, Muslims believe that Sharia Law is required by God and must be imposed worldwide. But if this religious belief has a strong political component, one needs to question the application of the principles of the first amendment. Apostasy in Islam is deemed "treasonous" against the Muslim community, and punishable by death. Blasphemy laws carry a potential death sentence for anyone who insults Islam or criticizes prophet Muhammad. Sharia Law has the potential to challenge the freedom of religion of the first amendment which must include other minority religions besides Abrahamic faiths. Several countries in Asia and Europe have the equivalent of the freedom of religion component in their constitution and they have served very well for these countries. Recently a bill was passed in France that seeks to protect French values like gender equality and secularism to prevent radical religious ideas to inspire violence. This bill also increases oversight of Muslim mosques. French also strongly believes that Muslim women wearing hijab, niqab and burqa are not religious beliefs but a violation of women’s rights. Then how is that the United States consider this a religious issue and not a human right violation?

Book Reviewed: What Is Thought? by Eric B. Baum

The essence of life Author Eric Baum proposes an interesting theory that the mind is the result of evolution, and thought processes is rooted in DNA that represents a natural algorithm. DNA code programmed the mind to construct few meaningful possibilities among countless of possibilities. The nature of thought and consciousness is built on this compact code. DNA is a language connecting two parts of the cosmos, the matter (non-living) and life (living) in a circle. The initial time-forward process of cosmos corresponds to disorder and entropy driven physical system, and the second part is conscious awareness, the semantics of DNA information of the living cell, which corresponds to increasing order and lowering of entropy. This classical projection of the semantics of DNA encryption is analogous to the famous Double-Slit Experiment that demonstrates the quantum nature of existence, the wave-particle duality of matter and the probabilistic nature of quantum reality. In this experiment when each photon hits the screen, its location in classical space appears random and disorderly. But the wave interference pattern leads to a conclusion that the random outcome of photon hits in classical space becomes an ordered image on the screen through conscious interaction. Indeed, life which reflects a transition from disorder (matter) to order was termed as negative entropy by physicist Erwin Schrodinger. the Informational model of consciousness is the acquisition and transmission mechanisms of certain traits to the future generations without affecting the DNA sequences. These epigenetic mechanisms are described as signal transmission agents embodying or disembodying information. Mechanisms of epigenetic inheritance could include DNA methylation, histone modification and small RNA transmission. The epigenetic mechanisms allow body adaptation in terms of the computation informational system. The author is a developer of algorithms based on machine learning and Bayesian reasoning. Some chapters are technically more challenging than others, the overall read is a little bumpy, but the take-home message is well described.

Book Reviewed: Our Universe: An Astronomer’s Guide by Jo Dunkley

The smorgasbord view This book is targeted to a lay audience without prior scientific knowledge of the cosmos. But it is not structured well and written in a hurried fashion to give an overview of the universe. The book’s narratives are colloquial which focuses on space instead of spacetime. Some Figures that illustrate physical astronomy ideas are referred to cartoons. How can serious ideas be referred to caricatures that depicts humor? Figure 5.7 that tries to illustrate the expansion of the cosmos (space) and the distancing of galaxies is confusing and difficult to comprehend. The second chapter entitled “We are made of Stars” that purports to a discussion of stars and galaxies in the cosmos gravitate to a discussion of inner rocky planets and the gaseous Jupiter and Saturn of the outer solar system. The book lacks photographs of galaxies and stellar clusters in cosmic background. This is not what I expected from a book the universe.

