Staram się nadrabiać zaległości w czytaniu SFFiH. Idzie mi to jak po grudzie. Na półkach piętrzą się stosy nieprzeczytanych książek, na dysku czekają rozliczne pdf-y z naukowymi pracami, z którymi powinienem był się zapoznać przed miesiącami. Do tego internet kusi ciekawymi newsami, filmami itp. Mimo wszystko od czasu do czasu sięgam na półkę po kolejny numer SFFiH, aby nacieszyć się polskimi opowiadaniami.
Ostatnio dotarłem do numeru 25 z listopada 2007. Jak tak dalej pójdzie, to na bieżąco będę czytał to czasopismo na emeryturze.
W tym numerze spodobała mi się „Infernalizacja” Piotra Patykiewicza – przynajmniej jej pierwsza część. Zapowiadało się na prawdę na niezły horror. Szkoda, że końcówka zmieniła się w dziwaczny szpiegowsko/anty-islamski paszkwil. Rozumiem, że autor chciał uzasadnić wydarzenia, jakie zaszły w wykreowanym świecie, ale powstało dziwactwo. Podobał mi się pomysł żony głównego bohatera gotującej mu piekło – ale co w tym wszystkim robiły służby specjalne? Dziwne i trochę rozczarowujące. Czytało się jednak dobrze, dawało do myślenia i pierwsza część wciągnęła mnie niepomiernie, więc z zainteresowaniem przeczytam kolejne produkcje tego autora.
„Zdarzenie na Kaiser-Re” Andrzeja Miszczaka – dobre, krótkie opowiadanie SF. Czekam na więcej.
„Stara Gwardia” Dawida Juraszka nie wzbudziła we mnie specjalnego entuzjazmu. Bardzo lubię opowiadania o Xiao Longu, z pewnością sięgnę po „Białego Tygrysa”, ale tekst o Cairenie był rozczarowujący. Może to zbyt ostro powiedziane – przeczytałem opowiadanie z zainteresowaniem, widzę potencjał na dalszy ciekawy rozwój bohatera i świata przedstawionego. To, co mnie zawiodło w tym tekście to kompletny brak realizmu dotyczący pułapek w grobowcu Cesarza, który jakoby został pochowany w nim przed tysiącami lat. Czytając tekst fantasy oczekuję, że twórca nie będzie mnie zmuszał do zawieszania niewiary ponad miarę. Zrozumiem magię, czy smoki, zrozumiem poruszające się terakotowe rzeźby – dobry pomysł do konwencji. Ale komnata ze strzałami przebijającymi się przez kamień, które następnie powracają do „magazynków” celem powtórnego wykorzystania – powiem kolokwialnie „bez jaj”. Nie chcę zrzędzić, sam nie mam się czym pochwalić, ale jako czytelnik proszę pisarza o nie utrudnianie mi cieszenia się jego skądinąd świetną twórczością.
Na konie mój ulubieniec z tego numeru - „Struktura” Wojciecha Piechoty. Dobre opowiadanie hard science fiction w stylu klasycznym – to znaczy nie „zabili go i uciekł”, ale historia o poznaniu nieznanego. Jestem biologiem, który interesuje się komputerami i wiele razy zastanawiałem się nad problemami przedstawionymi przez autora. Za takie teksty cenię gatunek science fiction. Może przydałoby się trochę przemocy i brutalności oraz głębszych interakcji pomiędzy postaciami, ale nie ma co zrzędzić – gratuluję dobrej roboty.
5.08.2009
2.08.2009
Origin of Species
After much struggle I have finished reading "Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin. It took me over a month to go through ~360 pages of the text. True - I read mainly while commuting but still I feel a bit ashamed that I needed so much time and effort to go through a book that started modern life science. In my defense I will say that I am much worse biologist than Darwin was - I know a lot about how a cell work, how the DNA carries out genetic information but I suck when it comes to systematics, botany or zoology. On the other hand, Darwin lacked the knowledge of genetics so his arguments regarding heredity where hard to follow - with understanding of genes things became much simpler.
I feel a deep respect to this book and the man who wrote it. Although it was dry at places and sometimes plain boring, I admire the simple well presented arguments for the theory of modification with descent, as Darwin called theory of evolution. If not for my lack of knowledge, that must have been obvious for a well educated person from that era, this book is popular science plain and simple. Much different from the way scientific works are written nowadays.
Now I need to give a try to the "The Voyage of the Beagle". Before I will do that I need some downtime - I am going to read Wolves of Calla by Stephen King.
