Book Reviwed: Decoding Reality: The Universe as Quantum Information by Vlatko Vedral

Information in the cosmic design The author of this book suggests that the physical reality we observe and experience in everyday life may be explained by the processing of information. Information is more fundamental than the laws of physics, which explains the behavior of matter and energy in spacetime, and entropy and the second law of thermodynamics play an important role. Disorder (physical entropy) increases with time according to the second law of thermodynamics. And this is closely related to Shannon’s entropy (self-information). The increasing complexity of life is driven by the overall increase in disorder in the universe. Systems that exploit disorder are called Maxwell demons. All living systems are Maxwell demons and so are some non-living systems like computers. Computers do calculations using electricity (to do work) and then produce heat. All Maxwell demons work this way, they collect information, and they use information to do work. That is why a living system can live, grow, and reproduce where in a significant amount of order is required to maintain a living cell. Entropy of a system is proportional to the surface area of that system which is known as the holographic universe. According to this, the information of our universe (that has three-dimensional space) is encoded in a two-dimensional space, a black hole serves as a good example to illustrate holographic principle. This is a small book of 225 pages that reads flawlessly, and the subject matter is very well explained. Highly recommended.

Book Reviewed: Celebrating Hanukkah: History, Traditions, and Activities – A Holiday Book for Kids by Stacia Deutsch

The story of Hannukah Hanukkah is a great time to enjoy traditional games and food with family. And it is also the celebration of an ancient miracle. The book offers a simple outline of the holiday's origins, lighting the menorah, playing dreidel, and eating latkes and other traditional delicacies. The story should have emphasized more about the messages about friendship, kindness, tolerance, and inclusiveness. This book briefly touches upon the holiday practices in a few countries but does not make connections about inclusiveness of other races and cultures specifically in Asia and Africa.

Book reviewed: The Life and Letters of the Right Honorable Friedrich Max Müller by F. Max Müller, Georgina Adelaide Grenfell Muller

The real Max Muller is revealed Max Muller was one of the leading servants of the English Royal Family. His main responsibility at Oxford University was to find evidence in the vast ancient Hindu literature to prove that English occupation of India is justified since the “native people,” as Muller refers to Indians, are heathens and must be converted to the civilization of New Testament. The letters written by Muller to his wife Georgina speaks volumes of a man, his bigotry, intolerance, and racial prejudice. In his letter to the Duke of Argyle, the then acting Secretary of State for India, “The ancient religion of India is doomed. And if Christianity does not take its place, whose fault will it be?” According to the Biblical Creation Theory that the world was created with all its life forms on October 23, 4004 BC. But the date of the Rig Veda, Ramayana and Mahabharata are quite ancient and may be older. Since this would not suit the book of Genesis of Bible, he arbitrarily concluded that the date of Rig-Veda is about 1200 BCE without any scientific merit. He also formulated the Aryan (Germanic people) Invasion Theory to show that the vast Vedic literature came from Europeans, and he expresses regrets that they blended with “native people.” The distortion of Vedic scriptures created a false claim that the Hinduism consists of blind superstitions that includes meat eating, horse killing, animal sacrifice, caste system, polytheism, and idolatry. He also claimed that Rig-Veda did not have any philosophy despite the fact it contained creation hymns (Nasadiya Sukta), and some of the early thoughts about One Creating Entity and One Supreme Godhead. Upanishads were written after the end of the Rig-Vedic period. Then how and where did the preceptors of Upanishads produced highly metaphysical ideas long before Greek philosophy was ever born? In another letter to the Duke of Argyll, Max Muller wrote, * ... As for more than twenty years my principal work has been devoted to the ancient literature of India, I cannot but feel a deep and real sympathy for all that concerns the higher interests of the people of that country. Though I have never been in India.” He continues to say, “My curiosity to see India is not very great.” “I can see more of India from reading books, newspapers, and letters.” Then how is that this man can interpret Vedic religion and its traditions? In another letter, he notes, “India has been conquered once, but India must be conquered again, and that second conquest should be a conquest by education” to convert them to Christianity. Once, he argued with Sir Charles Darwin that his theory of organic evolution ignored the role of languages that was important in the evolution of Humans from primates. Once, a leading newspaper from United States the “New York Nation,” published an article that claimed that Max Muller’s work on Rig-Veda was done by a German scholar and a group of European Sanskrit professors were his helpers. He claimed that his work is his own, and diminished the role of Vedic scholars from India. This is a tradition he established that still plays a role in South Asian Studies and Hindu Studies programs where Europeans wield more power on scholarship that Hindus from India.

Book reviewed: Academic Hinduphobia by Rajiv Malhotra

The lapdogs are pillaging the Hindu traditions This book is a collection of essays by the author on American scholarship of Hinduism. There are numerous errors in the interpretation of the Hindu sacred texts by leading academics such as the University of Chicago Professor Wendy Doniger, Jeffery Kripal, Paul Courtright and Sarah Caldwell. The one in particular is the use of Freudian psychoanalysis in hermeneutics of Vedic Dharma. Because Wendy Doniger does not have any credentials to make “psychoanalysis” of Hindu theological and metaphysical structure. In the current cancel culture and wokism, Sanatan Dharma is reduced to drinking cows’ urine, idol worshipping, and active practicing of the caste system in India and here in the Western hemisphere. The work of many Western scholars is not gracious towards Hindu culture. This is not only offensive to the practitioners of the faith across the globe but also to ancient Indian traditions. In American academia the teaching of Hinduism and Indian literature is being supervised by Western scholars, and the Indian faculty member, in order to fit in become marginal member of the Western scholarship, and then taunt at Indian culture in the same manner as the English colonialists. This has radicalized the Muslim and Christian populations in India. The cultural appropriation occurs by first a Westerner approaches an Indian guru with some contempt, then studies under him, acquires the knowledge. Once the transfer of knowledge is complete, the former disciple progressively erases the original source, such as omission of the Sanskrit terms and their original meaning. The knowledge gets repackaged as the idea of their own thought and may even proceed to denigrate the Indian tradition. The traditional Indian knowledge is decontextualized and Christianized. In the final stage, the ideas are exported back to India by the former disciple and/or his followers for consumption as Western science or as 'superior' thought. The modern day reimportation of Christian Yoga into India serves as a good example. American academia is consumed with Eurocentric perspective that evaluates the Indian culture to reflect on colonial domination. Their studies are based on the model of Abrahamic traditions which is disrespectful to ancient Indian traditions. The Hindu epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata are lot more interesting than Old Testament or New Testament or any work of Greek literature. They describe the complexity, a range of the metaphysical and theological ideas. The author is open and honest in evaluating the bias of Western scholarship that has demonized and disrespected Hindu traditions while ignoring the weakness of the Abrahamic texts and its practices.

Book Reviewed: Probable Impossibilities: Musings on Beginnings and Endings by Alan Lightman.

Reflections on the fundamentals of cosmos What is the Big Bang, which caused the origin of our universe? What came before the Big Bang? What is infinity and nothingness in cosmos? How do we account for everything that is between nothingness and infinity. Is life special? What exists between the cosmos of ever smaller fundamental particles within the atom, and the unending world of ever larger things, like stars, galaxies, the universe, black holes, and multiverse. There seems to be an infinite space and time where everything imaginable is happening. But between these two extremes of nothingness and infinity, atoms and molecules assemble to form life. From ever smaller single celled organisms to large complex living systems like human beings. How does consciousness of living organisms fit in this cosmic creation? Is it as fundamental as spacetime and matter or does it remain an integral part of evolved life? The author muses about the physical reality we experience to find a connection with cosmos. This sounds like an amazing discussion, but the authors’ examination is a bust since none of the concepts of biology or physics relevant to this discussion is presented in any depth. In fact, this is very disappointing, and we learn very little from this book. The title of the book looks interesting, but after reading this book you will emerge empty-handed, not having learnt much from this interlocution.

Book Reviwed: A Gardener's Guide to Botany: The biology behind the plants you love, how they grow, and what they need by Scott Zona

Not a definitive guide This is a basic manual for gardeners interested in knowing about the biology of plants. This book is by no means illuminating, not very technical but offers some peripheral view of plant life. This is written for gardeners and plant enthusiasts with no college courses to their credit. You will find some basic information about seeds, flowers, roots, and leaves; like what happens to a seed after it is planted? How do plants survive? And how do they reproduce? The author has quite simple answers to complex plant processes. I did not learn anything new than what I already knew. I rated this book three stars for nice photographs, they are very professional and colorful.

Book Reviewed: On Gravity: A Brief Tour of a Weighty Subject by A. Zee

The cosmic origins of gravity According to Newton, an object falling down to the ground experiences gravitational force from earth. This force represents the earth pulling the object, and also the object pulling the earth up. According to Einstein, the force is not “force” perse, but it is due to the curvature of spacetime (space and time are amalgamated into a malleable spacetime.) Spacetime warps around the object, and when it is falling down to earth, it seeks to extremize its action, that is, find the shortest distance to earth, which is also surrounded by curved spacetime. But according to quantum field theory, the curved spacetime is due to gazillions of gravitons (particles of gravity) sweeping around. When an object is falling, gravitons zing back and forth like crazy between the falling object and the earth. This constant exchange of graviton between the two bodies (falling object and earth) produces the observed gravitational force. This is similar to the constant exchange of photons between two charged particles that produces electromagnetic force. These are two of the four fundamental forces observed in the cosmos. Electromagnetic waves are produced by quantum fields such as light. They consist of both waves and particles. Similarly gravitational fields which are also quantum fields have gravitational waves, and particles called gravitons. The author has a unique style of writing to describe gravitational physics that takes us on a tour of general relativity, quantum physics, quantum field theory, spacetime, gravity and black holes. This math-free book is a good introduction to quantum gravity and has a lot of interesting history. He is a good physicist and a great writer. The book simply demonstrates that our knowledge of spacetime at its most fundamental level is inadequate. This is brutally an honest story written with some passion and humor. Highly recommended to anyone interested in gravity, black holes, and the nature of spacetime.

