Books: The Professor And The Madman By Simon Winchester

  (Drivebycuriosity) - Encyclopedias are immense hoards of knowledge - they are not made to entertain. But "The Professor And The Madman" about the making of the gargantuan Oxford English Dictionary is very entertaining and a pleasure to read as well ( amazon).

Simon Winchester, the author, did a fine job. He melted the about 70 years lasting development of the monstrous publication with the biographies of 2 men: James Murray, the creator, organizer and main editor of the OED, the "Professor", and the American W. C. Minor, one of his most important supporting writers, the "Madman" (this is a spoiler free blog).

The book is written like a novel. Winchester tells how Murray mastered his gargantuan task, how the "mad man" became the "mad man" and how creating the OED shaped their different lives. "The Professor and .." touches a great variety of topics: linguistics, book printing, organization, American civil war, mental illness, murder and many more.

It´s quite impressive how Winchester melted all these very different elements together into a fluid and entertaining tale, a task almost as challenging as creating the OED. I learned a lot reading this book and I had fun as well. Highly recommended.

Contemporary Art: Joshua Petker`s Serenade @ Gallery Rachel Uffner New York

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Manhattan`s Lower East Side is slowly degenerating into a party district with a legion of fast food places & other dives. But there are still some fine art galleries. 

 

 

 

Rachel Uffner Gallery on Suffolk belongs to the surviving stalwarts. Recently I spotted there a show with works by Los Angeles-based artist Joshua Petker. The exhibition is called "Serenade" ( racheluffner).

 

 

Apparently Petker is inspired by medieval paintings and children’s books of fairy tales.

 

 

To be continued

Contemporary Art: Columbia MFA Summer Show @ Half Gallery New York

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - America´s universities are super expensive. Students - and their parents - have to spend tons of money to earn an academic degree. And what do they get?

 

 

Half Gallery in Manhattan´s East Village displays the Columbia MFA Summer Show 22+23, Part 2 ( halfgallery). The exhibition features 58 Columbia MFA artists and 7 faculty members.

 

 

 

Most of the art works seemed mediocre to me, compared to the works I usually spot. Many images could have been done by 12 year olds.

Anyway,  I found some interesting art works which I display here, a very subjective selection as usual.

Aren`t they cute? The image inspired me to the idea if I could persuade my wife and her sisters to undress and let me take a photo of them, I might earn an American art degree (but I wouldn`t pay for that).

To be continued

Economics: Why Is India Still Dirt Poor?

 (Drivebycuriosity) - India is flexing her muscles against global corporations. India plans to overhaul its competition law so that global technology companies will have to seek the country’s antitrust approval for many overseas mergers and acquisitions, an ambitious move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to gain more influence over Big Tech, reports bloomberg. All deals where the transaction value exceeds 20 billion rupees ($252 million) would require permission of India’s antitrust regulator if the firms have substantial business operations in India.

Modi`s announcement is just the latest step in a row of  measures which discriminate foreign companies and  force them to halt investments or to retreat from India ( thehill): Punished by high taxes & regulation Swiss building-materials firm Holcim, Royal Bank of Scotland, Harley-Davidson and Citibank have announced plans to downsize or leave India. German retailer Metro AG is selling off its Indian operation after two decades. Both Ford Motor Company and Tesla announced they had put on hold plans to make electric vehicles (EVs) in India. Amazon & Walmart daughter Flipkart are getting harassed by continuous antitrust probes and are not permitted to sell their own products (being restricted to be just platforms for Indian sellers  indianexpress). Microsoft, Apple, Google & Netflix are getting harassed as well. Already in 1977 Coca Cola (!) withdrew her operations from the country in protest of regulations and legislation by the Government of India limiting the dilution of equity of multinational corporations.

Modi`s announcement follows India`s long tradition of treading foreign companies badly which is based on xenophobia, protectionism, anti-capitalism & over-regulation. India`s politics, which is protecting local competitors, is restraining foreign investments and encouraging inefficiency & corruption, is keeping India´s GDP low and her majority in poverty. Today`s India`s per capita income is just $2,280, less then a quarter of China´s per capita income of $12,560 (worldbank ). 

