Snoop by Sam Gosling

Gosling's 'Snoop' proposes to give an insight into what our personal spaces and possessions say about our personalities. It claims to turn every reader into a "super snooper," someone who is able to grasp the snoopee's nature by simply examining her bedroom. I too, was excited about becoming one and tried to fully master the art of "snooping." Unfortunately, the book only gives you a very limited snip-it of interpreting human psychology. It will take a lot of study and practice to become an expert "snooper."

Basically, Gosling's message is this: no matter how hard you try to camouflage and portray yourself as you wish to be portrayed, our identities are so strong that they will shine through no matter what. It is for this reason that Gosling teaches us not only how to interpret the most obvious signs such as organization but also clues of contrived display; for example, signs of hasty organization does not suggest that the person is conscientious by nature but he is merely trying to appear to be.

It is true that snooping only gives a relatively provincial knowledge of a person's characteristics. Nevertheless, it is still quite entertaining putting it into action and trying to determine the snoopee's openness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, extraversion and agreeableness based purely on observation.

Shanghai Day 3 (Sunday, August 1)

We set out to explore about the city on our last full day of the trip. After breakfast at the hotel, we took a taxi to Longhua Temple. It is one of the most renowned Buddhist temples in China and the size and magnificence of its Buddhist sculptures clearly spoke for its reputation. I was dazzled by the size and colors of glittering golden sculptures: I don't think I ever saw that much gold assembled in one place. It was also interesting to see so many devout Buddhists visit the temple on the weekend and bow in front of the sculptures for many minutes.

Our next destination was an area know as the former French Concession, an area that was formerly occupied by the French. We arrived at our destination, expecting to see a street full of exotic Western stores and architecture. Surprisingly, there was one police office that used to be used by the French that was now being used by the Chinese police. When we asked one passerby, she told us that the building itself is often referred to as the 'French Concession.' Whilst wondering why French Concession was one of the top things to see in Shanghai, I also felt that I should have done more research on tourists attractions in Shanghai.

While walking down the street of the renowned "French Concession," we ran into a police officer and asked him if there was any famous tourist attraction nearby. He pointed us to the former residences of Zhou Enlai and Sun Yatsen. The former residence of Zhou also served as a meeting place for the CPC and a lookout for KMT spies. Sun's residence served as a memorial for Sun's political contributions to Chinese communism. The memorial was filled with the highest words of acclamation by China's former and present political leaders including Mao. Both sites were not exactly museums containing historical record but rather memorials dedicated to the respective historical figures, with subtle propaganda messages. What really surprised me was the security at both places. Every corner of the exhibitions was guarded by a police officer, scrutinizing each visitor's demeanor and making sure that we were not desecrating anything displayed there.

After some revision of Chinese history at French Concession, we headed over to Yuyuan and Old Shanghai streets. It was an old street filled with small stalls and stores, selling miscellaneous handicrafts ranging from paintings to teapots. We stumbled upon one unique shop selling matchboxes and fabric patches with Chinese propaganda posters painted on them. They were all so fascinating! (although I relied on Amanda's dad's translation) I even found a package of ten matchboxes with North Korean propaganda posters painted on them. I couldn't resist - I just had to buy them! After zooming through the shops on one side of the street, we went to Mao-jia-fandian (Mao family's restaurant) for lunch. I wasn't very convinced by the whole Mao family's marketing, but nevertheless, the restaurant had pictures of Mao on the walls. Over the course of the trip, I was constantly fascinated by the Chinese people's adoration of Mao. He does not only serve as a political leader figure, but his almost god-like presence transcends all areas. He appears on every single Chinese paper note, used as a friendly marketing figure and is still spoken very high of by modern Chinese people as the great "Chairman Mao."

When we walked across Yuyuan (aka Yu Garden), we reached the Bund. The Bund is a street of European-style buildings along the river. The buildings are now occupied by foreign banks and companies, but it wasn't hard to imagine what the Bund would have been like in the old days when the street was less busy with people and civilization. The Bund quickly became my favorite spot in Shanghai because you can also look out to the river and see the other side where the financial center is located. The sight was amazing: the co-existence of the old and the new had a very curious charm that I was not able to get anywhere else.

After enjoying the view of the river for a while, we decided to take a underwater cable car to the other side of the river. Although the cable car was kind of pathetic, the sight laid in front of me on the other side of me made me forget all about the horrible ride. The Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower was absolutely beautiful and the high-rises spoke directly of Shanghai's renown as Asia's emerging financial hub. When we got back to the other side of the river we decided to take a quick look at Nanjinglu (aka Nanjing Road), which was a shopping alley with lots of modern shops built inside old architecture. It was an extremely crowded street with both native and international tourists jumbled together; not to mention that everything sold there was ridiculously over-priced!

When it started getting darker at around 8 pm, we realized that everyone was exiting Nanjinglu to get to the Bund. It was almost like a mass exodus! There was more violent and disorganized pushing and shoving involved, of course. However, when we got to the Bund and the riverside, we realized that the trouble was definitely worth it. The skyline was absolutely mind-blowing and we spent a good half an hour admiring the stunning view.

I was really glad that the finale of this short trip turned out also to be the highlight. Despite the scorching summer heat and slightly coarse manner of the native tourists, Shanghai is a beautiful city without doubt. I would not hesitate to visit Shanghai again if I had a chance. It is a cultural, financial and technological hub of China, and there is so much to learn about the local culture. The food is great - but then again, I wasn't very adventurous with my choice of local cuisine, which is one thing that I wish I had done while traveling in Shanghai!

