Review: 6 Feet Over

This book should be entitled - "adventures in the apparent physical manifestations of the afterlife". In this book, Roach approaches the issue claims of experiences of the afterlife as a skeptic, looking at the evidence closely and with a healthy dose of salt. She comes away, unsurprisingly, as a....skeptic.

To understand why, you only need to look at the central topics upon which she focuses. These range from reincarnation (she goes to india, interviewing experts on the topic and sitting in on interrogations of supposed "reincarnated persons"), to investigating mediums (And the ectoplasm craze), before capping it off with an examination of near death experiences.

The only firm conclusion that she can come away with is - there really isn't any. This is due to a number of factors - mostly related to poor evidence, but also the nature of the object of study (ie: if an event is uniquely supernatural, occurring not at fixed pattern but at the whim of invisible beings, one cannot perform a quantitative study, and can only remain in the domain of qualitative science).

Peppered with hilarious remarks, many finding inspiration from the loose nuts she finds on her journey, this is a great read, for both believers and skeptics alike.

Review: 13 Things That Don't Make Sense

Brooks writes about 13 "anomalies" in the scientific world that refuse to fit into our nicely formulating theorems and paradigms. His writings can be largely grouped into two subsets - physics and biology (with chemistry interspersed along the way). For the former, he looks at issues such as dark matter and evidence of changes in universal constants (Eg: the speed of light). For the latter, he explores matters such as the placebo effect and the quest for a working definition of "life".

As I read this book, I couldn't help but have a stirring within me - a love for science in it purest, curious form, and an amazement at the marvels and curiousity of the creation. You see, One of my favourite books of all time is a guide to science by Isaac Asimov; Asimov's explanation of the world of physics left me in awe - I fondly remember discussions I had with friends on how relativity, amongst other things, had so many strange and marvellous implications for our understanding of the world. I remember spending nights in high school trying to wrap my head around quantum theories (who can forget Shroedinger's cat).

Why mention all this? I feel that this book embodies that philosophy in its approach to science - an inquisitive nature that revels in the challenge of discovering why the world works the way it does. Brooks at more than one point evokes Kuhn and his discussion of crisis leading to the (now cliched) paradigm shift, and he does it with good reason - Brooks is arguing at many of these anomalies in science just don't fit with our current paradigms, and could potentially force a complete rethink of our current systems. In short, look at the world around you, and don't be afraid to ask questions if things don't make sense - not with a fear that everything will collapse if you do, but with a confidence that somehow, someway, we'll come up with an even better way of explaining the world around us.

I don't know about you, but I find the thought of doing that strangely exciting.