ON BEAUTY (ZADIE SMITH) AND DISAGREETMENT BETWEEN SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES

On his other side, a shy, plain girl visiting from M.I.T. was attempting to explain to him the kind of experimental physics she did. As he ate, Howard tried to listen. He made a point of asking her many interested questions; he hoped this would lessen the effect of Victoria’s frank disinterest. But after ten minutes he ran out of viable questions. Physicist and Art Historian met their match in technical terms that could not be translated, in two worlds that would not coalesce. Howard drank down his second glass of wine and excused himself to go to the toilet.

Howard´s good will is apreciated, but it seems not to be enough. I think there are annoying people in both fields, Sciece and Humanities; more or less like the Stones used tO sing: ‘it´s the singer, not the song’

What I think is true is that you are more likely to be annoyig when you talk about something that is not your field, something you have already discovered, not you job but your hobby.

For instance, a scientist who writes poetry or a humanities man who has read an article about clonation in a magazine. One should be sick of his own specialty.

So the scientist is bothersome and ridiculous when he talks about Humanities and The man of letters becomes delirious when he is talking about Science

Anyway, before you give it up with your table partner it is convenient to use up all the plausible questions

DINNER AT THE HOMESICK RESTAURANT (ANNE TYLER) AND EINSTEIN´S CONCEPT OF TIME

Time is my obsession: not to waste it, not to lose it. It’s like … I don’t know, an object, to me; something you can almost take hold of. If I could just collect enough of it in one clump, I always think. If I could pass it back and forth and sideways, you know? If only Einstein were right and time were a kind of river you could choose to step into at any place along the shore.”

He clicked his pen point in and out, frowning into space. “If they had a time machine, I’d go on it,” he said. “It wouldn’t much matter to me where. Past or future: just out of my time. Just someplace else.

I never heard Einstein had told this about time, but even if he didn´t it´s a good and beautiful image. The capacity of rivers as spring and flow (such an amazing record!) of metaphores is almost neverending. My favourite text about rivers is this one by Monterroso:

HERACLITAN: When the river flows slow and you have a good bicycle or horse it is possible to bath twice ( and even three, according to your necessities)in the same river

SYLVIA´S LOVERS (ELIZABETH GASKELL) AND GROUND IVY BEER

This beer was, so Sir Simon ordained, to be made after a certain receipt which he left, in which ground ivy took the place of hops. But the receipt, as well as the masses, was modernized according to the progress of time.

The ancient Celts got widly plasterd thanks to the ground ivy beer, which was also very toxic. This tradition has been inherited by the Irish who emigrated to USA, like detective McNulty, from The Wire.

Ground ivy is not my cup of tea. I am more into hop