The Wild Trees - A Story of Passion and Daring by Richard Preston

Monday, September 06, 2010

I have an innate need to finish whatever I start. While this may be a virtue most of the time, the flip side is that I am not able to cut the losses and move on even when I realize a particular task I am pursuing is probably not worth it. This thought came to mind when I finally finished reading Richard Preston's "The Wild Trees - A Story of Passion and Daring". :-)

Topic of the book is the Red Wood trees that stand near California coast. They live for hundreds of years often spanning even a millennium..! Longest surviving trees are 2500+ years old. They also grow up to be several hundred feet tall. Tallest one identified measures 387' which is probably taller than a 32 story building..! This is indeed amazing/humbling.There is a subculture of tree enthusiasts that pretty much dedicate their lives to climbing such trees, identifying them individually by giving them names, recording their height, and even sleeping on the trees couple of hundred feet above the ground. Some of these people work as grocery store clerks while others earn their Ph.D. in Botany, write grant proposals to get NSF funding living off of them as scholars. In his usual style Richard Preston has spent couple of years researching this topic, spending time with the subculture tree experts/addicts, collecting information and learning to climb trees himself. As these trees grow up hundreds of feet, branches at that height form a canopy creating another floor at that level. Over centuries those canopies gather enough water, soil & compost to support flora/fauna to grow right there..! Redwood forests are often completely dark, even in the middle of the day since their canopy forms a full plane at more than 100 feet above the ground blocking off the sunlight altogether. While climbing, it is possible to get lost in these trees due to these sprawling canopies. Older branches near the top could have rotten over centuries leading to inherent risk in climbing these trees since a branch suddenly breaking off may lead to serious injuries or death to the climbers. Despite such risks hardcore enthusiasts seem to dedicate their lives to working with these trees. They also have their own lingo to describe dangerous situations ("head ache" to describe a falling branch, "crater" to announce someone falling down) as well as to capture ideas related to climbing ("sky walk" to describe moving from one tree to another directly without having to come down).

There is a lot to learn and so these details are quite intriguing/interesting. But this material could be better presented in the form of a video documentary. Couple of pictures/drawings included in the book does not seem to do justice to the topic. I did a quick search on the web to locate aNational Geographic video clip talking about the same material including the same experts. We would be better off watching these clips that present the same material in a much more visually interesting way than reading this book which slows down often trying to describe individual researcher's marital/financial problems, recollection of their childhood memory, etc. I am sure NatGeo TV will put together an hour long video soon since theirSeptember 29th issue this year seem to feature Redwoods prominently.

Take a look at this picture (a composite of 84 separate images) and take note of the size of the individuals in the tree: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/redwoods/gatefold-image

Book had no such photos to drive home the point. Don't miss at least the first two videos posted here.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/explorer/3823/Overview#tab-Videos/07233_00

Similar trees are also found in Oregon and even in Scotland. I should remember to look for sites likehttp://www.redwoodhikes.com/RNP/TallTrees.html that promote hiking among these trees so that I can try one next time I am in the West Coast. :-)

Still need to finish "Age of Turbulence" by Greenspan. Also picked up "Case for God" by Karen Armstrong. Hopefully will finish them both before the end of this year.

-sundar.

Saturday, June 06, 2009

"The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman has a pretty good "what if?" scenario to explore. What will happen to the planet if all the human beings suddenly vanished one day..? The author had originally written an article in Harper Magazine as to how nature rushed in to fill the void when human beings abandoned Chernobyl after the disaster. That led an editor to ask him this what if question that in turn led to this book.

