The Reading Brain

I recently came across this book with an intriguing title at Kinokuniya during lunch time:

Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain
by Maryanne Wolf

but because I had to hurry back to the office, I could not browse it then and there.

After my meeting had ended, I did a check on Amazon.com and here's an excerpt from the Washington Post review which caught my attention:

Anyone who reads is bound to wonder, at least occasionally, about how those
funny squiggles on a page magically turn into "Bare ruined choirs, where late
the sweet birds sang" or "After a while I went out and left the hospital and
walked back to the hotel in the rain." Where did this unlikely skill called
reading come from? What happens in our brain when our eyes scan a line of type?
Why do some of us, or some of our children, find it difficult to process the
visual information held in words?

Another review by a certain Dr R. Petty elaborated the central idea further:

She focuses on three fundamental principles that operate throughout the human
brain:

1. The capacity to make new connections among older structures

2. The capacity to form or appropriate regions of the brain that are specialized for
recognizing and extracting patterns in a mass of information

3. The ability to learn to recruit and connect information from these regions of the brain As a rider to the last point, the recruiting and connecting of different areas of the brain occurs automatically. If you think about someone you will usually be able to associate a visual image of him or her with a sound, smell and emotion. This associative process usually happens without conscious effort.

Maryanne's work indicates that these three principles of design provide the neural machinery essential to reading, and she spends some time explaining the evolution of what she calls the "reading brain."

But why the strange title? Dr Petty later elaborated that:

... Maryanne uses the French novelist Marcel Proust as a metaphor. He believed that reading gives us access to countless different realities that would otherwise be sealed from us. The squid is to pay tribute to the creature who has given so much to neurological research.

Interesting stuff, but would I borrow or purchase this book? I guess not. If I have little time for left for reading comics, I am not sure I could find time to read this book with over 300 pages.

BTW, this title is available in the form of books and audio-CDs at NLB's public libraries:


Title: Proust and the squid : the story and science of the reading brain
Author: Maryanne Wolf
Publisher: Thriplow : Icon, 2008.
Call No.: 612.82 WOL -[HEA]
Available at AMPL, BEPL, BIPL, CCKPL, QUPL, TPPL, WRL & YIPL

and:


Title: Proust and the squid [sound recording]
Author: Maryanne Wolf.
Publisher: [Minneapolis, Minn.] : Highbridge Audio, p2008.
Physical Description: 7 sound discs (8 1/4 hr.) : digital, stereo ; 4 3/4 in.
Call No.: AV 612.82 WOL -[HEA] pt. 7
Available at MPPL, QUPL & TPPL

Silly question: Where got recession?

I was attending a lunch function at The Line restaurant at Shangri-La Hotel yesterday, and the place was packed.

As I was waiting for the crepe stand for my crepe to be done by the chef, I casually asked her if the economic recession has started to affect business. She smiled and said it was business as usual, adding that there were over 400 pax for the Valentine's Day dinner last Saturday.

When I told my wife about this, she looked around and saw a lot of expat families (mostly caucasian) seated near us, and echoed, "Where's the recession? I thought most of them in the finance industry would have been affected some time ago?".

And then, I saw this article in The New Paper today:

The Electric New Paper :

In the face of the economic crunch...
Condos still hot property

DESPITE the recession, demand for condominiums is still high, going by two recent launches.
By Elysa Chen

16 February 2009
DESPITE the recession, demand for condominiums is still high, going by two
recent launches.

At Caspian, next to Lakeside MRT station in Jurong, condo units were selling fast.

Within the first two hours of the public launch yesterday, 38 of the 712 units there were sold.

At 8am, there were already six couples queuing outside the showroom.

When The New Paper on Sunday visited the show flat at 4pm, it was so crowded, it was difficult to move around. Visitors had streamed in from 9.30am.

At another development, Alexis on Alexandra Road, at least half the 293 units were
sold during preview sales which started on Thursday. Prices range from $850 per
square foot (psf) to $1,100 psf.

Despite the recession, Mr Cheang Kok Kheong, chief operating officer of development and property at Frasers Centrepoint, the developer of Caspian, expects demand for condominiums to increase.

He said: 'Financial difficulties would be most felt by those in the upper echelons of society, who would have investments worldwide. This is why the high-end property market in Singapore has been hit very hard.

'However, many HDB upgraders are less exposed, and would still be interested in buying property now.'

An estimated 2,400 people visited the show flat during the first day of its public launch yesterday, most of them HDB upgraders, and, of the 550 units that have been released, 430 have been sold.

