Book review: the Grand Titration

This is a collection of essays by Joseph Needham about science in China and the West. The nominal question to be answered is "why, given that in ye olde dayes, China was like ZOMG much more tech than the West, how come it didn't invent modern science?". But in practice much more space is given to convincing us that ZOMG those antient chinks were well up there maaan.

Oh dear, am I revealing my prejudices?

There's a pretty scathing review in Science from 1970 which says quite a bit of what I wanted to say, but perhaps more authoritatively.

Before I get into lengthy quotations, let me say a bit about how badly he establishes his core concern, which is (I am paraphrasing, I hope you understand) that "everything" in the West was really invented in China. His method of doing this is to notice that the Chinese had, say, clocks, quite early on; that the West had better clocks later, and then to say or imply or infer that Western clock tech comes from China. But what he never does is prove any transmission; or really make any effort to demonstrate.

There's another issue, which is that in most cases he is talking more about tech than science. Bureaucracy isn't greatly threatened by tech; people making better ink or an improved lock-gate aren't a threat; it's the people wondering about the stars who need to be controlled.

Let's quote some of JN:

So we come to the fundamental question, why did modern science not arise in China? The key probably lies in the four factors: geographical, hydrological, social and economic. All explanations in terms of the dominance of Confucian philosophy, for instance, may be ruled out at the start, for they only invite the further question, why was Chinese civilization such that Confucian philosophy did dominate. Economic historians such as Wu Ta-Khun, Chi Chhao-Ting and Wittfogel, tell us that though Chinese and European feudalism were not unlike, when feudalism decayed in China, it gave place to an economic and social system totally different from anything in Europe: not mercantile, still less industrial, capitalism, but a special form which may be called Asiatic bureaucratism, or bureaucratic feudalism. As we have already seen above, the rise of the merchant class to power, with their slogan of democracy, was the indispensable accompaniment and sine qua non of the rise of modern science in the west. But in China the scholar-gentry and their bureaucratic feudal system always effectively prevented the rise to power or seizure of the State by the merchant class, as happened elsewhere.

So his answer is the China got bureaucracy, Europe got merchantile democracy. Or said another way:

This is the background, then, which alone enables us to say that there was no modern science in China because there was no democracy. Democracy of a sort there was, in so far as (in many dynasties at any rate) it was possible for a boy of whatever origin to become a great scholar (the village neighbours might club together to provide a tutor for him) and so take a high place in the official bureaucracy. Democratic, too, was the absence of hereditary positions of lordship, and democratic was, and still is, the psychological attitude of the commons within whom the four 'classes' (scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants) interchanged with considerable fluidity among one another. It explains the utter lack of the servility so noticeable in other peoples of the eastern hemisphere. But that particular sort of democracy associated with the rise of the merchants to power, that revolutionary democracy associated with the consciousness of technological change, that Christian, individualistic and representative democracy with all its agitating activity, which characterized the New Model Army, the Army of the Marseillaise, the Minute Men, the Floating Republic, the Dorset Martyrs, the Communards, the Sailors of Invergordon and Kronstadt, and the Motor-Cycle Battalions which took the Winter Palace that China never knew until our own day.

(note we can tell from this that democracy is a good thing, because JN feels obliged to pretend that China had it). But note that he is uneasy in his explanation: is it democracy, is it merchants? And why are all of his "applications" military? More on the Chinese system:

There is probably no other culture in the world where the conception of the civil service has become so deeply rooted. I myself had no idea of it when I first went to China, but you can find it everywhere there, even in the folk-lore. Instead of stories about heroes and heroines becoming kings or princesses, as in Europe, in China it is always a matter of taking a high place in the examina-tions and rising in the bureaucracy, or marrying an important official. This was, of course, the only way in which to acquire wealth. There is a famous saying (current till recently) that in order to accumulate wealth you must enter the civil service and rise to high rank (Ta kuan fa tshai). The accumulation of wealth by the bureaucracy was the basis of the phenomenon often described by Western people in China as 'graft', 'squeeze', and so on, and of which so many complained. The attitude of Westerners, however, has been prejudiced by the fact that in Europe religion and moral uprightness had a historical connection with that quantitative book-keeping and capitalism which had no counter-part in China. At no time in Chinese history were the members of the mandarinate paid a proper salary, as we should think natural in the West. There were constant efforts to do so, decrees were always being issued, but in point of fact it was never done, and the reason is probably because the Chinese never had a full money economy.

