Book Reviews

What are your thoughts?

Personally, I can’t think of any philosophy that surronds it but there is definitely an element of common sense/physics there.

Given that containers for milk are made of cardboard/paper type of material which is relatively weaker in terms of mineral water that are made from plastic. It would make sense for milk containers to be in cardboards, as it allows for the center of gravity to hold and for the milk container to thus be in a square container.

Seems like I’m certainly avoiding the question, but feel free to comment your answers down below! I’ll be interested to read all of them :D

[disclaimer: just an opinion piece]

Lately, It seems as though people are posting more of their “good” deeds on social media. It may be to attract attention for awareness or simply for popularity, nevertheless it was nice to see people doing good deeds. I brought up this fact to my parents over dinner, about how this COVID pandemic has made fortunate people understand and resonate with the situations of the less fortunate. Surprisingly, my parents did not share the same viewpoint as I did, they said that a good deed is only “good” if the meaning behind it is “good”, therefore the people doing good deeds to post on social media are not “good”.

This has been a source of many debates on Instagram comments sections, people commenting “but why did she/he have to post it”, “what ever happened to doing good deeds without showing off”. But I wonder whether those people commentating do just as many good deeds as the people on the video? Yes, it may be a bit unseemly to post about helping others, but if this incentivises  people to help more people in exchange for popularity, logically speaking it does not provide any bad effects to any parties involved.

Seaspiracy is a recent Netflix documentary, directed by Ali Tabrizi, on the exploitative and cruel nature of the fishing industry and the misconceptions that people have. Here are 3 key takeaways from the documentary:

1. THE FISHING INDUSTRY IN SOME AREAS ARE LINKED TO POWERFUL GOVERNANCE OR  POTENTIAL MAFIA GROUPS

Whilst Tabrizi was filming the documentary, he was stopped and questioned by the police multiple times. This was particularly true when he visited Taiji, Japan and Thailand, whereby in Thailand he was chased down by police officers. Many merchants had also rejected him filming leading him to film out of their sight or by using spy cameras.

This suggests that the governments obviously does not want anybody to expose of its brutalities.

2. THE FISHING INDUSTRY IS TRULY TRULY BRUTAL AND MOST ENVIRONMENTALIST GROUPS HAVE THE WRONG GOAL

The pollution and plastic at sea is more than just about plastic straws. It was the fishing nets that were the largest cause of marine deaths. Yet, environmentalist groups such as the Earth Island Institute and The Marine Stewardship Council did not raise awareness to such matter.

Moreover, the documentary exposed the reality of the fishing industry. In Taiji, Tabrizi documented fisherman leading dolphins to shallow water and killing them brutally,  as dolphins were the main predator of smaller fishes, fishes that humans want to eat.

3. SUSTAINABLE FISHING DOES NOT EXIST - THE BEST WAY TO PROTECT THE OCEAN’S ECOSYSTEM IS BY REDUCING OR ELIMINATING CONSUMPTION OF MARINE LIFE

Tabrizi interviewed environmental groups and organisations and realised that those who gave out “sustainable stickers” had no evidence that the product was sourced sustainably. Moreover when asked what “sustainable fishing” was, many struggled to give a straight answer.

Tabrizi concluded that the best way to protect the our marine ecosystem is by reducing or eliminating the consumption of marine life. Scientific research suggest that allowing the ocean to “recover” for an extended period of time can be effective in restoring the marine ecosystem.

The Mystery of Capital is a book by De Soto outlining the importance of engineering a system to utilise existing capital to achieve economic development. Illustrating to the readers that resources, such as land, are not only an attractive asset but also can be collateral that creates capital. It further highlights the barriers to utilising capital such as corrupted governance, absence of property rights and unsecured credit markets. 

This section is a summary of Chapter 5 of the book, The Missing Lesson of US History, which specifically dives deep into how the United States overcame this problem a few centuries ago, hoping that it would act as a footprint for other nations today, yet highlighting the need to adapt to different countries.

So how did the United States solve the ‘Mystery of Capital’ centuries ago?

The US started with squatting - they made their own extralegal system through 'tomahawk rights' cabin rights and corn rights - like you could carve your name on a nearby tree

Local agreements among neighbours where they would protect each other houses

why are they doing this? local juries realise that this system and land property rights were important as it meat that people could finally generate surplus value from their land - no longer were they scruffy criminals skimming the cream of the nation's lands but noble pioneers helping to develop the country -  an example of why a change in public perception and a collective effort is so important in creating change - perception changes starts from the local community

even go as far as  ignoring the supreme court's green vs biddle case

how are they doing this?  claim associations - change happens from within - testify the validity and intimidate any claim jumpers

Additional help from the federal government - The homestead Act - that gave 160 free acres to any settler willing to live on the land for five years and develop it -realise that the development of land was beneficial

The little book of psychology - Book by Caroline Riggs and Emily Ralls

A great little book I found for £2 while scavenging for books in the market! This book is ideal for those interested in psychology but don’t know where exactly to start, it takes the reader through all the basic psychological approaches, its most renowned psychologist and the experiments that contributed most to the specific approach. The book also covers the history of psychology and the most common controversies surrounding ethical experiments and research methods. What I enjoyed most was the emphasis on the background of the psychologists as well as the differences between their research, even under the same “approach”.

Although quite informative, the book takes a more light tone (with the occasional humour from the author) while ensuring that the readers stay engaged. The authors also made sure to keep the language easy to understand and defining any scientific terms used. 

The Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes 

This piece of political-philosophical literature written by 17th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes provides a perspective into society and government that is uncommon to the 21st century. In this book, Hobbes stated that the rise of societies was not forced upon ancient cavemen but instead was formed from them, stating that our ancestors realized that a society without laws; “the state of nature, left its citizens in a state of constant fear. This feeling of fear, according to Hobbes made man form the commonwealth and reason was what made the first natural laws. 

The book is divided into 4 parts, the first; “of man”, describes the fundamental aspects of human nature and what it constitutes, describing in detailed reasoning how one emotion led to another. The second book, of commonwealth, argues that the only way to ensure that man follows these “natural laws” is to have a sovereign to uphold them. Hobbes also explains thst since the sovereign is made up of the people, it would not do anything that would put the citizens in harms way. In this book, he stated that to avoid contradiction and slow processes the best form of government is by having an absolute monarchy (which is definitely not a very 21st century idea mindset). 

The third book describes the problems that arises when ancient societies used to hold the church to the same power as the sovereign, Hobbes stated that it causes man to “see double” and explains the various drawbacks this presented. In the last book, Hobbes continue to disprove false religious doctrines by exploring the various religious acts and reasons why people may misinterpret religious scriptures.