I feel a deep respect to this book and the man who wrote it. Although it was dry at places and sometimes plain boring, I admire the simple well presented arguments for the theory of modification with descent, as Darwin called theory of evolution. If not for my lack of knowledge, that must have been obvious for a well educated person from that era, this book is popular science plain and simple. Much different from the way scientific works are written nowadays.
Now I need to give a try to the "The Voyage of the Beagle". Before I will do that I need some downtime - I am going to read Wolves of Calla by Stephen King.
11.06.2009
A trip to Estonia
Recently, I have participated in a scientific conference in Estonia. It was devoted to plant abiotic stress and proved quite engaging. Additionally, I had an occasion to take a brief look at the country.
The flight from Stockholm was a real pleasure. Just 45 minutes in air and a nice view of the sea and land below. The coast of Estonia looks much smoother than its Swedish counterpart but I spotted a few islands. While on the plane, I was reading an article from Wikipedia devoted to the country. I was moved by what I learned from it. We, Poles, tend to think that history treated us badly. I think we should read up more on countries such as Estonia. They had it rough since the time of the Vikings, and it would seem that the only good times in the country history were in between World Wars and after the fall of Soviet Union. The particularly tragic part of their history took place during the soviet reign. At the beginning of WWII they were invaded by the Red Army “protecting” them from Nazi threat. This was, as in case of Poland, accompanied by disposal of politically suspicious elements – by means of mass executions and deportations. Later, when the war broke out between Soviets and Nazis, the only sensible choice was to ally with Germans, but according to Wikipedia, Estonians were quickly disillusioned with their liberators and chose to fight with the Soviets in the ranks of the Finnish army. Tragically, when Germans started to withdraw from Estonia, the government announced a mobilization, and attempted to stop the Red Army. What a desperate decision! It is easy to predict what followed this futile attempt. As a result of political incorporation and pacification of Estonia 200 000 people were killed, deported or fled the country. And Estonia had a population of only 1.5 milllion! Their fate was in a lot of ways similar to ours, but magnified by the fact of the incorporation into the Soviet Union (SU). Interestingly, communists promoted migration from SU to Estonia, especially to Tallin. This led to a current tense political situation since 40% of Tallin's population are Russians.
The ride from Tallin to Tartu, where the conference took place was quite comfortable. The land is flat as a pancake, and seems to be less populous than the typical Polish countryside. Tartu, on the other hand, looks quite familiar. It is a town with a population of 100 000 with a mixture of old, frequently beautiful, houses and new buildings. It has a big shopping mall and a nice hotel. I definitely cannot complain.
During the conference I met prof. Simon Gilroy and his wife Sarah Swanson - an American couple from the University of Wisconsin. They work on mechanical sensing in plants. I found his talk on that subject to be the most spectacular presentation of the conference, largely due to the amazing microscopy pictures and animations that he showed. The most interesting findings made by Gilroy's group regard the presence of pH gradient pulses along the length of a growing root. They also work on the signaling cascade initiated by the root hitting an obstacle. I felt almost like sitting at the cinema when watching this talk. I learned from Sarah that ATP can be used as a signaling molecule outside the cell, a fact I was not familiar with. She also recommended a book on microscopy techniques “Plant microtechniques and microscopy” by Steven E. Ruzin. I need this knowledge desperately, given my poor skills in this area.
Another interesting talk was given by prof. Teun Munnik from the Netherlands. He was talking about phosphatidylinositol 4-monophosphate (PIP) metabolism – and presented data showing that PIP3 is not a signaling molecule in plants. Plant biologists often assume that if something is valid for animal models it also holds true for plants. He presented a nice example to the contrary. This resulted in many speakers having to correct their schemes. I also enjoyed a talk by Israeli professor on the abscisic acid responsive gene (ASR1) that is actically transcribed during drought resistance and is thought to play a role in protecting the plant during this type of biotic stress. Interestingly the protein encoded by this gene is in its native state disorganized and acts as a chaperon. Zn cations facilitate rearrangements of its structure so it can bind to DNA and act as a transcription factor. During the coffee break I asked him about the role of compatible solutes. They have low molecular mass and are produced during drought. One example of such a molecule is proline. The theory is that they help in the transfer of the water to the cell during drought by lowering the water potential of the cell. The experimental data do not seem to confirm it. I was explaining to students that compatible solutes help stabilize proteins in such conditions. To my relief he confirmed it and added that in his opinion the main reason for their existence is as temporary nitrogen storage. Anyway, his presentation was a nice piece of biochemistry in an otherwise physiology heavy program.
