{"id":9602,"date":"2023-07-17T17:58:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-17T15:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sajo-innovation.de\/blog\/?p=9602"},"modified":"2023-07-21T16:51:49","modified_gmt":"2023-07-21T14:51:49","slug":"summer_2023_with-literature_and_music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sajo-innovation.de\/blog\/summer_2023_with-literature_and_music\/","title":{"rendered":"summer 2023 with literature & music"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

July 17th, 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Started in February 2020, the SAJO blog is providing information about pandemics, pathogens, infectious diseases and further important topics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may zoom in and out using CTRL+ and CTRL- <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear readers,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

summer is here, and so is J\u00f6rg\u2019s list of books worth reading this summer of 2023 and Sabine’s musical highlights. Personal recommendations by Sabine & Joerg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My personal no. 1 this year is \u201cFoolproof\u201d<\/strong> by Sander van der Linden <\/strong>(2023).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is it about? The world is being bombarded with fake news and conspiracy mysticism. The author shows us, that we are not defenseless aginst such a danger.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A great book by the \u201cDefense Against the Dark Arts Teacher<\/em>\u201d of Cambridge University. He is a professor of psychology, and he is trying to prepare the reader for the onslaught of disinformation in our age of never-ending information warfare.<\/strong> Be it the \u201cFauci-funded laboratory origin\u201d of the COVID-19 pandemic, the child-trafficking face-shifting reptile impersonating Hillary Clinton, or the invisible floating spaghetti-monster: There are too many \u201ctruths out there\u201d (to cite Fox Mulder of the popular TV series \u201cX-Files\u201d) to be counted. Sander van der Linden does not try to, anyway. He takes a more general approach. First, he dissects the appearances of false or fake news so the reader may easily identify these<\/strong> works. On the way, he shows us, how and why we fall for such \u201cbullshit\u201d (see recommendation #2 below), even if we think we are smart enough not to. He then proceeds to give us some tools to immunize ourselves<\/strong> and the society against such \u201cideas\u201d. I hope this book will receive a lot of attention, since it needs a lot of people to be aware of these dangerous developments and to be able to withstand disinformation to have a significant effect on the society. So, you better go read the book \ud83d\ude0a<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some more great reads that I highly recommend:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harry G. Frankfurt: \u201eOn Bullshit\u201c<\/strong> (1986).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a nutshell: Frankfurt is trying to make us familiar in all brevity with the concept of bullshit.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

