The Code Breaker

The Code Breaker - subtitled Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing and the Future of the Human Race

Another must-read from Walter Isaacson. I personally am a big fan of Isaacson's writings and his biographies on Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Leonardo Da Vinci are nothing but a delight to read. 

This book is not a biography of Jennifer Doudna but she and CRISPR (the gene editing tool which she and her team discovered) forms one of the the central themes of the book. The lives and works of her colleagues, collaborators, competitors, mentors including James Watson (co-discoverer of the double helical structure of DNA) and his seminal book "The Double Helix" run throughout the book in this amazing plot full of twists and turns or folds should I say!

CRISPR which is a mechanism found in bacteria to fight against viral attacks is used as the basis/technology for the gene-editing tool/CRISPR. The applications of CRISPR - curing/treating genetic disorders, detecting/fighting cancer cells, creating designer babies, enhancing physical and mental prowess of humans - are manifold. So are the implications & consequences. The moral and ethical issues arising out of the use or the decision to use such a gene-editing tool are complex too. Will we as human species lose our diversity? Will there be further inequality - genetic inequality similar to financial inequality - among humans? Will we lose our feelings of empathy and humility? Will we stop being "human"? Two sentences in the ~500 pages book stand out to me: "The issue (that of gene-editing) is one of the most profound we humans have ever faced. For the first time in the evolution of life on this planet, a species has developed the capacity to edit its own genetic makeup."

Kudos to Isaacson once again in painting and explaining the lives and works of amazing people - many scientists this time. He has done full justification in bringing to life many of the characters/scientists in the story and at times felt like I was reading mini-biographies too along the way. His succinct and crystal-clear explanation of complex subjects and technical topics is such a big boon to ordinary/common man like me! Even as all the brilliant, hard working scientists find joy in discovering "the infinite wonders of nature", we find joy in the writings of folks like Isaacson!

2021

2021

 Just don't know when I stopped writing here! I think after iPhones came into the picture and I started jotting down book reviews/movie reviews etc. on the phone as Notes or simply as text messages to some of the interested readers (perhaps Unni & Nicey), I completely stopped writing here. The last published post I see is on Dec 2015 and this is indeed a huge gap of ~6 years! I don't see any Notes in the interim years though! I look at my phone now and I see that in 2021 I do have a couple of reviews in my Notes. I feel I should publish it here also for phones will soon be replaced. So I am just copy/pasting some of my notes from phone to here!

Just Mercy - Bryan Stevenson

A brilliant, heart-touching first-person account of American criminal justice system, racial issues, wrong/unfair convictions; written by brilliant lawyer Bryan Stevenson. Its narrated thru the real lifestory of one of his clients Walter McMillan (who was wrongly convicted for death penalty) along with short glimpses of his other clients/cases. 

The Good Man Jesus And The Scoundrel Christ - Philip Pullman

A brilliant interplay of fact and fiction? played out via the Biblical incidents/stories in the life and times of Jesus Christ. By creating a new character of Christ as Jesus’ twin brother the author is able to explain away one of the core Biblical miracles and provide a natural/physical explanation for the same. He cleverly uses the characters of Christ and a stranger and their dialogues to explain the plausible origins of organized religion/church. The ills and evils arising from the abusive powers of such an organization/church when established is foretold and condemned. Church’s organization/setup and agenda is shown to be clearly different from what Jesus meant or his teachings and in fact that Jesus never endorsed such an organized corporation. On the other hand the necessity of establishing the organized body of church in order to preserve and sustain “the truth” for humanity is also in their dialogues. Thus the constant tension between the real truth/teachings of Jesus and of those that we inherited via Christ’s recording/documentation is illuminated. 

The Great Indian Kitchen (Malayalam Movie)

A slap on the face of male chauvinism that (still?) prevails in the Hindu society (some?) of Kerala. It is played out thru the life of a newly wedded couple. The struggles/tension/daily grind/common kitchen issues which the wife faces is realistically depicted. It also exposes the “untouchability” of a woman practiced during her periods in the Hindu society/families(some?). Ultimately its the woman who is portrayed as standing tall and triumphant and dancing with might and power!

Drishyam 2 (Malayalam movie)

Drishyam 2, the sequel to what many consider the greatest Malayalam crime thriller movie (Drishyam) did indeed do justice to its predecessor. Right from the first scene, the story holds the rapt attention of its viewers as the once considered closed chapter/case is subtly & cleverly opened up with one fading scene. The protagonist Georgekutty & family picks up from where they left 6/7 years back without missing a beat. Superb & natural is the acting display of all the characters. Slowly but surely the director introduces the new characters while portraying the mental and emotional state of Georgekutty & family. The case is considered locked and a done deal this time even as the viewers eagerly anticipate the twist thru which Georgekutty will escape which is revealed in the last scenes. 