The most important presentations for me were devoted to guard cells signaling and were given by prof. Rainer Hedrich and my boss Dr. Maria Israelsson-Nordström. I was especially keen on listening to prof. Hedrich talk. It was a well executed piece – one could easily see that he was one of the most prominent scientists at the conference. His group is working with ABA and CO2 signaling using a clever and state of the art biophysical approach. The talk was very educational although I think that he wants the biology to be simpler than it really is.
Another interesting presentation was given by a German researcher that makes mathematical models of carbohydrate fluxes in CO2-fixing cells. His group used literature data on enzyme kinetics and metabolites concentration to create models. The results showed that the model agrees well with values observed experimentally. Interestingly, they correctly predicted that starch is not decomposed when photosynthesis is active.
There were two more interesting talks – one by an indian PhD working in Czech Republic – he showed some interesting applications of chlorophyll fluorescence imaging in visualizing pathogen infection of the leaves. The second one was a talk by Dr. Seth Davis who works on circadian clock. This was the second best presentation of the whole conference.
During evening banquet I had an opportunity to talk with a professor from Netherlands - Hendrik Poorter. He is an ecophysiologist working with metadata analysis from different field experiments. He described his approach as phenomics – broad range analysis of the phenotypes. We talked about molecular biology vs. ecology, computer modeling and even Linux and Open Access publishing. Prof. Poorter told me a very entertaining story. It concerned the results of his lab experiments vs. the behavior of plants in the field. The transgenic plants were found to have high water use efficiency during experiments under controlled lab experiments. The enthusiastic researchers decided to make a final test in the field. To their utter astonishments; the control, non-modified plants had better use of water under such circumstances. How was it possible? Control plants grew faster than their water conserving GM cousins. They wasted the water - that's true. But on the later stage their well expanded leaves shaded much larger area, thus preventing water evaporation from the soil.
After the conference we went on a tour around Tartu's Old Town which I think is quite lovely and finally we had a festive dinner closing the conference. The restaurant was placed within old fortifications, the so called gunpowder cellar and was quite nice. Especially, considering that there was a live Estonian country band that played loud music at the same time as the Eurovision song contest was in full swing. Overall that was quite an enjoyable experience.
Next day we returned to Tallin and I had a chance to see the old town for few hours. Tallin reminds me of Warsaw in the sense that there is a new business part of the town with shiny skyscrapers and an Old Town. All of this among a sea of old post Soviet buildings. The Old Town is enclosed by city walls not unlike Visby. A lot of the buildings are from the XVI-XVII century and the inhabitants try to create a feel of a medieval hanseatic port. I liked this quite a bit. For me, coming from a Catholic country, it was quite an interesting experience to see protestant churches next to an orthodox cathedral. I believe that anyone that is into history would find Tallin an interesting place to visit if only for a day or two.
To summarize, I must say that it was fun to participate in the scientific conference in Estonia. I would probably be happier to see more things – For example I missed the KGB museum but it was a good experience both in scientific and sightseeing aspect of it. And most importantly, they do have Kvas in Estonia!
P.S. If you are interested, please see a gallery of my photos from Estonia.
The flight from Stockholm was a real pleasure. Just 45 minutes in air and a nice view of the sea and land below. The coast of Estonia looks much smoother than its Swedish counterpart but I spotted a few islands. While on the plane, I was reading an article from Wikipedia devoted to the country. I was moved by what I learned from it. We, Poles, tend to think that history treated us badly. I think we should read up more on countries such as Estonia. They had it rough since the time of the Vikings, and it would seem that the only good times in the country history were in between World Wars and after the fall of Soviet Union. The particularly tragic part of their history took place during the soviet reign. At the beginning of WWII they were invaded by the Red Army “protecting” them from Nazi threat. This was, as in case of Poland, accompanied by disposal of politically suspicious elements – by means of mass executions and deportations. Later, when the war broke out between Soviets and Nazis, the only sensible choice was to ally with Germans, but according to Wikipedia, Estonians were quickly disillusioned with their liberators and chose to fight with the Soviets in the ranks of the Finnish army. Tragically, when Germans started to withdraw from Estonia, the government announced a mobilization, and attempted to stop the Red Army. What a desperate decision! It is easy to predict what followed this futile attempt. As a result of political incorporation and pacification of Estonia 200 000 people were killed, deported or fled the country. And Estonia had a population of only 1.5 milllion! Their fate was in a lot of ways similar to ours, but magnified by the fact of the incorporation into the Soviet Union (SU). Interestingly, communists promoted migration from SU to Estonia, especially to Tallin. This led to a current tense political situation since 40% of Tallin's population are Russians.
