And while Bullshit! certainly hinted at the pair’s atheistic views, it wasn’t until I started watching Penn’s podcast on Revision3 that I learned Penn was an outspoken atheist and libertarian, two traits that I (while not quite as outspoken) share with him. As such, I was excited to recently get my hands on his new book, God, No!: Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales.

I’m a big fan of atheist propaganda. I’ve read more Dawkins and Hitchens in the last few years than I have any other authors. I’m a sucker for nodding along to stunning realizations about the blazingly obvious.

With its title, and Penn’s frequent mention of Hitchens in his podcast, I had assumed this book might be somewhat Four Horsemen-esque. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I loved the book, but the title is complete bullshit. It’s obviously a grab for the atheist crowd, and I think it does itself a bit of a disservice. I like Penn not because he’s brilliant like Hitchens or Dawkins, but because he’s much more of an every-man. He’s weird, swears like a trucker (juggler?) and just speaks his (well reasoned) mind. He doesn’t try too hard to sound smart, but frequently fails at that. I like Penn because he’s likable.

“God, No!” is about atheism like the bible is about being a good person. It’s in there, but it’s largely anecdotal. People looking for an exploration of evolution, or the evils of religion through history will be disappointed; but fans of Penn will be rewarded. The book is essentially a very disjointed, very honest biography of a guy who has repeatedly found himself in some extraordinary situations. It’s personal bar stories from a masterful storyteller.

For “Penn Point” watchers, some of the material will sound familiar as it has been briefly touched on in the podcast, but the book does a good job of fleshing out stories that were well-truncated in the 5-10 minute videos. And for voyeurs, it’s chock full of tales of sex, nudity, general debauchery, and (painfully) one grilled penis.

I was telling my wife the other day that there are very view people’s voices I would recognize in a crowd, but Penn’s is one of them. I was grateful to find that the audio version of the book has Penn reading the whole thing. Not grateful because Penn has a particularly beautiful voice, he most certainly doesn’t. But it’s so familiar, and the stories so intimate, that I can’t imagine it being read any other way.

What I liked most about the book, and where the title earns back a bit of relevance, is that Penn does an excellent job illustrating that you can be a good, moral, honest and intelligent human without the fantasy of religion or the fear of a god keeping you in line. It’s an obvious truth, but then books about atheism always are.

Buy it here, or here if you’re in China.

Date:
Saturday 29nd May – 7.30 pm

Title:
Tom Carter, author of CHINA: Portrait of a People

An internationally published freelance photographer and travel writer, Tom has traveled extensively throughout all 33 Chinese provinces and autonomous regions before publishing ‘CHINA: Portrait of a People,’ the most comprehensive collection of imagery of contemporary China ever published by a single author. Tonight he shares his experiences through the Middle Kingdom and India, seeking out photo opportunities and human experiences.

Note: tickets might be required — I’m not sure. Check with the Bookworm

Tom and I have crossed digital paths a number of times over the last several years, and I’ve yet to meet him. When Tom e-mailed to say he would be in town, I was hoping to get out and fix that this weekend, but that “all about the baby” bit carries much past these dusty pages of HTML.

So, if you see Tom tomorrow, please let him know I sent you and give him my best. Also, if you’ve seen his book, be sure to let me know what you thought.

I’ll be doing a proper review soon on Lost Laowai (it’s about 2 years past due — but coincides well with its June 16th Amazon availability), but I think its fantastic. The thing is massive. For a preview of some of the photography, head over to Tom’s photostream on Flickr.

Much like the rest of the globe’s Netizens, of course, I knew about Wikipedia. And as a Creative Commons blogger, open-source developer and avid user of all things GNU, Wikipedia’s philosophies were not unknown to me, either. But having just finished the book, The Wikipedia Revolution, I realized how little I really knew about the site and the movements that spawned it.Launched in the early days of 2001, Wikipedia was initially created by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger as a way to use a community to generate content for feeding into their for-profit (but free access) online encyclopedia Nupedia. It didn’t take long for what started as a side project to eclipse its parent, and in the eight years since, it has blossomed into the world’s largest encyclopedia with nearly 3 million articles in the English edition alone, with 266 other language editions–from Afrikaans to Zeêuws–as well.

Lih’s narrative shines not just by recounting Wikipedia’s creation, but by acting as a history of the modern Internet of sorts. It delves into the hacker and free software movements that were seminal in creating the ethos that would later be adopted by Wikipedians in their monumental quest to capture the sum of all human knowledge.

