Book review of X events the Collapse of Everything by John Casti

Today, one of my book reviews has appeared in the Star newspaper. This one is for X Events - the Collapse of Everything by John Casti. It is notable in that it is a negative review of a  book, and I did wonder whether it was going to be published at all. Well done to the Star for doing so.

A couple of things got changed in the editing. One sentence has been misunderstood. I was trying to say at one point that anyone who reads newspapers or online news would not need this book. Somehow that got changed to someone who "only reads newspapers or online news", would have a need for this book. That is not what I was saying at all. So, it seems that someone misunderstood my intention there.

One sentence got removed entirely. It was my most critical remark. Perhaps, as a family newspaper they want to preserve as upbeat a tone as possible. None of my truly critical remarks, in any article, have ever made it into print, in any section of the newspaper. (My excised sentence included the phrase: "a rather lame attempt to repackage something old as something new").

Please have a read. Let me know what you think, if you have a moment. Thank you.

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2012/8/19/lifebookshelf/11767744&sec=lifebookshelf

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

On the obviousness of research.

It is a complaint often seen in the comments below newspaper articles, that quite a bit of research seems “obvious” to the layman. The big mystery for many an article reader, is why the research was supported or even conducted in the first place.

Ainan, too, has noticed this. Presently, he has been tasked, in his English class (as part of his American Degree Programme), to write an essay on gender inequality. I was pleased to hear that he had been asked to do this, for it invited him to consider matters which he might not normally do. It would be a chance for him to expand his view of the world in a new way. Yet, when he did as he had been asked, and started to read a wide range of academic articles, on gender inequality, he became exasperated. “What is the point of these articles?”, he said, in irritation. “They don’t say anything I don’t already know!”

Ainan was experiencing “the obviousness of research”. He was right. So many of these articles, though dressed in academic language, said no more than what a layman might assume to be so, off the top of their head. Ainan felt that he wasn’t learning anything by reading these articles, for their conclusions were just too obvious.

I didn’t want Ainan to lose faith in the task he had been set, so I explained to him why it was still helpful to read the articles.

“In academic writing, you have to support what you say, with references to articles that are based on research of the topic. This is to show that what you say has backing. So, even though you know it already, and it is nothing new to you, using the articles for reference, will give credibility to your statements.”

“Yes,” he said, in a manner which implied “no!”, “but, each article refers to others and those refer to others and so on, until far back, there is the first article, which cannot refer to anything: so that has no support at all.”

I smiled to myself, though not to him, on hearing that. Ainan was discerning a logical flaw in the whole of academe – or at least what seemed like one.

“Yes, Ainan, but that first article will be based on research of the topic. There will be some study, or calculation or something, to support its statements, even if there is no prior article in its field.”

He seemed neither convinced nor impressed. I could almost see in his eyes, the imagined infinitely receding column of academic articles, ultimately suspended over nothing and supported by nothing, since the first one floated, unsupported in mid-air. That was Ainan’s vision – and in a way, he was right, because the first of any field cannot make references in its own field, though it might call upon others. The first academic article of all, of course, would have no prior articles to refer to, in any field – so Ainan’s insight had merit. Ultimately, the system of academic reference cannot go back forever. At some point, there are unreferenced articles. It was sharp of Ainan to see through this and see the basic assumption of academia – that everything is supported by something else. Ultimately, of course, that cannot be.

I am pleased that Ainan is writing papers on topics outside his natural interests. It should give him the chance to grow in new ways. Yet, I see, that doesn’t stop him questioning the very nature of the enterprise...but then that is good too, in fact, in many ways, that is the best part of it – that he should not accept what he has been asked to do, without question. He is thinking for himself and that is the best sign of all.

Now, however, that he has pointed out the basic problem with academic referencing, I can’t quite consider it in the same way at all. That image of a vast pillar of articles, floating unsupported in the air, keeps coming to mind. Trust Ainan to cast an old idea, in a new light.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Philica: an important online journal.

Philica is an online journal, for the publishing of research papers. It is also, I believe, a very important step forward in academic publishing. I shall explain.

Academic publishing has long suffered from a number of problems. Indeed, some of them are listed on the Philica website and are quoted below:

"Unnecessarily lengthy review periods
Papers rejected for trivial reasons
Reviewers not reading work properly owing to time pressures
Publication blocked because a reviewer is working on something similar
Reviewers reacting unprofessionally to criticism of their work
Tendency for reviewers to be established authors, with subsequent bias against novel ideas and methodologies
Good reviews, followed by, “However, I’m not sure it is right for this journal — why not submit to X instead?” "

In short there are an abundance of reasons why a paper might not be published, or might be delayed, that have nothing to do with the quality of the work. The whole process is so slow that it can take YEARS for an academic paper to finally be published after it has been sent to a journal for evaluation. The result is that the whole scientific and academic enterprise is slowed down and made inefficient. Philica, however, provides a solution.