He has looked at the question quite thoroughly from several different points of view. Initially he talks about how modern suburban homes will start disintegrating and how long what parts will last. For example, nails (used in the exterior structure) getting corroded due to rain will start allowing water to seep in triggering the deterioration, followed by roofs collapsing, destroying most of the house within 25 to 50 years while ceramic tiles in the bathrooms may last several thousand years. Then he discusses Manhattan subway system that uses 750+ pumps to keep pumping water out 24x7 but for which the subway tunnels will be flooded. If the pumps stop even for 4, 5 hours water will start covering the tracks. If the pumps are off for 36 hours, it could potentially fill the tunnels. In few days, whole tunnel will be certainly under water..! It is amazing that this subway system was conceived and constructed 100 years back with this much of perpetual maintenance designed in as a requirement to just keep it dry. He estimates that within 20 years most of it will look like a river grid.

He then analyzes how without maintenance Manhattan office buildings will start to fall down (in about 50 years), how long major monuments such as Liberty Statue (several decades), Eiffel Tower (few decades), the likeness of Roosevelt on Mount Rushmore (7.2 million years but for earth quakes), etc. will last before they collapse. Then there are interesting case studies of places like the DMZ between North and South Korea (where due to absence of human beings, several plants and small animals that could not thrive before are found in abundance now), parts of Cypress that were abandoned by people in a rush due to war between Turkey and Cypress (where you can see plates on dining tables still in place since people who fled didn't have time to close things down properly). Discussions about how nuclear power plants that were left running will start exploding, how Panama canal that is artificially kept open by endless maintenance will cease to exist, polymers that will stay on for millenniums being eaten by micro organisms in the sea to their own detriment are fascinating.

Overall, though the question is very intriguing and the various points of view from which he has presented the material are wide ranging and comprehensive, the narration is not gripping. I was left with a general sense that earth will go back to the way it was before human beings showed up. That much is easily understood even without reading this book. Towards the end book gets into the importance of being green and caring for the planet. It explains how people need to understand that Earth will be fine with or without us; but we will be screwed if we don't behave and so, we shouldn't think that we are saving earth but are only trying to preserve ourselves. Nevertheless, in the end the book still leaves you with the feeling that while individual data points are fascinating, the overarching presentation is weak. So, if you haven't read it yet, you don't have to rush out and get a copy. :-)

TV channels like National Geographic & History have developed documentaries based on this book. Even couple of those episodes I watched left me with the same feeling. They might be good for children and teenagers.

Got this book via Swaptree.com. Will put it back in circulation seeking my next book in exchange.

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Read "High Output Management" by Andrew S. Grove few months back. As one of my friend said, this 30 year old book has aged well. Andy Grove is the famed ex-CEO of Intel. He has captured the fundamental management practices of running a company very well. He starts out with an extremely simple example of running a breakfast diner and builds it up nicely to discuss production, inventory management, capital purchase, P&L and so forth. While the material presented is very easily accessible, contents are not trivial. This combination makes it a nice piece of work.

He has discussed compensation systems, performance review procedures and processes, meetings and other nuts and bolts that are all mandatory in real world offices. Principles and ideas explained are nothing esoteric but are the ones we could put to use right away. It's easy to read style makes it quite informative and thought provoking to anyone trying to get a better understanding of management process in the industry. Recently read a Business Week article that had his interview included. He was complaining about how present day Silicon Valley is too short term focused. He was expressing his worry that lack of long term focus will block revolutionary, disruptive technological improvements from being realized. Got to see if Silicon Valley in particular and U.S. as a whole wakes up in my life time.

-sundar.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin

Saturday, August 29, 2009

"Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin is an amazing book chronicling Greg Mortenson's efforts over the past 15 years to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan mainly to educate girls. He was a mountaineer who attempted to reach the top of K2 in 1993 and failed. On his way down he was lost alone for couple of days and was saved in the end by his porter Mouzafer and the people of a village called Korphe in rural Pakistan. Being really moved by their kindness, he wanted to do something in return and ended up deciding to build a school for the girls in that village when he saw them trying to have an informal classroom in the open exposed to the extreme cold weather and wind.