It really doesn't take much to realise that a society where the highest ambition is to be an arts-side bureaucrat isn't going to get scientific flourishing. And

There cannot be much doubt (as we can now see) that the failure of the rise of the merchant class to power in the State lies at the basis of the inhibition of the rise of modern science in Chinese society. What the exact connection was between early modern science and the merchants is of course a point not yet fully elucidated. Not all the sciences seem to have the same direct con-nection with mercantile activity. For instance, astronomy had been brought to quite a high level in China. It was an orthodox' science there because the regulation of the calendar was a matter of intense interest to the ruling authority. From ancient times the acceptance of the calendar promulgated by the Emperor had been a symbol of submission to him. On account of a great sensitivity to the 'prognosticatory' aspect of natural phenomena, the Chinese had amassed long series of observations on things which had not been studied at all in the West, for example auroras. Records of sun-spots had been kept by the Chinese, who must have observed them through thin slices of jade or some similar translucent material, long before their very existence was suspected in the West. It was the same with eclipses, which were supposed to have a fortunate or antagonistic effect on dynastic events. Then there were the 'unorthodox' sciences, for example alchemy and chemistry, which were always associated with Tao-ism. Neither astronomy nor chemistry could enter the modern phase, however, in the Chinese environment.

You can't trust him on the details, of course. He asserts that "astronomy had been brought to quite a high level in China" but what he means is observations. Their theory was utterly deficient; they weren't even interested enough to ask.

And that's a good place to segue into a congruent but distinct view, which I get from Popper, Conjectures and Refutations: that the Key Insight, which the antient Greeks provided, was criticism. The idea that you created theories of how the world was, but others were allowed to criticise and scutinise, and propose better. You see immeadiately that kind of attitude fits well with merchantile democracy, and very poorly with bureaucracy of any stripe.

In a way, we're back to the similar "why poverty?" question. The answer is "you don't need to explain poverty; it is the natural state". Similarly "why ignorance?". And so "why no science?" gets the same answer: that's the default. You have to be special to get science.

Book review: Murder in Mesopotamia

See wiki. The usual group of suspects is gathered in isolation at a dig in Iraq. I rather liked this, and enjoyed reading it. The denoument is pleasing in that it preserves symmetry: usually inevitably we have to break symmetry as one of a set of carefully balanced candidates is selected.

But it is terribly flawed, I think in ways that we might think of "yes I accept that because it is in a detective book". So Posner is a convicted German spy, but escapes, unlike every other such. He then has the bizarre misfortunte to coincidentally die in a train crash. And then mysteriously becomes sufficiently expert in archaeology, despite a total lack of training, as to become eminent; he (I think this was the idea) acquires the identity of someone else in the crash, and somehow none of the people that ever knew him recognise the change. Meanwhile, his own wifre doesn't recognise him.

Turning now to the murder, it turns out that a heavy stone had been dropped onto her head. This is a desperately unreliable way of killing someone, so much so that it would be a mad plan. But more, if you've stuck your head out of a window, and someone drops a heavy stone on your head, then there will be a wound underneath, where your neck has hit the windowsill; not to mention blood on the windowsill; but in the book there isn't. As to the second murder, I think it implausible that poor J really necked an entire glass in the middle of the night; sipping it is far more plausible; and once again it is a desperately unreliable way of killing anyone.

Meanwhile, the obvious possibility that "someone dropped a rope from the roof and let someone up" is completely ignored.

