Farewell

It has been seven years since I first started this blog, and it seems an appropriate time to draw it to a close.

Since it is almost the New Year Eve, I'm afraid it is also a good idea to share with you the classic song So Long, Farewell from The Sound of Music:

(All children)
There's a sad sort of clanging
From the clock in the hall
And the bells in the steeple, too
And up in the nursery
An absurd little bird
Is popping out to say coo-coo
(Coo-coo, coo-coo)

(Brigitta, Gretel, Marta) (Fredrick, Leisel, Kurt, Louisa)
Coo-coo Regretfully they tell us
Coo-coo But firmly they compel us
To say good bye
Coo-coo
(All)
To you

(Children)
So long, farewell
Auf Wiedersehen, goodnight
(Marta)
I hate to go and leave this pretty sight

(Children)
So long, farewell
Auf Wiedersehen, adieu
(Fredrick)
Adieu, adieu
To you and you and you

(Children)
So long, farewell
Au revoir, Auf Weidersehen
(Leisel)
I'd like to stay
And taste my first champagne
(talking to the captain) yes?
(Captain) no!

(children)
So long, farewell
Auf Weidersehen, goodbye
(Kurt)
I leave and heave
A sigh and say goodbye
Goodbye

(Brigitta)
I'm glad to go
I cannot tell a lie
(Louisa)
I flit, I float
I fleetly flee, I fly

(Gretel)
The sun has gone
To bed and so must I

(Children)So long, farewell
Auf Weidersehen, goodbye!

You can find the actual video in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy9_lfjQopU

**********************
Alas, just like what you have in the movie, the song could appear in the middle of an enchanting party, or before Nazi took over Austria.

It depends on your point of view.

Merry Christmas.

List

It is close to the end of the year and a good time to plan ahead.

There are a few books on my (electronic) shelf that I have not read, and a few more in my wish list that I have not bought for my shelf.

Here you go:

(To read)

• David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell
• One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson
• The Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty
• The Pig That Wants to be Eaten by Julian Baggini
• 9 Algorithm That Changes the Future by John MacCormick

(To acquire)

• Sapien: A Brief History of Mankind by Yuval Harari
• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
• One Hundred Years of Solitudes by Gabriel Marquez
• The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera

Considerations

In addition to inflation, there is another factor that we did not consider in the calculation yesterday: If everything goes according to the plan, you will be leaving the principal (and the apartment) as legacy when you die.

Is this what you prefer?

Let's consider the answer no first. In that case, you can take away a portion of the principal for your living - plus the investment return from the principal, and minus the inflation. The target of this scenario is to leave no money at the end.

It becomes immediately obvious that if your investment return is the same as the inflation, the two factors cancel out each other. In that case, you can calculate by simple arithmetic. If you have 50 years to live and you need $30,000 each month, an original principal of HK$18M is necessary.

PS. In this simplified calculation, I actually borrow the concept of discounted cash flow valuation. In reality, the amount you take each month increases with time according to the inflation rate, but the discounted present day value equals HK$30,000 today. That's how you maintain the standard of living in a moving world.

PPS. The real motto of the above discussion is: Investment of your savings is always necessary, not because you want to earn money, but you need to negate the effect of inflation.

Income

Before going on with my calculation, I pushed forward a further question to PC, "Can you elaborate what you mean?"

"Very simple. I have a place to live. That's settled. All I need for retirement is a sum of money that could generate a sufficient amount of income - as interest, dividend, or whatever."

"I see..."

*******************
On the face of it, the calculation is straightforward. There are only two variables in the equation: the monthly income you need, and the interest rate.

Say, if we assume HK$30,000 each month and 4% per annum as the rate, we need HK$9M to start with. Similarly, if you need HK$50,000 each month but the interest rate is 2%, you need HK$30M before submitting the resignation letter. If you do not own an apartment, then you need to add the cost of renting to the monthly expenditure.

But, the critical question is: How about inflation?

Retire

PC and I went on to talked about our daughters and other personal matters. A moment later, he suddenly made a curious remark, "You know, I just worry I do not have enough money to retire."

I was surprised. PC is a consultant in another department and his wife is a senior doctor in another hospital. They have a daughter - studying in a private school - and, as far as I know, no other expensive hobby. He is close to finish with the mortgage of his apartment in Kowloon Tong, of which the price actually goes up drastically after he bought it some ten years ago.

"How could that be?"

"My wife and I put much of our income for settling the mortgage. We also plan to send our daughter overseas for schooling. And, you know, we are rather hopeless when it comes to investment."

"I see - but I suppose it depends on what kind of life you want to lead after retirement, doesn't it?"

"Oh, my. I just want to keep my current standard of living." He sighed.

In no time, I could see that is a mathematical question.

Address

Met my friend PC during lunch. Somehow, our conversation came to the topic of social mobility in Hong Kong.

"I could understand very well why the youngsters nowadays become frustrated." He began.

"Yes...?"

"Take doctor as an example," he explained, "You know, any doctor graduated thirty years before I became a doctor could afford living on the Peak."

I nodded.

"And, doctors graduated twenty years before I do live in the Mid-Levels. For those ten years more senior than me, they settle comfortably in the North Point or Tai Koo. When it comes to me, only a small apartment in Kowloon Tong."

"Or Lam Tin, like me," I laughed and added. 

"Now, from what I heard recently, new fellows could only afford buying second-hand flat of the Home Ownership Scheme."

I must say I don't think PC's apartment is anything small, but he did make an important point.

Plan

For some inexplicable reasons, I was asked to attend a meeting with a dozen of extra-terrestrials.

The topic for discussion was simple: How should we plan our clinical service 10 or 15 years down the road?

Sounds grandiose, eh?

In fact it was grandiose. Instead of a small meeting between three of four key persons, I found myself in a conference of some two dozen people - representatives from duke to dustman, or from professor to (literally) porter, each voicing out their view or vision to the future.

Alas, how could we all have our own vision? Are we seeing mirage?

And, as I always say, if the The Grand Council (軍機處) of Emperor Yongzheng (雍正) had five members and the Politburo Standing Committee (中央政治局常委會) of our great country has nine, what's there to be so important to have a committee of more than a dozen?

PS. You may want to ask a philosophical question: If we have no idea what Hong Kong would become 10 or 15 years later, how are we going to plan the medical service accordingly?

Determining

During a casual conversation, my friend WS expressed his concern on the next generation academic clinicians.

 “Very true,” I said, “Some are good clinicians but simply cannot take care of a project. Others just focus on research and have no interest to take care of patients.”

“Alas, they have to think of their contract…”

“And there is a third domain that we have not touched on – teaching! Unfortunately, it carries very little weight in the equation.”

“My worry is, quite a few budding academics are interested in too many things.” WS sighed, “They start one project after another, without being able to complete with any.”

“Very true. When it comes to medical research, it is more a test of self discipline than talent. You don’t really have to be innovative. All you need is organization and being able to execute the project.”

Alas, it also applies to many other aspects of our life.

情書

My recent bedtime reading is Funeral of Flowers (花葬) by Renjo Mikihiko (連城三紀彥).

