swingbeat: 3/26: Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe by Simon Singh

This is another book by Simon Singh, I think the last one by him that I haven't read :). This book
describes the history of science from Greek days (Ptolemic geocentric solar system) to how that all
leads to our understanding of the origin of the universe. He takes the reader step by step, in
normal language (though there are some optional math equations if you really want to look at them),
and talks largely about the way various discoveries were made, as well as the political/historical
context in which they were discovered.
I've always liked Singh's writing style describing how things came to be, and this book is no
exception. I read this book in three days, and it would have been faster if I didn't have a kid :).

Kayan : 1/26 : The Road by Cormac McCarthy

WARNING: DO NOT watch the movie trailer before reading this book. Your own envision of the story will most definitely be better than the film adaptation.


The Road tells the journey of a father and his son in a world where no hope and little life remains. They are "each the other's world entire."

And man oh man. Reading this book took a lot of WORK. I *DESPISED* the sentence structures from beginning to end - it drains me to read it. Examples:

p.15: "They were days fording that cauterized terrain."

p.215: "Out there was the gray beach with the slow combers rolling dull and leaden and the distant sound of it."

p.272: "In the nights sometimes now he'd wake in the black and freezing waste out of softly colored worlds of human love, the songs of birds, the sun."

It pains me just to type it out.

But for those willing to drudge through the cauterized terrain of this book, there is reward at the end. The story, the two characters, and the bond between them will stay with you for some time.

But Mr. McCarthy, did you have to make it so hard?!

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction - 2007

swingbeat: 2/26: Trick or Treatment? by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst

This is the third book by Simon Singh I've read, and he doesn't disappoint. It took me two days to read it.

A little background - Simon Singh wrote two other excellent books (The Code Book and Fermat's Enigma). He basically makes esoteric scientific topics understandable to the educated reader. In Trick or Treatment, he explains alternative medicine.

He starts off talking about clinical trials and why they are so important. I was going to skip this chapter but it surprisingly drew me in. From this basis, he then talks about trials of alternative medicine that have gone on. He talks in particular of: Acupuncture, Chiropractic, Herbal Medicine, and Homeopathy.

I won't give away what he talks about, but I recommend reading this book. It certainly educated me and opened my eyes on these topics.

:)