Book Reviewed: Perfect Union by Catherine Allgor

Dolley The First Lady, Dolley Madison, wife of the Fourth President of the United States of America, James Madison had a strong will and unique personality. She hosted parties for Washington D.C.'s social and political elite and invited members of both political parties spearheading the concept of bipartisan cooperation. At this time, the position of First Lady was not officially authorized or defined. She was known to have saved the only portrait of George Washington before the British burned down the White House in the War of 1812. Historical figures were brought to life through their experience of this unprecedented attack; the presidential family displaced, a nation humbled, and an American spirit shaken. Dolley sometimes served as widower Thomas Jefferson's hostess for official ceremonial functions befriending the wives of the ambassador of Spain, and France. Her charm precipitated a diplomatic crisis called the “Merry Affair,” after Jefferson escorted Dolley to the dining room instead of the wife of Anthony Merry, the English diplomat to the U.S., in a faux pas. Dolley was known for her good heart and warmth, but she was indifferent to the plight of her slaves and the practice of slavery in America. Even though James Madison is a founding member of American Colonization Society that sought to liberate the slaves and be sent to newly created African nation of Liberia. in 1836, at the James Madison’s funeral, white mourners were moved by the slaves gave vent to their lamentations that showed their admiration for him. Jams Madison had stipulated in his will that female slaves not be sold after his death, but to combat debt and need for the cash, Dolley proceeded to sell her slaves. Dolley grew up in a quaker family and her parents did not approve the practice of slavery. In 1783, following the American Revolutionary War, her father John Payne emancipated his slaves. In the last days of her life, before Congress purchased her husband's Presidential papers, she was in a state of absolute poverty. A slave named Paul Jennings recalled that she suffered for the daily necessities of life. Occasionally he gave her small sums from his own pocket; this was years after he gained freedom from her. However, in the periodical of abolition movement “The Liberator” the editors disputed her claims of poverty stating that U.S. Congress had given her liberal amount. Even conceding her penury, the editors were blunt and censorious. Why did Dolley’s contemporaries admire her? In this book, historian Catherine Allgor reveals how Dolley manipulated her gender role to construct and to achieve her husband's political goals. By emphasizing cooperation over coercion, she learnt to find common goals that benefited her husband’s leadership, and her difficult issues with her son’s failures.

Book Reviewed: Chandra: A Biography of S. Chandrasekhar by Kameshwar C. Wali

The life of a brilliant astrophysicist This is an outstanding book about the life and work of Nobel Laureate S. Chandrasekhar (Chandra) who won Nobel Prize in 1983 for his work on white dwarfs and stellar black holes. His calculations showed that stars which collapse into white dwarfs, in some cases become stellar black holes. This mathematical work was done in 1930 during his voyage from India to England to study at Cambridge University. This new discovery brought him into conflict with Sir Arthur Eddington, a giant in astrophysics during this time. Eddington ridiculed his ideas with scientifically inaccurate explanations until his death in 1944. Chandra sailed into an intellectual and emotional abyss for four decades. It is the moving tale of one man's struggle against the scientific establishment that shows prejudices among even very rational minds. This book articulates in detail as how the leading physicist at Cambridge University got so mean to a young graduate student from India. This was a time when no one knew about the energy production mechanisms in stars. But Chandra’s theory was simple and made sense to many physicists at that time but refused to override Eddington’s contentions. The Pauli Exclusion Principle teaches us that two electrons cannot remain in the same quantum state, i.e., two electrons with same spin cannot remain in same atomic orbital. This is due to an emergent quantum degeneracy pressure (QDP) that lead to further compression of matter into much smaller volumes of space and collapse into its own atomic nucleus. Pauli Exclusion Principle illustrates this barrier to a total collapse of an atom. Similarly, the gravitational collapse of large dying stars leads to white dwarfs, and if the mass of white dwarf is above 1.44 solar mass, now called the Chandrasekhar limit, the white dwarf continue to collapse on its own core to becomes a neutron star or stellar black hole. In one of his letter to his father, Chandra writes that Eddington thinks that Pauli Exclusion Principle is wrong! How could that be? The book gives a glimpse of racial prejudices Chandra experienced in British India, Europe, and the United States, they are brief accounts of some disturbing incidents. Like most Indians, he focused on his professional commitment and ignored the social distractions. He was an ideal example of a true fighter for his beliefs in science. The author is a compatriot of Chandra, a fellow physicist and a close friend who worked at the Syracuse University and his narratives come from his heart. He illustrates the story with numerous rare pictures of Chandrasekhar in the company of leading physicists and astronomers of his time, many of them are the founding members of quantum physics. These images illustrate the important points in history to connect with actual events and how it may have flowed in the life of Chandrasekhar. This highly acclaimed nook speaks volumes about the work of the author that describes the life one of the earliest proponents of cataclysmic events in the life of a star.