There are hints that the story will continue (Drishyam 3?) in the scenes in the middle of the movie - Georgekutty’s dialogue to Rani (wife) saying (loosely translated) “all this will continue till the end of our lives” & also the very last shot where Georgekutty is carefully watching his pursuers from behind a tree before he slowly walks away into the fog. 

Crimes Against Logic - Jamie Whyte

Subtitled Exposing the Bogus Arguments of Politicians, Priests, Journalists, and Other Serial Offenders

The Prayer Of Jabez - Bruce Wilkinson

A short & sweet book based on the little known (had never heard before) Old Testament character Jabez and the verses recorded in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10

Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested. (1 Chronicles 4:9-10)

Regardless of whatever name we carry or sin that we bear the author encourages us to call onto God for his blessings almost as if its our right, the right of a son/daughter, and use these blessings to enlarge God’s territory really. The author reminds us to ask God for his protection always and to be dependent on Him “Because for the Christian, dependence is just another word for power.”  He also encourages us to seek God’s help to flee from temptations/evil rather than fight it out on our own. God will indeed hear such prayers & abundantly bless us. A very nice read indeed & a good Bible verse to commit to memory. 

Sapiens: A brief history of humankind - Yuval Noah Harari

Much has been and will be written about this brilliant account on the creation and evolution of Homo Sapiens. The author traces the origins of humans going back all the way to around 100,000 years ago to the current/21st century “modern” man to the future possible states of man-super human or sub-human. The author explores the life and times of homo sapiens looking through a number of different windows/domains including his social, political, religious and economic life and how it has changed and marched on to reach where we are at the time of writing/year 2014. His history so far has been partitioned into three main categories of Cognitive Revolution (around 100,000? years ago), Agricultural Revolution (around 10,000 years ago) and Scientific Revolution (around 500 years ago) and the lens zoomed in into the lives and times of humans in each of these eras. 

We have no doubt come a long way but the author wonders whether we are any more happier than our ancient hunter-gatherer ancestor. If not what is the use of all these advancements he wonders. This i found fascinating and unique - a historian exploring the happiness quotient of humanity. 

Much more will be written about this book I’m sure; its definitely a must-read for every human alive!

Karma

“Karma” the book is a very nice read about Karma – what it is, what it is not and why it matters – as it is subtitled. The lucid explanation of such a profound phenomenon was indeed a reminder about the many misconceptions surrounding the wildly used, often quoted term.

The author traces the history of karma beginning from its Indian origins rooted in the Hindu tradition to the Buddhist ideas on the same and how it differs even among the various branches of Buddhism.  Originally the term meant just “action” and it was mostly used in the context of performing actions/rituals by the Vedic priests. It took on different flavors/meanings along the years and began to be strongly associated with cause and event especially with the introduction of Buddha’s ideas. The author reminds us that karma is not to be associated with the idea of a single cause creating an event/result. Instead, it is the interconnection and interaction of a multitude of causes and conditions that actually result in an event or one’s state.  One’s thoughts (and words) can have a profound effect on another’s life. It is not static but dynamic. It is not a simple concept but rather a complex phenomenon.

A clear demarcation between Hinduism’s reincarnation and Buddhism’s rebirth is drawn along the way since karma seems to be intrinsically tied to reincarnation/rebirth. Reincarnation maintains that an indestructible spirit-soul remains even as the physical body passes away. Buddha’s concept of rebirth does not endorse an eternal spirit-soul. Buddha saw everything including one’s thoughts, feelings and emotions to be ever changing, never constant. Therefore at the time of rebirth everything is anew, including one’s thoughts and body while certain karmic impressions - tendencies/propensities – may be carried over to the next life. In fact it is the “left over” karmic impressions that is the reason for rebirth. The concepts of good karma and bad karma is explained and that the ultimate aim is to rid oneself of both good karma and bad karma to attain nirvana and freedom from the cycle of birth and death and (re)birth and death and (re)birth…

The author encourages exploring karma as a basis for our moral and ethical values. For it is only when an inner understanding or conviction of our wrong doings occur that true transformation of one’s life can happen. Embracing the idea of karma might easily lead one to that. The author encourages people to have open-mindedness towards the idea of karma, not to reject it as some superstitious, archaic stuff. He is very much concerned that “modern” Western philosophers, scholars, secularists are rejecting/downplaying this significant and active and ever present truth of karma in our lives.