On the trivia scale: we are given a careful plan of the house, and which room everyone is in. Naturally, it must all be neat and tidy, and it is: there are workrooms, living room and such, and everyone has their own bedroom. Including nurse L. Even though she only arrived a week ago, the house mysteriously grew another room for her.

One more thing: we are told that no-one could possibly have got through the barred windows; and so of course we accept this, as part of the fixed stars of the plot. Then she is killed by a pot dropped on her head as it sticks out of the window through the bars, and technically this isn't cheating, as it is possible to do this even if you couldn't climb through. But nonetheless I think it is not reasonable that people would have been certain that no-one could climb through - what about a small man, or boy - if the gap is large enough to permit a head? And remember these were bars, not a grille.

Book review: Funeral in Berlin

Funeral in Berlin is perhaps the classic of the early Deightons. Wiki says: Funeral in Berlin is a 1964 spy novel by Len Deighton set between Saturday 5 October and Sunday 10 November 1963. It was the third of Deighton's novels about an unnamed British agent. It was preceded by The IPCRESS File (1962) and Horse Under Water (1963), and followed by Billion-Dollar Brain (1966).

My pic is of my copy; I don't think I'm responsible for the ink blot. Not that there are no submachine guns in the book.

The plot concerns a nominal attempt to arrrange the defection of a soviet scientist; but actually to recover valuables in a Swiss account owned by Broum; but who is Broum? The plot consists of Our Hero exploring the situation and gradually unravelling a genuinely interesting story.

Sometimes there's an impression of individually written scenes not totally fitting together. For example the Hendaye bit: it is all very nice, but it isn't clear how he, Vulkan or Steele got there from Berlin; or indeed why Vulkan went there instead of directly to Spain. But mostly the joins are not too obvious, and certainly on first reading it flows by; all rather confusing, but becomes clear at the end.

The interviews with death camp survivors works I think; and the whole evocation of that not-long-post WWII period also works. The world-weary spy going along with the naive young bunnies also works; the relationship with Stok is perhaps just a little too chummy, but can be excused; and Stok is a good character; indeed the book is full of them.

Book review: Cat Among the Pigeons

Cat Among the Pigeons is a Christie. Wiki will tell you about it. It is, meh, OK I guess; fun enough to read but nothing more.

The story background - revolution in an unspecified middle eastern kingdom, and some missing jewels - is all a bit hackneyed but at least it isn't rich Americans. The setting of a country girl's school is nice although it does feel like a very small school.

Once the fundamental premise is accepted, British Intelligence does a rather poor job: three teachers are slaughtered, and a four badly wounded possibly fatally at the end, despite their having a man on the scene at all times.

I didn't guess the answer, at least in part because I wasn't trying very hard. But AS's succession of short jobs, and a conveniently sick mother, was arousing even my suspicions.

What was never explained was the implausible coincidence of someone just happening to be in the hotel room next door out in Ramat. I think something is needed there; it would have to be something around AS spying on Bob or the like... meh, I'm not sure. Quite what AS was supposed to be doing out there is never specified. Also, as a supposedly pro international hit woman, I'm a bit suspicious about single-shot-to-kill; wouldn't std.practice be a couple more shots: it is surely hard to be certain, especially in the dark.

The "Miss Blanche was killed when she attempted to blackmail the killer" red herring is a bit dodgy too: Miss B is extorting loadsamoney, and yet a hired killer isn't obviously rich - if you were, why would you stay in the job - but is obviously dangerous.

At the end, AS shoots Chaddy and as she lies possibly mortally wounded - but happily silent - on the floor Poirot goes into a long spiel explaining the situation. Once that important matter is over Chaddy can be attended to. We also learn that Chaddy killed Miss V by hitting her with a sandbag, an astonishing feat for an old woman which no-one remarks on. One thinks of the oh-so-many other novels when characters manage to merely knock out others with a sandbag, and yet here death occurs on the first blow. What's more, there's a convenient golf club nearby, the supposed murder weapon, and yet a complete absence of any pathologist's report into blood, or matted hair, on the golf club; or anything about the indentation in the head. So what this really is, is a badly done red herring.