The ride from Tallin to Tartu, where the conference took place was quite comfortable. The land is flat as a pancake, and seems to be less populous than the typical Polish countryside. Tartu, on the other hand, looks quite familiar. It is a town with a population of 100 000 with a mixture of old, frequently beautiful, houses and new buildings. It has a big shopping mall and a nice hotel. I definitely cannot complain.
A monument of a pig in front of Tartu's old market
During the conference I met prof. Simon Gilroy and his wife Sarah Swanson - an American couple from the University of Wisconsin. They work on mechanical sensing in plants. I found his talk on that subject to be the most spectacular presentation of the conference, largely due to the amazing microscopy pictures and animations that he showed. The most interesting findings made by Gilroy's group regard the presence of pH gradient pulses along the length of a growing root. They also work on the signaling cascade initiated by the root hitting an obstacle. I felt almost like sitting at the cinema when watching this talk. I learned from Sarah that ATP can be used as a signaling molecule outside the cell, a fact I was not familiar with. She also recommended a book on microscopy techniques “Plant microtechniques and microscopy” by Steven E. Ruzin. I need this knowledge desperately, given my poor skills in this area.
Another interesting talk was given by prof. Teun Munnik from the Netherlands. He was talking about phosphatidylinositol 4-monophosphate (PIP) metabolism – and presented data showing that PIP3 is not a signaling molecule in plants. Plant biologists often assume that if something is valid for animal models it also holds true for plants. He presented a nice example to the contrary. This resulted in many speakers having to correct their schemes. I also enjoyed a talk by Israeli professor on the abscisic acid responsive gene (ASR1) that is actically transcribed during drought resistance and is thought to play a role in protecting the plant during this type of biotic stress. Interestingly the protein encoded by this gene is in its native state disorganized and acts as a chaperon. Zn cations facilitate rearrangements of its structure so it can bind to DNA and act as a transcription factor. During the coffee break I asked him about the role of compatible solutes. They have low molecular mass and are produced during drought. One example of such a molecule is proline. The theory is that they help in the transfer of the water to the cell during drought by lowering the water potential of the cell. The experimental data do not seem to confirm it. I was explaining to students that compatible solutes help stabilize proteins in such conditions. To my relief he confirmed it and added that in his opinion the main reason for their existence is as temporary nitrogen storage. Anyway, his presentation was a nice piece of biochemistry in an otherwise physiology heavy program.
The most important presentations for me were devoted to guard cells signaling and were given by prof. Rainer Hedrich and my boss Dr. Maria Israelsson-Nordström. I was especially keen on listening to prof. Hedrich talk. It was a well executed piece – one could easily see that he was one of the most prominent scientists at the conference. His group is working with ABA and CO2 signaling using a clever and state of the art biophysical approach. The talk was very educational although I think that he wants the biology to be simpler than it really is.
Another interesting presentation was given by a German researcher that makes mathematical models of carbohydrate fluxes in CO2-fixing cells. His group used literature data on enzyme kinetics and metabolites concentration to create models. The results showed that the model agrees well with values observed experimentally. Interestingly, they correctly predicted that starch is not decomposed when photosynthesis is active.
There were two more interesting talks – one by an indian PhD working in Czech Republic – he showed some interesting applications of chlorophyll fluorescence imaging in visualizing pathogen infection of the leaves. The second one was a talk by Dr. Seth Davis who works on circadian clock. This was the second best presentation of the whole conference.
During evening banquet I had an opportunity to talk with a professor from Netherlands - Hendrik Poorter. He is an ecophysiologist working with metadata analysis from different field experiments. He described his approach as phenomics – broad range analysis of the phenotypes. We talked about molecular biology vs. ecology, computer modeling and even Linux and Open Access publishing. Prof. Poorter told me a very entertaining story. It concerned the results of his lab experiments vs. the behavior of plants in the field. The transgenic plants were found to have high water use efficiency during experiments under controlled lab experiments. The enthusiastic researchers decided to make a final test in the field. To their utter astonishments; the control, non-modified plants had better use of water under such circumstances. How was it possible? Control plants grew faster than their water conserving GM cousins. They wasted the water - that's true. But on the later stage their well expanded leaves shaded much larger area, thus preventing water evaporation from the soil.
After the conference we went on a tour around Tartu's Old Town which I think is quite lovely and finally we had a festive dinner closing the conference. The restaurant was placed within old fortifications, the so called gunpowder cellar and was quite nice. Especially, considering that there was a live Estonian country band that played loud music at the same time as the Eurovision song contest was in full swing. Overall that was quite an enjoyable experience.