It was a very good, uplifting 150 pages read! The author is Traleg Kyabgon.

Surgery Notes - Personal; Jan 2015

Never ever imagined that the first few days after a open heart surgery would be pretty painful & render you with very limited mobility even as I was being wheeled into the operation theater. Perhaps it was because for the last few weeks (had been on vacation for more than a month) I had been hearing about the ease with which people - neighbors, family, friends - recovered and got back to normal following their angioplasties. Guess now I know that the two are not the same!Anyway, the junior anesthetist on the left hand side said "a small injection" and then after a second the senior anesthetist on the right hand side said the same thing and added "you will now go to sleep". The bright (or was it dim?) yellow light on the ceiling was the last thing I remember seeing until the nurse woke me up saying "operation over; it went well; open your eyes" after more than 24 hours.
Where was "i" was during that time? Does consciousness ever separate from an anesthetic filled body? Perhaps the behavior of consciousness during near death experience (NDE) and surgery are different. Not that I've had any NDE experience but have read countless accounts/analysis of body-separated consciousness during NDE and had wondered if "i" would experience something like that!

CT-ICU
Got wheeled into the ICU after the apparatus filled with chest fluids was removed from the mouth. This took some time since the doctor/anesthetist had to come since it appeared that the nurses were unable to do on their own. They attempted once or twice (i think) & then heard one saying "we better wait for the doctor".
3 hard days in the ICU - the daily early morning sweeper, the X-ray man with his huge machine, nurses scrambling & scribbling patient notes before the doctors arrived for rounds, brush, sponge bath, breakfast, lunch, dinner, painful coughs, sleep or attempts of it, nurses on night watch (bringing spit-pans on cough, adjusting pillows and slanting heights of bed on hand-raise), cold, feverish, 1-minute daily visit of brother, wife, mother, complain from old fellow patient for multiple visitors on single day, steam, spirometer, attempt to mobilize, 3rd day to room...

ROOM
Father, mother, brother took turns as night-attendants. Brother and mother were awake for the most part of the first night. Then slowly it turned out to be snore-playing nights while I tried to find my way out myself. Multicolored tablets (7 of them) had to be taken in the morning and night. They were my rainbow in a room in which hardly any sunlight reached. Nurses came and went in shifts of 8 hours with twice a day measurement of temperature/pressure and medicine fillings. On the clock/dot visit of medical officer everyday at 7:45 AM for 2 minutes was an amazing experience - 2 smart knocks on the door, brisk steps straight towards the bed with "how do you do?", tie the pressure band on the right arm and do 8 pumps, keep the stethoscope at 3 spots on the chest & 3 spots on the back, untie the pressure band & then tap on the shoulder and say "good, sir" - the clinical precision with which these steps were executed was the amazing part. Meals and menu were regular and repetitive. I started hating idlis. On one or two days there were live cricket matches on TV which made the day a little bit brighter (even though the TV was hazy). Otherwise the 14 room-days were by and far mostly boring with just newspapers and magazine to read. Almost had a prison feeling to it. Did get opportunities to check email (thanks to brother) the last few days which was a breather. Did have a couple of visitors too. As I stepped out of the hospital building on the discharge day, there was a great sense of relief and thankfulness.

REFLECTIONS
- The marvels of medical science and man's achievements came to mind some time along the way. To detect such a faint murmur deep in your heart, amplify it / watch it on a screen, take precise measurements of the blood leak, surgery procedure to repair (or replace) the faulty valve - what are these but the results of countless hardworking men and women's dedication to save a life, their passion for their work, their sacrifices? It truly reflects the spirit of the human nature.
- Old age came to mind too during recovery. The slow, tentative walking-steps, the pain to put on a shirt, sleepless nights, difficulty to rise up from bed without help, the slow paced, messy chewing/eating, the helplessness of being bathroom-assisted. Had seen my grandfather go thru such hurdles towards the end of his life. Guess now I know a little better how he must have felt, until it is my turn again...

A Journey - incomplete

A new year (2014) begins with new hopes and joys awaiting. Let us continue to learn the lessons of Life through the various experiences that come our way.

"The Journey Home" by Radhanath Swami (formerly Richard Slavin) was an amazing read last year! It traces the remarkable physical and spiritual journey which Richard/Radhanath makes, starting as a young teenager (19) from US in 1969 to Europe through Middle East to India. The inner call that drove him from the comforts of his home to the wretched and poorest areas of India remains a mystery for the author himself but something/someone kept tugging him towards God right from a very young age. The shedding of the hippie/revolutionary culture to enter into the arms of God seemed to be the journey that the author made.