Book Reviewed: What Is Life? Five Great Ideas in Biology by Paul Nurse

What makes life? This is a short book of 143 pages, well-written, reads fast, and it is extremely illuminating. This book is written for a layperson and should interest readers interested in the biological and philosophical nature of life. Erwin Schrodinger’s book with the same title published in 1944, generated profound thoughts, and this book takes us to the next level as more knowledge is available now. A living cell has unique properties with complex biochemical mechanisms for its independent existence, generating energy (metabolism), and reproduction. How does chemistry give rise to biology? What could have led the first replicating molecules up such a path? The author proposes five unique ideas for life to emerge in the cosmos. With a framework of laws of physics operating in cosmos, the physical structure of a cell, the biomolecule that holds the genetic information (hereditary), biological evolution by natural selection, well-coordinated biochemical reactions and the information contained in a biological cell. The ability of life to evolve through natural selection and a hereditary system that exhibits variability is essential for organisms. Cells must be bounded, physical entities, separated from, but in communication with their environments. These characteristics of biological life invoke a physicality of life that excludes computer programs (artificial intelligence), and cultural entities like economy, technology, and cities which also evolve but not the same as a living cell. Viruses cycle between being alive, when chemically active and reproducing in host cells, and not being alive when existing as chemically inert viruses outside a cell. The gut microbes exist independently in humans and other animals that affect the physiology and neurobiology of their hosts. The mitochondria that produce cellular energy were entirely separate bacteria but entered the living cell to permanently reside during the biological evolution. Most primitive microscopic cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), photosynthesize and capture their own nitrogen, and the archaea get all their energy and chemical raw materials from volcanically active hydrothermal vents deep below on the seafloor. All living organisms, to various degrees, are interdependent with their environment and other species. The way life couples complex polymer chemistry with linear information storage is a compelling principle. But one thing that the author doesn’t consider is consciousness and how it operates in life forms. Erwin Schrodinger argued in his book that an undiscovered physical law would explain life completely. That was a time when little was known about biological consciousness. Consciousness is not found in physics formulas but becomes necessary in the interpretation of quantum reality. The consciousness and spacetime are emerging phenomenon when matter and energy act according to the laws of physics. But the desire (consciousness) to survive, reproduce and avoid danger for its own existence operates in most primitive life forms. In fact, some plant biologists argue that plants also have consciousness despite the fact that they don’t have a brain or network of neurons (nervous system). There are academic journals that publishes biological papers in the field of plant neurobiology and plant cell communication

Book Reviewed: Rearming Hinduism by Vamsee Juluri

Perceptions of Hinduphobia The anti-Hindu sentiments is a warfare catalyzed by the current trends in the cancel culture, Marxism and wokism that has led to the Critical Race Theory or Caste system in the United States. For the followers of Vedic Dharma, the caste is equated with race. Marginalized communities in India are considered as Blacks and Brahmins as the Whites even though racially they are identical and follow a homogeneous culture. Diametrically opposed groups like Muslims and LGBTQ+ are categorized together, which has weaponized Muslims to play the victim card under the so called “Hindu nationalism.” The media seem to suggest that the caste system is actively practiced in modern India like the Whites treated Black people during civil rights era in the United States, which is untrue. Hinduphobia has become a mission to dismantle Indigenous civilization and its heritage. The colonial rule regraded the Hindu culture as primitive, hedonistic, idol-worshipping focused on animal sacrifices, and the myth of Aryan invasion that brought civilization to the Indian tribes. The anti-Hindu sentiments are fueled in the Western hemisphere by religious intolerance, lack of religious literacy, misrepresentation in the media, woke academic culture and racism. Hinduphobic rhetoric is reducing the entirety of Sanatana Dharma to a rigid, oppressive, and regressive tradition. In this book, the author makes an enthusiastic argument using the wisdom of Vedas, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Puranas, the Bhagavadgita and the underlying philosophies of Sankhya and Vedanta that flows in all these sacred scriptures. They are not merely Indology texts, as termed since the colonial rule, but they are perennial metaphysical Ideas that emerged to make connections with the cosmos and the Creating Entity, which is called Brahman or the Pure Consciousness, or the Supreme Being. The richness of the Hindu belief system originated from deep thinking form hundreds of rishis, sages, gurus, emperors, and Hindu leaders which are described in the vast Sanskrit literature. It did not come from One son of God, One Messenger of God, or One Prophet or One sacred text. Intense polarization in the academic world and social media has done much harm to the interests of Hindus and the Vedic belief system.

Book Reviewed: The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family by Kerri K. Greenidge

The two Nanas; the legacy of Grimkes’ struggle for abolition and women’s rights This book explores the racial and political history of the extended family of white Grimke sisters; Sarah, and Angelina Grimke born in a slave-holding family in Charleston, South Carolina, later become antislavery revolutionaries and pioneers for women's rights in the 1820s. This work highlights the significance of Grimke's three African American nephews and their families. The Grimke sisters’ older brother, Henry had three sons from an enslaved woman named Nancy Weston. The sisters take the responsibilities of caring their nephews and shape their future with good education who later become prominent members the African American community. The life of the white Grimke sisters is not free from the sin for their racial paternalism. The sisters could envision the end of slavery, but they could not imagine Black equality, when their Black nephews did not adhere to images of a how an enslaved person must behave towards white women. They were harsh and shrewd that reflects on the limits of white racial politics during early America. This story is masterpiece of hope, the quest for freedom, for redemption, and for a voice in the nation during a devastating time in American history and how it has shaped the lives of African Americans in 21st century. In this journey, the two sisters strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement, and the uneasy ways of love. The two sisters were undeterred by the harsh criticism for their activism but also had significant influence on the lives of their nephews and their families. This work focuses on the work of two Nana’s from Grimke’s household, one black and one white; Angelina “Nana” Weld Grimké (1880 – 1958), an African American journalist, playwright, and poet was born to Archibald Grimké; and Angelina Nana Grimke Hamilton (1872-1947), a white Nana, born to Sara Grimke Hamilton and William Hamilton, the granddaughter of Grimke family’s matriarch Angelina Grimke. The book contrasts the legacies of the two women, the black Nana was inspired by the challenges they faced in a dominantly white world and reflected on the pain, suffering and rage of the colored elite and the impact on other less fortunate people with enslaved legacy. But the white Nana was a medical doctor from the University of Michigan who lived to exalt Grimke family for the unassailable service offered to the oppressed people. She never spoke of the slavery practiced by her white grandparents in South Carolina, nor did she have any empathy for the economically and socially challenged African Americans. The author narrates the story of Grimke’s with passion and illuminates how their legacy has helped shape racial activism. Strongly recommended to readers interested in African American history, and abolition movement.

Book Reviewed: The Rescue Effect: The Key to Saving Life on Earth by Michael Mehta Webster

Reshuffling the environment The author uses a term “Rescue Effect” to describe the fate of endangered species and how humans could assist them to evolve naturally under renewed environmental conditions. The author cautions that humans need to diminish the destructive aspects of the fossil fuel burning, loss of forests and raising sea levels. This could transform habitats, offer opportunities to for endangered species evolve, or move species to new locations. He observes that this will engineer the reshuffling of species on the planet that is honed to evolutionary processes under new challenges and opportunities. The author uses examples of Bengal Tigers in India, Cichlid fish in the great lakes of Africa, Coral Reefs in the Caribbean, and the Mountain Pygmy-Possum in Australia to illustrate his theory. African cichlid fish have tremendous morphological variations that allow them to live in niche habitats. Some fish have adapted to eat the scales of other fish. Others have adaptations that allow them to live among rocks. Several species adapted to reproducing in turbulent waters by carrying fertilized eggs in their mouths until they hatch. More than 50% of all coral species in the Caribbean went extinct between one and two million years ago, probably due to drastic environmental changes. But one group of corals in the genus Orbicella adapted to these climate changes because of their high genetic diversity and prospered. This book is a collection of essays that does not provide the ecological or biological or statistical data that supports his hypothesis. He merely offers narratives but doesn’t get to the core issues with scientific data that would be helpful to readers who are interested in protecting the environment and the preservation of endangered species.

Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings by Marcus Borg and Jack Kornfield

The principals of Dharma found in the gospels Buddhism and Christianity has little in common. For instance, the former is non-theistic, but the latter is a theistic religion. But the sayings of Jesus have been influenced by the teachings of Buddha. This has been reviewed in numerous books, but the author of this book looks only at the similarities. Jesus preached something besides love, forgiveness, and peace. In fact, one-third of Jesus' words in the Synoptic Gospels are parables, which are enigmatic and oracular but still constitutes the only form of his teachings. The synoptic gospels used the parables within the literary and theological frameworks of their work. However, it is also confounding that the book of John does not have any parables, and the Gospel of Thomas, and the Gospel of Mary Magdalene both of which are excluded from Bible, is vastly different in tone and structure from the four Canonical Gospels. John's bodily resurrection is an indispensable part of Christian faith, but according to Thomas, and Mary, Jesus’ teachings align with that of Buddha in its tenor and spirit. The important aspects of Jesus' ethics are grounded in Buddhism. Buddha attained enlightenment while meditating under the Bodhi tree, then he remined silent and fasted before he started preaching with five of his former companions, the ascetics with whom he shared six years of hardship. Buddha gave the first presentation of the Four Noble Truths, which are his foundational teaching for one's liberation from suffering in life. The wheel of dharma leads to enlightenment. There is much similarity in the Sermon on the Mount which are a collection of teachings of Jesus that emphasizes morality found in the Gospel of Matthew (Chapters 5, 6, and 7). This is after he was baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus goes fasting and performs meditation in the desert, and then begins to preach in Galilee at the Mount of Beatitudes. Much of his work is performing miracles. Jesus Seminar, a group of Biblical scholars and academics re-created gospels and evaluated the historical Jesus. Among other things, they asserted that the Gospel of Thomas is more authentic than the Gospel of John. The authors of synoptic gospels used oral and written traditions of first century to re-create their work, and sightings of risen Jesus is visionary experience rather than a physical encounter. The author of this book highlights the similarities but ignores the differences between the two personalities. Buddha was born about six hundred years before Jesus in a vastly different culture and history of their respective countries. Buddha challenged the impact of Vedic influence on people in ancient India and spoke out against the ritual practices of Vedas that were believed necessary in one's liberation from suffering in life. He addressed the political and social issues of his time and well-versed in the Sankhya philosophy of Hinduism that was widely popular at his time. Jesus and apostles never criticized the slavery that was practiced in ancient Israel.