But not all that glitters is gold, and Lih, despite being an avid supporter and member of Wikipedia for more than half a decade, doesn’t shy away from turning the spotlight on the many problems that have faced, continue to face, and will face the “encyclopedia that anyone can edit”.

Lih discussed candidly the many lumps and bruises the site has suffered on its rise to being one of the most popular and most trafficked Web sites on the Net. He explained how just broaching the topic of advertising on the site caused the Spanish edition to revolt and fork into an independent project; and how a prank entry about journalist John Seigenthaler led to wide-spanning accusations that called into question the quality and future of the entire project.

Of particular interest to me was a chapter on the Chinese Wikipedia. Due to the multifaceted nature of the language (numerous dialects and two different writing systems) and the even more divisive political and ideological lines between various “Chinese” communities around the globe, it’s maybe no surprise that the Chinese edition of Wikipedia faced some major complications initially.

Starting in 2002, the Chinese Wikipedia was a mish mash of simplified and traditional writing. This, coupled with the political differences (particularly between Taiwanese and Mainland users), caused the edition’s growth to stagnate.

Enter ZhengZhu, an ambitious Wikipedia member who created a simple yet ingenious system that allowed for complex mapping between language systems by combining computer processing and human editing. The innovation was an astounding success and led to each Chinese edition page having seven additional tabs that allow readers to seamlessly switch not just between simplified and traditional characters, but also between variants for Mainland China, Taiwan, HK/Macau and Malaysia/Singapore. The system was such a success it was ported to other language additions that suffered from the same diversity (i.e. Serbian and Kazakh).

The one thing I was surprised not to see covered in the chapter about the Chinese Wikipedia was how the edition has been affected by periodic blocks of Mainland Chinese by the country’s infamous Great Firewall. While Lih attributes ZhengZhu’s language solution as being the spark of increased activity in recent years on the Chinese Wikipedia, I can’t help but think that the site now being accessible to the world’s largest Chinese population may also be playing a part.

The only other minor criticism I have of “The Wikipedia Revolution” is that it follows a somewhat convoluted timeline. While much of the book does attempt to lay out a linear history of the many groups, technologies and events that led to the information juggernaut we now know as Wikipedia, there are a few times when the author seems to forget what we’ve already been told, explaining again in detail things that could have been referred to directly. It’s a minor gripe with what was otherwise a fantastic and informative read.

What “The Wikipedia Revolution” gives more than anything else is a sense of scope and perspective on such a common fixture of our online lives. It highlights not just the revolution of wiki culture, but the evolution of collaborative human endeavors over the last quarter century. It lays out and gives credit to Wikipedia’s wonderful and varied pedigree.

It is also an evocative read for anyone who, like me, cut their online teeth with the ASCII art of BBSes, screens full of Usenet messages, and late night IRC chats.

Edit wars, vandals, libelous entries and community forks have all been weathered by the project and its legion of editors. Yet, despite its problems and criticisms, Wikipedia remains the go-to online reference for pretty much everything. The project illustrates what can be done when a bunch of “nobodies” put their minds to it. That is a truly inspirational story, and Lih has captured it well in the pages of “The Wikipedia Revolution”.

Learn more about Andrew Lih at his Web site, or follow him on Twitter. More about The Wikipedia Revolution can be found at the book’s Web site.

Mags has been using Joyo/Amazon.cn for months now to stock our shelves with every yoga book that exists – but only recently informed me that they have an “English Bookstore” section of imported books.

Now, unfortunately this wont help you if you are completely without a Chinese person (or fluent-in-Chinese laowai), as the ordering process is still all in 中文 – but that’s just a small matter of getting your Chinese wife/gf/friend/secretary/QQ buddy/random stranger to help you.

Not unlike the bricks and mortar æ–°å�Žä¹¦åº—, a lot of the books are “classics” that haven’t been seen by many of us since 10th grade. However, they carry a lot of new best-sellers, as well.

No Chinese credit card? No problem. China is still very much a C.O.D. world and you just pay the delivery guy when he shows up with a big box of books.

Joyo’s main (and larger) competitor, DangDang.com, also has an Import Books section, and appears to offer much the same selection. Not sure how their delivery system works though – probably similar to Joyo/Amazon.cn’s.

Delivery groceries, delivery pizza, delivery books. I’m making a habit of finding ways not to go outside.