Although the launch of the 99-year-lease condominium came as property prices seemed to be heading south, Mr Cheang said the demand wasn't unexpected.

Based on surveys among residents in Jurong, Frasers Centrepoint had found that there was pent-up demand for condominiums in the area, he explained. 'People would buy a condominium here if the price was right.'

More affordable for HDB upgraders Mr Cheang said they had catered to that demand by making some units 'more affordable for HDB upgraders'.

During preview sales held last week, all 350 units released were sold, at an average of $580 psf.

Yesterday, some three bedroom units were selling between $700,000 and $800,000, around $620 psf.

Other reasons he cited for the launch's success were the proximity of the condominium to the MRT and the development of the Jurong Lake District.

With Jurong being touted as the second largest commercial space outside of the central business district, with hotels and a new science park, Mr Cheang estimates some 60,000 jobs will be created in the area.

He said: 'People who work in the area may want to establish their homes here as well. When we bought the piece of land, we saw the potential of the Lakeside area. The Chinese and Japanese gardens will be refurbished, and this area is a green lung - an asset that's rare in Singapore.'

Mr Cheang said that although the area was earmarked for several new developments, 80 per cent of it is still an 'attractive green space'.

Mr Yip, 45, an engineer who had visited the showroom with his wife and daughter, said: 'It's an interesting project. From some of the units, you can even see the Jurong lake. I'm an HDB upgrader, and I find the price very reasonable.'

Design director Chin Ser Jong, 45, also liked the design and quality of the units, adding that it was 'rare' for condominiums targeted at HDB upgraders to have bathrooms with marble tiles.

Looks like the water is only starting to boil...

Ask A Stupid Question A Day

I started a new Cause on Facebook on 6 Feb 09 called "Ask A Stupid Question A Day", as a proof of concept for one of the projects I'm doing at work.

I was new to the Causes application, and when prompted to key in up to 5 position statements, I wrote the following guidelines:

1. Supporters of this Cause are encouraged to do the following in their own time & place:
   Supporters should strive to submit at least one "Stupid Question" a day to the Wall, Discussion Board or Media Board.


2. If you have 'asker's block' on any day, please ask your friends, colleagues or family for ideas.


3. If you really can't think of any "Stupid Question" at all, try posting a solution or answer to any of the posted questions.


4. Please do not to post questions or solutions which are offensive or inflammatory!


5. For more ideas, go to: http://blogs.nlb.gov.sg/invent/asqm/

What was heartening was the better-than-expected rate of growth in terms of membership. This Cause now has 54 members (after 10 days of existence), and what's better is that most of the members are outside of my own circle of friends in my Facebook.

What I hope to see growing is the number of Stupid Questions submitted. Here are some of the Stupid Questions posted by members so far:

• What if you can create a 100% 3D marine theme park and interact with 3D dolphins without capturing and imprisoning real animals?



• How can you create a personalized pool whereby you can adjust the pool temperature and change the surrounding environment to onsen, wakiki etc according to your mood?


• What if a library is on or in the water?


• What if we play soccer on water?


• What if my business name cards are like fortune cookies?


• What if my office is like home?


• How do I get slimmer & healthier without exercising?


• What if a electric fan can generate more energy then the amount required to turn it on by the rotational speed of its propeller?
  

If you are keen to join this Cause or to find out more, go to: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/210696/44690774?m=cc366e79

The Last Stand (game)

Recently, my colleagues & I were asked to explore the use of casual games to promote library programmes virally, and the spirit of the game was to spread the message of 'die die must go library', i.e. there's a strong compulsion to visit a library for our programmes or exhibitions.

Some of the inputs I received were a bit simple, and involved shelving books (which I'm not sure would even attract librarians) or playing space invaders (hard to make a link to what we are doing) or being a human cannonball (which could be OK, but lacks the compulsion bit).

One day, I came across a professional looking zombie-shooter game called The Last Stand 2, which is one of the highest rated in the zombie games network site, and I could understand why: apart from the mindless shooting & weapons switching, players also need to strategise how best to escape to the border within 40 game days, so they have to search the towns & cities for supplies to move on from city to city, plus allocate 12 hours of daylight between various tasks like repairing the barricades, looking for survivors to increase firepower (but will eat into supplies) and searching for better weapons.

So if our mini-game can alternate between the mindless fun of arcade games and the part about going to libraries to look for stuff loosely tied to PX progs & exhibitions, it will be a more balanced game. I hope the vendor can pull off something like that. :-)