Book Reviewed: Islamophobia and the Threat to Free Speech by Robert Spencer

Jihad, Fatwa, killing apostates & infidels, terrorism, blasphemy, Sharia, and Islamophobia A number of books about Islamophobia is written by various authors, but all of them are by the Leftist authors who provide a politically correct picture of Islamophobia. Robert Spencer, a fearless critic, and a great Islamic scholar who has authored numerous books gives an accurate analysis of what Jihad, Fatwa, killing apostates & infidels, terrorism, blasphemy, and Sharia law is all about. Islamophobia is a manufactured concept by the elites of the media, socialists, democrats, and Muslims. Islamists have demonstrated that they are unfit to live and adapt to the non-Islamic culture they live in, but they Islamize every country they live in and impose Sharia. One of the effective ways to do is resort to victim-blaming for every act of terrorism and sharia-enforcing. The western tradition undermined by jihadist violence, domestic and international pressure, media manipulation, government, and corporate influence. This has given rise to the neo-brownshirts who have caused disruption and threats to turn bastions of free expression into hubs of Islamic indoctrination. In the aftermath of 9/11, many Pakistan Muslims living in the United States blamed CIA and Mossad of Israel for this atrocity. Few years later there were attempts by some Islamists to celebrate 9/11 as the Muslim martyr’s day. Now 9/11 is behind us and the society has withdrawn into wokism and cancel culture. When two Muslim terrorists murdered a dozen people in 2015 at the office of the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo, which had published cartoons of Mohammed, a Financial Times piece lamented that the target had a “long record of mocking, baiting and needling French Muslims.” After a man beheaded a schoolteacher on a Paris Street in 2020 for showing those cartoons as part of a free-speech lesson, the Associated Press published an article asking, “Why does France incite anger in the Muslim world?” The author provides examples from United States and around the globe to illustrate how Islamists intimidate and harass who speak the truth, and how Islam is destroying free speech. The media is strongly behind in providing disinformation about the acts of terrorism. There are only two sides to the way Islam operates in a society. The non-Muslim population believe in free speech, and the followers of sharia do not. The person who does believe in free speech is currently in the hospital, and the people who does not believe in it put him in the hospital. That picture emerges from the current climate of cancel culture and wokism.

Book Reviewed: Influences of Ancient Hinduism on Early Christianity by A.L. Herman

Lord Shiva and Greek God Dionysus Author A.L. Herman employs the perspective of “Great Man,” the 19th-century historical methodology attributing human events and their outcomes to the singular efforts of men associated with a society or an ancient land. This book reveals the early influences of Vedic (Rigveda) Dharma on early Christianity. The Harappan religion of the Indus Valley civilization of 2500-1800 B.C.E. significantly influenced the Christian religion of the ancient Greek and Roman world of 50- 300 C.E. By comparing similarities between the Harappan 'religion and the Greek Dionysian religion, and similarities between the Dionysian religion and the Christian religion, the author reveals Shiva and Dionysus are the Hindu and Greek gods respectively of magical power, the omnipresent Gods of Transcendence and Ecstasy. Revealing the earliest sources of the Shaivite and Dionysian traditions, the author reconstructs the fabric of our ancient relationship with creation, and related practices of the Indus Valley and early Greek religion. Alan Danielou, a well-known French historian made similar observations that Greek followers of Dionysus, which later became Bacchus with the Romans is in fact a branch of Shaivism from Indus Valley. Other scholars have found many scriptural similarities, for example, the structure of the Christian Church resembles that of the Buddhist Chaitya. Buddhism had the earliest missionaries spreading the message of Buddha. The rigorous asceticism of certain early Christian sects, which reminds one of the asceticism of Jain and Buddhist saints; the veneration of relics, the usage of holy water, which is an Indian practice, and the word “Amen,” which comes from the Hindu (Sanskrit) “OM.” Gnostic gospels that drastically contrasted the message contained in the Canonized gospels, Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John were destroyed without traces in the second century. The Gospel of Mary Magdalene rejects Jesus' suffering and death as a path to eternal life. Her gospel says that we are not sinful (Mary 4:26). This narrative presents a radical interpretation of Jesus' teachings as a path to inner spiritual knowledge. Mary proclaims that the true spiritual treasure is to be found within the mind, the medium for spiritual sight. The discovery of one’s true spiritual self is found within, by orienting the mind towards the soul rather than the ego. These ideas are similar to the Sankhya Philosophy of Hinduism that was proposed by Sage Kapila around 800 B.C.E. There are many tables in the book that show how the similarities between Shaivism of Indus Valley and the Dionysian religion of Greece, similarly Dionysian religion with Christian religion. The book is written well, and it is highly recommended to anyone interested in ancient history and ancient religions.

Book Reviewed: The Political Philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita by A.V. Rathna Reddy

Political thought reflected in the Song of God In the ancient Indian political system, there was no distinction between an independent state (or a kingdom) and the practice of Vedic Dharma. Both were strongly aligned into one strong political philosophy. One of the earliest political philosophers in human civilization was Chanakya (Kautilya or Vishnu Gupta) known for his classic treatise called “Artha-shastra,” a scholarly text about economics, government, and the society. It provides an account of the political science for a kingdom, policies for foreign affairs, and economics of the state. An example of a code of law in ancient India is the Manusmṛti or Laws of Manu. In Manusmṛti 12.125, it states that “He who thus recognizes in his individual soul (Atman), and the universal soul that exists in all living beings becomes equal-minded towards all, and enters the highest state, the Brahman.” In Hinduism, there is no such thing as heaven, or hell, and there is no sin as taught in Abrahamic faiths. Bhagavadgita teaches dharma, karma, bhakti, and jnana-yoga (spiritual knowledge). Following the principles of dharma and doing one’s duties without seeking the fruits of actions will lessen the desire for material possessions. An individual is given an opportunity to free one’s soul from the redundancy of the cycle of life and death, then find unification with Pure Consciousness, the Cosmic Creating Entity. Bhagavadgita is the sacred scripture of Hinduism. It is known for its philosophical teachings, the social and political significance. During the Indian independence struggle, social thinkers like Mohandas Gandhi, Sri Aurobindo, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Dr. S. Radhakrishnan were influenced by its teachings. Gandhi spearheaded his movement by speaking the truth about British occupation in a non-violent manner, restrained by self-control, and resisting colonial rule with civil disobedience for Indian independence. The essence of Krishna’s teachings is found in second and third chapters of the Bhagavadgita. With the right understanding, one does not need to renounce actions, one must only renounce the desire (karma) for the result of the action (fruits of actions). Therefore, acting without desire rewards of such actions would be a self-purification. Bal Gangadhar Tilak was deeply influenced by these teachings. He convinced himself to stay the course and fight on for Indian independence, anything less would be renouncing the actions, and giving up his responsibilities in despair like Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Indian political and spiritual leaders were receiving the same message from Krishna as Arjuna was. The author offers the message of Bhagavadgita and discusses its relevance in political science, but his arguments are diffused and broad. The last chapter that is entitled “Conclusion” look like summaries of each idea of Bhagavadgita that does not connect from one paragraph to another. The book could have focused more on the impact of the teachings of the Sacred Song on Indian political leaders during the freedom struggle. That would have demonstrated its role in a political struggle without invoking the faith system or proselytize its beliefs on people of other faiths. Historically, India welcomed other faiths, Zoroastrians, Jews, Muslims, Christians. It accepted and greeted the birth and growth of Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism on its land.

Betty White: 100 Remarkable Moments in an Extraordinary Life by Ray Richmond

Betty had a natural appeal on television Betty White was a natural entertainer, she promoted of racial harmony on TV, a champion of animal rights, and a supporter of LGBTQ+ rights. She was an all-time great comedian in her own rights and influenced generation of fans. Her notable roles were the role of Sue Ann Nivens in The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls. White was known for her work on animal welfare working with many organizations including the Los Angeles Zoo, The Morris Animal Foundation, and African Wildlife Foundation. She was on the board of directors of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association, and also served as its commissioner. The Betty White Challenge (punctuated with the hashtag #BettyWhiteChallenge) proved to be monumentally success after her demise in 2021, a viral push to donate $5 to any animal organization raised $12.7 million. In 1954, on her variety show called The Betty White Show, allowed the performance by Arthur Duncan, an African American tap dancer, which strongly oppose by many Southern States, but Betty did not retreat. In 2018, White recalled threats to take the show off-air There are numerous biographies about Betty White and this book highlights her career. There are over one hundred photographs, some black & white and the rest in color. One of my favorites is the 1930 B&W picture of NBC Radio City Building on Hollywood Blvd close to Graumann Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, and some of her pictures with known celebrities.

Book Reviewed: Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary by Charles W. Draper

A concordance to the Bible I was researching on the topic of abortion and slavery in the Old and New Testaments. Then, I came across this book in the local library which helped me immensely in my research. It provided useful information, and extensive cross-referencing on the topics I searched. I recommend this book to students, scholars, and any reader interested in studying the Bible.