Shanghai Day 2 (Saturday, July 31)

We got up at 7:30 am and headed over to the Expo site at around 8:00 am. Confident that we allowed ourselves plenty of time to purchase the ticket, we planned to get in as soon as the gate opened at 9. However we started to see crowds of tourists from the entrance and people bunching at the ticket booth, pushing in to purchase tickets. Although we were taken aback by the unexpectedly large number of people at the entrance, we were still confident that we could make it to the front of the queue into the Expo. However, the sight we saw spoke otherwise....

After two hours of standing in line, being pushed and shoved by angry, impatient tourists, we finally made it through the gate, into the Expo. Our first destination this morning was the Taiwan Pavilion, because in order to get into this exhibition, you had to first wait in line to get a fast pass, and then wait again to enter the Pavilion. However, despite the fact that we headed over straight to the Taiwanese Pavilion, the passes were all taken and so we had to give up.

After the disappointment at the Taiwanese Pavilion, Amanda headed over to New Zealand again to take some photographs, whereas I decided to check out Singapore. It took me an hour of waiting to finally make my way into the Pavilion. Fortunately, the exhibition did not disappoint me and I was able to see a wide range of cultural, technological and social aspects of living in Singapore. Because I have always taken some interest in Singapore as one of the biggest financial hubs in Asia, I was fascinated by both the cultural displays as well as the dazzling presentation of Singapore's high-tech, modern life style.

Amanda and I met up at noon and headed over to the Africa Joint Pavilion for lunch, for what turned out to be the highlight of my day. Except for a few bigger African nations such as Egypt and South Africa, the majority of the African Nations were grouped together in the Joint Pavilion. Instantly I headed over to Kenya and saw their exhibition, which was rather lacking in contents. Nevertheless, the large building contained not only cultural and historical displays but also an African bazaar. I managed to bargain with a Kenyan man and purchased a traditional woodcraft sculpture for Y 70, which is equivalent to about US$10. Amanda and I also purchased matching bracelets at the Guinean store, and Amanda managed to bring the price down from Y 40 to Y 20 by conversing with the natives in French!

We then took the ferry across Huangpu River to the other side of the Expo site, where theme Pavilions and Entertainment Hall was located. We first watched the Shaolin Warriors' performance and then walked for about 15 minutes in the scorching sun (the temperature was 39 degrees celsius) to get to the Future Pavilion (which turned out to be a rather sad attempt at amassing a whole bunch of futuristic technological stuff, while at the same time, trying to throw in a few eco-friendly phrases here and there just to keep up with the whole global green boom).

To catch the ferry back to the main part of the Expo park, we had to - yet again - wait in line for about about hour. By then, we had grown more accustomed to waiting and high population density and even managed to find a source of laughter amongst the crowd of people shoving us forward in a stationary and endless queue.

After a light dinner, we took a long walk across Sections A, B and C to zoom through all the interesting architecture and finally reached Egypt and South African Pavilions, the two pavilions with relatively shorter queues. Egypt had a lot of the same old mundane stuff: the Pyramind, Sphinx etc., whereas South Africa showed a various aspects about the country, starting with the World Cup at the entrance to South African art, wine and finally its modern technology. Lastly, we walked over to the Spanish Pavilion to see the famous "Big Baby," but by the time we got there, it was already 8:30pm and they were not letting anymore people. Sadly we had to call it a day and conclude our exploration of Shanghai World Expo.

Shanghai Day 1 (Friday, July 30)

Expo Day 1

I left home to catch an 11:00 am flight at the Gimpo Airport. Having given myself plenty of time to get lost on the way, I actually got there almost two hours earlier than I had planned. I killed some time in the airport lounge and then got on the plane, half excited and half nervous about traveling to China for the first time.

It was a very short 100 minute flight. When I arrived at the airport, I was slightly disappointed because the airport was very shabby and I was unable to find a telecom company where I could rent a cellphone during my stay in China. I was supposed to contact my friend, Amanda, upon arrival but having no means to contact her, I decided to just grab a taxi and get myself to the hotel.

Because I had told the taxi driver my destination in Chinese, he first thought I was Chinese. The taxi driver was a very friendly man who, even after discovering that I wasn't fluent at all in Chinese, wanted to strike a conversation with me over the next hour: the distance from the airport to the hotel is about a 20 minute ride but it took us an hour in the awful Shanghai traffic that day. His questions ranged from "where did you learn Chinese?" to "What is the population of Seoul?" He also wanted to know how much the plane ticket from Seoul to Shanghai cost, as well as my dad's occupation! Whilst this was going on, I was trying to absorb the scenes in urban Shanghai, with its long-stretched bridges and high-rise buildings that clearly indicate that the city had gone through a lot of modernization. After an hour of intense listening and multiple "tingbudong(I don't understand)s," we finally arrived at the hotel at around 2:15pm, when I was scheduled to meet Amanda in front of the South Korean Pavilion at 2:30pm.