I get this paperback within a pile of detective fictions that my friend AL gave me before she set off to Zhuhai for her new post. It does not appear to be particularly attractive and, as a result, I put it towards the end of my reading list. Nonetheless, the name Renjo seems familiar - just that I couldn't figure out when and where I encountered it in the past until I started reading it.

Yes, he wrote Koibumi (戀文), which is also known as Love Letter (情書).

The all time classic of Miho Nakayama (中山美穗)!

*******************
But, as I realize later, I was wrong. The story between the two Itsuki Fujii (藤井樹) does not come from Renjo, who wrote, with the same title, a rather cruel story between a broken couple.

What's in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet.

Cost

“You know, it doesn’t feel good to abandon a trainee if they don’t perform well. We should give them a chance and see if they could improve. After all, we have a moral responsibility to them.”

“You have a point there,” I nodded, “Nonetheless, it really depends on how you see it. If you take the perspective of a trainee, you are entirely right. However, the benefit of trainee should be taken care of by themselves.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, as a leader, you should consider the matter and think of the benefit of your team or department.”

“Which means… what?”

“Which means, as the provider of training, it is more cost effective for a department to give up a problematic trainee and find a more promising one to take up the post. The effort you need is much less, and the risk of any medical incident is much lower.”

My words are bitter to taste and difficult to swallow – I know from the face of my friend.

Train

Shortly after discussing the issue of medical manpower with VW, I was engaged in another conversation with HM, a friend of mine who is working in another hospital, on a similar topic.

In short, he was complaining about the performance of a trainee in her department, "You know, we are really disappointed. She did well in every aspect as a house officer and junior trainee. But, when she turned into a higher trainee, you really think that's a different person. Her knowledge is deficient, and her professional attitude is far from acceptable."

"Is she having some problem with her family?" I suggested.

"No, I don't think so. She keeps putting up photos of her exquisite dinning almost everyday on her Facebook. My god, what time is left for studying if you dine with your friend every evening?"

"In that case, why don't you give her some warning? I believe there are mechanisms to discontinue her training, aren't there?"

"In theory, yes, but we don't want to..."

"Why?"

Over-supply

(My conversation with VW continued.)

“In a sense that may be a good news for us working in the government hospital,” my friend said, “We can easily fill up all vacant posts, and our house officers would certainly be more hardworking – the competition is fierce and they need to outshine the others in order to get a good training post.”

“That may be true. However, from the perspective of our society, that may not be a good news.”

“Why?”

“Because we will soon find a lot of unethical and ruthless doctors around.”

“Because the market is fixed but competition has increased?”

“Exactly. Moreover, many fresh graduates will not have any training post after finished with their internship. They would be forced to join the private market – rather prematurely I dare say.”

Manpower

Shortly after I heard about the behaviour of students from the other side of the harbour, we held the clinical examination for the medical council.

As always, I shall not tell you what happened in the examination. However, during the coffee break, my friend VW made a succinct comment: Are we expecting many new doctors in the near future?

No, I don't think it was a question. I nodded and said, "Absolutely. There are more and more graduates from overseas coming back for practice. Two years later, we are expecting over 200 graduates from each local medical school. Moreover, our government is beginning to defer the age of retirement from 60 to 65. I am fair sure the Hospital Authority will follow suit, and many senior clinicians will hang around for 5 more years.”

“Could HA hire so many doctors?”

“That’s the question,” I said, “I suspect our government would put the money on infra-structure and construction, and the expenditure in health care would thin out..."

Reverse

If you have read Metamorphosis, you may think the story does not have a happy ending. Gregor Samsa died, and the family felt relieved.

However, while I was reading Beetle Boy with Euterpe, I came to realize Kafka did not consider the most horrible scenario: After his family decided to give him up, Gregor woke up the other day and became an ordinary person again.

And that's all too common. His view may have changed, there are basic human needs to satisfy, or he just couldn't stand the loneliness of being regarded as different. His Will (as defined by Arthur Schopenhauer) defeats his Reasons (of Immanuel Kant) and decides to turn himself back to human - rather than enduring the pain before he turns into a butterfly.

The irony is, if he does become a butterfly, he would no longer be regarded as a kind of disgusting bug. All worldly people like him. Unfortunately, that's a rare occurrence. Most of the vermin just take a U-turn to be human again. Others, including Gregor, die as an wounded bug. A few go on and hide themselves forever as pupa.

Different

What would happen if we suddenly appreciate a piece of truth that contradicts with the common belief?

It could be anything, depending when and where you are. The Earth is moving around the Sun, The Garden of Eden is a figurative existence, China was a colony of (forgive my language) barbarians much of the time in the past 800 years (not sure the tense of this clause is correct), or, most recently, democracy is a basic human right. These views may not be correct; many a time it depends on your point of view and there is no absolute right or wrong. (As a matter of fact, the Earth does not simply move around the Sun; both of them move around the Milky Way galaxy.) Nonetheless, your life becomes difficult when everyone believe in one way and you think of the other.

You become a vermin - the gigantic monster that Gregor Samsa turned into.

PS. Of course, many bugs do not have a bad feeling. As Jonathan Davis says,
You laugh at me because I'm different, 
I laugh at you because you're all the same.

Beetle

While writing the exceptionally short blog on metamorphosis, I was actually reading Beetle Boy (卡夫卡變蟲記) by David Lawrence.

The book is a gift from my friend KM, and the story was based on Metamorphosis of Franz Kafka. I met the original version when I was a medical student and has always been puzzled about what the legendary novelist was trying to tell us. Believe it or not, there are no fewer than a handful of sensible but rather complicated explanations around. I must say I am not satisfied with any. My gut feeling is, as his first full-length novel, Kafka must have a critical but simple message.

************************

I read it with Euterpe as part of her regular reading project. For obvious reasons I am not going to discuss my princess's homework or the story told by Lawrence, which is primarily written for children. However, when Euterpe read it aloud, I saw light.

I mean I suddenly understand the message that Franz Kafka was trying to convey.

Ruminate

After a moment of silence, I asked, "My dear, how about the teaching evaluation of your hospital? I suppose it's all plain sailing?"

"Yes and no. It took probably two minutes to go through the feedback of my hospital, and the only solid suggestion that the students put up is we should give them fewer free sessions during the attachment."

"How could that be? I think all students like some leisure time? How did you respond?"

"I told the students that they are expected to make good use of the free sessions and see patients in the ward."

"That sounds reasonable but, if I were you, I would give a figurative answer."

"Which is...?"

"By choosing to become doctors, the students are expected to lead a life of donkey or cow, and they need time to ruminate after feeding!"

Absent

(My lunch-time discussion with Vivian continued.)

"My dear, I suppose feedback meeting of this kind is just a formality, isn't it? What keeps you so late?" I asked.

"Not this time. The consultant surgeon from Portland Street Hospital was obviously irritated and gave a lot of comments. Em... I think he has good reasons. You know, many students assigned to his hospital did not turn up. On several occasions, only one or two students, out of ten in the group, attended a bedside tutorial!"

"Alas... All I could say is my friends VM and JW would be very happy to hear this news - the problem is not restricted to our own students!"

My wife gave me a cold stare and went on, "It's not only a problem of attendance but, more importantly, attitude. You know, the student representative was not at all apologetic. He kept putting up excuses, one after another, to justify their poor attendance rate. In fact, towards the end of the meeting, the student representative and the consultant were literally discussing with their fists!"

