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February 2009You may need to click "load images"
or something similar to see the photos WelcomeThis month has been back to normal after three weeks' break over Christmas. Work is going well with a new group of prisoners at the prison. At last I have a draft version of my new book printed from the computer I
can hold in my hand. It is another major step on the way to getting it
published. I am looking for interested people to give me feedback. Email me if you might be interested in having a read.My friend Timoti came to Dunedin. He had been living in Australia for a few years and shifted back to Christchurch. He came down for a tangi and stayed a couple of days after. At the Theosophical Society we are getting up and going for the New Year and I have a talk on "The Collapse of Civilisation" this week, which I first gave in Christchurch last year. We have a full programme this year with even more events than last year. We have agreed to host the 2011 national convention in Dunedin.   I got out sailing for the first time this season. My
trolley had a broken axle and it took me a good while to get around to
fixing it. I hope to get out again before the weather gets cold again.Rowena and Max are sailing from Christchurch to Stewart Island for a holiday. They stopped in at Port Chalmers for a couple of days. In the picture on the right Max is on their boat, "sunshine", while a cruise ship passes behind. Best of the NetThe best of the net is a bit thin this month. The Edge is always a good place to look.More Books read this month..I was given a $15.00 book voucher and took it to Whitcoulls, where I spent $85 on books. One of the books I bought was thisHuman Instinct: How our promeval impulses shape our Modern Lives by Robert WinstonRobert Winston has written a number of books and been the front person for a number of television programmes on medical and scientific topics. He aims at a general audience, so his writing style is easy to read. There is a lot of good information that helps explain so much of our human behaviour that would otherwise seem quite illogical. It is a good book to get a grounding in the topic.Panarchy by Lance Gunderson and C S HollingThis book uses complexity theory to look at how natural ecosystems and human social systems can be looked at in a holistic way using complexity theory to give new strategies for helping us work in harmony with nature rather than trying to conquer nature. Panarchy is like hierarchy, but linked to Pan and nature. It is a pretty weighty book, so it will take a while to read.Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus: On a date by John GrayThis was lent to me. Going on a date seems like something that should come naturally, but there is more to it than might first appear. It is an easy read. It looks like it tends to make some sweeping generalisations about men and women and miss the impact of individual diffrerences, but there is some good information in there too. Let's hope I pick up a few tips! |
Subscribe to this newsletterIf you would like to receive this newsletter as a monthly email just send me an email. You may choose to email me to Unsubscribe. Previous NewslettersNewsletter archive Old "Recent News" Books I read this monthDunedin Theosophical Society 1892-1900 This book from our local Theosophical library is an MA thesis on the early history of the society. It was interesting to see the historical context. The Christian churches and the Presbyterians in particular predominated and there was much debate at meetings and in the newspapers between the two. Spiritualism also came to Dunedin around the same time and there was some friction between the two groups. The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb A Black Swan is a highl;y unlikely event that nevertheless happens. When Europeans came from Europe to Australia they could only conceive swans as being white, but the discovered black swans. The book discusses the way we tend to avoid looking at the possibility of a very extreme outcome, but they actualy happen far more often than we generally predict. The book looks at the bell curve, which is what most statistical risk calculatins use, but often the things measured fit power laws which are different. |
Victor's webpage Victor's complexity website Subscribe Email Victor Victor's first book Victor's Blog |
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