You Know what the Autistic Are Like

In his novel, "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time," Mark Haddon puts a joke much like this into the words of his protagonist, a young boy we might call autistic.

~ An economist, a logician, and a mathematician were on a train to Scotland. Looking out the window as they enter Scotland they see a brown cow standing parallel to the train.
The economist says, "Look the cows in Soctland are brown."
The logician says, "No,, there are cows in Scotland of which ast least one is brown."
The mathematician says, "No, there is at least one cow in Scotland, of which one side appears brown." ~

Haddon has his hero explain the joke like this " ...it is funny because economists are not real scientists, and because logicians think more clearly, but mathematicians are best."

Maybe one needs to read the book.

Southeast Asia

The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia is likely to be appreciated by those interested in background for SEA countries.The four volumes of this set deal with the region from earliest times through the 1980's. I've enjoyed Volume One which deals with earliest times to c. 1500.
It was published in 1992 by Cambridge University Press.
The "Viet Nam War" may have been a motivating factor for it being published.

The five scholars writing Volume One let show a bit of their excitement at being early researchers in the field. The work, of course, covers the maritime countries as well as the mainland nations.
Volume one is laid out in five sections:
1. a review of the writing of SEA history
2. pre-history of the region
3. the early kingdoms
4. economic history
5. religion and popular beliefs

Barnes and Noble has vol. 1 available online for $37
Amazon.com has it for less than $30. Amazon now lists 80 books as citing this Vol!

"Love in the Time of Cholera"

With "Love in the Time of Cholera," a book of life, death, and love I may be beginning to mention so books I feel are well worth mentioning. "Love ...." might be called a book of manners as well as a good snapshot of Colombian coastal culture of the time. It is a cultured exploration of many of the faces of love. Spanish-English translations are usually well done these days and Edith Grosman has done a particularly good job in this case.
Buy.com has it available for between one cent and a medium price of about $9.
I'm just noting that while my mind is much on the author of this book, I have neglected to mention his name; it's Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Barnes & Noble have this Garcia Marquez work available for between 2 and 12 dollars. $2 seems a cheap price to pay to learn of 'Latin love.'
Borders has it for $15 and their reviewers love it.
Amazon.com has it for between 3 and 10 dollars and over 400 of their reviewers still love it. Most of those reviewers have also had the pleasure of reading "One Hundred Years of Solitude."

"Writing Without Teachers

Peter Elbow in his book, "Writing Without Teachers," not only instructs me, but entertains me to the point of laughter.

I haven't actually followed his instructions, but I might.