Meeting

Lunched with Vivian in Central on a Saturday.

You may wonder, as my wife works in Kowloon and I north to the Lion Rock Tunnel, why the two of us ended up in the other side of the Harbour. The explanation is simple: Vivian had to attend an academic meeting in our sister medical school and, by the time everything was finished, it was well after two o'clock.

But, what brought my wife to the academic meeting? Again, there's little mystery: She is involved in the teaching of medical students from the other side of the Harbour.

************************
When the two of us finally settled in the Loyal Dining of Wellington Street, it was close to 3 PM.

"My dear, what meeting are you actually attending?" I asked once after making the order.

"Mid-term teaching feedback. In short, representatives from each and every hospital that helps in the teaching are there to discuss the performance of their students. At the same time, there are representatives from each group of student so that the department could also listen to their feedback about the arrangement of the teaching program."

I must say that sounds a good idea.

Tattoo

During a casual chat, I found that a few of my senior nurses were obviously not happy with the quality of the new generation doctors and nurses.

"You know, looking at how competent they are and how they treat the patients, I am tempted to make a tattoo on my chest - Don't touch me." one of them said.

"Alas, do you mean no CPR?" Another nurse asked. (For visitors with no medical background, CPR stands for cardiopulmonary resuscitation.)

"Yes, of course. If I fell unconscious, just let me die. I don't want to be tortured by them." She explained.

"No, you mean more," I laughed, "What you really want to say is Don't touch me, because I want to live longer."

Everyone looked at me - none seemed to disagree.

刀削麵

自費城返港前中午有空，天色清朗，卻仍極寒冷，便又逕自往唐人街吃麵。

這次是午飯時間，加之是週末，四處人頭湧湧。好不容易在內街找了間外表企理卻仍有空位的店子。雖要搭枱，亦無關宏旨。店稱是拉麵店，但看看四週，大多本地人卻是吃刀削麵，便依樣畫葫蘆，叫了一個。

麵旋踵便上，份量便如前次般大。喝一口湯，極熱而略油，濃兼帶葯味，是台式紅燒牛肉麵的湯底。夾一塊牛肉，卻是半潮半港式的鹵牛展，炆得夠腍而入味，只嫌切得較薄，少了食趣。再吃麵，是真箇山西刀削版本。雖略有粗幼不一，卻有咬口而富麵粉香，是極有水準的。其實刀削麵吸湯不多，講究的便是麵彈牙而湯可以分開喝，這裡做是對辦的。

一頓麵不過二十分鐘，倒也吃得溫暖飽足。埋單是七塊半，非常合理。其實嚴格來說，這麵也不過拉雜成軍，難言正宗。只是每一部也恰如其分，亦無須吹毛求疵。

Dress

In another dinner gathering, I met BL, a senior physician from Scandinavia. As always, he has all sorts of humorous stories to tell.

Here is a good one this time:

************************
In a dinner party, B meets a seductive woman, who is wearing an exquisite evening gown.

The woman comes to B and starts a conversation, "Hello, Mr B. It's been three or four years since we last met. Do you recognize me?"

"Yes, of course. You are Mrs M, aren't you?"

"Oh! You do remember me. How fantastic! You must have a very good memory for people's face."

"Not really. Just that you were wearing this same dress four years ago..."

Questions

(Our dinner conversation continued.)

"You know, there are three kinds of people - or three kinds of questions - that turn up in a scientific symposium," JP began his mini-lecture, "First, there are people who really want to ask something that they do not know. They are, unfortunately, in the minority."

"Yes...?"

"On the other hand, some people ask questions simply because they do not agree with the speaker and want to express their own opinion. Oh, sometimes they actually try to give another lecture to prove that the speaker is wrong."

"How horrible..."

"And, there are others who have nothing to ask. All they want to do is to say something in the public so that everyone know that they are there!"

We all laughed. The phenomenon that my friend described certainly happens outside America. After all, Homo sapiens is the only animal that has an obligation to prove their own existence.

Chairman

Take aside the horrible weather, my stay in Philadelphia was rather enjoyable.

One evening, I had the opportunity to dine with a group of American and European colleagues. After a bit of wine and sake (oh, we had so Japanese food), we were discussion what we were going to during the conference.

JP, a physician from Canada, said, "I have to chair two sessions, one tomorrow, the other on Saturday."

"Oh, how busy..."

"Alas! You know how difficult it is to be the chairman of a symposium," he sighed, "People just keep asking questions after a speaker has finished, and the program just overruns"

"Is it possible to ask the audience to submit their questions to the chairman for selection so that only a few interesting ones are asked?" One of us asked.

"Don't be silly. No one would agree with such an arrangement."

"Why?"

子羽

羊肉有六七件，有兩件是連皮帶肋的羊腩，其他則是脊肉連骨。吃一口，油脂豐腴而肉質嫩滑，反而羶味不重，大概是熬湯與放麵的是兩種羊肉，卻又難以引證矣。

吃著吃著，才發原先未開的一半麵餅被熱湯久浸，已完全熟透，此時才明白，如果麵上桌時皆軟硬恰當，吃了一半之後，餘下的便太過腍爛。忽然想起故老相傳，傳統廣府吞麵以兩三口為一碗，便是要平衡熱湯和幼蛋麵口感的矛盾，而正統日本拉麵並不容許「加底」，也是同樣道理。同一個問題，各地便有不同的解決辦法。而以貌取人，失之子羽，又一明證。

好不容易吃了大半碗麵，已是十二成飽，此時蔥油餅到，便只好打包，留作翌日早點。平心而論，此蔥油餅平平無奇，蔥下得少，油卻極多。只是天寒地凍，人在異地，有此窩心食物，不免要寬打幾分。埋單是十二美元，價錢合理。步回酒店時，寒風凜冽，身子卻極溫暖，論滿意程度，則車呔人星級食肆，亦難望項背矣。

羊肉麵

最近往美國費城參加會議。此前已來過兩三次，地方是十分熟悉。這次是黃昏到達，天氣初冷，匆匆在酒店放下行裝，便往附近唐人街，找了一間叫蘭州拉麵的店子醫肚。

店頗大，七時半來是半滿，侍者只有兩三個，倒像是家庭式經營。甫坐下，望望餐牌，順手便點了羊肉湯麵和蔥油餅。

麵不久就上，竟是出奇的大堆頭。其實這裡用的碗子與香港翡翠拉麵或霞飛路的無異，只是香港的碗大而麵只有一點，這裡的卻是全滿。湯極熱，撲鼻而來羶味十足。下箸略攪，麵碼大概有香港兩倍份量，心想花旗人食量驚人，且凡事好大，唐人店子入鄉隨俗，理所當然。奇怪的是麵有一半仍是麵餅狀態，彷彿未全淥透，心下一沉，唯有既來之則安之，慢慢夾起邊旁已散開的麵。

世事之奇，往往如此。 麵身細嚼之下，倒是十分好吃。富彈性，淥得剛好而有咬口。呷一口湯，清鮮而不油，也沒有下多少師傅。冬夜飲來，實在是暖洋洋的無比受用。再看看湯四週浮著一些綠色蔬菜，一時間也認不出是什麼。試吃一口，竟然是塘蒿，倒真個意料之外，情理之中。

Precious

"You know, although Patrick is physically thousands of miles away, we actually meet more often than when he was in Hong Kong." Nixon said.

