Category: Philosophy & Worldview

The Moment of Lift

Melinda French Gates gets a lot of things right with the book. Starting with the acknowledgement that she shares from a position of privilege, she approaches the subjects with intellectual honesty. The book covers a lot of ground – maternal and newborn health, the importance of contraceptives and family planning, education for girls, the unpaid work that women do, and gender inequity in the workplace. It’s an excellent read that is full of anecdotes and insights without being prescriptive.

The Wizard and the Prophet

As the world races towards a population in double figure billions, there is a huge pressure on ensuring basic necessities for all – water, food, clean air, and scalable energy sources. Represented principally by Norman Borlaug (the wizard) and William Vogt (the prophet), there are two schools of thought in how humanity could solve this. Scientific and philosophical, it’s not an easy read, but does provide some great perspectives.