 

I visited India in the 1990s and stayed there 6 weeks. I was flabbergasted about how much everything was strictly regulated. Being a foreign tourist I had to keep documents about all payments I made to prove that I had brought the money with me and not earned it there (which was strictly forbidden). Modi’ s announcement which will make business in India very challenging shows that nothing got better - quite contrary.

India`s antagonism against foreign businesses is based on her history. After becoming independent in the year 1949 India`s economic politics was strongly influenced by the thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi, who was an anti-capitalist and an ascetic (wikipedia). The legend didn`t believe that humans behave rational and are guided by self-interest. Gandhi cared less about accumulating wealth and economic prosperity. Instead he rejected materialism and preached a policy of self-sufficiency. Gandhi also called for the boycott of foreign-made goods (Swadeshi movement  .britannica.com).

In the second half of the 20th century India mostly followed his philosophy and implemented an Gandhian-economics (wikipedia). Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India said: “Never talk to me about profit, it is a dirty word” (Economy). India`s policy tended towards protectionism, with a strong emphasis on import substitution (Ghandi`s self-sufficiency), meaning replacing imported cars and other products with Indian made things, even though they cost much more and had a lower quality (Ghandi`s Swadeshi movement). India also focused on economic interventionism (politicians decide what and how much to produce & consume), a large government-run public sector, business regulation, and central planning.

The result was an anemic economic growth and till today many Indians have to exist on a stone age level. Modi´s newest step continues Gandhi´s self-sufficiency policy and resentment for foreign goods & services and will slow foreign investments further. India will stay dirt poor.

 

 

 

 

Books: The White Ship By Charles Spencer

 (Drivebycuriosity) - I like to read history books. They explain a lot of today´s world. And they show how horrible life was in the past and how much humankind has evolved & got better. 

The book "The White Ship: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I’s Dream" by Charles Spencer focuses on the 11th century and on the English King Henry I, a son of William the Conqueror, his relatives and other Norman aristocrats ( amazon). Unfortunately the titles gives too much away. 

Careers & wealth were created or destroyed by force and a sheer endless row of  wars. The most successful & ruthless butchers became a part of the ruling elite. Quite important was legal succession, which led to nepotism. Nobody cared about competence, instead it was important who was the legitimate offspring from whom. Violence, irrationality & the absence of health care made life random. Sudden deaths caused by murder, warfare, illness or frequent hunting accidents changed the course of history often and radically.

I learned a lot about the Normans, the heirs of Danish warriors, who had conquered a part of today`s France, which became the duchy Normandy, and then overtook England. The Normans were extremely aggressive and treated both countries as their as their private property. Their aristocrats tried to ursup as much land & wealth as possible.   

The book is very informative and has thrilling parts but after reading more than 200 pages (from about 280) I got tired to learn all about the complex relations of so many Norman aristocrats and about who had married whom and who had inherited what. 

Contemporary Art: Woman In Landscape @ Space 776 New York

  (Drivebycuriosity) - Manhattan`s Lower East Side is slowly degenerating into a party district with a legion of fast food places & other dives. But there are still some interesting art galleries, albeit fewer than some years ago. At gallery 776 on Clinton Street I spotted an exhibition with works by Elena Chestnykh (b. Novosibirsk, Russia). ​The show is called "Woman in Landscape" ( space776).

  

 

  

 

 

The paintings above are oil on canvas 

 

 

  

 

Above follow ink and watercolor on paper

 

To be continued

Books: The Rabbit Factor By Antti Tuomainen

 (Drivebycuriosity) - Imagine that you are a rational thinker, working as a mathematician for an insurance company. You get fired, but you a inherit a messy adventure park for children and you have to struggle with ruthless criminals. This is the begin of the "The Rabbit Factor" by Antti Tuomainen ( amazon).

The novel is told in first person and set in Finland. It´s about a man who`s world is set upside down, who has to adapt to a totally new life. The protagonist has to deal with irrationality, menace & violence. But the novel is also about learning and to grow with one`s challenges. "What doesn`t kill us, will make us stronger", said Nietsche. The book deals also with issues like economics, management & labor relations.

The "Rabbot Factor is spiced with a very black humor and hilarious ideas. There are elaborately described action & steamy explicit sex scenes and there is some romance. There is also a cat named Schopenhauer.

"The Rabbit Factor" is a very optimist & positive book - and entertaining as well. Highly recommended.