When he returned to U.S. he wrote some 580 letters seeking donations for his endeavor from every famous person he has heard of and received a total of one response (from Tom Brokaw) and a cheque for $100. His applications to all kinds of foundations didn't get him any funds either. Eventually late Dr. Jean Hoerni, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur/millionaire funded his project and wrote a single check for $12,000 to get him started. That is all the money it takes to build one 5 room school building in that region. Learning his ropes little by little and working with the local villagers he built a bridge first to get the supplies to that village and then the school which took 3, 4 years. Having completed that project, he found his calling and decided to keep constructing schools all over that area and so far has constructed about 75 schools educating more than twenty thousand children.

In this journey or perseverance there are descriptions of talks he tried to give where only 3 people showed up to fill the 200 chairs laid out welcoming audience, experience of individuals inviting him over with a promise of a large donation only to be let go with nothing, meetings with Donald Rumsfeld, military officials and politicians, one kidnapping, couple of fatwas on his head by mullahs opposed to his work (or trying to extract bribes to let him build schools in their village), U.S. military promising few million dollars if he can work with them giving away names of people he works with in that region, stories of his failures in personal life to eventually settling down with a wife and two kids, etc. While Mortenson had supported the war against Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks, pretty quickly he had come to realize the way U.S. is going about this war and the unnecessary digression into Iraq is not serving the original cause at all. He concludes that this is helping Al-Qaeda and Taliban recruit a large number of uneducated poor young man to their cause. Having witnessed the alarming rate at which middle East oil money flows into the region creating new Madrassas wherever he travels in those parts of the world, he is frustrated by an incredible opportunity being missed by the west.

Republicans are formidable opponents when they have to pull down someone. Instead of meekly attacking the opponent's areas of weakness, they usually go after and demolish the best strength of the person or issue they need to pull down weakening the opponent dramatically. How they went after John Kerry in the 2004 election by destroying his military credentials with "Swift boat veterans for truth" is one good example. Recently creating the "death panel" phrase & discussion to smear Democrat's health-care reform effort is another great example. I wish they'd have applied that model to destroy Taliban's fame and credibility in Afghanistan & Pakistan by spending a large amount of money to construct schools and hospitals filling voids that exist rather than trying to bomb them all out. There are few simple statistics in the book. One points out that the Raytheon missile guidance system on the tip of each guided missile being fired on various Al-Qaeda and Taliban hide out is about $820,000. Constructing one school costs about $12,000. It costs $1 per day to educate one child in those parts. One teacher's salary per day is $1 again. Instead of debating endlessly how much of torture can be allowed while interrogating detainees, if the U.S. energy & resources are spent on simple school construction, hospital building, etc. I am sure results will be phenomenal in the long run.

This book's site is at http://www.threecupsoftea.com/ His outfit has been named Central Asia Institute a decade back which has a website at https://www.ikat.org/

I thought about attaching the PDF brochure posted at https://www.ikat.org/publications/2008JOH.pdf and then decided against it since it is close to 10MB in size. Do try these links.

Having read the book and checked out the site, I am tempted to stretch myself and send out a 5 figure donation since education has always been my cause for philanthropy. But the tone on the website and Greg's dozens and dozens of speaking/fund raiser engagement posted on the site seems to indicate that the institute is on good financial footing now. Book talked about how the CAI had only one employee (Greg) who was getting paid just $30K with its head quarters in Greg's basement until 2003. In the last few years it seems to have moved to a small office with 4 staff. Looking at the charity watch website http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=10411 it looks like the institute probably has high fund raising costs since it is basically a one man show with Greg flying around all over U.S. trying to give talks to raise money. His compensation for 2007 is just about $100K. Still overall this feels like a genuine article worth supporting. I think I will try to attend one of his talks in the NJ area coming up in the next month or two to get a better feeling before I write a cheque.

Though I like contributing to organizations like http://www.ILPnet.org and https://www.ashanet.org/, building schools in rural areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan appears to be a cause even more deserving since unlike India (where ILP and Asha operate), these areas are rife with active Islamic militant extremist organization recruitment activity.

Drop me a line telling me what is your favorite charity, why and how much you support it.

-sundar.