A view from the city walls
Next day we returned to Tallin and I had a chance to see the old town for few hours. Tallin reminds me of Warsaw in the sense that there is a new business part of the town with shiny skyscrapers and an Old Town. All of this among a sea of old post Soviet buildings. The Old Town is enclosed by city walls not unlike Visby. A lot of the buildings are from the XVI-XVII century and the inhabitants try to create a feel of a medieval hanseatic port. I liked this quite a bit. For me, coming from a Catholic country, it was quite an interesting experience to see protestant churches next to an orthodox cathedral. I believe that anyone that is into history would find Tallin an interesting place to visit if only for a day or two.
To summarize, I must say that it was fun to participate in the scientific conference in Estonia. I would probably be happier to see more things – For example I missed the KGB museum but it was a good experience both in scientific and sightseeing aspect of it. And most importantly, they do have Kvas in Estonia!
P.S. If you are interested, please see a gallery of my photos from Estonia.
12.05.2009
Gumowe Guimony – recenzja książki HELL-P
Kilka dni temu uporałem się z najnowszą książką Eugeniusza Dębskiego pt. „HELL-P”. Bez zbędnego wstępu powiem, że jestem nią zawiedziony. To nie jest dobra książka i wielka to szkoda, bo lubię i szanuję twórczość Dębskiego.
HELL-P opowiada o parze agentów służb specjalnych, którzy zajmują się walką z pomiotem Cthulhu – Guimonami. Notka na okładce zachęciła mnie do czytania, jako że jestem miłośnikiem twórczości H. P. Lovecraft'a. Niestety od samego początku w rozkoszowaniu się sprawnym rzemiosłem Dębskiego przeszkadzał mi język. Jest on przepełniony wulgaryzmami do tego stopnia, że są one niesmaczne. Nie jestem przeciwnikiem używania wulgaryzmów. Uważam, że literatura powinna odzwierciedlać sposób wyrażania się ludzi, szczególnie jeśli dotyczy czasów współczesnych. Zadaję sobie jednak pytanie, czy na prawdę agenci ABW klną jak dresy spod bloku? Tzn. w taki prostacki sposób? Przypomina mi to nieco opowiadania Andrzeja Ziemiańskiego „Toy Wars”. Tam bohaterki klęły jak szewcy. Choć one były akurat najemniczkami, więc może dobrze oddawało to sposób wyrażania się ludzi parających się tym niewdzięcznym zawodem. Jeśli jednak agent ABW jest wulgarniejszy od gościa spod budki z piwem, i to bez żadnego dobrego uzasadnienia tego faktu, to przeszkadza mi to w pełni zanurzyć się w przedstawionej historii.
Właśnie problem z zawieszeniem niewiary sprawiał mi największe trudności w docenieniu „HELL-P”. Rozumiem, że Dębski jest dumny z postaci Owena Yatesa, ale jakoś nie przypominam sobie, żeby była to postać na tyle znana, żeby bohater mógł komentować zaawansowanie technologiczne sprzętu kolegi jako godne „Owena Yatesa”. Może to mój problem, bo znam i lubię tą postać, ale takie puszczanie okiem do czytelnika drażniło mnie w trakcie czytania. „Patrz to tylko głupia historyjka, wszystko jest na niby” - zdawał się mówić autor. To trochę denerwujące.
Pomysł z Guimonami uważam za całkiem udany. Mitologia Cthulhu z pewnością stanowi interesujące źródło inspiracji. Ileż, do diaska można pisać i czytać o wampirach? Spodobała mi się inwencja autora w reinterpretacji Cthulhu, choć z drugiej strony cytowanie całej strony z opowiadania Lovecrafta to chyba lekka przesada. Mam wrażenie, że książka jest zbiorem kilku dobrych pomysłów, rozdmuchanych w sceny, które nie są połączone w zbyt przekonujący sposób. Myślę, że „HELL-P” byłby lepszy, gdyby zamiast powieści Autor napisał kilka połączonych z sobą opowiadań. Miałem wrażenie, że bohaterom zdarza się napatoczyć na interesujące wydarzenie, które nijak nie wynika z fabuły. Po prostu – w każdej lokacji czai się potwór. Autor wyjaśnia. że ilość Guimonów jest ograniczona, jednak kiedy bohaterowie idą, nie wiedzieć czemu pod ZUS, czeka tam na nich dwóch wrogów. Łącznie z innymi, które napotykają, w mniej lub bardziej przypadkowy sposób, ich liczba jest tak duża, że albo wiadomości wywiadowcze bohaterów są naprawdę kiepskie, albo ich spotkania z Guimonami są statystycznym nieprawdopodobieństwem. Wreszcie sprawa łowców Guimonów – Ekstremanów. To, że jest ich niewielu i walczą z bezlitosnym wrogiem cały czas, nie usprawiedliwia ich idiotycznego braku organizacji. Rozumiem, że Kamil Stochard – główny bohater powieści, mógł się dzięki temu wykazać pomysłowością, ale przecież można było znaleźć lepsze uzasadnienie dla dość chaotycznej metodyki działań Ekstramanów.