An all-time classic would be Harry G. Frankfurt: \u201cOn Bullshit\u201d<\/strong> (1986). A phenomenal, concise description, written by a leading American philosopher. With a mere 67 pages, this is a quick read with huge impact.<\/strong> In 2019, for reasons you may guess, I re-read it, and it is still a timely piece of work. The 45th<\/sup> president of the United States was and is a prime example of Frankfurt\u2019s description. So are the Russian and Chinese presidents, and the Russian president\u2019s lackey Lavrov. And far too many other politicians (in Germany, the current Bavarian Governor comes to mind). This book deserves a lot of attention and a lot of readers. It is one of the most important reads I may think of.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dave Goulson: \u201eSilent Earth\u201c (<\/strong>2021)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is it about? About nothing less than the destruction of our own foundation of life.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Should the book\u2019s title sound familiar, this might not be a coincidence. 60 years ago, Rachel Carson wrote \u201cSilent Spring\u201d, dealing with the threat by insecticides such as DDT (please see my summer reading list of 2021 here: https:\/\/www.sajo-innovation.de\/blog\/summer-reading-2021\/<\/a>). While DDT use was abolished in the 1970s, countless new pesticides, insecticides, fungicides and other -cides were developed and have been deployed in the meantime. Most importantly, their activity is more than a thousandfold stronger than the one of DDT. With dire consequences: Numbers of insects are declining at a scary pace worldwide.<\/strong> Dave Goulson is a British entomologist with four decades of experience in this field. His writing is captivating. He loves the subject he is writing about: Insects.<\/strong> Insects as a group of the phylum of arthropods are the most diverse group of animals on Earth. They are fascinating in appearance, in lifestyle, in numbers, in pretty much every aspect<\/strong> you may think of. And yet, now they are facing a foe that might just annihilate them: Human civilization \u2013 with its thirst for constant growth. Constant growth of one species on a finite planet inevitably leads to trouble for all the other inhabitants of Earth.<\/strong> Goulson makes a lot of strong points regarding the negative human impact on our ecosystem. This book is a very loud call to action<\/strong>. Highly recommended read.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sean B. Carroll: \u201eA Series of Fortunate Events\u201d<\/strong> (2020)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a nutshell: It is about all the fortunate events necessary for you and me walking on this Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This book is a roller coaster ride through Earth\u2019s history. Carroll gathers some of the most painful events having taken place on Earth over a period of hundreds of millions of years. Throughout its 4-billion-year existence, Earth was hit on multiple occasions by disastrous events: Impacts of big asteroids and giant volcano eruptions destroyed life, as did several flips of Earth\u2019s magnetic field, to name just a few. This way, Carroll is making clear to the reader the difference between chance and contingency. Some of the chance events that ultimately led to human beings (hence the \u201cfortunate events\u201d) roaming Earth are nicely depicted. My favorite one is the notion that the Chicxulub asteroid smashing into Yucatan peninsula 66 M years ago (oh, history!), abruptly ending the 100-million-year reign of dinosaurs, could have hit an ocean instead of the continent had it decided to crash just 30 minutes sooner or later. The dinosaurs would not have gone extinct in that case. <\/strong>Which means some rodent-like small mammalians that with time developed into humongous-headed fur-less bipeds would still lead a life in obscurity. Carroll makes this a very entertaining yet educating read on many levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samin Nosrat: \u201eSalt, Fat, Acid, Heat\u201d<\/strong> (2017)<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The less I am working at the bench in the lab, the more I am spending some spare time at our stove \u2013 very much to Sabine\u2019s delight, she enjoys being served my creations. Over the past ten years we have been taking up a more sincere approach to cooking. Scientists love to know what they are doing, so obviously, we chose to get some expert advice. One of the advisors is Samin Nosrat. In her book she is focusing on the four pillars of good cooking.<\/strong> This is neither a recipe collection nor a textbook. It is almost like a companion, leading you through the intricacies of the four core aspects of cooking. It is a good read with many anecdotes from her own experience in kitchens around the world. There are excellent (and fun) illustrations by Wendy MacNaughton helping explain some of the concepts. And of course, there are recipes to try out your newly found knowledge and skills. The book is occupying a prominent place on my shelf dedicated to cooking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe you will find the one or other of these books inspiring. They are all excellent reads with quite some entertaining quality.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Dear readers, now I also want to comment on Joergs book recommendations. For this summer, I had been looking for interesting books. However, most book recommendations by reputable journals and newspapers ranged from euphuistic nonsense to unsubstantial shallow drivel. Hence, I accepted Joerg\u2019s recommendations and am looking forward to the one or other book I hadn\u2019t had time to read yet. Samin Nosrat\u2019s \u201cSalt, Fat Acid, Heat\u201d lends itself to read about cooking. Only the Book\u2019s second half is holding recipes. If you are interested in a good preparation of food and in cooking with all your senses, this is the book of choice. It is fun to read, and it is fun to try certain recipes, opening your senses and broadening one\u2019s horizon. Enjoy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear readers,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, we have selected some of the pearls we found in music, that are not just outstanding in their virtuosity, but also bring a lot of joy to the listeners. The both of us love a broad array of musical styles. Sabine loves to play the piano herself too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are admirers of Yuja Wang for her unbelievable virtuosity in combination with her phenomenal musical expression. Get yourself an impression of this great artist, one of the greatest of our time:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yuja Wang plays Carmen variations composed by Bizet, arranged by Horowitz, at the Carnegie Hall in 2017<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n