Pressed for time, I hurriedly entered the hotel to check-in. After 10 minutes of explaining in English and subsequent repetition of the whole lot of what I had said already, the ladies at the front desk finally comprehended what I had to say and gave me the key to my room. After dropping off my belongings in the room, I darted outside the hotel to quickly grab a cab to the Expo. After some delay, I managed to find the ticket booths, lined up to purchase a ticket. I stood behind a group of Chinese people, who seemed like a family. However as time passed, the family group seemed to be growing. It was about another 10 minutes of standing and patiently waiting in line that I realized that those people were not traveling together. They were just piling on top of/pushing in between each other, fighting to get to the ticket booth first. It dawned on me that this was an important survival skill in China, so I quickly picked up the same behavior from the natives. The next moment, I was pushing and shoving in a great jumble of people, yelling out to the person inside the booth, "CAN I PLEASE GET A SINGLE DAY PASS TO THE EXPO??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I purchased the ticket and walked away from the ticket booth triumphantly.

Because I didn't have a watch or a cellphone, there was no way for me to figure out time. All I knew was that it was already way past 2:30pm by then, so I ran toward where I thought the S.Korean Pavilion might be. The Pavilion was nowhere to be found, and I was duly frustrated with my lack of orientation skill. I then spotted an Expo volunteer and asked him in English, "Excuse me, where is the S.Korean Pavilion?" He gave me a blank look, an indication that he does not understand English. I asked him the same question in Chinese, only to receive a very complicated direction in Chinese. Confused and frustrated, I went into an information center, asked another volunteer who could speak English and managed to find my way to the Pavilion.

Amanda and I were to meet in front of the Pavilion. When I arrived at the Pavilion, I almost broke out in tears because there was a very very long line of people trying to enter the Pavilion, surrounding the Pavilion structure, and there was no 'front' to it as such. So I walked around the gigantic structure for the next few minutes. Half moaning and half weeping, and at the same time, trying to plan my next move, if I were to never find Amanda.



It was exactly at 3:30pm, an hour later, that Amanda and I were finally united. Both of us were exhausted and dehydrated after wandering around the Expo ground frantically for almost an hour. Once we each got a bottle of water and energized ourselves, we realized that we didn't have much time to explore the Expo because they start closing the Pavilions at 9:00 pm. We quickly headed over to the Vietnam, Mongolia, Iran and North Korea Pavilions and checked out the wealth of cultural displays, as well as some ridiculous Chinglish signs: there was one that read "Polite Language and No Noising." In the North Korean pavilion, we were more focused on pointing out the propaganda on display and marveling at the North Korean presenters on site. We saw real, live North Koreans!!!!! How cool is that.

We then followed a crowd of people into the China Pavilion. The pavilion was divided into the Chinese provinces and each section had different culture and atmosphere. We took a quick zoom through the pavilion, slightly unimpressed to be honest, until we later found out that we were supposed to first wait in line to receive a fast pass to the pavilion, and then wait in line again, with the pass, to enter the pavilion. It turned out that China Pavilion was one of the most popular exhibitions at the Expo and that other people had waited for hours and hours to get in!

After grabbing dinner at the Chinese food court, where they offered a wide range of Chinese cuisine from various regions, we headed over to the New Zealand Pavilion, and then Cambodia. I thought New Zealand put on a great display of the daily life of the Kiwis and the technology used in the exhibition was impressive. However, when we entered the Australia Pavilion and saw the huge rising, rotating screens and the exaggerated caricature displays, I was absolutely blown away by it. I would hate to admit, but Australia did definitely beat New Zealand big time in Shanghai....

We walked over to the C section (FYI: A = Asia, B = Asia/Pacific, C = Europe) to see Denmark and France. Both Pavilions had neat, modern architecture and displays. However, there was nothing characteristically Danish or French in both pavilions - other than the Little Mermaid at the entrance of the Denmark Pavilion and a wall painted with Louis Vuitton logos in France Pavilion.

By the time we finished the tour of France, our feet were in great pain. All we wanted to do was to quickly get back to the hotel and have a nice shower, after having been exposed to sweltering Shanghai heat for seven hours.

The Empathic Civilization by Jeremy Rifkin

Jeremy Rifkin is one of the most renowned intellectuals of our time and an intuitive futurist. Not only is he a graduate of Wharton, but is also currently instructing CEOs and corporate management at Wharton, spreading his philosophy of Third Industrialization and collaborative movement toward sustainability. For many years, every single one of his controversial publication has encouraged heated debates, but I never had a chance to read any of them. This summer, I was very excited to finally read his most recent publication, 'The Empathic Civilization.'

Although the theme of this book is "empathy," Rifkin's discussion of empathy transcends various areas of study, ranging from psychology to history. The opening of this book coincides with the beginning of a human life, infancy, and he talks about how empathy is an inherent nature in humans, as proven by multiple psychological studies. Naturally, our conscious awareness of empathy too has evolved along with our own selves. In order to illustrate this, Rifkin takes the reader on a journey through different eras in human history, demonstrating the effects of cultural movement on our perception and expression of empathy. For example, during the Renaissance and the Romantic period, people began to perceive marital relationships with increased affection, as opposed to a mere social contract. Therefore, more focus was endowed upon compassion and empathy, leading to more compassionate nurturing and treatment of children. Our way of raising children has evolved a lot since then, as we can tell by the famous appellation, 'Generation X.'

Humans have experienced two Industrial Revolutions, during which efficiency and was high encouraged, whereas human empathy was temporarily neglected. Rifkin calls the approaching era 'Third Industrial Revolution,' which is a period of long-term economic sustainability, when nations address challenges of the global economic crisis, energy security and climate change. In order to solve these global issues, he argues for collaboration in the form of "distributed capitalism." He looks to the examples of collaborative system such as Linux, in order to illustrate how collaboration can be more efficient than competition, completely overthrowing the conventional market-oriented thinking.