The abduction of Shaista is a better red herring; I had S tagged as the killer, and still think it would have been better if she had been.

Christmas 2024

Christmas 2024 was the now standard pattern: to Ma for a few days; home; to Mfd+J to New Years Eve.

It was the usual pleasant time; I won't analyse it in any detail, just pull out some pix. The full set is here.

The children around the tree. Mother's tree in the front garden.

Christmas day meal was as ever. The bringing of the pudding. Mother in state. The Rulez. My morning half in just under 2 hours, alone this time.

Boxing Day to RNLT for lunch then a walk around the mystical Five Standing Stones of MuW. Photo by M (proof she came). It was all too much for some.

On the Saturday we went home we were going to Parkrun but it was closed-for-mud. So we did our own. Finish order: D, Toby <gap>, me, Lara <gap>, Rob, Miranda. Nina went over the fields with the dogs.

Our faithful cat was waiting at home to greet us.

DE and I walked to Ely and the cathedral on a cold frosty but lovely day that was so cold people were skating. E and I didn't find time for the Backs because she is a busy little thing, but I did scull.

For New Year's Eve to Mfd+J. And in the end, Mfd+J finished the puzzle. Indeed, the Ely walk was after NYD, but I think the puzzle makes a nicer last pic.

New rope

Our ropes are rather old. We were climbing on them in '93, so more than three decades. They still look fine, and I'm still trusting my life to them¹, but perhaps it is time to start thinking of renewing our infrastructure. So, I bought an Edelrid Skimmer Eco Dry 7.1mm x 50m in Icemint for £127.50 from Rock+Run.

I bought it online unseen and unfelt, because AFAIK no Cambridge shop stocks ropes or indeed any other climbing gear any more.

I chose it mostly on weight: it is a 7.1 mm half rope and weighs 36 g/m; according to Edelrid it is The thinnest and lightest half rope on the market. I would have preferred a colour more distinct from the deeper patterned blue I already have, but the only other option was black, which I thought would be hard to see.

As you can just about see from this, it is marked as a half rope.

Disappointingly, they aren't nearly as slinky as the existing blue, which I think was a Calanques (see this review which considers them outstanding for handling, so maybe they are exceptional).

New slings

We managed to leave my favourite long sling (the red-and-gold one) somewhere in the Ecrins, I think. And so I bought some more.

These are Mammut Contact Slings Dyneema 8 mm, 120 mm, £12 each. I realisied as I bought them that I didn't actually know how long a long sling is, having always bought them on sight before.

Notes

1. They have had very few falls, because I'm fairly cowardly. And of course they've had a rather long gap in use while the infants were infants. I think there is little genuine info on how long ropes really last - see e.g. this thread - but the answers appear to be "inspect for damage" and they're fine from that viewpoint.

Refs

* Climbing: lightweight rope / rap cord pondering.

Book review: Horse Under Water

Horse Under Water (1963) is the second of several Len Deighton spy novels featuring an unnamed British intelligence officer. It was preceded by The IPCRESS File and followed by Funeral in Berlin, says wiki.

For some reason most likely related to the order in which I read things when young, it isn't on my "classic" list up with IPCRESS, Spy Story and Funeral in Berlin. But actually it is just as good. It has much the same mix of plot twists, real-seeming spywork, interesting locations, snappy dialogue, and somewhat irritating "the sky was like a lemon in a martini" sort of descriptions, though sometimes it works - "Cats sat around with their hands in their pockets and stared insolently back into the headlight beams".

The interesting location here is a fishing village in Portugal during the Salazar dictatorship; probably even more exotic in those days before common travel and limited information.