"Why?"

"We are all busy - Patrick, Pat, and I. When my son is around, we just say hi and bye. Knowing that we have a lot of time together ironically mean that we don’t find a need to sit down and talk. No, there’s nothing serious that we need to discuss. But, as a father, I want to know how he is doing in the school, what friends he is making, what books and movies that he recently watched, and how he find those friends and books and movies. I believe Patrick also wants to know the same things from me. But, when he is around, we feel no urge to talk. We always say next time, and that next time never seems to come.”

I nodded, cannot agree more.

“And now, we have a regular 15 to 30 minutes each week. That’s the precious time that the three of us do make an effort to sit down together and do that little talk. I must say I know my son a lot better since he went to the States!”

Patrick

(Our lunch chat continued.)

"How's Patrick? He is now 22, or 23? Has he graduated from the University?" I asked. Patrick is his elder son, whom I met a few times when he was a toddler.

"Great memory, Szeto. Yes, he is now in the States and is going to graduate next summer."

"He's such a bright boy ever since he's a kid. Do Pat and you fly to the States often and visit him?"

"Not really. He's rather busy, and so am I - until recently." Nixon paused for a moment, looked as if he was brushing aside something from his mind before he went on, "The three of us have a regular Skype chat of 15 to 30 minutes every Sunday. You know, the world is so small now and we feel he is always with us. But, at the same time, he has the freedom to be out there and do things that he likes. Every young man has his own plan nowadays."

"So were we, wasn't it?" I laughed.

I was actually about to say my friend may find himself becoming grandfather very soon.

Nixon

Had the rare opportunity of lunching with Nixon.

After all the scandals and charges and rebuttals, everything seems to have settled. To say the least, he had the mood to ask me out for lunch.

"How's everything?" I asked.

"Alas, life has to go on," the resigned president sighed. His eyes remained sharp and tone no less incisive. Nonetheless, he looked relaxed - something that I had not found in him for many many years. For a moment I had an urge to tell him to get away from lawyers, but I decided to talk about something more fundamental - literally, "How's Pat doing?"

I mean his wife.

"She's much better now. Less stressed, doing some exercise, and eating more. Actually she put back on a bit of weight"

"Great." I said to myself. Whoever is on the right, everyone suffered a lot.

型銷

My recent bedtime reading is 《型銷》 of Tsui Yuen (徐緣).

To begin with, there is no formal English title of this paperback. I wish to call it Stylish Marketing but the author may not agree.

And, more importantly, that title is not entirely appropriate because the book is not really about marketing. There is a sea of colorful pictures and many brilliant examples of successful adverting strategy, mixed with Tsui's personal view on local political issues. It could well be an entertaining leisure reading, but you could hardly lean anything about marketing from it.

PS. I learn all my marketing theory from Steven Silbiger. That's certainly not enough for any practical purpose.

Caption

Before we go further and discuss other arguments, please allow me to talk something about fair and just.

It goes like this. The following picture is extensively shared by my Facebook acquaintance:

Looks simple and convincing, eh?

What if I tell you the caption of the two pictures are reversed by mistake?

Remember, justice means all people have to obey to the same set of rules. Fairness means that everyone should have the same treatment and benefit.

**********************
My point is simple. Doubt everything - including your own belief.

鬆‧嶽

While reading the news about umbrella movement from the Internet, I was horrified to see two remarkable names:

• 梁錦鬆
• 林建嶽

Of course they are typos. In reality they are referring to Anthony Leung Kam-Chung (梁錦松) and Peter Lam Kin-Ngok (林建岳). 

And it shouldn't take long to imagine how the mistake comes along. Their names were typed in simplified Chinese and then translated (my god, I could not think of a more appropriate verb to describe this action) into the traditional one by computer software, which could not differentiate a pine tree (松) from loose (鬆), or the peak (岳) from the whole mountain (嶽).

By trying to hide any trace of his origin, the author ironically makes his identity more conspicuous than ever.

Metamorphosis

A caterpillar says to a butterfly, “Don’t sneer at us. You won’t live long. Your future is in our hands.”

The butterfly smiles and replies, “Is it? By that time, you would have become a butterfly.”

PS. This entry is deliberately short. As the principle of Chinese calligraphy states:

筆劃少處力量要足以當多，瘦處力量要足以當肥。

Unified

On the first glance, you may think referendum is a good way of gathering our opinion and facilitate a unified stand of the Medical Association.

But no. A pitfall of logic there. Why should the Medical Association need a unified stand if the topic is about our society as a whole? Every doctor could have their own opinion, and every one of them is equally important. We are not a special group of people that, if we could come up with a unified opinion, our view should have an extra weight. You want to do away with the Functional Constituency (功能組別), don’t you?

In fact, it is actually easy to spot the flaw in the logic: We can, and we are likely to, belong to more than one organization. For example, which side I should claim myself supporting if the Medical Association supports the blue while the Teachers’ Union go for the yellow?

The only existence that needs a unified stand and conclusion is our society.

Split

While I was considering the reasons for and against the umbrella movement, a hot debate came up in the Hong Kong Medical Association.

I don’t think I need to elaborate on what happened. Vivian was obviously not happy with the decision by the Association.

“Why don’t they even have the guts to go for a referendum within the Association to see the majority of our opinion?” She grumbled.

“My dear, in this occasion I could see the frustration of Dr Shih,” I shook my head, “What’s the point of a referendum? If 51% of the doctors support the yellow side and 49% the blue, would the latter ones accept the result and support a unified decision of the Association to support the umbrella movement? Impossible. Same thing if the poll result is the other way round. All that a referendum would show is our opinions are splitted – and so is the medical profession!”

Prince

What should a ruler do to get reputation and support when his kingdom is acquired with the forces of others and with good luck?

Go bribe his supporters – financial and military ones.

Yes, but that’s not enough. Since his reign does not come from the ordinary people, he could only gain their support (or avoid their fierce opposition) by bribing them. Giving out quick money is an easy way. Even if he has the vision, nothing would be done for long term benefit if there is short term compromise of the common people. The country would not prosper.

PS. Discerning visitors may notice the first sentence of this discussion sounds old and familiar.

Go read Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince.

Necessary

Don't get me wrong. I'm not against pursuing democracy. (Not by the argument that I put up yesterday, to say the least.) What I am trying to get at is our city has a complex disease, or, more likely, several co-existing diseases, and democracy per se is not a sufficient condition to save the place.

The question is, therefore: Is democracy a necessary condition?

I must say I am not sure, and shall leave it to your decision.

(If you have no idea about the difference between sufficient and necessary conditions, go read Lee Tin Ming.)

**************************
Along this line, an argument against democracy that is recently put up by some famous Leung is this:

If our society makes decisions by simply democracy, we will have all policies favouring the poor people.

That sounds perfectly logically.

However, like many other logical theories, it has very little to do with reality.

Let me explain tomorrow.

Problems

Although there is little doubt that our government policies are not uncommonly skewed, we should ask: Is it the only (or, the major) reason that our city is dying?