I was absolutely amazed by the breadth of knowledge covered in this book, which further add potency to Rifkin's philosophy. Moreover, the constructive directions he offers future leaders are clearly indicative of Rifkin's passionate devotion to the betterment of the human race and concerns for our posterity. Empathy has always been inherently practiced through the course of our evolutionary progress. We are truly an empathic civilization and the need for us to exercise this empathy is direr now than ever.

Inventing Temperature by Hasok Chang

I have never taken interest in Physics and it always has been a foreign area to me. So it was quite enlightening for me to learn about the history and philosophy of science through this book, an area previously unknown to me.

The book opens with the discussion of how reliable our senses are as the prime instrument of observation. The most commonly used example that physicists and philosophers use is the colored lenses. If we were looking though a red lens, the world would look red to us, and through a blue lens, blue. According to this logic, our senses (especially the visual sense) are not the most reliable tool when it comes to making an absolute scientific observation. Since we cannot determine the verity of a phenomena using our senses, we make a justification based on our logic. While trying to digest this, "justification" seemed very complex all of a sudden and I began to wonder how people began verbalizing this epistemological concept. Chang states that because we cannot determine absolute truth for certain, the initial justification is made, and upon that justification we link various empirical observations in order to arrive at a scientific theory. There is an interplay of concretization - operationalization - conceptualization behind theorizing in science - especially Physics. It makes clear sense because Physics was originally an area of Philosophy and almost all of the early scientists were philosophers.

The key idea that Chang discusses in this book is thermometry: heat measurement. When the human kind first conceived of different degrees of heat (i.e. the water here is warmer than the water there), the initial standard of measurement of course was our tactile senses. Then setting a universal standard and having something to compare seemed to be the next inevitable step in thermometry. A few interesting objections were raised in the history of thermometry and the most memorable one for me was the argument that when something is cold, there is an abundance of "cold" as opposed to absence was "heat." This assertion is clearly plausible (though various experiments later confirmed the presence of heat/infrared ray) and it is from this skepticism the calorific/frigorific argument was developed.

So many scientific theories have now been conceptualized and applied since these early trials and errors in thermometry. Nowadays, few would categorize science as an area of philosophy. Rather, science is conceived as an area of knowledge which deals with objective, universal information. Moreover, no longer do we doubt and challenge science; we take science for granted and even accept it without fully understanding a lot of its content. Although both currently-existing and new discoveries in science are overwhelming and extremely difficult to keep up with, it is through the study of History and Philosophy of Science that we learn that skepticism increases the quality of knowledge, if not quantity.

Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches by Marvin Harris

What is so holy about cows that poverty-stricken Hindus refuse to eat beef, even when they are on the verge of dying of starvation? Why do Jews despise pig and why do we go to war?

Some cultural practices are simply beyond being quirky to the extent that they seem irrational. 'Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches' contains entertaining accounts regarding some of the world's most widely-celebrated cultures. It gives a anthropological, scientific, and logical explanation behind how these cultures came to be in such wide and strict practice. These seemingly-superstitious cultures are the products of a long period of lifestyle changes. As a result, at one stage, these cultures were an indispensable part of peoples' lives: almost a means of survival. Even nowadays, these cultures are still preserved, even though life is probably still manageable without adhering to them.

The most fascinating thing is how "cows, pigs, wars and witches" are interrelated in the course of the anthropological development of the human race. The book provides the key to this puzzle in a very entertaining way.

A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World by William J. Bernstein

If you trace back the origin of exchange and observe its gradual progress, you will understand why the title of this book is so appropriate. Trade not only affects the financial/commercial aspect of the trading partners, but also has the ability to revolutionize people's way of living and thinking, not to mention the international political atmosphere.

The early form of trade was carried out in a very honest, moral manner. Trade was a way for an economy to obtain crude resources that were unavailable from a trading partner who had the same resource in abundance, who in return demanded something from the other party. It then transformed to a means of reaping profit, and people began to trade even the things that were not scarce - as illustrated by Ricardo's Theory of Comparative Advantage.

Trade, which served the human race by increasing the availability of goods available to us, can also create conflict. The rivalry between the Dutch India Company and the British East India Company in the 17th and 18th centuries eventually led to widespread imperialism in Europe. This later becomes one of the contributing factors towards instigating the First World War. Plantation and immigration are both products of trade.

Nations have debated the dichotomy of free trade and protectionism for centuries, and the topic is still hotly debated. Although a few countries still adhere to their strict protectionist policies, most of us live in an economy which is becoming increasing more liberal towards trade. The establishment of GATT, WTO and FTAs between neighboring and faraway nations illustrate this modern trend in trade.

Why We Need a New Welfare State by Gøsta Esping-Andersen

This one is more of a report on European welfare states. By comparing the welfare policies of Scandinavian nations with those of the Southern European nations, the authors wish to portray the ideal welfare state.

The authors tackle four major issues that concern our social economy: child-centered social investment, new gender conflict, quality of working life and elderly welfare. Wealth distribution and social welfare have - to some degree - been compromised due to capitalization and globalization. It is convenient to think that the adherence to market comes at the expense of income equality. However, despite this conventional belief, the authors argue that it is possible to establish a welfare state which still promotes innovation and incentivizes private firms. And this is a certified statement.

