The good news: I've recovered, except I'm still coughing a little. Also had a great time hanging out with friends over the weekend, we went to a place called "Chili Pizza", which opened up here a week ago.
The bad news: I haven't worked out in a long time, so for that or some other reason I feel physically and mentally awful.
Anyway, I wanted to write about books.
Vladimir Yakovlevich Tsvetov - The Fifteenth Stone of Ryoanji Garden
A Soviet journalist writes about his perception of the Japanese attitude toward labor and the functioning of Japanese corporations. The constant ideological component affecting the whole narrative is terribly annoying and gets in the way. Naturally, it is far from positive. The Japanese already work and live in a workaholic hell mostly devoid of a personal life, if you look at their life from our perspective, and the Soviet author hyperbolizes this even more to show the horrors of "communal capitalism", as he calls it. All in all, the book turned out rather gloomy, though interesting. It seems like recently the situation in Japan is slowly changing: the lifetime employment system is showing cracks and proving not fully viable.
Steven D. Levitt Stephen J. Dubner - two books, "Freakonomics" and "SuperFreakonomics"
Curious and very famous books by "new" and "unconventional" economists, or rather an economist and a journalist. It's a light and fun read, the authors constantly emphasize their rationalism and rejection of the emotional approach to socio-economic problems. They bring up a bunch of interesting cases and stats about seatbelts, prostitutes' incomes, simple solutions to the global warming problem, teachers cheating in American schools, and sumo wrestlers on Japanese tatami, the danger of private pools, experts distorting facts, and the benefits of abortions. I recommend it to everyone, it's interesting and educational.
Douglas R. Hofstadter Daniel C. Dennett - The Mind's I
An overview book on the problems of consciousness and the mind, written as a collection of different views ripped out of various books. The book features stories, essays, and musings on what consciousness is, where it resides, and how it functions. It's very hard to read in places, but usually quite interesting. Everything is written from both scientific and philosophical perspectives simultaneously, but naturally without mysticism and "spirituality" (otherwise I wouldn't have read it).
I recommend it to those who aren't scared of more complex books, and are interested in questions of consciousness.
Albert Hofmann - LSD: My Problem Child
A very famous book, the autobiography of the creator of the hallucinogen LSD. Albert Hofmann was a renowned medical chemist, invented many useful drugs, and synthesized LSD by accident while working on them. Then he researched other hallucinogens too. The book is devoid of mysticism, it's by a practical and outstanding person, written with German thoroughness. But it's quite easy and interesting to read. For the general public, the book will dispel many misconceptions about hallucinogens and LSD, and overall it's interesting because the history of the discovery and the substance itself are unique in many respects. Overall, the book isn't about whether such substances are good or bad, but simply about the chemistry and history of hallucinogens. It could just as well have been about about the chemistry and history of TNT — the same social aspect and broad impact on the world.
Lynn Zimmer John P. Morgan - Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts
Propaganda from the pro-legalization camp. For the most part, it's just lots and lots of paragraphs about how marijuana is practically harmless in every way, and links to studies and reports from dozens of government commissions that have come to such conclusions over the past century. It's a bit boring to read, of little use, except perhaps to elegantly slip the book to those whose brains have been washed in the opposite direction.
The main question is whether the "war on drugs" brings more harm to society than the actual use of these drugs. Society as a whole is conservative and still thinks it doesn't. Right now we are seeing a slow evolution of views towards the decriminalization of soft drugs, and it's quite possible that in the next 10-20 years it will happen, at least in liberal US states and a few European countries. Again, whether it gets better or not, we'll see in reality then. By that time my generation will gradually be turning into conservatives and boring old farts, and it will be very strange to watch how what is taboo for us will become a form of recreation for the youth.
Lynn Visson - Where Russians Go Wrong in Spoken English
A very informative book about mentality manifesting itself in linguistics. Why we and Americans think and speak completely differently, typical mistakes and misunderstandings. I knew maybe 50, well, 70 percent of this, no more, but nowhere near in such a clear and structured form. An excellent book for anyone who wants to improve their English, or is simply interested in culture or linguistics on an amateur level.
And if you are going to a foreign country to live and work, it's simply a must-read.