No, it's certainly not the only reason, and I doubt very much it is the major reason. There are, to say the least, two compelling and equally important explanations:

1. The efficiency of our government is close to a paralyzed snail; it takes ten days for them to go through a weekly report.
2. Our economic structure has changed. In the terms of Adam Smith, our city has little Produce of Land or industry. We earn money by financial services and tourism, and our GDP is sustained by the ever-expanding projects on the infrastructure.

The sobering truth is neither of these problems would disappear with a democratic system. If anything, the situation would become worse, at least in the first few years.

Just like what Danton and Robespierre faced when they took over the National Convention of First Republic.

Problem

A remarkable scene that I encounter in Schama's Citizens is the (literally) bread-and-butter problem of France faced by the revolutionists. To put it simply:

"...the Republic was confronted with a disturbing truth. The Revolution had started with a crisis of fiscal incapacity, but the new regime was no nearer to solving its problems than the old..."(Part Four, Virtue and Death, Chapter 16, Enemies of the People? Winter - Spring 1793, Part III, Paltry Merchandize, March to June)

And that brings us back to the fundamental question that I skipped some days ago: Is democratic system an effective means to achieve a just and harmonious society?

On the face of it, many of us would say yes. The current system results in governmental policies that are usually skewed and tend to favour financial tycoons - or so is it usually concluded.

But, hold on. Don't jump to the conclusion so fast. Our government is unfortunately similar to the France Kingdom under Louis XVI, and, in reality, most privileges go to the clergy and few end up in the pocket of the nobility. Commoner? It is the educated way to call slaves.

PS. You may think it inappropriate to call communists the clergy. However, communism is, for practical purpose and by all probability, a religion. As Hercule Poirot said (in Murder on the Links), if you do not see this, you could not understand the whole process.

Citizens

While thinking about the umbrella movement, my recent leisure reading is Simon Schama's Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution.

Believe it or not, I started reading it in the evening when we had tear gas in Admiralty (oh, purely by coincidence), and I'm surprised to learn that I actually finish with this 976-page classic before the movement is over. In fact, as an amateur student of history, the book is quite a challenge, but I am fortunate enough to be able to apply the methods of Masaru Sato (see http://ccszeto.blogspot.hk/2014/07/technique.html) and did some preparatory reading several months ago (see http://ccszeto.blogspot.hk/2014/08/europe.html).

To me, the book is quite interesting after Louise XVI was arrested. Although the personality as well as historical details are remarkably different, I could not help myself from comparing the unfortunate King of France to Puyi (溥儀), the last Emperor of China. Along that line, when I read about Jean-Paul Marat, Georges Danton, and Maximilien Robespierre, the stories of Liao Zhongkai (廖仲愷), Wang Jingwei (汪精衛), and Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) flashed through my mind.

My god. Are we still seeing these people around?

Consequence

There is another reason – a less disturbing but equally important one – to go against civil nomination.

The consideration is simple. Just imagine: If civil nomination becomes a reality and, as it is often proposed, anyone nominated by 0.5% or 1% of all eligible voters could become a candidate, which of the followings would turn up and run for the next CE?

1. someone from the Pigeon Party
2. someone from the Lawyers’ Party
3. the Long Hair
4. the Mad Dog

Yes, all of the above, of course.

And, you see? That’s exactly the problem. With civil nomination, the Third Estate would be fragmented and the chance of winning an election is actually reduced because the clergy and nobility are more organized and their action well coordinated.

Nomination

My point of this lengthy discussion is simple: Even if we take aside the group that is probably paid to join the blue ribbons and some Communists' toadies, people going against the yellow campus is a heterogeneous group. A few are truly against democracy, some do not support universal suffrage, others do not agree with civil nomination, quiet a number just do not think the tactic of Occupying Central is a good move.

What is my stand?

Simple. I am against civil nomination.

And I could summarize my argument as this: If I were in charge of Zhongnanhai, I shall insist to have civil nomination in order to have a better grip on this delinquent southern city.

Why? Because civil nomination is, in reality, a system of open voting. As a factory worker, your manager or boss will come around and say, "Hey man, I nominate Mr Wolf as the next CE. Come, sign on this, you should nominate him as well..."

In that case, I do not only lose the right to vote for the one I prefer. I lose the right to remain silent.

PS. It is important to note that being against civil nomination does not necessarily mean that I support the other aspects mentioned in the first paragraph. However, since I have a dominating reason in this discussion, I could remain comfortably silent on other items.

Definition

Once you recognize universal suffrage does not necessarily require civil nomination, the immediate question that you face is: What is mean by a genuine universal suffrage?

(In other words, for those who put up those attractive banners on Lion Rock or our student hostel, do you know what you are asking for?)

You may say my question is silly. You may not be able to give a cut-and-dry answer in words, but, when you see a system, you could immediately tell whether it is genuine or not.

But, deep in your mind there is probably a presumption: Asking for something genuine from a strong country is no different from asking a habitual liar to tell you the truth: I could tell you are lying because your lips are moving.

As a result, no proposal from the other side is going to be acceptable because, by definition, what they say – or what they could agree upon – is not genuine. Any mutual agreement is, therefore, logically impossible.

Suffrage

You may find it difficult to accept when I said some people do not support point #1.

However, there are several possibilities in this regard:

1. They do not support democracy per se.
2. They do not support universal suffrage (普選).
3. They do not support civil nomination (公民提名).

Let's take aside possibility #1 for the time being. (A serious omission, I dare say.) When the story of Occupy Central first began, the yellow campus was fighting for civil nomination. In fact, it remains the latest stand point of Hong Kong Federation of Students (香港專上學生聯會) and Scholarism (學民思潮). On the other hand, people who put up that remarkable banner on Lion Rock or a similar one outside the hostel of our students are asking for a (genuine) universal suffrage.

However, in the jargon of logics, is civil nomination a necessary condition for universal suffrage? 

Apparently not. Most of the countries that we agree being democratic do not have civil nomination. 

Of course, we have to consider the possibility that in the scenario of Hong Kong (under the substantial influence of several invisible hands), a genuine universal suffrage is only possible when there is civil nomination.

What do you think?

Aim

Following the discussion in the past three days, the inevitable conclusion is: If we are going to support the umbrella movement, it is because the yellow ribbon is pursuing democracy.

Again, to make this argument work, we need to fulfill the following criteria:

1. democracy is a good system
2. the proposed system for CE election is not acceptable (because it is not really democratic)
3. umbrella movement is an effective means of coming up with a better system

On a casual look, the consideration is simple. There seems little dispute for points #1 and #2, and the only sensible reason for not supporting the yellow campus is Occupying Central could hardly achieve the aim of getting a better system. (Or, in a more general term, the risk-to-benefit ratio of this campaign is too high.)

But, hold on. Let's face it. There do exist people (which may have the remote possibility of including some malicious nephrologist) who do not agree with point #1, and many die-hard left-wing supporters don't think #2 is a problem.

Justice

Another major argument for supporting the umbrella movement is the remarkable government and CE we have. Many public policies are unjust and obviously skewed towards the rich and powerful people, and we must stand up and voice out our concern.

I have little doubt about the above phenomenon. However, to go from this statement to supporting the yellow side, there are, theoretically, two possible links:

1. We use the umbrella movement itself to reflect our sentiment and frustration; or
2. we think a truly democratic system is the effective means to achieve a just and harmonious society, and the umbrella movement quests for democracy.