The book is very factual and informative, and a lot of the facts are summarized in tables - which are not exactly easy to interpret. Highly recommended for those who are interested in health care/public policy.

Grace and Grit by Ken Wilber

Plato once said, "Men and women were once whole but were torn in two, and the pursuit and desire of that whole is called love." There can't be a more accurate description of the love that Ken and Treya Wilber shared over the short five years of their marriage. The two fell in love "at first touch" and despite the shortness of the time they spent together, Ken and Treya shared the strongest spiritual and emotional bond than any that I've ever seen in either literature or in real life.

However, that does not mean that one should expect a heartbreaking, tear-jerking, tragic love story in this book. The book is in fact on spirituality and psychotherapy more than anything else. The author Ken Wilber is a renowned American philosopher and a spiritualist, whose wife is diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer only a few days after their wedding. Ken temporarily suspends his regular writing jobs in order to fully devote himself to his new role as a "support person" for Treya. Although Treya encounters multiple recurrences and metastasis cancer all over her body (brain, chest etc), not to mention complications with diabetes and chest cold, neither Ken nor Treya gives up hope: the human mind is an incredible force.

It's not because Ken and Treya are some kind of enlightened philosophers that they were able to endure the series of treatments and countless trials of orthodox and alternative therapies over the course of five years. They too, like many other cancer patients, encountered self-hatred and naturally questioned "Why me?" The couple's marriage was jeopardized at one stage because of the emotional duress both of them were under. Nevertheless, their "religion" (or their openness to all religious teachings) and the strength of their characters allowed for the Wilbers' innder strength and endurance. For example, one of the most enlightening moments for Treya is when she finally internalizes Plato's philosophy, which ascribes the characteristic of "doing" to male and that of "being" to female. It gives Treya an opportunity to objectively review her past and design an ideal lifestyle and personality for her remaining days, no matter how short a lifetime she has left. She strives to balance the masculine and feminine sides in herself, and an interesting concept which she calls "passionate equanimity" becomes her goal. Even when she is given a few months to live, she never ceases to help others suffering from cancer and constantly seeks ways to train both her body and soul to fight cancer.

The effects of Treya's illness on her spirituality are incredible, but so are its effects on Ken's spirituality. Ken regains his daemon (it means 'fate') and becomes more committed to his daemon without having to worry about displaying daemon to others through publishing books. He learns to accept his new role as a support person for Treya, and demonstrates selflessness and devotion that can only come from a genuine heart.

The Wilbers' religious affiliation is also extremely fascinating. They are not "Buddhists" in the conventional sense - although they would be classified as Buddhists. They don't follow the Buddhist lifestyle but use the Buddhist method to arrive at spiritual tranquility and achieve profound understanding of the Self. This, Ken Wilber explains, is the difference between exoteric and esoteric religions. Exoteric religion focuses on seeking salvation through belief in some form of a Creator figure, and requires one to adhere to specific customs and moral codes. Those who engage in Esoteric religious practices on the other hand, aspire to transcend the common myths and realize what is ultimate "Self" or "Witness." Ken and Treya hope to arrive at this "enlightenment" and search for their spirit through meditating - to conclude that when you realize that you cannot find your spirit, then you have already found it.

I highly recommend this book to those who are either agnostic or atheist, and to those who rarely engage in spiritual contemplation - like myself. Although I can't say that this book has completely changed my religious viewpoint (I remain agnostic), it taught me that there is more to religions than just "God, please listen to my prayers." A religion does not only try to explain the relationship between self and the absolute, but also within one's multiples egos, as well as between one and others. The book is powerful, not because it celebrates some supernatural occurrence and attributes it to a religious belief. Rather, it is powerful because it explicates the ongoing process of enhancing quality of life through open-minded spirituality.

TED talk by Michael Sandel

I read a couple of very interesting books over the past week, but I have been a little lazy with the posting.

In The Age of the Unthinkable, Ramo presents a very intuitive argument on how we must prepare for and adapt to the quickly-changing, very unstable world that we live in. His main point is that we need to see the bigger picture (the forest) instead of focusing on the problem at hand (the tree) - though he phrases it much more eloquently than I did. Throughout the book, I felt that his way of thinking was very Oriental, and then I realized that he has actually studied (and is studying) China in great depth and very affected by the Eastern way of thinking. I never really thought about it, but after reading this book, I felt very fortunate that I have been exposed to both Eastern and Western ways of thinking. There will be times in my life when my exposure to both cultures will come in handy.

Communism: A History is just a very concise historical account of how communism spread and the conditions that allowed for countries to accept communism or communist rulers. The book is very straight-forward and leaves not much room for questions. The author concludes by stating that communism is inherently a flawed philosophy and it can never be realized.

I came across a TED Talk given by Michael Sandel. He is a professor at Harvard and he recently published a book called, Justice: What's the right thing to do? He gives a very interesting talk on what a democratic debate is. Check it out: http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_sandel_the_lost_art_of_democratic_debate.html

The Idea of Justice by Amartya Sen

This is the latest (2009) book written by Amartya Sen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amartya_Sen), the 1998 Nobel laureate in Economics. Although written by a distinguished welfare economist, it is a book of political philosophy and ethics, much like John Rawls's 'A Theory of Justice.' Through this work, Sen explores the idea of 'justice' from multiple philosophical and political perspectives, and he introduces and criticizes many theories on justice along the way. The book encompasses numerous ethical concepts and theories, such as Transcendentalism and Contractarianism just to name a couple, which are a bit arcane. Nevertheless, Sen uses simple anecdotes and examples to assist readers' understanding and at the same time, provokes some seriously philosophical thoughts.

