Book Review: Programming the Universe

It is often hard to enjoy a science text, even if it is one of those pop-science books. However, when I was looking around the McGill bookstore this book just jumped out at me. Some might say it is because I am a comp sci and physics major looking to go into quantum computing, but I think it was divine intervention: the sort of divine intervention that is only possible from the power of a computing universe.

Seth Lloyd makes the obscurity of quantum computing very accessible in ‘Programming the Universe’. In its pure form the book will not teach you much about anything, but if you have some basic knowledge in computer science and physics and realize some of the implications of the computational paradigm then the book is really stunning. It kept me captivated as I read almost all of it (except for a little of the start that I read in the bookstore) on the eight hour bus ride to New York.

Seth Lloyd is a professor of mechanics at MIT and likes to be known as a quantum masseur. He finds ways to convince atoms to compute for him and is credited with making the first plausible quantum computer model in 1993. In the book he presents his new way to look at the physical world; in terms of information and computation. He rewrites the second law of thermodynamics to deal with information as opposed to energy, and with that law in hand, delves into the basics of quantum computing and qubits. He does not go too deeply into the inner-workings of quantum computing but instead expands it to the universal stage. He discusses the Universe as one huge quantum computer computing itself. To finish off, he discusses the informational revolutions that have happened since the Big Bang and talks about the place of humans in the picture. Through out the book, Lloyd keeps a good sense of humor to avoid making the material dry. My only issue with ‘Programming the Universe’ was that at times it was far too dumbed-down and spent too much time talking about the obvious or simple. In general, it is a very good read and I recommend it.

Book Review: Memoirs of a Geisha

For those of you who know me well, know that I am not nearly as big on compliments as I am on insults. However, Arthur Golden’s book deserves to be presented with its praise first. “Memoirs of a Geisha” was a wonderful story of the life of a Japanese Geisha from the depression until post-World War Two. The book went into a lot of detail of a Geisha’s day to day life and the emotions the narrator, Sayuri, felt. I enjoyed her character development and the ways everything could twist around in the book but she still kept her eyes on the one thing that gave her hope. The crippled patron, Nobu, was another well depicted multi-dimensional character. Sayuri and Nobu seemed to me to be well planned and organized characters that touched on most aspects of human emotion. I was disappointed by three things in the book.

My first disappointed was that the book was nothing more than a love story. My second disappointment was how badly written some of the other characters where in comparison to Sayuri and Nobu. Mr. Golden did not seem to spend any time at all on Pumpkin or the Chairman, even though they were very import aspects of the story. My last problem with the novel is the happy ending. In the end everything turned out happy with no proper explanation at all. I was very disappointed by the ending of the book.
In the end, Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden is worth reading. I wish the ending was better, but the imagery and language in the book makes it worth reading. I do not expect much from the movie based on this book and will not go out of my way to see it.

Book Review: The Da Vinci Code

My affair with the Da Vinci Code started when I learn it was voted as the number one book of all time in some rather big internet survey. I knew that the book was not that good, since I saw many other pop novels above classics on that list, but my curiosity was stirred. A couple of weeks ago I finally picked up the copy of Dan Brown’s book that was laying around my house from when my mother left it there to collect dust. After reading the first twenty pages I was astonished. Now please do not misinterpret my astonishment as some sort of praise, for I was astonished at just how bad this book was. I found Mr. Brown’s writing style atrocious and could not bear to read any more of the book. I discussed the novel in a phone conversation with my mother and she reinvigorated by her comments that the book was an entertaining read.

I took her word for it and got back to reading the book. I finally finished it a little while ago while coming back from my ski trip. I have to say, the book did not cease to amaze me as I read through it. Once again, I am not trying to compliment; it was defiantly not the story twists that were amazing me. I was astonished at the fact that a book that was this badly written, with such badly developed characters, actually got popular.
After thinking about the book and the author for a while, I came to the conclusion that Mr. Brown was not an idiot, but in fact a genius. He has made a book that is bland in its wording so any American can read it and filled with cheap page-turning tactics. He added the sacrilege to it to gain the attention of readers, and made a bestseller.
I have nothing positive to say about the book, and very few general comments on it. The ending in particular left unimpressed with Dan Brown’s writing abilities. I do not recommend this book to who enjoys a well written peace and I have no hopes for the movie. This book might make a good beach mystery, but that it is all that it deserves. I am ashamed to see that it was voted the best book of all time.