The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
Ecclesiastes (1:9), King James Bible
Joe Posnanski has a beautiful piece that captures how long baseball stat-geeks have been playing around with numbers. One thing that bothers me, and I know I am not the first to experience this, is that in most modern discussions about art, literature, movies, and even scientific findings, we do focus on the recent. In the case of scientific articles, this discrepancy is glaring, as we have actual evidence for this observation (we need to provide background and provenance for our ideas, and thus all scientific papers come citations.) Posnanski’s presented articles written by F.C. Lane, where he showed some fairly “modern” lines of reasoning and statistical analysis that can fit in Moneyball or Bill James’s Baseball Prospectus. Except Lane made his analysis in 1917.
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I had recently finished The Myth of Autism by Michael Goldberg, M.D., who presents anecdotal observations that support the idea that some cognitive defects currently diagnosed under the umbrella of autism spectrum disorder is a result of pathology, not a genetically based, developmental defect. This is a crucial distinction, as a pathology suggests a disease state that is, in theory, treatable, even if we lack a cure now.
In the book, Dr. Goldberg goes further and suggests that a broad class of autistic patients suffer from a neuroimmunological disorder, and only a small fraction of autistic patients suffer from classical autism (considered a developmental condition.) He brings enough observations to bear on the idea that an aberrant immunological response may underlie cognitive deficits, that I’ve begun looking at neuroimmunology related research (partly out of personal interest, but also because I am in the middle of identifying a research agenda for a 1-D imaging cytometer my lab has developed.).
From a presentation perspective, I was disappointed that Dr. Goldberg does not present a systematic study of his patients and treatments. Instead, he gives an appendix of patient testimonies. The omission of a study is glaring, given his access to patient data and outcome: symptoms (cognitive impairments), biomarker status (elevated immune system and inflammation responses), and long-term observation.
Again, I think his arguments are compelling, and he cites existing research (including a recently, formally retracted paper on a retrovirus as a cause of chronic fatigue syndrome*) that supports his thesis, which makes follow up easy. Given the element of self-promotion and the lack of a clear scientific consensus, one can be forgiven for withholding judgment on the veracity of his claims until a deeper reading into the primary research. But one might do worse than to use this book as a guide into subsequent research.
*John Timmer, at Ars Technica, has written some articles (here and here) regarding the controversy surrounding the idea that a retrovirus causes chronic fatigue syndrome.
Kate Shaw, over at Ars Technica, reported on a recent study suggesting that there is no intrinsic acoustic property of the “best” violins from the time of Antonio Stradivari and Guiseppe Guarneri “del Gesu”, that would naturally attract professional violinists. She does a good job explaining both the methods and finding, and also placing the significance of the research into context.
The upshot of the study is that
… it definitely counters the wisdom that these old, highly valuable violins are unmatched in quality. In many cases, the old and new instruments are equal in quality – in some, the new models are superior to their “golden age” counterparts.
An important point is that this was a double-blind study, where the experimenters and the violinists did not know which violin was being assigned when. Violinists did not do better than chance when identifying the so-called “golden age” violin, nor did they necessarily prefer to older models to the new ones.
As an aside; I once attended a performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, played by the string quartet on four such golden age instruments. The thing I remember most from that concert is that a few of the high notes were screeched out. Otherwise, it was a reasonable performance. I am sure we would not have lost anything had we remained ignorant of the provenance of the violins. With that said, sometimes it is not the quality of the tool but its history that gives it value. The fact remains that the human culture possesses this violin that had been made over 300 years, hand-crafted in the master’s workshop, and played by generations of virtuoso violinists. It is a bit of living history, infused by our hands.
The Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
No Time to Read 