Friday, May 29, 2009

Right of Thirst - Frank Huyler

A very moving story!

It is a great feeling to discover a good author - and Frank Huyler will definitely go places. An excellent book with a fascinating story of a naive American doctor who after a personal tragedy goes to a third world country to help people affected by natural disasters.

The setting seems to be in Pakistan but the author is careful not to mention the country directly and get involved in any of the politics. With great flair he is able to take the reader to the more important real tragedies of life and how different cultures handle them.

The characters come strongly to life and the author has done an excellent job of keeping the story moving at a fast pace. This is a book that one will not easily forget.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments by George Johnson

Beauty of Tabletop Science!

A great book that brings out the beauty of Science! The author has picked up the ten most beautiful science experiments - starting with Galileo and ending with Milikan. Though one might argue with the selection, the author's excellent descriptions will more than make up for any differences of opinion.

Compared to most of the current scientific experiments which costs millions of dollars and involve the collaborative efforts of many scientists, these are of the earlier age when most scientists were working alone in their labs. Reading this book, one can enjoy the creativity and hands on work of the previous generation of scientists - very inspiring. I would recommend the book to all those interested in the history of science.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Rats leaving the sinking ship?

I am told that the sure sign that a ship is sinking is when you see the rats trying to get out!

Well, it looks like the great ship of 'America' is sinking. After Obama's calculated announcement of trying to get the American MNCs to pay the tax on their overseas earnings, the CEO of a venerable Silicon Valley company told their employees that they are not really an 'American' company - they are a 'global' company! It is interesting the note that these companies 'expense' more in the U.S and 'make profits' abroad so that the net tax rate of some of these 'global' companies is around 2.5%!!!!!!

Obama must have expected some of this - otherwise why club "taxing overseas earnings" with 'outsourcing' in his recent announcement? Make it easier for the enemies to band together?