Welcome to this week’s 5BF: the dilemma of reading nonfiction,
what we can learn from Thailand about the pandemic, an historical education, the
relevancy of religion, and more…
1 – what I am reading (and the dilemma of reading nonfiction)
A short history of Europe by Simon Jenkins – a book made of
320 pages (minus the maps and pictures) that takes on the mammoth task of
conveying the whole of Europe’s history, from the Greek empire to Holy Roman
Empire, and from the Middle Ages to 20th century cold war. Therefore,
this book would make a good example of the dilemma I face when reading nonfiction:
Reading nonfiction objectively seems appealing and fruitful.
Nonfiction gives you clear lessons whether about self-help or history; it is something
that you can read for information and then pass that information quite well
down to others – all the while winning some admirations from friends and
strangers. But every other nonfiction book, except for the self-help genre, has
for me required a foundational knowledge, a prerequisite know-how of the
content of the book I am reading. These books almost require you to know what
it is telling you about, for example ‘History of Europe’; only then could you
join in the feast of learning the tumultuous and incredible Europe and her
past. But should you choose to turn reading from a joyful activity to a tedious
one, every other nonfiction book can become that foundational text one is always
looking for. And that tedious task is of taking and making notes, of academically
reading the book and putting the effort to remember things as you keep reading.
Not only that but of researching whatever that you don’t know in the book, which
could be a lot of things – hence, tedious. But such a tiring and mentally
exhausting task would also have its rewards: a foundational education, and the confidence
with which you can then communicate, and the certainty with which you can learn
more therefrom.
2 – what I watched
The Crown: an education – this past week I finished watching
season four of Netflix’s show about Queen Elizabeth’s II life and her rule over
UK, ‘The Crown’. While the production, cast, acting, directing, especially
storytelling, and the entire craftmanship that has gone into this show is brilliant
and commendable more than necessary, it is also its educating element that
makes this show so much more important. I have learned so much about UK and the
history that involves post-WWII UK; and not only that but also the smaller
history, personal history, history of Queen’s life and every lesson that one
can learn from it. This show is an education, and I hope we shall have more
such shows that bring entertainment together with learning; that’s how we’ll be
able to educate more people.
3 – this week’s podcast
Is religion still relevant? @metaphysicalmilkshake – Rain Wilson
and Reza Aslan talk with their guest, the American actress and also neurologist,
Mayim Bialik, about the relevancy of religion in today’s world. Although I had
second thoughts about whether an actress would have something of importance to
say about religion, after the episode ended, I realized I couldn’t have been
more wrong. What Amy says through her utter embrace of her being a Jew and the
identity that it gives to her is both admirable and stark. In this podcast I
was faced with my own questions about how much a Muslim I am and how little
have I pondered upon religion and its importance in life that I could have. A must
listen.
4 – Thailand and her fight against COVID-19
With as low as 7 deaths from the COVID-19, Thailand was
among the least affected countries during this pandemic because of her
successful healthcare system that was in place ahead of the virus’s spread. In
this video documentary, Vox (one of my favorite channels ever with the moto of ‘understand
the news’) explains why Thailand was so successful during 2020 pandemic which wreaked
havoc almost everywhere else, and also why it suddenly failed during the March of
2021 as the number of cases spiked incredibly. This is a case study of how we can
be prepared and thereby better deal with such emergency pandemics in future:
both from the success and failure of Thailand.
5 – this week’s quote
‘Bible [or any other religious book or scripture for that
matter] is not a science book.’ [So stop comparing religion to science; they
are distinct approaches towards understanding life.]
– Mayim Bialik