Sen's signature contribution is his concept of "capability." When we talk of "equality," we never bother to question, "equality of what?" To answer this, he distinguishes between "capability" and "opportunity." If a child who wants to stay inside the house today is restrained from leaving the house, his "opportunity" is unchanged in that he is still staying inside the house whether there is a restriction or not. However his "capability" has been limited because he can no longer exercise his right to stay in the house voluntarily. Therefore, Sen argues that with every right must come "capabilities" that allow citizens to execute their rights.

I was really surprised by how often the theme of justice was linked to epistemology. In fact, a couple of my high school Theory of Knowledge topics were discussed in this book! For example, in his discussion of rationality, he raises the question, "Is altruism rational?," which is very similar to my presentation topic for the course. To tackle this, he first talks about rationality: an act is deemed "rational" when it abides with the social norm. However, a social norm is not always "objective," for the (geographical) location, ethnicity or culture of a particular society affect what is called a "rational" behavior. According to the Rational Choice Theory, an ordinary person makes decisions that will maximize her benefits, in which case she will neglect to make a monetary donation to help her starving neighbor. However, if the person derived utility from an altruistic act, she would sacrifice a little portion of her income, a decision that does not comply with the social norm. In this case, is the person acting rationally?

Towards the end of the book, the focus shifts to democracy and human rights. One thing that struck me (because I couldn't believe that I had never thought about this) was perceptibility of human rights. Who declares that humans have certain rights? How do we know if we are born with them or society mandates them? To paraphrase the question: is human rights a child of law or parents of law? Sen asserts the latter because some legislation was caused by the legislators' belief in human rights. I think otherwise. According to Sen, some legislators believe in human rights; legislators make legislation; therefore human rights affect law. This would be saying that some people who believe in God go to church; God affects people and makes them go to Church; therefore God exists, which is clearly a flawed logic.

'The Idea of Justice' raises so many puzzling inquiries and I could go on forever pondering about them. The ideas of justice, fairness, right, rationality and reasoning are frequently spoken of, but I have been using them without a profound understanding of what they actually mean. In fact, I'm not sure if I'll ever learn to define these concepts accurately. It seems that our current policies and laws are built upon concepts that are fundamentally abstruse and open to multiple interpretations.

Wharton Global Alumni Forum - Day 2

The second day of the Forum opened with a keynote address by Choongsoo Kim, the Governor of the Bank of Korea. He briefly described the state of the Korean economy during and after the financial crisis, and the monetary and fiscal policies that were enacted to induce quick recovery of the economy.

The next keynote speech was by Yungro Yun, Chairman and CEO of Industrial Bank of Korea. I always thought that Industrial Bank was government-owned and operated, and was not aware of the fact that IBK manages finances for mostly small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Yun said that the rapid recovery of the Korean economy can be attributed to the fact that SMEs were given priority when it came to government assistance during the financial crisis. (SMEs are approximately 85% of businesses in Korea)

The keynote speeches were followed by another panel discussion, and this time, I attended 'New Economic Leadership of Asia.' The panelists were Taesik Ahn, the dean of SNU's Business School, Junichi Endo, Snr VP of Nissan, Charles Tseng, President of Korn/Ferry Int'l Asia Pacific, and Ken Yun, CEO of Samjong KPMG. This was, by far, the best discussion, and numerous topics ranging from social responsibility to education were discussed. Dr Ahn focussed on business education reform, which aims to nurture more ethical and socially responsible businesspeople. Although his philosophy is true and justified, a lot of what he said was very abstract and he neglected to provide specific directions for the future. For example, he argued that 'greed' is largely responsible for the recent financial crisis, and that the way to distinguish 'self-interest' from 'greed' needs to be taught not only at business schools but also at home. Throughout his speech, the same question kept popping into my head: 'HOW?' Most students and parents wish to be compensated for the fortunes they paid on expensive business school education with high income upon graduation. I, for one, feel this way, although I resent the popular stereotype of avaricious and competitive business school students.

Endo's proposed technological improvement, innovation and free trade as important factors that will allow Asia to rise as a new economic leader of the world. On the other hand, Tseng talked about financial reforms. The last speaker was Ken Yun, who stressed the importance of social responsibility. I really appreciated his choice of topic and was very impressed with the way he incentivizes his employees to focus on vision as opposed to compensation. One particular statement he made was so effective and it has not left my head since. It goes: "You cannot succeed in a society that fails." Yun emphasized the need to seek collective welfare and amend socially irresponsible actions. If Asia wants to become the next leader of the global economy, we must think of a way to educate such values and to reform our financial, educational and technological systems.

The final event of the Forum was Master Class teachings by Wharton Faculty. I decided to attend a class called 'Is Africa Good for Asia?' I was looking forward to learning about political and economic exchanges between Africa and Asia, but was disappointed because too much time was spent discussing and justifying corruption. Nevertheless, it was a great opportunity for me to experience how a master class is taught and run, and Prof Nichol's stories of his expeditions in Africa were fascinating.

Wharton Global Alumni Forum - Day 1

When I received the e-mail about Wharton GAF, I was excited because this year's Forum was being held in my hometown - Seoul! The ticket to the Forum costs $750 for alumni and general audience but as a current student, I was able to receive a free ticket which included entry to the Forum as well as four meals over the duration of the forum. Without hesitation, I decided to take advantage of this perk and attend the Forum as an observer.