The first link is, unfortunately, a straw man. The movement aims at and originates from the method of nomination and election of our CE in the future. It is not meant for expressing our dissatisfaction with our government - an aim that we have many other ways to achieve.

For example, the regular parade on every First of July.

I shall put the second link aside for the time being.

Egg

While talking about the analogy of an inconsiderate driver and an abusing police officer, a similar, and more eye-catching, argument is this: Between a high, solid wall and an egg that breaks against it, I will always stand on the side of the egg.

But, hold on. There's a critical flaw in the logic - what if the egg is thrown against the wall that protects Themis? We should support the side that is right and just, no matter it is the egg or the wall.

No, I'm not saying the blue ribbons is righteous. (It is likely to be quite the opposite.) All I say is we should not stand on the yellow side because it is the egg.

PS. The analogy of an egg and the wall comes from Haruki Murakami when he received the Jerusalem Prize. He was talking about personal philosophy by this analogy - nothing to do with public uprising.

Arguments

When you come to think of it, there are several good arguments for us to support the umbrella side:

1. They are pursuing democracy.
2. Our society is neither fair nor just; people must stand up and voice out.
3. The yellow camp is brutally treated by the police and supporters of the blue ribbon.

But, when you think about it, the last point is a good reason to be sympathetic for the umbrella movement (that's why I changed the profile picture of my Facebook some days ago). However, it doesn’t always mean that we should have to support what they do. A person who parks his car at double yellow lines continues to have basic human rights and should not be beaten up by the police. We are against violence, but it does not lead us to support illegal parking.

And, if the person says he has a very good reason to park there, even though he is aware of the legal implication, please give the reason. We may agree and even support what he does - but that's because of the reason he gives, not because he is abused by the police after his illegal parking.

For the umbrella movement, it therefore goes back to either the first or the second point.

Green

The very question that I was asked by everyone I met in Vietnam was How is Hong Kong?

One notable example is the young man who drove me from the hotel to the airport. Despite his limited English capability – and, for that reason, he talked very little on any other topic throughout the journey – he tried with his utmost effort to learn from me what’s going on in my city, as well as to explain his own view.

But, the most insightful comment came from SB, a doctor from Thailand, “Szeto, you shouldn’t worry that much. Just look at we Thai people. Last year, we saw no end to the conflict between red and yellow. Now? The conflict is still there, but every aspect of our daily life is quite back to normal.”

I sighed, “My friend, that’s different. Your country has an edge – you have a king, and he is a highly respectable one I must say, to look up to. Who do we Hong Kong people have?”

NB. I was tempted to say I am on the green side – I share some of the views of the yellow umbrella as well as some of the blue ribbon.

But, when viewed from another angle, it could easily be concluded that I don’t agree with either.

Vietnam

Went to Vietnam for a local conference recently.

This is the first time I ever visit this legendary place, which is just one-and-a-half hours of flight from Hong Kong. To me, all the memory related to this country comes either from the Vietnam boat people (which was a serious problem of our city between late 1970s and early 1990s) or the war between Hanoi and Saigon. In fact, the first topic that I made an effort to do some private study (when I was in the primary school) was the US bombers used in the Vietnam War.

Unfortunately, I was so green in those days that I focused on the performance and armaments of the aircrafts (F105, F111, and B52). If I were going to make such a study again, I shall read more about the people of the drama – from Ho Chi Minh to Le Duan, and from Ngo Dinh Diem to Nguyen Van Thieu.

PS. I had the opportunity to take care of many pregnant Vietnam boat people when I was a house officer in the obstetric ward. I could speak two – and only two – sentences of Vietnamese: bac si kiem tra (doctor is here to do the examination) and nam xuong ngoai quan (lie down and take off your pants)!

Efficiency

In addition to the way I backup my computer files, there are several tips that I find useful to improve our efficiency.

1. Write down all the projects at hand on a list and stick it in front of your desk. Review the progress of each item every week. (I do it as the first thing every Monday morning.) 
2. For each project, define what has to been done in that week. Give a priority to the items according to the method of Stephen Covey; important matters should go before urgent ones.
3. Make a template for all common correspondence and put it in a handy place in the computer. The greatest invention in the field of artificial intelligence is copy-and-paste.
4. Use a software to write down all transient ideas that go through your mind: things to do, to buy, and so forth. Use the same software to clip everything that you may need to keep as reference: web pages, picture of name cards, reference papers, invoice, passwords (of websites that you do not visit very often), and what not. I use Evernote for this purpose because the search function is very powerful.
5. Make a few computer folders with the name "to read", "for re-reading", "for filing", and "coming events". I think their purpose is obvious.

PS. Efficiency is important, but, what good is running if one is on the wrong road?

Backup

In a recent occasion, I was amazed to find a young colleague of mine never backup his files in the computer. It comes with no surprise to learn he lost some of his important work when his computer was accidentally formatted by others.

I must say I am exceedingly paranoid in this respect. Twenty years ago, when I bought my first personal laptop for work, I used to backup all files in 1.44" disks every month. That soon turned out to be inadequate; I had the experience of having the hard disk burn (to charcoal, almost) when I turned on the computer, and the whole laptop broke into pieces (literally) when it fell onto the floor by accident.

Following traumatic experience of this kind, over the past 15 years, I keep 3 copies of all my files - one in the desktop computer of my office, another in my laptop at home, and a third in a portable hard disk. The latter two are updated every week, usually on Saturday. Like the senior executives of some famous enterprises (for example, Coca Cola), these three copies are never put in the same room - just in case the place is on fire.

You can never be too cautious.

Gaddi's

Contrary to the humble Shanghai style noodle shop that I mentioned yesterday, there are outstanding exquisite restaurants that never seems to be properly recognized.

Gaddi's of the Peninsula is a perfect example.

I have the privilege to dine twice in this local Mecca of French cuisine. As an amateur gourment, I may not be able to tell heaven from a sky-high level - but the dishes are damn good. (Seriously many of the courses appear a trace too modern to me, and I would prefer something more traditional, less pretending, and more home-like. Well, that's a bias of mine.) And, together with the unassailable environment and irreproachable service, what more could you expect?

But, that's it. No star of Michelin. (Oh, even Tosca of Ritz Carlton...) I must take my hat off to the management and chef of Gaddi's, for they must know well how to score some stars, and they decide to persue what they believe and insist on things that they feel important.

They do not trade their character and personality for the stars.

