Empuzjon

Empuzjon by Olga Tokarczuk
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Young student of engineering comes to a tuberculosis sanatorium in Gorbersdorf.
Year 1913.
Similarity with The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann is obvious.
For me it was a disadvantage for the book.
Hans Castorp comes to Davos for 3 weeks, to visit his cousin. After few days he gets so enchanted with the athmosphere on the mountain, that he stays there 7 years.
It justifies the title - The Magic Mountain.
Mieczysław Wojnicz comes to Gorbersdorf for a short, 3 months, stay and everything goes according to the plan.
So, where is the story?
It requires some magic, nasty female demons - empusa - to add some nerve and tension.
Otherwise there would be no story.
The story as it is told left me with distaste.


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Machines behaving badly

Machines Behaving Badly: The Morality of AI by Toby Walsh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was quite suspicious about the title of this book.
Are machines really behaving? Can they be judged by human standards?
In my opinion, the author very early gives a negative answers to these questions.
Machines behave as they were programmed by the people.
Here is the heart of the matter.
What people stand behind the machines?
Author introduces them as geeks from the Crazy Valley.
Here most phantastic ideas are conceived, some of them are noticed.
Noticed by whom?
The answer is even more disturbing than for the first question - biggest and most influential companies in the world - Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Facebook.
Each of them has a long record of tax avoidance and abuse of privacy.
Do we have any other option, any choice?
Answer is No.
One important point - author mentions some basic human behaviours and reactions , the most obvious is pain.
The point is that pain is biology and chemistry while the machines react only to physics. Therefor the logical conclusion is that AI should be translated as ALIEN Intelligence - fully agree.

From this point the book contains a long list of problems we can encounter when using SI and many attempts of National and International organisations to set up some uniform rules and standards. Looks like all of them are destinied for failure.

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SAPIENS

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3 stars = I liked it.
What I liked?
Firstly, it was an audiobook from Audible and I liked the narrator - Derek Perkins.
Secondly, I liked author's sense of humour.
As for contents, I have mixed feelings.
I have to admit that as long as the author presented his interpretation of events the knowledge of which is very limited - An Animal of No Significance - I liked it.
As the events were getting closer to our times and knowledge about them grew and grew, I got serious doubts regarding authors selection of facts and their interpretation.
So, I liked chapter - The Agricultural Revolution although it is also classified as History's Biggest Fraud.
Agricultural revolution meant bonding people to one place, limiting variety of activities (and variety of food) and a need for protection of goods.
It led to all the others benefits and failures of civilisation and to the final chapter - The End of Homo Sapiens.
I agree that with progress of knowledge and entrance of AI there comes the END, on the other hand I have to admit that I cherished the fruits of art and culture and consider that they justified the price.
As for my reservations regarding interpretation of facts I mention just one -
Author mentions that till year 1500 there were many civilisations and empires which were equal to each other. And then - Discovery of Ignorance - and out of sudden Europe takes an unimaginable lead and absolutely dominates the civilisation of whole World.
Author shows absolutely no interest in explaining this phenomenon although it decided about everything we know.
For me it is impossible not to relate it to the fact that Europe was dominated by Christianity.
I read somewhere an explanation that Christianity promoted idea of individual responsible for his fate while other religions put more emphasis on Destiny or meditation.
Interestingly, following the path of Christianity, we can see a clear economic difference between countries which grew under Catholic influence (Spain, Italy, South America) and Protestant ones (Germany, Netherlands, England, USA).
Author did not notice it.


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Swimming in the Dark

Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The book is dominated by description of feelings of a young man attracted to another young man.
I have to admit that initially I received it as extremally self-centred approach and lost most of interest - there are over 7 billion individuals on this planet so how to bother about all od them.
Eventually I continued the book and managed to discover some sympathy to the main character, mainly because he presented his experiences and feelings in quite gentle way.
What disappointed me was strong exaggeration of bad sides of Communism in Poland.
Author mentions falsifying Polish history.
I attended Polish schools in Communist times and I think there was only one important historical fact missing - the Katyn massacre.
Similarly - books and censorship.
After year 1956 practically each book recognised in Western literature was available. The only exception was Orwell's 1984.

Sometimes it takes a funny turn.

There is a scene where the main character finds his host bleeding strongly. Instead of ringing for an ambulance or at least doctor's home visit, he joins a queue in a medical centre and when eventually reaches the doctor, is shocked when doctor expects to see the patient.

Very important part of the story are references to J. Baldwin's book - Giovanni's Room.
Again, there is impression that it was a forbidden book.
I doubt if authorities were aware of such a book... and by the way - main character reads it in year 1980. I strongly doubt that at that time it has been translated to Polish and the main character at his time didn't know English.

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The Death of Jesus

The Death of Jesus by J.M. Coetzee
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Actually I read a full trilogy - The Childhood of Jesus, The Schooldays of Jesus and The Death of Jesus.
Very disappointing reading.
I suppose I was lured by the name Jesus in the title, I read trying to find some connection with the central figure of Christian religion. I found none. In some way I consider using this name as a fraud.
What is book about?
Refugees from unknown country land in another unknown country where they are treated in a benevolent but politically correct an unemotional way.
They are treated as a family, which they are not and the boy - David - mentions it on every occasion.
David does not fit into a school environment, he prefers some experimental ballet or playing soccer with orphanage kids.
At some stage I got a hint that the author might have been inspired by apocrypha written by apostle Thomas named also Didimus (Twin).
In this apocrypha Tomas claims that he is a twin brother of Jesus and mentions some miracles , some of them quite ungodly, performed by young Jesus.
Still I do not see any connection with a book.
Sad

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USA 1982 Washington

 It was all night peaceful drive, we arrived in Washington around 5 a.m.