Book Reviewed: The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World by Riley Black

The day dinosaurs died The last day of the dinosaurs began as any morning during the Spring season 66.043 million years ago in the Northwestern states of the Unted States. Tanis is part of the heavily studied Hell Creek Formation, a group of rocks spanning four states renowned for significant fossil discoveries from the Upper Cretaceous (Cretaceous era;100.5–66 million years ago) and lower Paleocene (Paleocene era; 66-56 million years ago). Tanis is a significant site because it recorded the events 15 minutes after the impact of the giant seven-mile-wide Chicxulub asteroid in palaeobiological detail. This impact which struck the Gulf of Mexico wiped out all non-avian dinosaurs. Tanis resides in the state of North Dakota about 2,000 miles from the impact site in the Gulf of Mexico. The globe burned with wildfires, earthquakes, tsunamis, and seismic waves ravaged life at Tanis. The life at Tanis was entombed in sediment by seismic waves that was travelling at 11,000 miles per hour. These fossils were recently discovered and first reported in New Yorker Magazine in March 2019. The fossils of sturgeon and paddlefish hold the key which had small particles stuck in their gills. These are the glass spherules of molten rock kicked out from the impact site in the Gulf of Mexico that then fell back across the planet. The Tanis fishes breathed these particles as they were thrown out of the river as the big surge dismantled and disoriented the entire ecosystem with tens of miles on the land from the river. On this Earth-shattering day, sulfur ejected by the asteroid blocked all sunlight. The atmosphere turned acidic due to sulfuric acid and the oceans became unhabitable. The planet was plunged into darkness for decades, and temperatures dropped dramatically. The Western Interior Seaway was a large inland sea that existed from the early Late Cretaceous to earliest Paleocene, splitting the continent of North America into two landmasses, Laramidia to the west and Appalachia to the east. Tanis in North Dakota was the northern end of the seaway where the catastrophic events occurred. The author is a well-known journalist covering the paleontological significance of the death and destruction caused on the same day of the asteroid impact. There are numerous blogs and even discussions on TV about fossil evidence on the last day of the dinosaur. This book reads effortlessly despite the lack of illustrations and photographs in this book. Parts of book material has already appeared in Smithsonian Magazine.

Book Reviewed: Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth by Avi Loeb

Oumuamua, the interstellar visitor to solar system, is that an alien ship? Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb is one of the enthusiastic alien searchers who dares to investigate and examine anything that resembles like an alien technology or alien-made spacecraft. In this book, he proposes that Oumuamua is alien spacecraft that came from a distant planet. This was discovered on Oct. 19, 2017, by the University of Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS1 telescope funded by NASA’s Near-Earth Object Observations (NEOO) Program, which finds and tracks asteroids and comets in Earth’s neighborhood. Oumuamua was travelling at a speed of 196,000 miles per hour. This is the first confirmed object from another star to visit our solar system which is rocky, cigar-shaped with a reddish hue. It was one-quarter mile long and 10 times as long as it is wide. That ratio is greater than that of any asteroid or comet observed in the solar system. This cosmic craft is wandering through the Milky Way Galaxy, unattached to any star system, for hundreds of millions of years before it reached our solar system. It also varied in brightness by a factor of 10 when it spun on its axis every 7.3 hours. No known asteroid or comet from our solar system varies so widely in brightness. These properties suggest that Oumuamua is dense, composed of rock and possibly metals, has no water or ice, and that its surface was reddened due to the cosmic radiation. Its outbound path is about 20 degrees above the plane of planets that orbit the Sun. It left solar system in early 2019. The Pan-STARRS team dubbed it Oumuamua (pronounced Oh MOO-uh MOO-uh), which is Hawaiian for “a messenger from afar arriving first.” It deviated from a trajectory explicable by gravity alone, and it did so without visible outgassing or disintegration. Based on these facts, author Loeb concludes that it is a spacecraft from an alien world. The argument is interesting but not too convincing. Loeb is known to discuss even with UFO enthusiasts to investigate extra-terrestrial objects to study possible alien-technology or LightSail technology. He is currently involved in a meteor that fell into the South Pacific eight years ago, Avi Loeb believes that it was from another star system. He is currently exploring to recover the metallic debris. He suggests that this is made from an alien technology from another solar system possibly made of some alloy that humans are not aware of.

Book Reviewed: Estate Planning Basics Eleventh Edition by Denis Clifford

Planning for your assets I did not learn much from this book about making trusts or will. The author provides an overall picture about estate planning without going into any significant details. In fact, I learnt more from blogs and estate planning websites. I was researching about making a Trust that protect my beneficiaries, and learn about federal and state laws, estate, and inheritance taxes. I was also considering situations, like health, debt flow to the beneficiaries, pet care, charitable trusts, living trusts, and avoiding the generation skipping transfer taxes and making a comprehensive estate plan. An estate is everything you own, money, property, and other personal belongings. An estate plan is not only for wealthy, but everyone who own anything of value or if you have dependents who need to be cared for. A living trust is a legal document, or trust, created during an individual's lifetime (the trustor or grantor) where a designated person, the trustee, is given responsibility for managing that individual's assets for the benefit of the eventual beneficiary. A living trust is designed to allow for the easy transfer of the trust creator bypassing the complex legal process of probate. I found that opting for revocable trust over irrevocable trust has some major benefits.

The Stories Behind the Poses: The Indian mythology that inspired 50 yoga postures by Raj Balkaran

Awakening the divine avatar The postures of yoga practice include many ancient Vedic traditions. Most Hindu deities worshipped at temples, sacred and spiritual sanctuaries demonstrate a belief in a divine consciousness. Yoga in Rigveda means the spiritual yoking, the synchronizing of the divine thoughts/speech with the spiritual mind to seek Pure Consciousness. The vision of Vedic sages set forth mystical paths for humanity, and the Vedic mantras contained the key to cosmic evolution, metaphysical unfoldment, unlocking the laws of cosmos that condenses Prakriti and Purusha into One Pure Consciousness called Brahman. Consciousness that pervades spacetime in which matter and energy play according to the laws of physics, when they cease to act, then matter/energy with spacetime descends to its beginning, the Brahman. The Vedic traditions lifts the veil into the vastness of the cosmos through the philosophies of Sankhya, Yoga and Vedanta. It opens the door of the heart to unite with the Gods and Goddesses. It paved the way for our imagination to enter the temples of the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and Puranas from ancient Vedic traditions. This is what we see when see the deities of Hindu belief system. When we see the murti (deities) of Kali, Durga, Parvati, Lakshmi, Saraswati, and Shakti―the sacred feminine principles, they represent different forms of One creator that encompasses omniscience (infinite knowledge), omnipotence (unlimited power), omnipresence (present everywhere), Omni benevolence (perfect goodness), immutable, divine simplicity, and eternal existence. Rigveda 1.18.7 states that, sa dhīnāṁ yogaṁ invati, which translates into He (saH) promotes (invati) the yoga (yogam) of thoughts (dhInAm). Each deity is known to represent specific qualities in our mortal existence; the worship of Kali is known to bring strength, fierce love, and untamed freedom; the worship of Lakshmi is known to confer prosperity and beauty; and the worship of Parvati is to awaken creativity and the capacity to love. The illustrations of Hindu deities represent aspects of the Brahman or the Supreme Self that includes the value of dharma, bhakti, blessings, and compassion to the devotees. A positive nature must be reflected in all illustrations, but this is prominently lacking in this book. Some of the depictions are unacceptable. I suggest the authors to consider a revision.

Book Reviewed: Solar System Reference for Teens by Bruce Betts

An astronomy handbook This is probably not an essential guide to the solar handbook for kids but meets a very basic standard. This reference book begins from solar system, close to home. Given the vastness of the cosmos and the number of stars and planets solar system contains, it would take a blinkered view to learn about our solar system. There is an ordered retinue of eight planets, over 800 dwarf planets, 200 plus moons, 1,113,527 asteroids and 3743 comets, it Is a complex system to discuss. But the author provides simple facts about each planet and some of the moons. With continued interest in other habitable zones, we are learning about our habitable neighborhood in the galaxy. As we speak, the James Webb Telescope is seeking evidence for life on another remarkable system of seven planet system known as TRAPPIST-1. These are seven rocky, Earth-size worlds orbit an ultra-cool star 39 light-years from Earth. They are perfect for the origin of life, and perhaps Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. Kids can access lot more information about solar system and useful data from simple search on the web like Wikipedia, Britannica, NASA for kids website, James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) at NASA, Flickr portal for new images from JWST, and numerous informative blogs.

Book Reviewed: The Color Of Abolition: How a Printer, a Prophet, and a Contessa Moved a Nation by Linda Hirshman