The fact that the Forum was held in Seoul this year was significant yet somewhat amusing because last time Seoul hosted this conference was in 1999, just after the Asian financial crisis. Since the event was held upon the world's (well, at least most part of its) exit from one of the gravest financial crises in recent history, the Forum was titled "Where do we go from here?"

The first day opened with the Prime Minister Chung (정운찬)'s address. As one of the most influential political leaders of Korea, his speech mostly revolved around Korea's economic development since the post-Korean War era. He spoke eloquently of the dramatic progress Korea made economically and socially over the past half a century. There are a few things that I recall more clearly from his speech. One of them is a newspaper headline that PM Chung read which went, 'Gold Collecting KOREA vs. Stone Pitching GREECE,' which succinctly summarizes the contrasting reactions of Koreans and Greeks upon their countries' bankruptcy. Another memorable thing was the three factors that made such quick growth possible in Korea, which are: 1) Economic assistance from our friends and allies; 2) Korean's zeal for education; 3) The "Can-Do" spirit

I'm not quite sure if his speech was appropriate for the occasion, but nevertheless, he left many native Koreans including myself feeling very patriotic.

I then attended a panel discussion which was titled, 'Creating A New World - Greenomics.' The discussion was rather disappointing and the panelists from Korea seemed neither knowledgeable nor passionate about Greenomics. The second panel I observed was called 'The Future of Finance,' and this was equally unhelpful for me because the discussions were overflowing with financial jargons and theories that I am not yet familiar with.

The first day of the Forum was jam-packed with some very heavy technical discussions, and I wished I was more prepared for them. The Forum served as an intersection between the academia and the business world, whereby the two communities were brought together through discussions about the recent financial crisis.

Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman

Last summer, I read another book by Friedman called Free to Choose, and was rather unconvinced by his ultra-liberal economic and political viewpoint. I was left with the impression that he deemed almost all government intervention unnecessary and even disruptive of the market, which he thinks is perfectly capable of readjusting itself. I felt that the recent crisis demonstrated the disastrous implications that the lack of government moderation can have on the global economy, and thus Friedman's argument seemed problematic to me.

Capitalism and Freedom differs from the previous book in that it summarizes Friedman's economic and political philosophy in a more logical manner. His argument is still extremely liberal and even though I consider myself both fiscally and politically liberal, I could not help but disagree with some of his ideas. For example, he lists some of the activities/role of government that most liberals consider unacceptable that he feels are unjustified:

1. Parity price support programs for agriculture

2. Tariffs on imports or restrictions on exports

3. Government control of output such as through the farm program

4. Rent, price and wage control (such as during and after WW2)

5. Legal minimum wage rates

6. Detailed regulation of industries such as transportation

7. Control of radio and television

8. Social Security programs

9. Licensure provisions

10. "Public housing" and other subsidy programs that foster residential construction

11. Military conscription

12. National parks

13. The legal prohibition on the carrying of mail for profit

14. Publicly owned and operated toll roads

His list includes a handful of public goods and social welfare policies, except for maybe, education. In the subsequent chapter, he argues against such practices undertaken by the current US government. The overarching premise for his argument is that "my freedom to move my fist must be limited by the proximity of your chin." In other words, men's freedom can conflict and that one man's freedom must be limited to preserve another's. Is he trying to suggest that increased authority bestowed upon government will always limit people's freedom? It seems like he is forgetting one key role of government: income distribution.

He then goes onto argue that government should have less control over foreign exchange, monetary and fiscal policies. He supports free trade unhampered by any type of trade barrier, even exchange rate adjustments; argues that inflation control gives individuals "an incentive to misuse and misdirect resources and distort the investment of new savings"; he claims that Keynesian multiplier effect is an erroneous concept.

On the issues of education and income distribution, Friedman comments that government administration creates more harm than benefit. He believes that income inequality itself is a product of imperfections of the market (i.e. monopoly power of government).

I find a lot of his arguments a bit too far-fetched and overly optimistic about market forces. Not all economies are identical in terms of the natural resources, demographics and fiscal history. Each one has different economic goals and therefore must implement different methods in order to achieve those goals. The role of government is crucial in that it directs, not controls, the allocation of certain resources and implements policies which facilitate such process. What kind of government deliberately makes its citizens and economy worse-off? More often than not, government intervention expedites an economy's growth, and does its best to arrive at equitable income distribution.

Schumpeter's 'Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy' - Parts 1,2 and 3

This was my first time reading a book by a textbook economist. (I never got beyond the second page of Smiths's The Wealth of Nations...) After learning that this book was first published in 1942, I was expecting it to contain a lot of outmoded Economic concepts and observations of nascent capitalism. But I must say, I was delightfully surprised. What really struck me was how the macro/micro-economic theories and concepts we learn in class have actually been in application and been debated since decades ago. A lot of the basic concepts I learnt in Econ class was mentioned or introduced in this book. Also, (maybe it's just me) I've always associated capitalism with post-WW2, and thought that the domineering political ideology was communism.