After having some snack and drink we went to the luggage office, produced our tickets.
- Is it your luggage?

- Yes.
- It is impossible, the bus with your luggage will arrive in 2 hours. How come you are already here?
Suspicion sounded in the last question.
There was nothing to do but wait. We felt on us suspicious eyes from the luggage area all the time.

On the other hand we got our own suspicions.
It looked like many of people in the waiting room were homeless or misplaced.
Every few minutes a taxi arrived, quite smartly dressed gentleman got out. He cruised around the waiting room, sometimes sat down for a while and after few minutes was picked up by another taxi.
It was even worse in the male toilet.
From time to time a security man armed with something like a baseball bat entered the toilet with great noise. He ran around the cabins and if the door was not locked, he bang into it with the bat and only then looked carefully inside.

I was not feeling very comfortably. I got some doubts whether it will be safe to board taxi in such a place, but forgot my worries when a bus with our luggage arrived.

We got our luggage, but not without presenting our id documents first and  safely reached our hotel.

Next few days was a kaleidoscope of various exciting places and events.
We noticed a poster that El Greco paintings exhibition is held in the National Gallery of Art.
Too great to miss.
Luckily our children were also impressed.
And there was a reward. At lunchtime we visited the canteen and there some meat was served with rich servings of boiled potatoes and cabbage.
- Like in Poland - said Michael.
- More? - asked the attendant.
- More - confirmed Michael.
Few spoons more and the attendant hesitated...
- More - commanded Michael.
The attendant looked questioningly into our eyes.
- More - was the answer.

Exhibition of dinosaurs, another enjoyable experience...

Then we planned a visit to Smithsonian Institute, but Michael got more sublime preferences.
- What about going again to the El Greco exhibition?

We were surprised and impressed with artistic interest of our children so happily agreed.
Lunch was as satisfactory as the previous day.

Arlington Cemetery...

 Capitol Hill, finally the White House.
We were very touched when we found a statue of Polish national hero - T. Kosciuszko - there.
He was considered one of four most distingueshed generals of the American Independence War...

T. Kosciuszko at the end of his service was awarded massive rural properties. When he was leaving US  going back to Poland, he returned them back to the American government with one condition - free all the slaves employed there.

The irony of current, better informed times, is that during June 2020 riots this statue was vandalized.

Luckily in 1982 we did not look so far in the future, our next step was to travel North, hopefully to Niagara Falls.
I visited the Hertz office to hire a car. they took me to the airport, I found a suitable vehicle and proceeded to the office.
- You will pay by a credit card?

- No, I do not have one, I pay cash.
I noticed confusion on the faces of the clerks.
- But sir, we are not taking cash, it must be a credit card or bank transfer.
- What a joke, you drove me all the way to the airport to tell me this?

Some officials were called in, they took copies of my passport and plane tickets and eventually the transaction was finalised.
Strange,

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USA 1982 - Florida

 We flew to Jacksonville with Delta Airlines.
I was very impressed by flexibility of the staff.
The nice person, who checked our tickets and handled our luggage appeared to be also the pilot of the plane.
During the flight he was so friendly that he invited the kids to visit the cockpit..
To great regret of Michael, I did not let him go.
Maybe it was an influence of strict security rules in Poland, but I considered socialising with pilots who perform at that time very responsible duties as quite improper.

Anyway, 2 hours later we landed.
Ken waited for us in the airport and drove us to his family holiday house somewhere in the middle of dense bush.

The place and surrounding exceeded our expectation - dense bush, succulent green vegetation, lake. 
Of course there was a boat which we could paddle around. 

There was however a warning - beware of crocodiles.

As for frequent rains, there were no big trouble - it came always as a relief from humidity, freshened the air for some time. We did not bother to hide from it or to change wet clothes,

After few days Gail brought up a new idea - you can take our car (a small, handy, yellow Renault, and visit Disney World and some other attractions around.
Like St Augustine - added Ken.

It was a great idea.
Orlando - Disney World - great...

We spent 2 days there and enjoyed every minute.
Then Sea World - another great experience.

To return to reality we visited Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Centre there.
For me it was a great experience - touching satellites which were operated by Walter Schirra, whom I remembered for his intervention when automatic control systems failed - CLICK.

Children did not share my enthusiasm.
- There are no buttons we could press.
- Nothing moves, shakes, makes noises.

Well, I could see they did not measure up to space programs.

St Augustine, total change of climate, first encounter with America's history and past times.

On our way I noticed a sign - Daytona Beach.
I associated it with a car race, we were no fans of noisy cars, but beach - yes.
Now I realize it was my only physical contact with Atlantic Ocean.

We returned to Ken's and Gail hospitable home full of memories and with sharpened appetites - time to hit the road.

Bob S. my American friend from Kuwait insisted that we must not miss Washington.
There was an easy connection - direct bus from Jacksonville.

Ken drove us to the Greyhound station, I noticed some concern on his face.
- This is not Greyhound I remember - he said - sorry, I cannot stay with you much longer, but please - keep sharp eye on your luggage.
We did not see much reasons to worry, anyway we will dispatch our luggage in few minutes.

We went to the ticket office - four tickets to Washington.
The teller issued tickets.
- What time is the bus? From which platform?
- Please check on a schedule display.
- And here is our luggage.
- Please take it to the luggage office.

We went to luggage office, they just glimpsed on our tickets and took the luggage.
Now we looked at the schedule.
There was no bus to Washington displayed.
Panic, panic!
I asked some passerby.
- Washington, it must be somewhere on the route to Toronto or New York. Ask the driver.

Sounded very strange, but just some bus arrived - Toronto.
I asked the driver and showed him our tickets.
He nodded with acceptance.

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