Re: [silk] my book
On Monday 12 Feb 2007 2:26 pm, Charles Haynes wrote: I would prefer a doctor that had at least seen bleeding piles before I would consider going to them for treatment. Reading about piles in a book is all fine and good, but I would hope a doctor got more than just book training before attempting a diagnosis or suggesting a treatment. True - but a doctor is required to diagnose and treat diseases that he has never seen before on a fairly regular basis, and surgeons are required to cut and sew up things in ways that they have never done before. For that he needs to have information that such diseases have been seen by others in the past. This is not visible to the non-doctor, but the training of a doctor requires that he makes himself familiar with reams and reams of information about things that he has never seen but has at least heard about and read about. This leads directly to his ability to anticipate and recognize things that he would not otherwise have done and have strategies to deal with them Unless all the information is collected and studied - it cannot later be proven or disproved. That collection of information about Pakistan has never been done before by any Indian. A somewhat similar collection of facts has been done by a handful of authors from the US and UK - who in my opinion, talk about things that that are relevant to their worldview. Foremost among that is the dismissal for decades by Western authors that Pakistan had anything to do with terrorism. Did someone say something about tunnel vision? shiv
Re: [silk] my book
On Friday 09 Feb 2007 10:46 am, Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: Kupa is a Well, manduka is a frog. This is the story of a frog, which I'm not sure if it applies here... For the anglophones - Kupa Manduka means blinkers or tunnel vision It does apply in a nuanced sense to the people I am addressing by writing the book. I wrote it for people whom I consider blinkered - but I have been kind to them. However one must read the book first. shiv
Re: [silk] my book
On 2/3/07, shiv sastry [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have said on and off that I had been working on a book about Pakistan. A couple of silklisters have seen early drafts of the book. The book is now online as a freely downloadable and distributable ebook on http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/EBOOK/pfs.pdf Thanks for the link, I've just downloaded the book. Did anyone else get a chance to read this? Cheeni
Re: [silk] my book
i downloaded it, and i skimmed through a few chapters... admittedly i didnt read it from cover to cover. my preliminary opinion was this: -the book had a significant taint of bias -the writer has not traveled to pakistan, but collected an aggregation of largely (negative) journalistic opinions about pakistan-and made general sweeping conclusions on the basis of that - which is believe is a critical flaw. it could be possible to come up with a similar book about any country in the world, by collecting enough literature to favor a point of view. it just makes it easier in the case of pakistan because it is a country in a particularly chaotic part of the world. On 2/8/07, Srini Ramakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On 2/3/07, shiv sastry [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have said on and off that I had been working on a book about Pakistan. A couple of silklisters have seen early drafts of the book. The book is now online as a freely downloadable and distributable ebook on http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/EBOOK/pfs.pdf Thanks for the link, I've just downloaded the book. Did anyone else get a chance to read this? Cheeni
Re: [silk] my book
Thanks for your comments. I did what I thought needed to be done. But regarding the haven't travelled to Pakistan - one needs to recall that a doctor does not have to suffer from a brain tumor or bleeding piles to treat those conditions. That is the basic premise of a review of the literature. My book is an invitation for anyone to find and review positive and flattering literature about Pakistan and write a book. The field is wide open. shiv On Thursday 08 Feb 2007 2:50 pm, ashok _ wrote: i downloaded it, and i skimmed through a few chapters... admittedly i didnt read it from cover to cover. my preliminary opinion was this: -the book had a significant taint of bias -the writer has not traveled to pakistan, but collected an aggregation of largely (negative) journalistic opinions about pakistan-and made general sweeping conclusions on the basis of that - which is believe is a critical flaw. it could be possible to come up with a similar book about any country in the world, by collecting enough literature to favor a point of view. it just makes it easier in the case of pakistan because it is a country in a particularly chaotic part of the world. On 2/8/07, Srini Ramakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On 2/3/07, shiv sastry [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have said on and off that I had been working on a book about Pakistan. A couple of silklisters have seen early drafts of the book. The book is now online as a freely downloadable and distributable ebook on http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/EBOOK/pfs.pdf Thanks for the link, I've just downloaded the book. Did anyone else get a chance to read this? Cheeni
Re: [silk] my book
Yes doc but a terminal disease and an independent country are two different matters... the first can probably be looked at objectively and scientifically (in terms of available technical medical literature...) and cannot be compared in any sense with what mr.vir sanghvi has to say about a country On 2/8/07, shiv sastry wrote: I did what I thought needed to be done. But regarding the haven't travelled to Pakistan - one needs to recall that a doctor does not have to suffer from a brain tumor or bleeding piles to treat those conditions. That is the basic premise of a review of the literature. I am sure there is a great dirth of such positivie literature. My book is an invitation for anyone to find and review positive and flattering literature about Pakistan and write a book. The field is wide open. In my opinion modern english literature about islamic countries (much like african countries...) suffers from a kind of brutal navel gazing in terms of highlighting the most terrible aspects of life in such countries. If you read older literature about the middle east (or even about africa...) you will find the complete opposite, a kind of silly beautiful people/noble savages mentality Its not that these places have changed, people's perceptions of these places have changed... shiv
Re: [silk] my book
On 2/9/07, Abhishek Hazra [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: one needs to recall that a doctor does not have to suffer from a brain tumor or bleeding piles to treat those conditions Marc Bloch: a historian needs thicker boots and thinner notebooks I've not yet read the book Shiv, I've only skimmed through the first few pages. It could do with editing to pare the repetitive narrative. I haven't as yet any comments on the subject matter of the book. Meanwhile, no offense to you Shiv, but reading the references to thick boots I was reminded of the Sanskrit parable of the Kupa Manduka. Kupa is a Well, manduka is a frog. This is the story of a frog, which lives in a well. Never been outside that well as you would imagine, not easy for a frog to leave the well and all it had seen is that inside of the well. The world view is confined to the inside of the well. He is very suspicious of anything from outside. I'm not sure if it applies here... Cheeni