Interesującym aspektem tej książki jest fakt, że główny bohater jest gejem. Nie wiem, czy istnieją inni w polskiej literaturze fantastycznej, wydaje mi się, że jest to jednak ciekawy chwyt, aby przedstawić Polskę oczami kogoś, kto na pewno nie ma łatwego życia z racji swojej orientacji seksualnej. Wyjaśnia to, po części zachowanie bohatera i czyni go bardziej interesującym.
Najbardziej interesujące były dla mnie wątki niefantastyczne. Wydawało mi się, że są napisane z większą werwą. Są po prostu fajniejsze. Z przyjemnością przeczytałbym o przygodach Stocharda w zwalczaniu „zwykłej” przestępczości. Może autor zechciałby wrócić do tego bohatera i prawie rzeczywistego świata. Chciałbym jednak, żeby lepiej przemyślał fabułę książki.
Podsumowując, nie uważam czasu poświęconego na „HELL-P” za stracony. Dębski jest sprawnym rzemieślnikiem, więc książkę czyta się dobrze. Jest to, niestety, najgorszy tekst jego autorstwa, jaki dotąd czytałem. Trochę szkoda, ale nie traćmy nadziei. Mam nadzieję, że napisze kolejne książki i opowiadania i weźmie pod uwagę głosy krytyki.
HELL-P opowiada o parze agentów służb specjalnych, którzy zajmują się walką z pomiotem Cthulhu – Guimonami. Notka na okładce zachęciła mnie do czytania, jako że jestem miłośnikiem twórczości H. P. Lovecraft'a. Niestety od samego początku w rozkoszowaniu się sprawnym rzemiosłem Dębskiego przeszkadzał mi język. Jest on przepełniony wulgaryzmami do tego stopnia, że są one niesmaczne. Nie jestem przeciwnikiem używania wulgaryzmów. Uważam, że literatura powinna odzwierciedlać sposób wyrażania się ludzi, szczególnie jeśli dotyczy czasów współczesnych. Zadaję sobie jednak pytanie, czy na prawdę agenci ABW klną jak dresy spod bloku? Tzn. w taki prostacki sposób? Przypomina mi to nieco opowiadania Andrzeja Ziemiańskiego „Toy Wars”. Tam bohaterki klęły jak szewcy. Choć one były akurat najemniczkami, więc może dobrze oddawało to sposób wyrażania się ludzi parających się tym niewdzięcznym zawodem. Jeśli jednak agent ABW jest wulgarniejszy od gościa spod budki z piwem, i to bez żadnego dobrego uzasadnienia tego faktu, to przeszkadza mi to w pełni zanurzyć się w przedstawionej historii.
Właśnie problem z zawieszeniem niewiary sprawiał mi największe trudności w docenieniu „HELL-P”. Rozumiem, że Dębski jest dumny z postaci Owena Yatesa, ale jakoś nie przypominam sobie, żeby była to postać na tyle znana, żeby bohater mógł komentować zaawansowanie technologiczne sprzętu kolegi jako godne „Owena Yatesa”. Może to mój problem, bo znam i lubię tą postać, ale takie puszczanie okiem do czytelnika drażniło mnie w trakcie czytania. „Patrz to tylko głupia historyjka, wszystko jest na niby” - zdawał się mówić autor. To trochę denerwujące.
