‘The Time of Tree’ picked as the best book by Korea Forest ServiceThe Korea Forest Service (KFS) announced last week that it had picked “The Time of Tree” by wood expert Kim Min-sik as the winner of the Green Literature Award for this year.Kim will receive the prestigious annual prize on Oct. 19 at
Japanese architect tells his life storyWhen it comes to great architects, such Westerners as Antoni Gaudi and Frank Gehry may come to mind of people. But there is an Asian who can stand a comparison with them.The man is Tadao Ando from Japan, a self-taught architect who never studied at a university
‘Pachinko’ author’s first book covers lives of Korean AmericansQuite a few prominent books are available about China and Japan written in English and widely loved by global readers.For the former country, there are “The Good Earth” by Pearl Buck, “Wild Swans” by Jung Chang, and “Red Star Over China”
Lee Min-jin examines tragedy of Koreans in early 20th centuryAfter author Park Wan-suh passed away in 2011, people worried that they would not be able to read new novels with such vivid scenes involving Koreans of the early and mid-20th century.They were plain wrong because writer Lee Min-jin, a 53-
Great love affair of the enlightenment eraScience and math have been regarded as areas where men dominate. But history did not lack outstanding female scientists and mathematicians.For example, many people would talk about Marie Curie, Ada Lovelace, Cecilia Payne, and Lynn Margulis. And here is one
A biography of the world’s most famous equationAsked if there was something that she wanted to know, American actress Cameron Diaz said in a press interview that she would like to know what E=mc² really means.After its announcement in 1905, the formulation of Albert Einstein became one of the world’
David Buss’s book delves into human mating strategiesAlthough they are the same species from the same planet, men and women are so different, which prompts some to say that the former came from Mars while the latter came from Venus.There have been many attempts to explain why, and here is a very goo
Bertrand Russell’s book highlights philosophical thinkingBertrand Russell was a versatile figure _ he was an outstanding philosopher, mathematician, historian, political activist, and social critic at the same time.Showing his prominence as a philosopher is a 1945 book, dubbed “The History of Wester
How each color gains meaning from peopleUS anthropologist Clifford Geertz once noted that culture is “a web of meaning” that people create through symbolic interaction and “thick description.”We attach meaning to everything around us. We are simply cramming meaning into the world, and color is a ver
New approach toward evolution and lifeWhen the human genome project was wrapped up midway through 2000, there were hope and hype that we would be able to achieve medical miracles of curing all diseases.Back then, former U.S. President Bill Clinton showed such expectations by saying, “Today we are le
A classic volume about value investingAsk Warren Buffet, one of the great financial investors in the world, what book a newcomer in the stock market should read. Then, he will be sure to pick up this book, “The Intelligent Investor.”Written by economist Benjamin Graham, the 1949 classic is about so-
Mystery behind Jim Simons’ successful quantitative investmentExperts tend to talk about random walk theory and efficient market hypothesis to insist that technical analysis in the stock markets cannot be trusted.The former infers that the past movement of a stock price cannot be used to predict its
The nation’s Buddhist treasures highlighted in EnglishSouth Korea ‘s culture and heritage cannot be understood without Buddhism because out of 10 national treasures of South Korea, almost six are related to the religion.But foreigners have complained that the country lacks books coming up with a com
“People should be indifferent to difference”In his magnum opus “The Open Society and its Enemies,” Austrian refugee philosopher Karl Popper lashed out at totalitarianism while supporting openness and piecemeal development.Sociologist Richard Sennett applies the principles to social ties in cities an
Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s EconomyThis is the first of a three-part series, which highlights Modern Monetary Theory and the South Korean policies. _ ED.If unemployment goes down, the price level goes up and vice versa. The negative correlation between the unemployment rate
Prof. Behe delves into DarwinismIf science ended the creation-evolution debate in the latter’s favor once and for all, then why do authors like Richard Dawkins keep writing books attacking creationism, and why do they sell quite well?Some would say that religious dogmas still persist and scientists
Demand for Korean-language books explodingThe popularity of K-pop superstar BTS and South Korea’s Netflix series Squid Game have led to the rocketing sales of Korean-language books, according to Korea’s largest bookstore chain Kyobo on March 19.The Seoul-based outfit said that the number of Korean-l
“China and Japan” has some mistakes on Korean historyAmerican sociologist Ezra Vogel, who passed away in late 2020, was one of the most respected experts in East Asian affairs, including those of China, Japan, and Korea.In the prolific writer’s 2019 book “China and Japan: Facing History,” Vogel hope
Are Koreans bizarre people?In the 2018 book titled “Rule Makers, Rule Breakers,” cultural psychologist Michele Gelfand tried to show the difference between countries is derived from how tightly or loosely they adhere to social norms.Under the tight-loose perspective, the author classified China, Kor
“There is always room at the top”Over time, a lot of animals get bigger, which is dubbed Cope’s Rule. The reason: once an animal finds itself at the top of the heap within its biome, they escape the competition.In his 2019 book “Superlative,” journalist and author Matthew LaPlante deals with animals