Unholy partnership of Frederick Douglass with white abolitionists Much is known about the white abolitionists who engaged in the anti-slavery movement in 18th and 19th century America. There were also many African-American pioneer abolitionists who were active in their own abolition activities that included call for complete social and political equality for all people. But historically their efforts were ignored or downplayed. This book by Linda Hirshman, a former Professor of Law and Women’s studies program at the Brandies University in Massachusetts narrate the story about the uneasy alliance of pioneer abolitionist Frederick Douglass with white abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison and Maria Weston Chapman. Maria Weston Chapman was an executive committee member of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1839 and she also served as editor of the anti-slavery journal “The Non-Resistant.” Maria was a "Garrisonian" abolitionist who believed in an uncompromising end to slavery by "moral suasion" or non-resistance. They rejected political and institutional coercion by churches, politicians, and the federal government for ending slavery. Maria Chapman became central figure among wealthy and socially prominent supporters of William Lloyd Garrison in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1835, Chapman assumed the leadership of the Boston Anti-Slavery Bazaar as a major fundraising event. Many abolitionists then discovered modern methods of solicitation for funds for abolition movement. Frederick Douglass went on a speech tour to England and Ireland, as many former slaves had previously done. He traveled in Ireland as the Great Famine was beginning, despite that the feeling of freedom from American racial discrimination amazed Douglass. He spent two years there lecturing in churches and chapels. His draw was such that some facilities were "crowded to suffocation". One example was his hugely popular London Reception Speech, which Douglass delivered in May 1846. Douglass observed that in England and Ireland he was treated with respect without any racial bias. During this trip Douglass became legally free, as English supporters led by Anna Richardson, an English abolitionist raised funds to buy his freedom from his American owner Thomas Auld. Douglass began to realize that white abolitionists in Boston had been working to undermine his European trip. Before he’d even left American shores, they had privately written his British hosts and impugned his motives and character. Author Hirshman initially considered Maria Chapman as a feminist, but after examining Chapman’s voluminous correspondence, she discovered the ugly personal rivalries and private politics at the center of a shaky alliance between the uncompromising Garrison and Chapman on one side, and the ambitious and self-possessed Douglass on other side. Douglass ultimately deserted the Garrisonians, and joined the Gerrit Smith faction of abolitionism, and adopt its antislavery reading of the Constitution. The author concludes that Garrisonians did not accept the full humanity of Frederick Douglass. In addition to abolition, Douglass became an outspoken supporter of women’s rights. In 1848 at the Seneca Falls convention on women's rights. Douglass stood and spoke eloquently in favor of women’s suffrage. Later, Victoria Woodhull of Equal Rights Party, who ran for president against Ulysses S. Grant, chose Frederick Douglass as her running mate in the 1872 election. Douglass also caused considerable controversy for marrying Helen Pitts, a white feminist from Honeoye, New York. She was a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and worked on radical feminist publications and shared many of Douglass’ moral and political principles. They were married until Douglass’s death. This book reads flawlessly, and it sheds new light on personal and political prejudices in the workings of white abolitionists like Garrisonians.

Book Reviewed: Watergate: A New History by Garrett M. Graff

Crisis in Nixon Administration Numerous books have been written on the Watergate scandal, and the book “All the President’s Men” by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, is one of the key works in the literature. Since then, several books were written with the new information from different sources, mainly from declassified material from FBI and CIA Archives. This book by Garret Graff shed new light on a topic that we know. Drawing on the CIA’s recently declassified history of Watergate and previously unpublished documents, the author reassesses the role of Watergate burglars and the men behind the break-in, and how they implicated the CIA and the White House in two break-ins targeting Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist office, and the Watergate offices of the Democratic National Committee, ultimately leading to Nixon’s downfall. In this book, Watergate burglar James McCord’s letter to his Judge Sirica is described in detail and how it implicated others in Nixon Administration in the break-in. Nixon was directly involved in the entire operation using his staff at the White House, members of his cabinet, the CIA, FBI, IRS, DOJ, and the members of the Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP). A key Nixon goal was to limit the Watergate investigation to the break-in alone, making it appear to be the dirty tricks of the burglars. Nixon did not want any enemy testifying against him or his closest allies. The book describes every campaign-trail dirty tricks, possible hostage situations, and questionable fundraising efforts. The book also gives the personal side of President Nixon who appears as a highly antisemitic goof masquerading as the President. His demeanor is wicked and his attitude towards political dissidents is that of Mafia boss. This is an exhaustive volume of 832 pages which makes an interesting read for anyone interested in American History, Nixon Administration, and the Watergate scandal.

Book Reviewed: All the Apostles of the Bible: Thomas Ben Levi: Apostle to India by M. E. Rosson

Did Apostle Thomas preach In Southern India? Did Apostle Thomas live in the southern state of Kerala? Did he preach the gospels and conducted the missionary work in India? Saint Thomas is considered as one of the Twelve disciples of Jesus Christ, but as we understand the life and work Jesus from the scholars of Jesus Seminar, the history of gospels is doubtful and unreliable. The historicity of Thomas and his missionary work in India is not only murky, but probably invented by Portuguese colonists when Catholic missionaries found it increasingly difficult to convert Hindu population. Early missions in Goa, Kerala and Tamil Nadu included brutality, force, and coercion of Hindus to become Catholics. Roman Catholic Church showed heavy-handedness and played a significant role to proselytize Hindus in Goa and Kerala. Thomas’s work described in the apocryphal/gnostic literature the “Acts of Thomas.” is known to have been written in the Third Century, almost 200 years after Thomas’s death, in Syriac language, and later Greek versions were re-written. According to the legend, Jesus (who was supposed to have been crucified, died, resurrected & ascended to heaven) comes back to trick reluctant disciple Thomas to spread the teachings of his ministry in India. He “sells” Thomas as a carpenter to Abbanes, a Merchant from the kingdom of Gondaphares. This is an Indo-Parthian Kingdom that included parts of Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and Northwest India. According to Christian tradition, The remains of Thomas were entombed in Edessa, Turkey. This book is highly condensed and described in 44 pages. Much of the text is copied verbatim from “Acts of Thomas,” the Seventh Act: of the Captain. The book is confusing and not easy to comprehend. I recommend staying away from this work since there is little to learn from this author.

Book Reviewed: The Black Madonna and Christ: What The Da Vinci Code Did Not Say by Gert Muller

Jesus, the son of Mary of Nazareth (the Black Virgin) The term Black Madonna or Black Virgin refers to statues and paintings of Mary as Black female in Western Christendom. The Black Madonna can be found in many Catholic and Orthodox countries of Europe. The figure of Virgin Mary is loaded with preconceptions. She is usually depicted as the perfect, obedient, and highly esteemed woman. This book posits that Mary of Nazareth has an African ancestry. The paintings are icons of Byzantine Christianity, some of which were produced in 13th or 14th century Italy, the Middle East, Caucasus, or Ethiopia. Statues are often made of wood but occasionally made of stone and painted. They fall into two main groups: free-standing upright figures or seated figures on a throne. There are about 400–500 Black Madonna figurines in Europe and at least 180 in France. Some are in museums, but most are in churches or shrines and are revered by believers. Some shrines are associated with miracles that bring substantial number of pilgrims. The class of Black Madonna from the earlier medieval world of Byzantium are dark brown and have an appearance of an African female. This was based on the physical appearance of many of the Byzantine ruling class who were of Syrian, or Aboriginal Anatolians. Both areas had Black populations. There is nothing symbolic about the color because it is not only given to the Madonna and Christ but also the elite persons in the picture. They were intended to represent the original population of the early Christian era in ancient Israel. This was later reproduced in Orthodox Eastern Europe. This is a small book of 75 pages and contains numerous images (black & white) of Black Madonna. The author describes the images and briefly touches on the historical connection. He doesn’t offer a good discussion of how Mary of Nazareth depicted as an African female became so adorable in Christian orthodoxy. The Song of Solomon, ‘I am Black, and I am beautiful’ addressed to Queen of Sheba describes the love between a man and a woman. It has figuratively been interpreted as an allegory for God’s love of humanity. In other words, the union of the human soul with God. Such a passion is widely used in Hinduism, for example the infinite of love of Radha (female deity) to Lord Krishna represents an unconditional love for the Creator. Queen Sheba, an African female is described in I Kings 10:1–13 and also in II Chronicles 9:1– 12. Various Midrash (Rabbinic commentaries on Hebrew Scriptures) provide an extensive account of Queen of Sheba.

Book Reviewed: Fear of a Black Universe: An Outsider's Guide to the Future of Physics by Stephon Alexander

The human side of doing theoretical physics The author offers a personal account as a Black theoretical physicist, and his struggle to fit in a culture that is dominated by white physicists. His personal and professional advancements are hindered by an establishment that is afraid to entertain his ideas because of his race. The author is inspired by ideas of great physicists like Albert Einstein, Erwin Schrodinger, Niels Bohr and Wolfgang Pauli, and their tremendous potential for thought experiments. He is not afraid to take risk by thinking outside the “box” and challenging established theories that does not make sense. His personal style of theorizing often created situations where his peers become doubtful and devalued his scientific ideas. Stephon Alexander discusses various aspects of physics and cosmology to explain the physical reality. The book describes basic concepts in spectacular details and not afraid to offer his own interpretations. In summary, three fundamental principles of physics are discussed, the law of invariance where the laws of physics are unchanging for observers moving relative to each other at constant speeds; the superposition of quantum states of a quantum mechanical system; the principle of emergence such as space and time in the cosmos; and the emergence of matter over antimatter in our universe. He also discusses a host of other big ideas like the mysteries of the Big Bang; the origin of life; the role of consciousness in quantum mechanics; the evolution of the Universe; and theories that seek to reconcile general relativity with quantum mechanics. The last chapter offers an interesting discussion of a universal consciousness and how it could be a part of the cosmos that created spacetime and matter. He even proposes that life may not have been born through a series of accidental historical events. In fact, there is a deeper principle beyond natural selection at work that is encoded in the structure of physical law and the emergence of spacetime. This book serves as a source of inspiration and encouragement for individuals who feel disenfranchised and unwelcome in scientific communities. Offers support to scientists who feel that they are not valued as contributors to the scientific endeavor. This is a beautifully written book, and it is highly recommended to readers interested in racism in academic communities. This is also a great book to understand aspects of physical reality, the life in the cosmos.

Book Reviewed: Journey of the Mind: How Thinking Emerged from Chaos by Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam

How life makes conscious mind The authors address specific issues regarding the rise of consciousness, language, self-awareness, and civilization. Even in most basic forms of life, the cellular “chaos” where diverse type of molecules assembles to form life, and how self-awareness work from microbes to humankind. The book scales the steps of the mind’s complexity chapter by chapter, from simple functions to human beings trying to create artificial intelligence and super minds. The basic idea is that mind is an activity that is not an airy concept but seated in the human brain that react to our environment by taking outside stimuli, comparing them with internal concepts, and seeing how well they match up. This term referred to as “Resonance” was first proposed by neurobiologist Stephen Grossberg is widely used in this book. The authors suggest that human mind is at the apex is premature. Humans do well in developing language, do advanced mathematical calculations, and interpret mathematical formulas to understand the workings of the cosmos. But they don’t have sixth sense that many migrating birds, which use earth’s magnetic field and the position of Sun for navigation. Does that make migrating birds more intelligent? According to physicist Geoffrey West who proposes the universal law of scaling in which he applies to all complex systems like living cell, cities, and corporations. They are self-supporting and obeys an evolutionary scheme that incorporate an underlying “consciousness.” But 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 appears 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. Despite evolution's selection of adaptive behaviors, the human behavior is self-defeating, says the authors. The strange arguments presented in this book for tolerance of racial minority groups. I was confused by the title of the book which I thought was going to discuss about statistical thermodynamics in the operation of “consciousness.” But the book is disappointing which describes conscious mind in terms of human brain.