維珍

有些食肆，外表不太起眼，亦並非供應甚麼山珍海味，但間中幫襯，久而久之，便會有些感情。佐敦維珍麵家在我便是一例。

初到此店，完全因為它距離伊院不遠，這些年來，與内人每一兩個月便來光顧一次。通常週末二人下班，如果已過午飯時間，便會匆匆來此醫肚，貪其便利便宜。店是北方麵館，街坊小店格局。入門右邊是開放式廚房，左邊則全是四人小桌。這裡幾乎任何時候都高朋滿座，必須搭枱，但人流極快，亦不用等候多久。店主是典型北方大漢，頭髮斑白，粗豪而不太有禮， 呼叫叱喝之聲，夾雜着麵湯煎餅的香氣，並不是新一代的夏麵館、翡翠拉麵小籠包等所能模倣。

此店餐牌只有一頁，不外是各式北方麵食、飽餃、餡餅之類。內人通常點一客水餃佐以蒜蓉醋，看似簡單，卻十分飽肚實在。我則無一例外地點炸豬扒麵，雖係平凡，倒也一絲不苟。麵是幼麵，永遠淥得剛好而不過腍。湯味本淡，但雪菜青葱下得慷慨，又是另一種風味。豬扒也是即叫即炸，香脆熱辣。二人午餐連兩杯豆漿，是八十元有找。而店主均真兼極有性格，小費一元也堅拒不收。區區竊想，不如多多幫襯，以表支持，更是實在。

Stir

K is obviously not too happy. Later that day, he met Theseus - a young boy who works in the sewage pipe and,with whom K often has a casual conversation.

The tourist board manager voices out his frustrations. To his amazement, his friend is less than sympathetic.

"I must say what the extra-terrestrials do seems entirely reasonable to me," the demigod says, "Although they may be a little aggressive in pushing forward their policies, they are really trying to do things and make some progress."

"Do they?" K purses his lips, "I beg to disagree. My friend, there are fine lines between being brave and ruthless, serving the public and pleasing the boss, and doing things and stirring up matters."

Purpose

"What other purpose could there be?" Selene looks incredulous.

"You know, the Galaxy Tourism Board is now going through this accreditation exercise, and those experts from the Dark Matter comment that the Board does not have a long term plan of development..."

***********************
The flight takes no more than a few hours. In the next morning, K goes to work as usual.

To his surprise, his office is empty – the desk, the chair, the cabinet, the computer, and everything, all vanished into the thin air. For a moment, K imagines a burglary. But no. His office furniture is all from IKEA and has been in use for quite some years. In fact, K needs to pay if he wants to get rid of them.

In the middle of his puzzle, K finds the office amah passes by, “Good morning, Cindy. What happened? My office is… empty!”

“Is it? Oh, I remember now. It’s two days ago. Some aliens from the Running Chicken Nebula came and took everything in your room to the Museum of History. The extra-terrestrials said that those are antiques and good attractions for tourists!”

“Oh, my,” K is really touched, “Do you mean in the field of tourism, I am consulted for the strategic plan of development in the coming 10 or 20 years, but, at the same time, I am not even informed of using my belongings for attracting tourists?”

Consultation

(Some of you may remember the meeting that I mentioned a few days ago between K, the tourism board representative from the Earth, and the three-eye alien. Shortly after the meeting, on the flight back to the blue planet, K meets Selene, his friend from the moon.)

"Hullo! Long time no see! What brings you to this part of the universe?" The glamorous woman smiles.

"Why! The strategic plan consultation of course. What else could it be? You come here for the same reason, don't you?"

"Unfortunately, yes." The Goddess of the Moon twists her lips, "I must say I can't make heads or tails of this business. Why on earth does that alien want to consult our opinion on the development ten or twenty years down the road?"

"You know, in general, the real purpose of a consultation exercise is not to ask for your view, but to express theirs. After the meeting, do you have some idea what's their plan of development?"

"Not too much, really. My god, am I too thick to understand?"

"Don't be silly. There could be another reason for all these..."

Umbrella

Another recent hot topic in our city is whether umbrella should be considered as a weapon.

I shall not discuss the fictitious example of Wong Fei-hung (黃飛鴻). On the other hand, you may have heard of the case of Georgi Ivanov Markov.

The story is simple: Markov originally worked as a novelist and playwright in Bulgria. In 1969, he defected from his own country and worked for the BBC World Service. He died as a result of an incident on the Waterloo Bridge on the River Thames, when a micro-engineered pellet containing ricin was fired into his leg via an umbrella wielded by two persons from the Bulgarian secret police (probably with the technical assistance from KGB).

So, you see? Umbrella is a lethal weapon - at least in the hands of Communists.

君子眼中，天下滔滔皆是君子。

Expression

There are occasions where Cantonese is far more expressive than English.

Here you go:

*********************
《其一》
甲：佢收五千萬真係無問題？
乙：梗係無。我成日都一張張咁燒俾佢。

*********************
《其二》
甲：佢收五千萬就係叫佢唔好提供服務？
乙：咁不如我地又夾五千萬叫佢唔好向我地提供服務。

*********************
《其三》
商：你做乜咁多條例監管，成日阻頭阻勢？
官：你可以俾五千萬我，然後叫我唔好提供服務。

Scholarship

A hot topic amongst the alumni of my university is the withdrawal of scholarship donation by a listed company.

To begin with, it soon turns out to be a kind of practical joke because the company has not been donating to our university in the recent years. (In fact, to the best of my knowledge, this company has never donate anything to my university.)

But, the joke becomes a laughing stock when we realize that this company, with an operating profit close to HK$130 million last year, used to donate around HK$20,000 each year to our colleagues over the other side of the Victoria Harbour. Quite a number of my friends feel that they could afford a regular charity of this kind and are eager to make their name known to our students.

Alas, I must say I have the temptation to make a similar donation as well. Nonetheless, I am humble and shall not put up my name as the title of the scholarship.

I shall call it Chun Wo Development Holdings Refuse To Donate Memorial Scholarship (俊和發展集團拒絕捐贈紀念獎學金).

Privilege

Although formal school classes were suspended, it doesn't mean that my princesses were staying home all day - for each of them has some extra tutorials that were continued as usual.

As usual, I picked up Euterpe after she finished with her English class in Tuesday evening. During the five-minute walk home, it has become our habit to enjoy some silly conversation:

"My dear, taking aside the Casual Wear Day incident, do you miss your school?" I asked.

"I must say yes," she sighed, "It's rather boring now. To say the least, I miss my classmates and teachers!"

"Quite true. Now, let's imagine, what would you feel if the school class is going to suspend for one or two whole years?"

"Oh! That's horrible!"

"Exactly. You know, there are many children around the world who have their school suspended for years because of war or political problems or other problems. Yes, that's horrible. Fortunately for us, I am sure your school life will return to normal very soon. In that case, do remember the horrible others and feel thankful for having the privilege of receiving education."

I sincerely hope she does understand what I mean.

停課

The big news of our city in the past two weeks is, of course, the story of umbrellas and tear gas, and the conflict between yellow and blue ribbons.

I would not discuss what I think. To me, the important implication of this incident is the class suspension of all schools and kindergartens in the Central and Wanchai districts, and my two princesses have to stay at home.

To my surprise, Euterpe was utterly unhappy when she first heard of the news.

"Shouldn't you be delighted?" I asked her, "The dictation test will be cancelled."

"But it would also be our Casual Wear Day next Tuesday!" My princess retorted.

PS. Her school is probably fully aware of their frustration. The first message that I received from the school general office was the plan of re-scheduling the Casual Wear Day!

HK

The title of Chan's book is, in itself, intriguing.

To put it simply, the book begins with a case in 2013, when Inspector Kwan was dying. The stories that follow are reverse in chronological order, with the last one happened in 1967, when Kwan was a junior PC and encountered his first important case. You can see the book as a fragmented biography of an eminent police officer, but it is also the rise and fall of a legendary city. I am particularly touched because I was born during the 1967 riots, experienced the glory of an economical miracle, and see the putrefaction of all its cornerstones.