As to the plot, I think it works. The buoy is implausibly clever, though; they just didn't have that tech in those days, let alone the ability for it to continue to work for a decade; indeed radio underwater essentially doesn't work.

And the constant revision of what the thing was in the boat that was of interest works well.

The canister that they recovered though: that was empty, as-in not-full-of-water: would it really have stayed that way for a decade? Indeed buoyancy would have jammed it against the ceiling, making it easy to find, but perhaps quite hard to move; indeed, would it have collapsed under pressure? I think that's ignored.

Book review: the Unforsaken Hiero

Per Hiero Desteen was alone, weaponless and without food or water, facing the unknown perils of the desert in this grim world, five thousand years after the holocaust known as The Death says Goodreads, and yes The Unforsaken Hiero is one of those sort of books. The area is the US / Canadian border, the Great Lakes, whatever. Millenia have passed, animals and people have evolved in convenient ways, people live in the conventional mediaeval state and so on. I don't know what is in volume one, but in volume two Our Hero and his associates triumph over the terrible evil of the Unclean.

Trivia: Our Hero's miraculous mind powers become inconvenient fairly early on, because with them he is too powerful and plots just wouldn't work, so it is arranged for them to be conveniently removed, whilst quite implausibly leaving him alive.

Trivia: this was apparently to be the middle volume of a trilogy, which probably explains the rather thin end of the my-wife's-kingdom plotline, which all rather happens offscreen. But I do object to the trope of nearly-everyone-except-the-heroine-gets-slaughtered; too many authors think like maniacal despots and think nothing of killing off spear carriers.

There's nothing too engaging about the writing quality, so by the end I was skipping bits because it was convenient to finish it.

Book review: Shogun

We watched Shōgun (2024 TV series) and I bought M the book for Christmas; this post is about the book. She didn't get very far - it is 1k+ pages. Wiki says Shōgun is a 1975 historical novel by author James Clavell that chronicles the end of Japan’s Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568-1600) and the dawn of the Edo period (1603-1868). Loosely based on actual events and figures, Shōgun narrates how European interests and internal conflicts within Japan brought about the Shogunate restoration and that seems true enough. That page also has a historical accuracy section which though brief is incisive; my feeling is that an awful lot more is wrong; mostly I think that the whole thing represents a naive gosh-this-is-Japanese-culture kind of attitude; the emphasis on honour and so I think is overdone.

Although Blackstone is the key figure in the book - pretty well everything is shown from his viewpoint - his actual role in events is quite small. He saves Toranaga a couple of times, but so might any close retainer; he represents a fleet-in-not-quite-being threat to the Portugese "Black Ship" but not any actual threat; and so on. His main function is to mindlessly object to every tiny cultural difference he is presented with.

In the 2024 TV series Toronaga is generally presented as cunningly working out his plan (although mostly by being blank faced and staring off into the distance) which eventually does work out. In the book it is much clearer that he is winging it: repeatedly delaying on the off chance that something will turn up. This is in some ways less inspiring, but then again it makes his desire to avoid wasting vast number of lives clearer.

Overall, the book is too long. It really doesn't have 1k+ pages of things to say. But it is mostly well enough written though with occasional tells; for example, putting a mute as the lookout is kinda wacky.

Wiki thinks that the book is telling us that the samurai way is superior to the West. But the samurai acceptance of death is propped up by the Shinto belief in rebirth after 40 days. Without that, you can't have the culture. He mostly handles the rigidly caste-based culture by hiding the lower classes from us; they seldom do anything other than bow head-to-the-ground when their superiors go by. And in the end their system fell part in the face of superior Yankee tech.

New thin RonHill coat

Following the wild excitement of a new coat, I also bought - on a whim, I was in John Lewis, and Rob had Strava'ed about his running coat - this thing (link to labels).

It is an "Rh-005218 Mens Core Bk".

And also some thin black silky running gloves.

It is black, with no reflective patches, so I'm not sure I ever plan to run in it. But it was nice and slinky.