Book list

In keeping with Prince Charles’ suggestion that I contribute to the library by making a list of books to buy, here is a partial list:

Bankoff, Greg. (2003). Cultures of Disaster: Society and natural hazard in the Philippines. New York: RoutledgeCurzon

Clapp, Jennifer & Peter Dauvergne. (2005). Paths to a Green World: The Political Economy of the Global Environment. Cambridge, MA: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press.

HC79.E5C557 2005 [1. Environmental economics. 2. Environmental policy. 3. Global environmental change. 4. Globalization—Economic aspects.]

Elliott, Jennifer A. (1999). An Introduction to Sustainable Development (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.

HC59.72.E5E 43 1999 [1. Sustainable development—Developing countries. 2. Environmental policy—Developing countries.]

Gunn, S.W.A. et al. (2005). Understanding the Global Dimensions of Health. New York: Springer.

RA441.U42 2005 [1. World health.]

Hanson, Jarice. (2007). 24/7: How Cell Phones and the Internet Change the Way We Live, Work, and Play. Westport, CT: Praeger.

HE9713.H365 2007 [1. Cellular telephones–Social aspects. 2. Internet–Social aspects. 3. Interpersonal communication–Technological innovations–Social aspects. 4. Social interaction–Technological innovations. 5. Social change.]

Hardt, Michael & Antonio Negri. (2000). Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

JC359.H279 2000 [1. Imperialism.]

Hess, David J. (2007). Alternative Pathways in Science and Industry: Activism, Innovation and the Environment in an Era of Globalization. Cambridge, MA: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press.

Q175.5.H469 2007 [1. Science—Social aspects. 2. Technology—Social aspects. 3. Science and

Industry.]

Kraut, Robert, Malcolm Brynin & Sara Kiesler (eds.). (2006). Computers, Phones, and the Internet: Domesticating Information Technology. New York: Oxford University Press.

HM851.C665 2006 [1. Information society. 2. Information technology—Social aspects. 3. Technological innovations—Social aspects.]

Lockard, Craig A. (2009). Southeast Asia in World History. New York: Oxford University Press.

DS525.L65 2009 [1. Southeast Asia—History.]

Nafziger, E. Wayne. (2006). Economic Development (4th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sarkar, Sahotra. (2005). Biodiversity and Environmental Philosophy: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Weiner, Tim. (2007). Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA. New York: Doubleday.

I’m going to check the OPAC if no library in the UPM system has these books and if they are available at the La Solidaridad book store. I’m also going to check library statistics (crudely based on the frequency of borrowing) to determine if it is practical to buy a book for a particular topic. I might be suggesting a book for a topic that no one is interested in.

Biochem, genetics, ethics

*****

This is not meant to replace your biochemistry textbook(s), but, in the light of your recent failure in your biochemistry exam, you may want to try master something easier. Understanding the basics always makes the harder parts relatively easier, and their mastery imparts a sense of accomplishment and confidence.

Download

Rae-Dupree, J. & Pat DuPree. (2007). Anatomy & Physiology Workbook for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Although I hated the mathematical side and one of the DPSM professors of chemistry, I always loved knowing the conceptual basis of things. That is one of the reasons why I allowed my parents to write BS Biochemistry on my UPCAT application sheet. Well, as I painfully found out, liking something isn’t as easy as understanding it (similar to liking someone but not really understanding him).

I don’t really now where you are now regarding your studies but never falter. Yes, liking something may be different from understanding it, but it’s a step. Set aside at least an hour of your day to study and reading (read conceptual books on medicine or the life sciences, they’ll never fail to keep your motivation up, if nothing else).

As for me, I have to slog over my gigantic and uninspiring genetics book. I am considering finding something better, something more suited to my level. Genetics is not as easy as it is spelled (molecular genetics is already scary but molecular biology is much harder, and there’s no way you could persuade me to read anything on quantum mechanics or multidimensional calculus!) but it is exciting and very helpful. There’s a lot of buzz going around genetics recently and I’d like to make something out of them (which would require basic knowledge of the terms and processes).

Something surprising (for me, at least): you know the two human sex chromosomes, X and Y, right? Well, X is integral to life; without it the zygote would not develop into a viable human. Y… it is much smaller than the X chromosome and codes for no essential function – in other words it is practically expendable. Probably the most important gene it has is the SRY (sex-determining region Y) gene that makes men what they are – men. Another reason to believe that there’s a woman behind every man.

*****

You once asked me what is most important for a doctor: to be a competent doctor or a good person. I am no ethics professional, but I don’t think that the two are mutually exclusive categories and therefore a doctor can be competent and upright at the same time. However, there might be an occasion when a doctor’s competency will run against her being upright (although I can’t think of any example save for Hayden’s Kho audio-visual misadventures). After all, the question will not be posed if the professor didn’t expect something like that to happen.

In the case of a doctor’s being competent runs against “being a good person” (whatever that is supposed to mean), I side with competency. We don’t go to a doctor to get advice over our deteriorating marriages, help for our failing grades or a half-hour lecture on Christian morality; we see a doctor to get well. And that is, what I think, the doctor’s greatest duty – to ensure the overall health of her client (in a private, clinical setting), community or nation (in a public, community or public health setting). A competent doctor knows her anatomy as well as her ethics. A competent doctor knows the possibilities as well as the limitations and will keep within bounds.