Book Reviewed: Nazi Wives: The Women at the Top of Hitler's Germany by James Wyllie

Women of Nazi legacy This is a captivating study of the personal lives of Hitler's henchmen and the women who shared their lives at the height of the second world war. This narrative history looks at the uncertainties and instabilities in the lives of the men discussed here: Hermann Goering, Joseph Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich, Rudolph Hess, Martin Bormann, and Hitler. How did these darkest and powerful figures handle their family lives? Because their wives gave them support, encouragement and direction, and most importantly stood by the Nazi ideology. The Third Reich controlled every aspect of their officer’s lives that included who they had romantic relationships, who they married, and the family background of these women. Their family lives offer perceptions of Nazi rule and the psychology of its leaders. For example, Gerda Bormann, wife of Martin Bormann, was Hitler’s private secretary and an ideal Nazi wife. She had her blonde hair in a tress and wore traditional Bavarian dress and walked with gait and elegance of Julie Andrews of “The Sound of Music.” The Nazis believed their mission was to 'masculinize' life in Germany and women must play a supportive role that included not complaining about their husband’s infidelities. Gerda Bormann was programmed to obey her husband. She went on to suggest a contract be drawn up granting her husband’s mistress Manja Behrens the same rights as her. And even suggested a law to be passed that would entitle healthy men to have two wives. But behind the propaganda machinery, its leaders were involved in debauched affairs, three-way relationships and brutal mistreatment of their wives that would have shocked in today’s world. Joseph Goebbels was another dirty dog in his personal life. He pursued director Leni Riefenstahl and stuck his hand under her dress while they were at an opera. He had an affair with Czech actress Lida Baarova and asked his wife Magda if his mistress can move in together in a three-way relationship. She reluctantly agreed, but progressively fed up with his behavior, she considered a divorce, but Hitler refused to permit that. The book is quite narrative and sometimes gets boring to read. Readers interested in the history of Nazi Germany may find this interesting.

Book Reviewed: Sapiens: A Graphic History: The Birth of Humankind Vol 1 by Yuval Noah Harari

An incomplete and inaccurate graphic history of life Teaching kids to impart knowledge relies on project-based learning (PBL), graphic illustrations, video materials and other tools. After reading this book with the star-studded “positive” comments from Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Natalie Portman, we learn that a good marketing strategy works for sales, but not for knowledge to be gained. It is an exciting journey through ancient times to discover the images, paintings, habitats, and pottery, left by our ancestors. But historical evidence for our ancestry also comes from paleo-biological studies of fossils. Interweaving recent discoveries, maps, and illustrations. Evolution tells the story of our origins. This book is narrated with an inquisitive child, an educator, a cop, and author Harari about our origins. There are several instances of inaccuracy and unscientific facts in this book, the examples are: Only homo sapiens can change their social system, and behavior in all animals is determined by their genetic system; homo sapiens had a cognitive revolution that made them different from other animals; and humans are still adapted to hunter-gather lifestyle. The last few pages are devoted to boring narratives of Diprotodons, the largest marsupials whose extinction was brought about by humans. This book which brings life in 245 pages of illustrations miss out on critical historical facts. For example, there were five mass extinctions of life on the planet including the last event called the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event that occurred 66 million years ago. This wiped-out dinosaurs, and it was critical in creating geophysical conditions for the rapid evolution of mammals. The book barely mentions the relationship between humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans. There is genetic evidence for interbreeding with at least four archaic hominin species that included Neanderthals and Denisovans. The continental drift in the late Triassic Period (which lasted from approximately 251 million to 199.6 million years ago), the supercontinent of Pangea fragmented, and the continents began to move away from one another to the current structure creating new opportunities for species evolution. The book has several cases of cultural sensitivities. The story is supposed to be narrated by a character referred to as Professor Saraswati, apparently referring to Hindu Goddess Saraswati of knowledge and learning who is depicted as a fat Indian lady with a large tilak on the forehead. The book also refers to birth of Christianity and Islam but do not refer to Hinduism, the oldest faith in the world. The earliest hymns of the sacred scriptures of Rig-Veda were written in 1700 B.C.E. They not only connect mankind to worshiping God, but also represent some of the finest poetry ever written in an ancient language.