Along the way, the simple lessons learned and presented to us from his various experiences was indeed refreshing.

Note:
**Logging in after more than a year, I find this still sitting in "Draft"! Unfortunately I don't have much to add given the fact that I've forgotten much of what I read in the book. All I can offer my readers is Radhanath Swami's official website:
www.radhanathswami.com

The Evolution of God

Just can't imagine that its been two years since I wrote a blog or logged in here. I am too ashamed to even quote my usual reason of "being lazy" as the reason for delay. Did read a couple of books after the last book (The Grand Viewer) about which I had blogged 2 years back but don't remember all of them. One book which I can recall is "Why Evolution is True" by Jerry A.Coyne. Sufficient to say that its a good read for those who would like to have a solid understanding of the scientific reasons (based on natural selection) behind the story of our evolution.

This blog, however, is about another book and the one I just finished reading called "The Evolution of God" by Robert Wright. Other notable books by the author are: The Moral Animal, Nonzero and Three Scientists and Their Gods. Wright has taught philosophy at Princeton and religion at the University of Pennsylvania and is now a senior fellow at the New America Foundation and editor in chief of Bloggingheads.tv

The book traces the origin and history of God or the concept of god as carried around by mankind from about 20,000 years ago up untill the present (2009 is when the book was published) and how God might look like in the future. In the first unit, "the birth and growth of gods" is traced as mankind progressed from being a hunter-gatherer society to an agrarian society/chiefdom and then on to the nation-states. The history and evolution of the Abrahamic faiths - Judaism, Christianity & Islam - is beautifully narrated in the next three units. In the last unit, Moral Imagination (the capacity to put ourselves in the shoes of others) is discussed. The Afterword "By the Way, What Is God?" which has a good dialogue-like tone between an atheist and believer defending their respective stance made very interesting read. The Appendix "How Human Nature Gave Birth to Religion" discusses how genetic evolution (genes) and cultural evolution (memes) shapes our proclivities toward religion.

There are a couple of  driving points in the book. One is that when a relationship is deemed as a "non-zero sum relationship" (win-win situation), the parties involved in the relationship becomes much more tolerant (and peaceful) toward each others' religious belief. This has what has been observed throughout the human history.
Another point that is stressed is regarding the composing of the holy scriptures. The social/political/technological circumstances in which the author of the scripture finds himself in greatly influences not only the tone used but also perhaps modifications of actual facts. The different accounts of Jesus' birth/birth place or His last words on the cross as recorded in the different Gospels was a striking example. Biblical scholars agree that Mark was the first Gospel written around 30 years after Jesus' death/resurrection and the Matthew and Luke after a decade and then John around 100 A.D. Similarly the varying tone of the Koranic verses ranging from belligerent/violent (Medina suras) to tolearant/peaceful (Mecca suras) is attributed to the circumstances (place and political power) in which Prophet Muhammad found himself in.

Note: This was written a long time/more than a year back but published only now in January 2014!

The Grand Weaver

Read another fascinating book by Ravi Zacharias called "The Grand Weaver". [I had become a huge fan of the author earlier after reading one another of his books - "Jesus Among Other Gods".]

In "The Grand Weaver", the author reminds us and urges us to see the unique thread-patterns which God weaves in each one of us through the everyday events of our lives - ranging from the commonplace to great elation to bitter disappointments.

One story/incident which the author describes in the "Introduction" of the book, stands out and from which the entire book is woven out. It is the author's description of sari-making in a Benares sari factory by a father-son team. The father, who has the design of the beautiful sari already in mind, sits on top, handing out beautiful threads of magnificent colors to the son. The son waits for the father's nod and moves the lever from left to right without an inkling of what he is making. That is all that the son has to do - move the lever from left to right upon seeing his father's nod. I needn't spell this out explicitly but the author, through this sari-making description, reminds us that that is the sort of relationship which we (sons) have with God (the Father) in weaving the patterns of our life.

The book is further divided into such chapters as "Your DNA Matters", "Your Disappointments Matter", "Your Calling Matters", "Your Morality Matters", "Your Spirituality Matters", "Your Will Matters", "Your Worship Matters" and "Your Destiny Matters".

In each of the chapters, through the wonderful description of heart-warming personal experiences, thought-provoking stories, funny incidents, Bible references etc. the author shows us how each of the "threads" are woven up to shape and form the beautiful design of our life, made perfect by our Grand Weaver.

A must-read for anyone who wants to see "how God shapes us through the events of our lives".