The Greatest Show on Earth: Two Books on History of Science

Honestly, my math is poor; lab quotient almost nil; stargazing restricted only to appreciation of nature's wonder. Except for getting good grades at school geology and biology examinations,  there was nothing really scientifically smart in me. Nevertheless, I enjoyed these two books so much that I regretted why I had voluntarily stopped myself at science's door.

They are Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything (Black Swan, 2003) and William Bynum's A Little History of Science (Yale, 2013).

Taiwan National Highway No. 61

On Friday May 25th 2018, Eleng and I took Taiwan National Highway No. 61, also known as West Coast Highway or Poor People's Highway (meaning 'toll-free'), southbound, all the way from the head to the tail of this island.

Officially in statistics, the length of Taiwan National Highway No. 61 reaches 351.4 km (195.98 mi). It begins at Bali District New Taipei City and ends at Qigu District Tainan City.

With speed limits ranging between 90 km/hr and 30 km/hr, this Highway offers itself as the third north-south corridor in the west in addition to National Highway No. 1 (Sun Yat-sen Freeway, completed in 1978) and National Highway No. 3 (Formosa Freeway, completed in 2004).

Our trip, however, took 525 km in 7 hours in total.

Life on High Waters: Two History Books

My stepfather spent some of his teen years working on a fishing boat. Destined for inshore waters such as East China Sea and Taiwan Strait, their boat would leave Keelung Harbor once in three to six months, so its young crew could hunt white pomfrets day and night until the fridge was full and the captain called home.

Before returning to the harbor, my stepfather knew his parents would come to collect most of his salary, leaving him with only a few thousands. Yet for the value of currency then in early 1960s, that amount was more than enough for a young man to enjoy beyond his imagination on the coast among alcohol, women and films. When every dollar was gone, he would also be ready for another journey. But for an unfortunate event of attack on their boat, I guess he might not have wanted to end this life that soon. 

How weird is this feeling of deja vu between a piece of life I heard in the 21st century and history books on life lived at least four hundred years ago in the 16th and 17th centuries! The utterly adventurous but reckless lifestyle on both sea and shore; the unpredictable and intransigent turn of fate on board; the insanely lucrative but very short career span. Whether it is a fishing boat, a pirate vessel or a slave ship, similar fates lead these lives on high waters.

Loaded Words: A Few Comments on the Publication of Dictionaries of Indigenous Languages

Published in Publication and Reading in Taiwan《臺灣出版與閱讀》（前為《全國新書資訊月刊》）Taipei: National Central Library (March 2018): 154-157. 

For Indigenous People and In Indigenous Language: IPCF in Taiwan

Published in IPCF Bimonthly Vol 19 (December, 2017): 30-32.

What is IPCF?

Fourth editorial for IPCF Bimonthly （原視界雙月刊）Vol. 19 (December, 2017): 3.

Culture, Language, Media: The Case of IPCF in Taiwan

Presentation at 2017 International Austronesian Conference (National Central Library, Taipei) on Nov. 13, 2017:

The Exodus of Formosan Languages: A Historical Perspective

Published in National New Books Monthly No. 225《全國新書資訊月刊 第225期》Taipei: National Central Library (September 2017): 4-9. 

My Type of Heteroglossia

Third editorial for IPCF Bimonthly（原視界雙月刊）Vol. 18 October 2017:3.

Trickster Travels: The Search for Leo Africanus (2006)

"A masterpiece of the historian's craft." -Stephen Greenblatt

Leo Africanus was born Al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmed al-Wazzan to a Muslim family in present-day Granada Spain about 1486-1488. Perhaps before the year of great expulsion of 1492, his family had moved across the Gibraltar and settled in present-day Fez Morocco. 

There al-Hasan al-Wazzan grew up and became a qadi (judge of Islamic laws). He had keen ears for Arabic poetry and traveled widely as informant, soldier, emissary and diplomat of the Sultan of Fez. 

In 1518, on his way returning from Cairo Egypt to Fez, he was captured by Christian pirates and took to Rome Italy as a present to Pope Leo X. There he became the godson of Cardinal Egidio da Viterbo, baptized on January 6th 1520 and was given a new name of "Joannes Leo de Medici". 

He never used the family name of Pope Leo X, de Medici. For Christians in Rome, he was Joannes Leo from Africa; for himself, he retained the Arabic name after conversion, Yuhanna al-Asad--Yuhanna the Lion.