Book Reviewed: Until the End of Time by Brian Greene

Making sense of life and cosmos In this book, the author contemplates on the cosmic structures formed from fundamental particles, and the emergence of life and consciousness. Is there a grand design or plan by the creating entity? The author resorts to metaphysical musings about life and nature, and there are no equations or theoretical physics discussed in this book. The author suggests a new kind of unified theory of everything that include life. He observes that the “pockets of order” are occasionally produced in the universe, such as molecules, stars/planets, and minds. As the book unfolds, he integrates the story of how life and mind evolved from initial disorder and progressed later with the development of language, religions, arts, and science in human society. He concludes at the end that that there is no “grand design” behind the creation of the cosmos. Brian Greene argues that a mathematical equations are true and immortal, and the laws of nature transcend time, and perhaps mortal in a multiverse concept. He observes that the power of language played a significant role in understanding the nature including our susceptibility to religious beliefs which may have boosted the evolutionary fitness. The author’ arguments are somewhat terse because other physicists have addressed this question. For example, Albert Einstein did not believe the God of Bible who smites the Philistines and rewards the believers. He opposed the idea that God interfered in the affairs of mere mortals, but he was convinced that God is an entity that created the cosmos. Cosmologist Stephen Hawking explicitly stated that there is no God, and human beings could choose to live to the fullest. Erwin Schrodinger, the father of wave mechanics was a life-long believer of Vedanta philosophy of Hinduism according to his biographer Walter J. Moore. Vedanta proposes an entity that encompasses omniscience (infinite knowledge), omnipotence (unlimited power), omnipresence (present everywhere), Omni benevolence (perfect goodness), immutable, simplicity, and eternal existence known as Brahman is the ultimate entity. Its qualities are personal and impersonal that exists in spaceless and timeless dimensions in an unchanging reality amidst and beyond the realm of a universe. This is the Pure Consciousness that transcend all possible laws of physics, all dimensions, and all physical realities in the multiverse. It is an absolute entity that is formless and all-pervading Consciousness. The physical reality we observe, and experience are due to the illusion called Maya. Advaita Vedanta is strongly monotheistic that believes in the existence of one Absolute Entity. Many physicists propose that three-dimensional space we live in is an illusion, but we actually live in a two-dimensional hologram and the information of our universe is contained in two-dimensional space. There are some fundamental questions that needs to be addressed. Do we understand everything in cosmos? Are we headed in the right direction? Are there limits to what science can explain to us. Are we any close to integrate subjective experience into the framework of objective reality. The author appears to be less optimistic than a philosopher regarding the unification of life and cosmos to produce one working theory. This book is more philosophical than other popular books written by this author.

Book Reviewed: Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

The author’s lies divide two cultures New York Times (NYT) had an agenda for more than a decade for the creation and teachings of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in American schools. This newspaper wholeheartedly supported Isabel Wilkerson’s book that laid foundation for NYT’s latter book “The 1619 Project.” In this book entitled “Caste,” this word is used to refer to racism. In fact, the author never uses the term race or racism. Isabel Wilkerson’s scholarship is deeply flawed and fallacious. In the past decade, the NYT hired many authors to draft provocative books about racism and slavery in the United States. They care less about truth but hires activist reporters to strengthen cancel culture and promote wokism. These journalists emphasize racism in their project. This effort is purely reactionary and politically motivated that wrongly centers on caste system. How is that Hindus from India be compared with white Americans, who were slave traders, abusers of civil rights, mistreated native Americans and denied basic rights to Hispanic and other racial minorities throughout American history. In modern America, race is reclassified as “demographic segments” such as “inner city African Americans,” “Suburban Whites,” “Asian immigrants, ”Hispanic (white)” and “Hispanic (Black)” immigrants, and “Indian Reservations.” The demographic group called “White” became important to include poor whites who enjoyed less privilege in American colony but protected them from enslavement. Irish people were historically treated as underclass by the English, and the early Irish immigrants had similar jobs as African Americans in New York City, but their labor-color coding system gave higher class/race rating. Then how does this become a caste system in a race-based society. The race classification prevented mixing of poor whites with African Americans under Jim Crow laws, which were designed to promote racism and NOT caste system. Caste systems in ancient India evolved, just as in the United States, as a labor group by associating people with the nature of their profession. This segmentation got perpetuated because training was done through work apprenticeship under one’s parents in a family structure, thereby turning family lineages into specialized labor. For example, the Brahmin community specialized in the priestly work and one of their function is to officiate Vedic and religious ceremonies. This included recitation and memorization of the sacred texts of Rigveda that contained about 10,600 hymns. The priestly community had to recite, memorize, and transmit the text to future generations. This was done for remarkable period of more than 3,000 years since it was considered too sacred to be written down. Such responsibilities among others could be conducted efficiently by parents to their offspring within a family, and this led to the priestly families or the Brahmin communities. One must also note that the term “caste” is not indigenous to India, it was introduced by the English Colonists because the term “Jati” is related to community. For example, Brahmin could not acquire wealth by trade and labor because that was the profession of Vaishya community. Dalits historically had a good relationship with Vaishya community that excelled in trade and business professions. The comparison of the Hindu society to the Nazis is outrageous and unacceptable. Its inclusion here is presumed only for purpose of provocation. Not only did the Nazis exterminate more than six million Jews, but they were also isolated in inhuman concentration camps to decimate the entire Jewish population Europe. This book is less about promoting racial equality and more about advancing a political agenda. Wilkerson begins the book extolling the virtues of the Democratic party and vilifying Republicans. The reader is constantly reminded that Republicans are the party of white people, which is a dominant caste, and their objective is keeping that power structure.

Book Reviewed: The God Equation: The Quest for a Theory of Everything by Michio Kaku

An ultimate theory that explains the cosmos Is there such a thing as the God Equation? Physicists rarely speak of consciousness in working physics theories. They don’t even consider God as a part of physical laws that operate independently on matter and energy in spacetime. In fact, no one believes that a single tidy equation codifies the operations of the cosmos. General relativity explains physics at larger cosmic scale. It predicts things like the bending of spacetime by cosmic bodies, but quantum theory works at the sub-atomic scale. The four fundamental forces of nature like gravity, electromagnetism, the “weak force” responsible for radioactive decay of some nuclei, and the “strong force” binding the atomic nucleus together are responsible for all physical forces in nature. The standard model of physics that emerges from these developments results in a zoo of subatomic particles. But the quest to unify all four fundamental forces has stalled due to the confounding features of gravity. It is easy to understand gravity in classical and relativistic physics, but at quantum scales, it is difficult to comprehend. When we look at the universe today, we see the four forces working independently of from each another. Gravity, light, and the nuclear forces, at first glance, seem to have nothing in common. But as you go back in time, these forces begin to converge resulting in one super-force at the instant of the Big Bang. At this moment, the two theories, quantum mechanics and general relativity collapse into one working theory. At Big Bang, with one super-force and one physical law, the matter obeyed a primary symmetry, which could rotate all particles into one another. The equation that governed one super-force may be called the God equation. But we cannot produce one elegant formula that accounts for the birth of the cosmos. Physicists frequently use consciousness to interpret quantum reality, but it is never found in physics equations, and they shy away to include that in the physical reality we experience in everyday life. Consciousness seems to pervade spacetime on which matter-energy are embedded. The spacetime and matter-energy collapses into the Pure Consciousness, this is called “Brahman” which forms the core of the teachings Vedanta Philosophy of Hinduism. The reality we experience is interpreted as illusion called “Maya.” After the Big Bang, as the universe expanded, then it began to cool and the various forces and symmetries began to break into pieces, leaving the fragmented weak and strong force symmetries of the Standard Model of today. But to understand the physics we need a mechanism that can precisely break original primary symmetry. In addition, we must address how did the laws of physics evolve, and what is the nature of quantum vacuum where particles and anti-particles come into existence momentarily out of nothing, and then annihilate instantly. The author discusses the basic framework of physics and string theory in a readable manner but fails to explain why he used this title for his book. I can’t help but think that this a good marketing strategy. This title enabled this book to be listed in the New York Times Best Sellers page.

Book Reviewed: Old Made New: A Guide to the New Testament Use of the Old Testament by Greg Lanier

The Old Testament found in the teachings of Jesus Embracing the Old Testament reveal the message of Jesus in new and powerful ways. Its impact is found throughout the New Testament including the Gospels and the Book of Revelation. The teachings and the essence of Christ, the Son of God, is reflected in many ways. There are over one hundred explicit quotations of scripture in Pauline Epistles with about two hundred allusions. The birth of Jesus and the creation of a new church caused Paul to look at the Old Testament with a new set of eyes, sometimes clarifying and reinterpreting the New Testament to show the big-picture of the ministry of Christ. There are numerous books that compares the scriptures of two faith systems. But in this book, the author clearly shows by using the Tables and text the specific ideas the Old Testament that flow into the New Testament. I recommend this book to Divinity School students, pastors, and anyone interested in the Bible.

Book Reviewed: In the Fullness of Time: An Introduction to the Biblical Theology of Acts and Paul by Richard B. Gaffin Jr.