As long as a researcher has an affiliation to an academic institution (meaning they work with one), or other research institution such as a government or industrial body, then a writer may upload their article onto Philica IMMEDIATELY. This establishes priority at once and allows the researcher to communicate their work at once, speeding up intellectual progress. The peer review process occurs online and in the open, as articles are reviewed over time, by other professional researchers.

Philica has several important advantages, therefore, over traditional publishing. One big one is that there is no blockade on ideas which the Old Guard might try to stall, because they challenge the status quo. Thus, Philica provides an outlet for work with a difference, that could make a difference.

Philica is an open access journal. The work is available online to be read by all. This is in strong contrast to traditional journals, which have limited circulation and cost a fortune in subscription charges. Philica, however, is free to all authors - and readers. The work uploaded is hosted permanently. However, they have running costs and do need financial support, which comes from donations. So, if you feel that freeing up academic publishing is an important thing to do...please visit http://www.philica.com/ and make any donation that you feel able to. Even a small one will be a help. You would be furthering intellectual progress should you support Philica.

I should point out that I have no personal involvement in Philica. I just thought I would write a blog post to try to help an admirable enterprise. It was founded by two British psychologists, Dr. Nigel Holt and Dr. Ian Walker. So, all credit for this innovation in publishing, should go to them!

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals. If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

David Hartanto Widjaja: celebrity.

David Hartanto Widjaja has become a posthumous celebrity of some kind. I say this upon observation of the traffic to my blog. You see, since the day news of his death by attempted murder-suicide broke and I wrote of it, about one fifth of the traffic to my blog has arrived with searches for either "David Hartanto Widjaja" or simply "David Widjaja". A few arrive by searching "NTU boy commits suicide over scholarship". I find this really very surprising, for I have been tracking news stories for two years, now - and this is the first that I have written of, that has attracted so much traffic.

I wrote of the death of Heath Ledger - and got a couple of hits a day for a few days after his death. Since mentioning David Hartanto Widjaja's shocking demise, my blog has been inundated with arrivals looking for more information about him.

His story of a despair that a young man could not take and thought fit to throw his life away, over, has become a persistent story - one with a momentum that few stories have. The consequence of this is that David Hartanto Widjaja is actually becoming famous in death. How sad, then, that what he is famous for is the manner of his death. Most who are famous after death, are famous for their lives, not their death. I think, given the significant traffic I am receiving in search of him, that, in some way, David Hartanto Widjaja will never be forgotten. The tale of the NTU boy who tried to kill his lecturer, then killed himself will long be remembered. With it, of course, there is a lesson beneath the tale: a lesson of the extremes to which the Singaporean education system pushes students, extremes which some students just cannot cope with.

I hope that David Hartanto Widjaja's memory is never forgotten. For, as long as we remember his short, tragic life, we may guard against putting our young under too much pressure in the name of academia. There are more important things in life than scholarships, academic achievements and educational status. There is love, there is happiness, there is peace of mind. I don't think that David Hartanto Widjaja felt that he had enough of these - particularly the latter. It seems more than certain that the demands of his course ensured that he had no peace of mind in his final months.

Let our children, then, know peace of mind, happiness and love. Let those be the core of their lives - and not scholarships, awards and grades. The latter accolades are hollow when measured against the things of life that have true worth. Singapore, of all societies, needs to learn this. Otherwise, it is at too much risk of being a hollow society. Oh dear, perhaps it already is...

Rest in Peace, David Hartanto Widjaja.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Of girls and boys in academia.

There are certain stereotypes regarding boys and girls in school. The boys are reputedly good at maths and science, which the girls tend to be weak at. So, too, the girls are good at languages, which the boys tend to be weak at. Thus, girls grow to be literate and boys mathematical/scientific. At least, that is what we are led to believe: but is it true?

As with most commonly believed "facts", there is some truth to it. At a particular age, a boy may indeed be good at maths, and a girl of the same age not so. So, too, the girl may be good with languages and the boy not so. Yet, all is not as it seems.

Researchers at Virginia Tech decided to have a look at the question. They used brain imaging techniques to actually look at the brain development of 508 normal children aged from 2 months to 16 years. There were 224 girls and 284 boys. What they found is very telling.