Schumpeter summarizes Marx's major arguments and points out a few logical and conceptual errors in Marxism that he believes will prevent Marxism from perpetuating. Because I never formally studied Marxism but only Leninism and Stalin's Russia, I naturally equated Russian communism (Bolshevism) with Marxism. I was duly flabbergasted when I learnt that they are not the same. Marx argues that when an economy has accumulated a sufficient amount of capital (thus becomes a capitalist economy), the bourgeoisie exploits the proletariat. Then 'Class Struggle' takes place whereby the proletariat seize political power and "expropriate the expropriators." The difference between this and Bolshevism is that Russia up till that stage was not a capitalist economy, and that Bolshevism tried to overthrow Tsarism, not capitalism (or bourgeoisie).

In his discussion of capitalism, he provides some directions for capitalist economies. He argues that the biggest challenge for capitalist economies is the friction between public and private spheres. I am yet to finish this book, but I am currently also reading 'Capitalism and Freedom' by Milton Friedman, and it is quite fascinating how the two economists differ in their perspectives. Schumpeter sees that there are ideas that we can adopt from Marxism and socialism and that capitalism "will not last." (However that doesn't mean that he is Marxist either.) Milton Friedman on the other hand, is a firm believer in liberalizing the market and minimum government intervention.

(Still in progress of reading both books)

국가의 부와 빈곤 (The Wealth and Poverty of Nations) David S. Landes 저

이 책의 표지를 처음 보았을 때 나는 현대의 빈곤과 빈부격차의 사회적 문제를 다룬 책인줄 알았다. 평소에 아프리카 빈곤문제에 관심이 많았던 나는 한껏 기대를 하고 이 책을 펼쳤는데 저자소개에서 Landes가 사학자라는 것을 보고는 솔직히 다소 실망을 했다.(!!! 제목이 misleading 했던거 같다) 게다가 엄청난 책의 부피와 이 책에서 작가가 다루고 있는 방대한 양의 역사적 타임라인이 조금 부담스럽기도 했다. 그러나 읽으면 읽을수록 작가의 역사적 통찰과 각각다른 역사적 사건들 속에서 패턴과 연관성을 찾아내는 능력에 대해 감탄하게 되었다.

Landes는 거의 1000년에 가까운 세계사(mostly Euro-centric but also covers Asia and Africa occasionally)를 800페이지로 요약을 하면서 역사학자의 시점에서 지리, 문화, 사회 그리고 경제적인 영향이 어떻게 세상의 흐름을 바꾸어 놓았는지 상세히 설명하고 있다. 문명의 시초에는 지리적, 기후적 영향이 매우 중요했지만 산업과 무역과 교통이 발달함에 따라 점점 문화(민족성)와 정치가 차지하는 비율이 커지는 것을 볼 수 있다. 이집트 문명의 시발점이었던 이집트는 왜 지금 전세계 빈곤국가 중 하나고, 황하문명이 발생한 중국은 왜 16세기부터 문화적, 경제적으로 퇴보하였으며, 반면 자원도 풍부하지 않은 영국은 경제적으로 번창하였는지가 Landes를 비롯해 Smith, Jevons, Malthus등 여러 사학자와 경제학자들의 관점에서 풀이된다.

한국에서 그리고 뉴질랜드에서 세계사를 드문드문 배운 나에게 이 책은 인류역사를 포괄적으로 간추려 볼수 있는 좋은 기회를 주었고, 또한 거시경제시간에 배운 여러 컨셉들이 세계사 속에서 어떻게 활용되었는지도 공부할 수 있었다. 한가지 안타까운 점이 있다면 너무 세계사의 시점이 유럽에 치우쳐져 있다는 것이었는데, 유럽사를 공부한 학자가 저술한 책인만큼 그 정도는 감안하고 읽어야 할 듯 하다. 한국어 번역판이라 단어가 좀 난해한 부분도 몇군데 있었지만 저자의 의도를 이해하는데 큰 방해가 되지는 않는다.

The Importance of Being Earnest

My "Bibliophile Summer," kicked off with a book from my own collection: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. I've always been a huge fan of plays and dramatic literature, and I figured that in preparation for some heavy academic reading over the next four months, I could use a dramatic piece. The play mainly talks about fitting into moral standards and expectations mandated by society, and two men's struggles to escape from them through "bunburying." "Bunburying" refers to Jack and Algernon's creation of a non-existent brother and an equally fake friend, who bear the name Earnest and Bunbury, respectively. Through these fictional characters, Jack and Algernon are able to adopt alternate identities in the city and in the country, putting on a facade that pleases the women they love. For the two men, it is important being Earnest because Cecily and Gwendolen (the two women they are in love with) are fascinated by the name 'Earnest.' The two women presume that a man with such a name is sure to be true and sincere - hence 'earnest.' Although the name 'Earnest' becomes a center of admiration and idolization, 'earnest-ness' is not significantly talked about or exemplified by the main characters. Therefore the name 'Earnest' serves as a clever pun and a metaphor, and Wilde uses such to express his satire of hypocrisy and moral paradox. The fact that Victorian England is the background does not make this play antiquated, but rather, it makes us wonder about modern pressure on morality - or lack thereof.

The List

So this is the complete list of books that my dad drafted for me about a month ago. The list has been categorized into: Science Philosophy, Economic History, Philosophy, "Additional Issues" (which seems to encompass Politics, Psychology and History), Linguistics/Literature and Other.

You can click on the image to view it full-size.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I wish to do over the next 4 months!

Happy reading! :)

The End of Freshman Year!

10:16am Friday May 7, 2010 Officially marks the end of my first year at Wharton.

Next time I land in Philadelphia, I will be a Sophomore. This is a very scary thought. Scarier than the 130 books that await me and my summer.