The acts of Paul When a Jewish man named Saul, well-versed in the Old Testament, was on the road to Damascus, then Jesus, the risen savior appeared to him. This life-altering event changed him to become an apostle Saint Paul. He wrote 13 books of the New Testament, and preached Christ to the Gentiles and conveyed God’s plan for managing the church. Most of Paul’s letters fall into two groups: letters to churches and letters to individuals. Nine of Paul’s letters were addressed to local churches in certain areas of the Roman empire. In the first 11 chapters, Paul explains what the gospel is, and what it means to be a “living sacrifice.” Paul’s pastoral epistles contain significant Christians’ theology, which contains the story of Jesus described in Gospels is explained in significant detail. We learn how Christians should live in response to Christ’s life, crucifixion, and resurrection. Author Richard Gaffin examines Biblical literature including the significance of the Pentecost and God's plans for the redemption of this world. The history and theology found in Pauline Epistles are described well. The book is written mainly for students of seminary and Biblical scholars.

Book Reviewed: The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Rethinking racism from a physicist’s perspective There is not much to learn about cosmology or theoretical physics from this book. The author represents a breed of physicists who specialize in particle physics, and also teaches in Women and Gender studies Program. Her vision is nontraditional in that she focuses on Black racism and challenges of a queer feminist in a book with a physics title. Some chapters have nonconventional titles like; Dark Matter Isn't Dark, The Physics of Melanin, and Rape Is Part of This Scientific Story. She argues against the analogy that compares dark matter to Black people, when in fact, dark matter in physics narrative is invisible, and no physicist ever made such comparison. She is especially critical od racism in cosmology. She is partly correct in that there was always intellectual colonialism and dismissal of scientific work in non-European countries. In one chapter she affirms, “We're here, we're queer, and like quantum mechanics, we're not going anywhere.” The author seems to follow the same path as Karen Barad, another theoretical physicist who teaches in Women Studies program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She proposes that the human condition, be it a gender bias or queerphobia, emerge from fundamental physics. The phenomena or objects emerge through interactions of wave-particles that explains how quantum reality is manifested by human interactions. In essence race/gender-based discrimination originate from quantum mechanics. I am confounded by the fact that the author seems to relate the state of human condition to particle physics. This is far-fetched since human behavior is related to evolutionary scheme. First, we know that the biological evolution is un-predictable, and it has its own growing and subtends to economically possible solutions it is presented with by nature. In this respect living beings operates like the economic web, which is also un-predictable but grows with economic opportunities. There are parallels between biological evolution, evolution of the economy, society, climate, and even political systems. Racism, gender-bias and queerphobia may be traced to these facts where the laws of physics or the framework matter does not change but only life changes when challenged by social and economic parameters. The author is born to a white Jewish father, and her criticism of racism in science is rather excessive.

Book Reviewed: Free Speech: A History from Socrates to social media by Jacob Mchangama

Free Speech must ride on a free lunch Elon Musk, one of the richest men in the world recently purchased the social media giant Twitter and said that his decision to buy Twitter was due to the progressive erosion of free speech. Free speech is a much-debated topic since it is closely monitored and regulated not only by social media but also by most democratically elected governments. In this book, the author says, that free speech is still an experiment, and no one can guarantee the outcome of providing a free, equal, and instant voice. It seems like free speech is an abstract and theoretical principle when confronted with tangible threats and harms. But despite its flaws, a world with less free speech will also be less tolerant and less democratic. A commitment to free speech should have a zero-tolerance policy toward organized threats, intimidation, and violence by groups seeking to establish parallel systems of authority. History has too many examples, Christians were once a small and persecuted sect during the first two hundred years after Christ, but when Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire, heretics and non-believers were severely persecuted. In the ninth century CE, Ibn al-Rawandi rejected Muhammad’s prophecy and Islamic doctrines without any serious retribution. If he were alive today, his life and liberty would be severely threatened, and in Muslim countries, he would have been in violation of blasphemy laws and punished by death. Free speech is the bedrock of democracy, and free exchange of ideas is essential in human endeavors and advancement. It promotes democracy, equality, and societal harmony. Most governments also have a legal system where free speech is distinguished from hate speech. The debate then would be where free speech becomes hate speech. But the laws in most democratic societies are fluid, because hateful or discriminatory speech becomes hate in specific contexts that directly causes imminent and serious harm to a group of a particular race, gender, their beliefs, or national origin. The "hate speech" at best is ineffective and counterproductive because this allows democratic governments, social media, and private organizations to monitor “hate speech” and regulate such behaviors. It turns out that free speech and human rights are different in the eyes of the law. In many West European countries and all Muslim countries, questioning about the Muhammad and Islamic teachings are considered hate speech, while one can questions any other religion and its teachings freely and that never becomes a hate speech. It appears that questioning about Islam incites violence from Muslims and jihad terrorism, hence, to avert such a violence, countries make hate speech laws. But there is no threat of violence from people of other faiths when their religions are discussed openly and honestly. The author discusses the free speech in the context of history and doesn’t discuss much about the digital world where social media have dominated people’s lives. The reading is a little heavy, you need patience with the author’s narratives.

Book Reviewed: Genesis: The Deep Origin of Societies by Edward O. Wilson

The dawn of human nature The emergence of human social organization in the evolutionary biology appears to be a unique phenomenon. Societies existed among numerous species and humans, but the capability of communication with spoken language is unique to Homo Sapiens. The author observes that in each individual, altruism (the belief and practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others) was needed at a lower level of biological organization to re go one step ahead in generations. He refers to a group selection in which evolution acts on a whole group rather than on individuals, and in particular the concept of eusociality, which he calls that the highest level of organization of sociality that is characterized by cooperative brood care (including care of offspring from other individuals), overlapping generations within a colony of adults, and a division of labor into reproductive and non-reproductive groups. The division of labor creates specialized behavioral groups within an animal society which are referred to as 'castes'. Eusociality is distinguished from all other social systems because individuals of at least one caste usually lose the ability to perform at least one behavior characteristic of individuals in another caste. The author provides examples like grandmother helpers, gay people, and monastics, he suggests that human society owes a debt of gratitude to “postmenopausal grandmothers” and “childless homosexuals” for societal organization or eusociality. His theory is purely speculative that suggest a single gene is responsible for altruism, and advanced social behavior is due to complexity of the human gene networks. The author provides little biological basis for his speculation.

Book reviewed: Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America by John McWhorter.

The racial dynamics of wokism Wokism is an alert to racial prejudice and discrimination, being a White person gives you privilege, and that makes Black people victims. The antiracism has evolved from a progressive ideology into a religion which tries to dismantle racist structures, but that made no progress because it is similar to the past racist arguments. Leftists went to solve homelessness, inequality, and crime, but have gotten worse in cities they control. The hidden narrative is that some people, by identity or experience are classified as victims and hence society must tolerate their destructive behaviors. But these experiments fail across metrics, wages, unemployment, income levels, test scores, incarceration rates, and health outcomes. Today’s anti-racist activists are not progressives because they fail to acknowledge the spirit of their culture and society which originates due to societal ignorance. Author John McWhorter says that the enlightened and self-appointed champions of anti-racism, whom he calls “the Elect” harm Black Americans. He identifies three waves of activism; the fight against slavery and legalized segregation, fighting racist attitudes by believing that it is a moral defect, and anti-racism is a religion! The Elect’s ideology of social justice is a grotesque form of moral exhibitionism. It is preoccupied with policing speech and regulating behavior. It is not progress or even compassion. For example, the largest American corporations have made massive spending commitments to support racial justice. Cable giant Comcast sponsors a program called Comcast RISE for minority-owned and women-owned businesses for free consulting, media, advertising, and technology assistance, along with up to $10,000 in grants. But businesses owned by white males are excluded. Amazon offers a program called the Black Business Accelerator, which offers cash, advertising credits, imaging services, and business coaching services. Similarly, Mastercard, and Microsoft operates programs for Black Americans that offers free services and grants for which White people are excluded, even though these programs are in direct violation of federal and state laws. Encouraging Black people to see themselves as perpetual victims, while assigning to White people the task of becoming enlightened enough to recognize their own racism creates a culture of bigotry. If Black students perform poorly on standardized tests, is it fair to assume that the test is racist, and must be modified so that Black students fair better? More Black students should be admitted to top schools using different standards to foster diversity, but it is racist to acknowledge that students are admitted for these reasons. For example, the acknowledgment of “White privilege” exhibited in some cases; when you see a YouTube Public Service Announcement, “I Take Responsibility” by pop singer Kesha; and Rosanna Arquette’s viral Twitter declaration, “I’m sorry I was born White and privileged,” looks like anti-racism in drag. How do we dismantle racists structures and embrace multiculturalism without culturally appropriating anything? For example, a tax break for capital gains is “racist,” since capital gains benefit Whites than Black people. But lowering interest rates may help all people to mortgage homes and get loans for businesses. But the same policy may push stock values which Whites may take advantage of than Black Americans. So, would it be racist to lower interest rates? Systemic racism is a valid term but dismantling racist structures or neutralize the Whiteness from White people is in the wrong direction. Because Black Americans don’t need their struggles validated by the sympathies of White people. The fact that progressive ideology in our time is the unwillingness to criticize bad ideas honestly for fear of being misconstrued as a bigot. The author makes a good case for dismantling the wokism and the associated racist structures, but being a Black man, he doesn’t distance himself from his “Blackness” in terms of offering better solutions to combat woke racism. There is such a thing as humanity and consciousness that by itself can judge its current society and understand the difference between being a Black person and a White. But they can not judge the actions of their ancestors who lived in 1922 America or 1822 America which was a different point in time, and they had a different social configuration. The universe is headed towards a non-equilibrium state, and this thermodynamic principle applies to life, economics, and human culture. So, creating an equitable society which is in equilibrium with all its characteristics may not be possible, but let humanity deal with this without the help from progressives, wokism or cancel culture.