Pomysł z Guimonami uważam za całkiem udany. Mitologia Cthulhu z pewnością stanowi interesujące źródło inspiracji. Ileż, do diaska można pisać i czytać o wampirach? Spodobała mi się inwencja autora w reinterpretacji Cthulhu, choć z drugiej strony cytowanie całej strony z opowiadania Lovecrafta to chyba lekka przesada. Mam wrażenie, że książka jest zbiorem kilku dobrych pomysłów, rozdmuchanych w sceny, które nie są połączone w zbyt przekonujący sposób. Myślę, że „HELL-P” byłby lepszy, gdyby zamiast powieści Autor napisał kilka połączonych z sobą opowiadań. Miałem wrażenie, że bohaterom zdarza się napatoczyć na interesujące wydarzenie, które nijak nie wynika z fabuły. Po prostu – w każdej lokacji czai się potwór. Autor wyjaśnia. że ilość Guimonów jest ograniczona, jednak kiedy bohaterowie idą, nie wiedzieć czemu pod ZUS, czeka tam na nich dwóch wrogów. Łącznie z innymi, które napotykają, w mniej lub bardziej przypadkowy sposób, ich liczba jest tak duża, że albo wiadomości wywiadowcze bohaterów są naprawdę kiepskie, albo ich spotkania z Guimonami są statystycznym nieprawdopodobieństwem. Wreszcie sprawa łowców Guimonów – Ekstremanów. To, że jest ich niewielu i walczą z bezlitosnym wrogiem cały czas, nie usprawiedliwia ich idiotycznego braku organizacji. Rozumiem, że Kamil Stochard – główny bohater powieści, mógł się dzięki temu wykazać pomysłowością, ale przecież można było znaleźć lepsze uzasadnienie dla dość chaotycznej metodyki działań Ekstramanów.
Interesującym aspektem tej książki jest fakt, że główny bohater jest gejem. Nie wiem, czy istnieją inni w polskiej literaturze fantastycznej, wydaje mi się, że jest to jednak ciekawy chwyt, aby przedstawić Polskę oczami kogoś, kto na pewno nie ma łatwego życia z racji swojej orientacji seksualnej. Wyjaśnia to, po części zachowanie bohatera i czyni go bardziej interesującym.
Najbardziej interesujące były dla mnie wątki niefantastyczne. Wydawało mi się, że są napisane z większą werwą. Są po prostu fajniejsze. Z przyjemnością przeczytałbym o przygodach Stocharda w zwalczaniu „zwykłej” przestępczości. Może autor zechciałby wrócić do tego bohatera i prawie rzeczywistego świata. Chciałbym jednak, żeby lepiej przemyślał fabułę książki.
Podsumowując, nie uważam czasu poświęconego na „HELL-P” za stracony. Dębski jest sprawnym rzemieślnikiem, więc książkę czyta się dobrze. Jest to, niestety, najgorszy tekst jego autorstwa, jaki dotąd czytałem. Trochę szkoda, ale nie traćmy nadziei. Mam nadzieję, że napisze kolejne książki i opowiadania i weźmie pod uwagę głosy krytyki.
8.05.2009
Exhalation
I am a keen listener to many podcasts. I love Nature or Sc-Fri for their serious scientific content, FLOSS weekly for the possibility to look under the hood of Open Source projects. Then there are podcasts with audio stories. Today I would like to share with you a beautiful story presented in the Escape Pod. This year Hugo nominee "Exhalation" by Ted Chang is a remarkable piece of prose and the audio version narrated by Ray Sizemore is simply splendid. I feel deeply touched by the cold, slow paced narration in the form of a letter written by a scientists. I am amazed by the fact that Chang presented a story about a scientific discovery, in fact a most fundamental rule of physics in such a way that it enables the reader to wonder about a human nature. This is why I love Science Fiction. It gives me hope that Golden Age of my beloved literature did not come to pass but it continues and will bring more wonder into this world.
5.05.2009
Great Oxidation Event explained?
The great mystery shrouding early life on Earth is that the first photosynthetic organisms able to produce oxygen – cyanobacteria evolved about 2.7 bln years ago, yet the concentration of oxygen remained low for next few hundred millions of years. Now the researchers from University of Alberta, Canada have proposed a solution for this apparent mystery. According to their model the cause may be of geological and not biological nature. They have analyzed the ratio of nickel to iron and have found that about 2.5 bln years ago there was a dramatic decrease in concentration of nickel. This element is an essential nutrient for methanogenic bacteria. The high methane concentration in the atmosphere was keeping oxygen level in check. The relatively sudden change in nickel availability caused a starvation of methanogenes and allowed the oxygen buildup, that further hindered growth of anoxygenic organisms.
The scientists propose that a primary cause behind sudden nickel decrease was cooling of Earth mantle that caused changes in composition of magma flowing out of the volcanoes in such a way that it had less nickel. This was followed by a decease in concentration of this element in the seawater and put a sudden blow (in geological terms) to the well being of the methanogenes.
The cool thing about the story is an Earth Mantle, but joking aside the fact that as a biologist I would never thing about such a far fetched thing as an influence of magma's temperature on life of some bacteria. This is awesome - good job geologists.
