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Showing posts from May, 2020

How to understand the world

This book is about geopolitics and it says you have to understand geography and history, to understand international politics. The author believes that countries play a deterministic game and protect their own long term strategic interests. And by understanding their geography and history you could understand and be able to predict to some extent each country's actions. Tim Marshall  the author, is a British journalist, he initially reported for the BBC and later Sky News. He is well known for his analysis of developments in foreign news and international diplomacy. He is an author of 6 books and has been a guest presenter on numerous programs. His knowledge is extensive and detailed. He has been in the front line in the world hot spots, especially during the war, covering Kosovo, Iraq, Gaza, Afghanistan, etc. He also won awards and certificates for his work. He is the founder and editor of thewhatandthewhy.com . Launched in February 2015, the site analyses world events and

The synthesis of various human societies

This is a very interesting book and reading it, proved very enjoyable and enlightening experience, it put things in perspective and gave a clearer understanding of anthropology from one angle. This book tries to explain why the West diverged to become the hegemonic power of the world. As the whole human race seems to have started at the same place some time ago. It is written that humanity for most of its existence were hunter-gathers, until about 10,000 years ago after the last ice age.  He believes it is nothing to do with the race being linked to intelligence or any other racial superiority theory as he knows that some Papa New Guineans who of the recent past lived in what could be described as the stone age , but who are very inventive, inquisitive, intelligent and quick to learn as required of modern age thinking.  This book is also very controversial as some see Prof Jared Diamond work as being too simple and superficial, calling it pseudohistory, and relies heavily on

What is happening to our boys?

Introduction Having only boys and as a concerned parent, there is a book out there that anyone who has a male child in their circle should read be it nephew, child, son, grandson, cousin, or even friend. The title of the book is " boys adrift - the five factors driving the growing epidemic of unmotivated boys and underachieving young men" by Dr. Leonard Sax who is a family physician and psychologist . He has noticed that it seems the boys are not being motivated or encourage in our educational system. It seems that the educational system has become feminized and the only strong male figures in most schools are the gardener, janitor, and maybe the gym teacher. Then, there is also a rush to quickly diagnose boys with psychiatric illness for just being boys, ADHD i.e.  Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and subsequently start them on medication. There is an epidemic of demotivation of boys across the board not related to social class, race, religion, or economic stat