Book Reviewed: The Trials of Harry S. Truman: The Extraordinary Presidency of an Ordinary Man by Jeffrey Frank

The man of people This book narrates an intensely human side of a man who changed the world during the difficult days in the aftermath of WWII. There are numerous biographies of President Harry Truman in literature, but certainly this stands out well. I very much enjoyed reading the attributes of a man who accomplished so much when few people anticipated that he would accomplish anything significant. Harry Truman was born in Missouri, fought in WWI, married his long-time sweetheart, served as in the U.S. Senate, and became President of the United States. He made many historic decisions in the global history. For example, an urgent plea to Japan to surrender during WWII was rejected. Truman, after consultations with his advisers, ordered atomic bombs dropped on cities devoted to war work, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. Japanese surrender quickly followed. In June 1945 Truman witnessed the signing of the charter of the United Nations. When Russians blockaded the western sectors of Berlin in 1948, Truman created a massive airlift to supply Berliners until the Russians backed down. Meanwhile, he negotiated a military alliance to protect Western nations, then the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was established in 1949. After the onset of the Cold War, Truman oversaw Marshall Plan. When North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950, he lobbied for intervention from the United Nations in the Korean War. He also deployed American forces without congressional authorization. He successfully guided the U.S. economy through the postwar economic challenges; the expected postwar depression never happened. In February 1948, the president submitted a civil rights agenda to Congress that proposed creating several federal offices devoted to issues such as voting rights and fair employment practices. This provoked a storm of criticism from southern Democrats in the runup to the national convention, but Truman refused to compromise, saying: "My forebears were Confederates ... but my very stomach turned over when I had learned that N*gro soldiers, just back from overseas, were being dumped out of Army trucks in Mississippi and beaten." Tales of the abuse, violence, and persecution suffered by many African-American veterans upon their return from the war infuriated Truman. But he also expressed criticism of the civil rights movement during the 1960s. In 1960, he stated that the sit-in movement to be part of a Soviet plot. President Truman was known for eccentricity. In the Oval Office he had the famous "The Buck Stops Here" sign on his desk. He was known to drink lot of Bourbon and play poker whenever time permitted him. When Washington Post music critic Paul Hume wrote a critical review of his daughter Margaret Truman’s musical concert, Harry Truman wrote a scathing letter in which he said, “When you write such poppy-cock as was in the back section of the paper you work for it shows conclusively that you're off the beam.” “Someday I hope to meet you. When that happens, you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes.” Corruption in the Truman administration became a central campaign issue in the 1952 presidential election.

Book Reviewed: The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones

The 1619 project is a politically motivated story U.S. history documents the success of American revolutionaries in establishing a new nation for freedom and prosperity. The Founding Fathers were at enormous odds to fight a formidable enemy to end English authority in colonial America. But author Nikole Hannah-Jones, calls her work the 1619 Project named after the arrival of first Africans on American soil. And she seeks to place slavery at the center of American history. According to her, the reason for the declaration of independence from England was colonial America wanted to protect the institution of slavery when abolitionist sentiment grew in England. The story of American founding fathers in this book is different from what we find in the U.S Constitution or American history. It portrays slavery as a uniquely American phenomenon and the revolutionary war was fought to preserve slavery. Hannah-Jones proclaims that Black Americans’ struggle made American democracy real. She claims that the U.S. Constitution gave ironclad protections to slavery without mentioning it. How is that possible when the constitution explicitly states that “all men are created equal.” There are other factual errors, enslavement did not start in 1619 but it was present decades before that. Quakers comprised of only white population fiercely opposed slavery since colonial days and they were active in freeing slaves, documenting their stories, and connecting freed slaves with long lost relatives. American Revolution was kindled in New England, where anti-slavery sentiment was strongest. Early patriots like James Otis, John Adams, and Thomas Paine were opposed to slavery, and the revolution helped to fuel abolitionism in the North. The publication of 1619 Project by the New York Times demonstrates that it does not care about the truth, as it has progressively moved to the Far-Left of the political spectrum. It hires and promotes journalists who belong to the woke culture, they misinterpret facts and glorify racism. This is an effort to falsify the history that focus on Black issues rather than the class conflict that occurred prior to 1776. The 13 states were deeply divided over the property right issues, economy, wealth and how a federal government may dominate individual states. The NY Times project is a conspiracy theory developed from the chair of ultimate cultural privilege in America that tries to discredit the American values. The book is malicious and inaccurate which offers a distorted economic history, misrepresents the intentions of Founding Fathers, and the legacy of President Abraham Lincoln. The 1619 Project curriculum is not an educational enterprise. It is a tool of political indoctrination. Since its publication, school students in all 50 states have been taught parts of its curriculum. The core of the social justice training uses the ideologies Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the Marxism. To teach children that the American Revolution was fought to strengthen slavery would result in misunderstanding the American Revolution, and the loss of one million lives during American Civil War that ended slavery. The future American population will have the notion that their country is racist since day one. Currently, the 1619 Project applies a wide-ranging topics like the broken healthcare system, crime, American music, and the wealth gap.

Book Review: The New York Times Book Review: 125 Years of Literary History Hardcover by The New York Times

An appraisal of NY Times book reviews We get a view of book reviews of the earliest years in the history of NY Times and its coverage in shaping the literature. The reviews encourage debate and exchange of ideas. An editor's note from 1897 points out, "Life is worth living because there are books.” The reviews became more opinionated, broader, and deeper since 1925. Some of the reprinted reviews in this book are edited for clarity and to shorten them. One can read errors, insensitivity, race and gender bias, and misunderstood masterpieces of their time. The inaugural issue of the book review started in 1896. In the early days, reviewers never used the term "I" that was discouraged by the newspaper, but the magisterial "we" was encouraged, like for example, what flaws did "we" discover in this promising book. Some examples of reviews are as follows: An unnamed critic wrote about Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species,” "Shall we frankly declare that after the most deliberate consideration of Mr. Darwin's arguments, we remain unconvinced.” In 1948, a reviewer dismissed Gore Vidal's novel “The City and the Pillar” as "pornography" not because of sexual content but because it was about the shame of two gay men in love. In the review of Christopher Isherwood’s’ “Novella Goodbye to Berlin” and the character of Sally Bowles, both of which inspired the musical and movie Cabaret. NYT reviewer gave a mixed praise for the author's gifts: "Isherwood is a real novelist, a real minor novelist." For Jhumpa Lahiri’s 1999 book “Interpreter of Maladies” Caleb Crain gave a lukewarm review for author’s plain language. “The Souls of Black Folk” a 1903 work by W. E. B. Du Bois, which is a seminal work in American history and a cornerstone of African-American literature used the term "double consciousness" applying it to the idea that Black people must always have two fields of vision. They must be conscious of how they view themselves, as well as being conscious of how whites view them. The NYT review contains significant use of “N” word, in fact, eight times in the first paragraph alone, and there are eight paragraphs in the book review, which illustrates the height of bigotry even at New York Times. The unnamed reviewer largely focuses on the rivalry of W.E.B. Du Bois with Booker T. Washington who were two dominant leaders of African Americans, and NYT takes the side of Washington for his views that African Americans would be better off to remain separate from whites than to attempt desegregation as long as whites granted Black Americans access to economic progress and education. In 1981,Toni Morrison stated that "I have yet to read criticism that understands my work or is prepared to understand it. I don't care if the critic likes or dislikes it." The book is significantly edited and not all NYT book reviews are found. It is of historical interest to read as how African American authors were treated in literary world.

Book Reviewed: Along Came Google: A History of Library Digitization by Deanna Marcum and Roger C. Schonfeld

Illusions of book digitization This book focuses on the history of a universal digital library, and specifically focus on the entry of Google into the library arena with promise of making global books available online. Several leading academic institutions and public libraries eagerly joined this effort to accelerate the digital activity. They embraced the concept of a universal library and began advocating for change to disseminate the information, literacy, information access, policy awareness, digital preservation, collaboration, information access and control. On December 14, 2004, Google stunned the library, technology, and copyright worlds announcing that it would start scanning millions of books from leading research libraries to create a comprehensive database of books that would be available online. But this plan did not protect authors, which precluded them from earning a return on their investments of time, efforts, and knowledge which were essential to free flow of ideas. Google’s goal was to create an unrivaled digital library that would draw users to its website, strengthen its dominance of search-engine market, expand the client niche, and increase its advertising revenue. The libraries also wanted to digitize their collections but could not do themselves because of possible copyright violations and financial resources. Google had scanned about 20 million books, and it displayed snippets - short passages in Google online searches. It gave digital copies to libraries for their own use, in payment for their cooperation for loaning their books for digitization. The Authors Guild acted against Google Books, in the Second Circuit Court of New York, the court ruled in an unprecedented expansion of the “Fair Use” doctrine that Google’s copying and providing access to some four million copyrighted books for profit-making purposes was a “Fair Use.” The court was blinded by Google’s “public benefit” arguments, calling scanning a copyrighted book is a “Fair Use.” On April 18, 2016, the Supreme Court declined to review that decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in the landmark copyright infringement lawsuit, Authors Guild v. Google. The Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the case leaves in place the “Fair Use” doctrine and let Google have its way. Google with unlimited engineering and financial resources supported their aspirations and digitization went unhinged. But the digital transformation has led to tensions between global and domestic issues. Universal access and tech-controlled filter bubble, between freedom and control, between openness and truth, information and disinformation have made their way in an unprecedented way. Recently, Google threatened to demonetize publishers using its advertisement network if the publishers’ dissent from regime change idea for Russia. Similar threats were made by Google against publishers who accurately reported on BLM – ANTIFA riots across the country. In his book, “The Tyranny of Big Tech.” Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri has described the ways Google and Big Tech giants have been using heavy-handedness in pushing their own liberal and progressive ideas through their platforms. Shadow banning conservative ideas in Wikipedia and Google searches have become well-known in recent years. The authors of this book lack focus in narrating the history of book digitization, one chapter does not flow well into the next chapter. Chapters are open-ended with no conclusions. In chapter 7, the authors examine the role of Hathi Trust as an alternative to a universal library. It is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via Google Books. But the financial resources and the possible cooperation with other large libraries is unsure. And the fact that it still depends on Google Books for digitized content makes it less of an alternative for Google Books.