Reference: Nature
The scientists propose that a primary cause behind sudden nickel decrease was cooling of Earth mantle that caused changes in composition of magma flowing out of the volcanoes in such a way that it had less nickel. This was followed by a decease in concentration of this element in the seawater and put a sudden blow (in geological terms) to the well being of the methanogenes.
The cool thing about the story is an Earth Mantle, but joking aside the fact that as a biologist I would never thing about such a far fetched thing as an influence of magma's temperature on life of some bacteria. This is awesome - good job geologists.
Reference: Nature
21.04.2009
The Emperor's New Mind
I have recently finished a lecture of “The Emperor's new mind” by Roger Penrose. The book deals with the consciousness from the point of view of mathematician and physicist turned philosopher.
It starts by examining an idea of artificial intelligence. Is it possible to build a computer that will be intelligent? What are the criteria for deciding if such mechanism is truly intelligent? Penrose is doubting that a real SI can be constructed. The reason for this is that a computer works according to the rules of classical physics, hence is only able to follow an algorithm. The brain, on the other hand, allow as to jump to the conclusion, without following an algorithm. There are mathematical theorems whose truthfulness cannot be decided upon by following strict rules invoked by a well defined algorithm. Yet mathematicians are able to achieve this. How is it possible? What could be a source of indeterminism driving non-algorithmic operation? Penrose want's to convince a reader that the source may be hidden in quantum effects that are happening in our brain.
The rest of the book serves as a detailed explanation of this, highly controversial, position. It is interesting, yet challenging journey. Penrose starts it from a discussion of Turing machine, as a theoretical model of a classical computer, the Godel theorem then goes to fractals, classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, theory of relativity and finally quantum gravity.
As I said the book was a real challenge to me. I am a wet lab biologist. I learned basic physics and math, that is needed in my work, but the complexity of the topic was mind-boggling. That being said I feel that Penrose was doing generally a good job in explaining the inherently complicated physics and mathematics needed to follow his argument. I would certainly need to re-read “The Emperor's new mind” to get a better understanding of the subject but I am quite happy that I did work my way through it. It was not easy, but I think it was well worth it. Even if I still suck at quantum physics, or all physics for that matter, at least I got a good refresh from my days as a freshman at the university. At worst, Penrose ideas can serve as a pot of tasty ideas for some good science-fiction story. If I am not mistaken, some similar concepts can be find in Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. On the other hand Vernor Vinge would probably argue with the premise of Penrose's book as it kills his Singularity idea.
I will finish by saying that I believe it is necessary to crawl out from one's professional niche once in a while and give a try to some idea from other parts of science. Even when one is getting a serious headache trying to figure out lambda calculus and multidimensional space.
It starts by examining an idea of artificial intelligence. Is it possible to build a computer that will be intelligent? What are the criteria for deciding if such mechanism is truly intelligent? Penrose is doubting that a real SI can be constructed. The reason for this is that a computer works according to the rules of classical physics, hence is only able to follow an algorithm. The brain, on the other hand, allow as to jump to the conclusion, without following an algorithm. There are mathematical theorems whose truthfulness cannot be decided upon by following strict rules invoked by a well defined algorithm. Yet mathematicians are able to achieve this. How is it possible? What could be a source of indeterminism driving non-algorithmic operation? Penrose want's to convince a reader that the source may be hidden in quantum effects that are happening in our brain.
The rest of the book serves as a detailed explanation of this, highly controversial, position. It is interesting, yet challenging journey. Penrose starts it from a discussion of Turing machine, as a theoretical model of a classical computer, the Godel theorem then goes to fractals, classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, theory of relativity and finally quantum gravity.
As I said the book was a real challenge to me. I am a wet lab biologist. I learned basic physics and math, that is needed in my work, but the complexity of the topic was mind-boggling. That being said I feel that Penrose was doing generally a good job in explaining the inherently complicated physics and mathematics needed to follow his argument. I would certainly need to re-read “The Emperor's new mind” to get a better understanding of the subject but I am quite happy that I did work my way through it. It was not easy, but I think it was well worth it. Even if I still suck at quantum physics, or all physics for that matter, at least I got a good refresh from my days as a freshman at the university. At worst, Penrose ideas can serve as a pot of tasty ideas for some good science-fiction story. If I am not mistaken, some similar concepts can be find in Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. On the other hand Vernor Vinge would probably argue with the premise of Penrose's book as it kills his Singularity idea.
I will finish by saying that I believe it is necessary to crawl out from one's professional niche once in a while and give a try to some idea from other parts of science. Even when one is getting a serious headache trying to figure out lambda calculus and multidimensional space.
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