The areas of the girls' brains involved in language and fine motor skills (for handwriting etc). developed six years earlier in girls than boys. The areas of the boys' brains involved in maths and geometry matured four years earlier than in girls. Thus, the famed separation of boys into scientists and girls into linguists is actually an artifact of the way we educate children - and not of the children themselves. Girls are set up to think of themselves as "non-scientific" simply because scientific things are expected of them before they are ready. So, too, boys are set up to think of themselves as "non-linguistic" for the very same reason. The truth is, of course, that both boys are girls can be scientific and linguistic - at the right time.

Boys and girls take different developmental paths - but that doesn't mean that they can't end up at the same destination. A girl can be a nuclear physicist - and a boy can be linguist or a writer. The stereotypes are wrong - for they are based on a misunderstanding of how boys and girls develop.

So the advice is simple. If you are a parent, don't expect your daughter to excel in science early on - because that part of the brain is not ready yet - but don't forget that they will be able to do it someday. The same goes for sons: don't expect great use of words, early on - but don't be surprised if they become a writer someday.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind, niño, gênio criança, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

A realm of misunderstanding

This is a post for someone I cannot write to, directly.

This person posted their misunderstanding of Ainan's situation. They had got the impression that no academic was interested in working with him. This is not so. There are a few who are. One in particular has been very helpful, but has actually little time spare from his position. Yet, he has done what he can to assist.

Another academic is presently preparing the way for Ainan to be actively engaged with them, on an ongoing basis, in the areas of his interest. This should begin soon - but I won't preempt it by revealing any details at this time.

So, contrary to this poster's view, academics do understand Ainan's need and some are willing to help.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and no months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and five months, and Tiarnan, twenty-two months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

On being an academic reference

It has come to my attention, that my blog is now official reading at one school. I find this quite touching - enough to bring a smile, anyway.

One school has listed my blog as part of the term's reading list, relating to intelligence and giftedness, for a course, of some sort. I am in good company on this list, which even includes Wikipedia.

It is surprising how different people react to what is essentially an exercise in communicating my understanding of giftedness, in particular of prodigy. That a school should make my site required reading is not only positive feedback for all my efforts - it is something much more important than that: it is an opportunity to reach out to all the children at that school and broaden their perspective on education, its ways, its effects and, most importantly, its opportunities. I espouse a much wider view of giftedness than many do - and perhaps that might be encouraging to some children whose gifts are not necessarily rewarded by a conventional schooling.

To me a gifted child is any child who is better than is usual - at anything. By "anything", I mean anything. There are so many ways in which a human being can be outstanding - and I believe that all of them have their place, in a better human society. Giftedness should never be viewed as something narrow, something purely academic - for that only captures a minority of those who are exceptional. Giftedness, in its truest sense, is the potential to exceed the norm, in any positive way, in any positive endeavour - or attribute. (Sometimes giftedness doesn't have to be exerted, it just is.) Perhaps I will write more of this idea another time...but for now, I would like to welcome the readers from that school - and any other that chooses to reference my blog. Thanks...don't forget to credit any quotes, though, to their writer. (That is the way things are done.)

(IF you would like to read more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and six months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, three, or Tiarnan, sixteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted children and gifted adults in general. Thanks.)

The silence of academia: a curious observation

Quite a number of the readers of this blog have IP addresses at Universities and other academic or research institutions. I find this interesting. It is more interesting still when you know that the longest readers of the blog - that is, those who spend most time on it on any one occasion, tend to come from .edu addresses.

Today, for instance, a visitor from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution famed for its work on DNA, spent one hour, nine minutes and one second on my site. It may be of relevance that they have a neurobiology department. In particular, Josh Dubnau, Zach Mainen, Robert Malinow and Yi Zhong who work in learning and memory and Hollis Cline and Karel Svoboda who work on plasticity might have found it of interest. Or indeed Josh Huang whose work is on the development of the neocortex.

That is not what is surprising however. What is really surprising is that these champion internet blog readers don't leave any comments. I have yet to note a single comment from a .edu reader. I find that odd. It is as if, in academia, the flow of information is only to be one way: from me, to them. They read deeply - indeed they are the deepest readers of my blog - but never engage in dialogue.

The ones who comment and engage in dialogue tend to be those with real-life experience of gifted children: the parents of such kids. With parents of gifted kids I have a dialogue - but with academia, I have a monologue.

Please note that if you are an academic and you find anything of worth, interest, or relevance on this site, please make a citation/reference to my site and my authorship. Thanks.

(If you would like to learn about Ainan Celeste Cawley, six, a scientific child prodigy, and his gifted brothers, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of child genius, adult genius, prodigy, savant and gifted children in general. Thanks.)