Is this a season of books or what- that too of some of my favourite authors - First it was Richard Dawkins with his "The God Delusion", next is Steven Johnson with his "The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic -- and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World".

I just happened to read his interview for the Salon Magazine[Forced Ad viewing required]. I wouldn't rate it as exciting- but nevertheless, it is interesting. The first book of him, that I read was "Emergence- The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software". The moment I started reading that book, I knew I was holding one of the most interested topics that I had ever had!

That book along with The Selfish Gene and The Meme Machine, had broadened my view on science, anthropology and to a good extent religion, philosophy and God! The Selfish Gene was introduced to me by Prof. Sankaran, who has a great interest on things like Emergence, Society and Science. Once I got that book, the remaining books were a logical extension of the theme that interested me the most. I started reading more books on such topics, which let me to Immanuel Kunt's "Critique of Pure Reason". It did help me that I was at TAPMI then and had unrestricted access to the treasures of such classics that were freely available in the Library.

Now, the more I look into the ways that Cities and other Social structures have developed, the more I understand that Men, after all isn't any different/great from the so-called lower creatures. It does is a matter of pride that we were able to make fighter planes and nuclear bombs, but it still isn't convincing to me that we are any greater than any other animal on this planet.

If you need more convincing proofs, do take a look at this article.[General Warning: A Ten Page Article that requires considerable patience].

I liked especially one line- "The city of the dead antedates the city of the living"-[Lewis Mumford]