Dr. Kho (or, formerly Dr. Kho) didn’t act ethically, as a competent doctor or even as civil individual. There should be no debate on what he has done versus his competent track record in successfully bending beauty ideals for the sake of capital. A person who has shown recklessness and disregard of human dignity is certainly not the person you should trust with your health or life. The possibility of he committing a mistake, this time in a surgery room, has grown too large that it is no longer reasonable to risk your health to him when you can afford the same services from a less controversial doctor. Although certain aspects of our lives may be separate from each other (what you do in bed is separate from what you do in class, what you think is different from what you do), personal values do not vary much. He valued personal pleasure or vanity, overriding personal accountability for the welfare of his partners, and taking the risks of sex video keeping but ignoring the social consequences.

I don’t mean to say that being good is antithetical to being competent or that it is less desirable; the two aren’t mutually exclusive. But then, a good person does not always really act for the good – they act for what they think is good, which does not always correspond to what most people have agreed as “one should do” for a particular case. A competent doctor may be cold and “too rational” but that is the price to pay for order and safety of society (imagine if every doctor clung to their own yardsticks of “good”). The ethics code competent doctors abide is not simply a product of the intellectual aristocrats of the medical profession: it is a sort of written agreement embodying the principles of the medical sector and society of a particular context, and thus, as long as the context holds, we can expect the code to work well.

I know it’s too late for your ethics class. I’m sorry not to have answered your text message last week. SMS, also, is not a good medium in transmitting lengthy messages such as this.

I provided this answer without reading anything connected with medical ethics. I don’t want to discuss this topic in-depth but in case I was mistaken in my arguments, please tell me so. I am sure you have already discussed this in class, and I would very glad to know how far I was off the mark (and how I could come closer).

Just random 8.27

*****

I have barely a month to borrow books at the CAS Library. Yesterday, before going home, I made a rough list of the “areas” where I borrowed the most (the order is based on shelving):

• Psychology
• History (includes Western history, world history, Asian history and American history)
• Ecology, biodiversity and environmental conservation
• Anthropology
• General social science
• Economics (includes political economy and development studies)
• Social theory and cultural studies
• International politics (includes international law)
• Chinese literature
• Classical and modern English literature (includes British and American literature)
• History and philosophy of science
• Chemistry (includes conceptual and comprehensive)
• Evolution, genetics and molecular biology (conceptual only)
• Oriental medicine
• Medical social science
• Technology
• Philippine history
• Philippine culture
• Philippine literature

For a social science student, I have little to show for my knowledge of ethics and philosophy, management, sociology and political science. I had always been intimidated to browse for books on the first shelf (the most vulnerable-looking part of the circulation department); it took a lot of guts on my part to stuff my bag with psychology books when I was in my first year. I never liked management and political science. As for sociology… my only sociology professor left me with distaste for this subject. Before I graduate, I intend to leave some mark in the ethics and philosophy area. I guess this is because I have grown mature enough to read and understand these things.

I can safely assume that in the course of 4 and ½ years, I have borrowed around a hundred to 150 books, 95% of which are in the CAS Library. I have visited and borrowed from the University Library and all the college libraries of the University except for the College of Medicine and College of Dentistry’s. I have also borrowed two books from the library of the College of Philosophy and Social Sciences in the University of the Philippines Diliman.

By the way, my first take-home reading experience was Dr. Margie Holmes’ Sexy, Saucy, Spicy. The first thing I searched on the OPAC was “sex.”

The sad thing regarding book borrowing at the CAS Library is that most of the books that get borrowed are those that are required to be read or are highly technical (like chemistry and biology). I still can find my name on the borrowing record cards of many of the books I borrowed. On the lighter side, in a way, I get to know the people who I share interest in a particular book or subject – VZ’s is Japanese history and culture, jk22b’s is political economy and economic development (who, based on his SN, entered UPM in 1998), Prince Charles’ is history, a certain Nursing student’s is human ecology and conservation.

I hope UPM gets more books. I hope UPM’s book-reading population does not decrease to extinction with each passing school year. More and more people are just sleeping, chatting, using their laptops or plainly taking advantage of the air-conditioners of the library. Be more considerate to other users of the library, the taxpayers who pay for the books (and air-conditioners), and yourself. Read!

*****

When we assume things to be the Truth, we often get into Trouble. Absoluteness corrupts itself.

*****

Roland Emmerich destroys the world again! I’m going to watch this one on its Philippine release date, 13 November 2009.

*****

I can’t pull myself to review for tomorrow’s big exam in NS 5. I need to review, but I want to finish this movie (Erin Brockovich) first. Choices, choices.

Tubed experience – July-August

My STS class required us to watch 5 science fiction movies. The movies we agreed upon in class were The Island, Aeon Flux, Minority Report, Bicentennial Man and I, Robot. I’m not really into sci-fi movies – I am more of a realist when it comes to movie plots.

I didn’t enjoy making the reviews because I didn’t enjoy watching the movies except for The Island (I love Ewan McGregor!) Although I understood the reason why my professor required us to limit our reviews to 300 words or less (the same goes for the synopsis for a maximum of 600 words per movie), I found it too constraining and discouraging.

I submitted the reviews two weeks ago – and I felt little relief. The reviews are lame, really. I just want to share to my “devoted” readers (my precious handful of friends) the fact that my writing skills can get worse and that I’m purged of the strength to update my blog.

(more…)