And I'm sure that's the real purpose of the author. In fact, Chan obviously did an extensive search in the background information. All the stories seem to originate from real-life cases. Many of the scenes happen in famous places. If you did live in this city from 1967 to 2013, you would find the details of all these stories touching - they are real snapshots of how we lived in those days.

I would strongly recommend this book to all genuine Hong Kong people, as well as everyone who wish to take a glimpse on our living in the past 50 years.

13.67

My recent bedtime reading is 《13-67》 by Chan Ho Kei (陳浩基).

The book is my birthday present from Vivian, who knows too well I am a fan of detective fiction. Chan is a graduate from my alma mater and is, in my wife's own word, the best Hong Kong writer of detection stories.

But, I must say I am always skeptical to all new generation crime fiction authors and do not have high hope on this one. In fact, I was more convinced with my bias after finishing with The Reality Between Black and White (黑與白之間的真實), the first story of this paperback - it's just another version of Agatha Christie's Curtain!

And I am both right and wrong. I could well use Poirot's own words (in The Clocks) to represent my view:

These tales ... are in reality farfetched, full of fallacies and most artificially contrived. But the art of the writing - ah, that is entirely different. The pleasure of the language, the creation above all of that magnificent character (Inspector Kwan in our case). Ah, that was indeed a triumph.

Move

"Yes...?" After years of his experience in business, K knew immediately that the other side of the table has an agenda.

"You know, at this moment, a tourist to the Earth has to travel quite a bit from one attraction to another - the Eiffel Tower, the Buckingham Palace, the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Statue of Liberty, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Great Wall, and all these. It doesn't really make a good use of their time."

"And your suggestion is...?"

"We should move all of them to one place and form a Center or Institute for Sightseeing."

"Alas, that sounds a good idea," K nodded. He had to agree the alien did make a good point. Nonetheless, he remained worried, "Sir, is that really possible for all the attractions? I suppose the Golden Gate Bridge is nothing more than a construction of steel and cement if there is no vehicle on it, and the Buckingham Palace would lose its meaning if the Queen doesn't live there."

"Why? That's should work. There are similar institutes in Bootes, Ursa, Lupus, Lyra, Serpens, Hercules, Indus, Taurus, and many other constellations, and many are immensely successful."

K was dumbfounded.

Board

Year: AD 3014.
Place: Conference Room, Regional Headquarters (Solar System), Galaxy Tour Co. Ltd.

****************************
K pushes the door open and sees a three-eye alien sitting on an elegant armchair. He immediately realizes that this little creature is whom he is scheduled to have the meeting.

"Good morning. Pray sit down..." The green alien points to the chair next to the table.

K is surprised - the alien could speak a human language! But he pretends to be calm and takes the seat, "Good morning. I am K from the Tourism Board of the Earth. Nice to meet you."

"Great. I am Roswell from the Orion Nebula. Let's stop beating around the bush. I call this meeting to discuss the strategic development plan of the smokeless industry on the Earth in the coming 10 or 15 years."

"Yes..."

"Let me make it clear. In our opinion, the Earth is far from being efficient in taking care of tourists."

(To be continued.)

Theatre

While talking about how we should study and memorize, I could not resist the temptation of commenting on how our next generation students attend lectures.

First, let's begin with a simple question: Why should the place that professors deliver their lectures is called a theatre?

Simple. That's because their talks are a kind of performance. The audience - that is, students - are expected to sit there and watch (and, hopefully, appreciate). During the show, some students may like to jot down a point or two to highlight what's important or items that they would have to look up afterwards. After all, it doesn't help understanding the content if you divert your attention to writing notes.

Of course, that's the comment that we received when we were students. Now, few students write their lecture notes. They type and take photos and videos.

If that's how the talk should be received, the venue should be called a lecture studio.

PS. Following that argument, no one would eat popcorn or drink a coke while watching an opera. If someone do that to their professor, the place should be called a lecture cinema.

Memory

The idea of that chapter is simple: One major characteristic of long term memory is its stability. In other words, information is anchored deeply in the brain.

However, I am sure you all have the same experience that without regular practice, information that we learn gradually fade out from our memory. The very theory proposed by the Polish researcher Piotr Wozniak and summarized by Krogerus and Tschappeler is this: The amount of time it takes for us to forget what we learn is predictable. To go one step forward, if we want to make a piece of information our long term memory, we should be reminded while we are in the process of forgetting.

More importantly, it is not necessary to be reminded very many times to secure a long term memory. Based on the work of Wozniak, refreshing of the memory should ideally be done one, ten, thirty, and sixty days after encountering a new piece of information,

This is called spaced repetition.

PS. For medical students (and almost everyone else), the obvious difficulty is how to set up a reliable system of regular revision and refreshing. That's another story.

Decision

My recent leisure reading is The Decision Book by Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschappeler.

It is a small paperback that summarizes 50 common business models and algorithms that are used for business analysis and decision making. I find some of the models familiar as they are extrapolated and in active use in the academic circle (for example, the SWOT analysis), while others are written in the language of extra-terrestrials and could serve no purpose except obscuring - or replacing - ones own thinking.

You may ask: Why should I learn all these? Or, to begin with, why did I choose this book? The reality is the book was a random pick from a local bookstore, and I could not care less to read a book with no pragmatic value for my daily work.

Philosophy is the love of wisdom.

PS. As to pragmatic use, I really find this book exceedingly useful.

Or, I should put it like this: One of the chapters describes an important phenomenon about human memory and learning.

下醫

Although I have all my respect to Sun Simiao, I could never agree with the statement inferior doctors treat the disease (下醫醫病). The reality is we are badly in need of doctors who could focus on a particular skill.

You may think that’s not really the case. We have far too many specialists; more often than not a doctor would focus on their particular area of interest and pay no attention to the overall picture of the patient.

Yes, that is true – as long as you are talking about the plan or decision of management strategy, or, the task of a physician.

However, when it comes to a procedure-based treatment – surgical operation, endoscopy, or whatever – the consideration is entirely opposite. A doctor who masters the skill of a very simple procedure (for example, gastroscopy or hernia repair) and nothing else is as good as any other.

On one hand, we need many more doctors who could competently repair a hernia than resecting part of a liver. On the other, we often need someone who would ask nothing and repair a hernia (or any other simple procedure) upon the request of a mediocre doctor.

中醫

You may think it is easy to understand how and why should a mediocre doctor treat the patient. Nonetheless, the issue is more complicated than what you imagine.

Let's start with a simple scenario: A young man would become immensely anxious whenever he encounters a particular situation. In professional terms, he probably has phobic anxiety disorder. If you are his in-charge doctor and he does not want to take any medicine, how could you help him?

Simple. It's all about education and behavioural therapy. The situation that precipitates his anxiety should be avoided if possible.

Now, consider this: The situation that triggers his anxiety is the feeding problem of his elderly mother, who is totally dependent, zero quality of life, and absolutely no awareness to the surrounding after a massive stroke. Let's assume, hypothetically, whatever you do would have a neutral effect on that old woman. Her suffering would not be prolonged as she could not sense anything, but there is also no point to prolong her life because the quality of which is zero.

In this case, would you start artificial means of feeding - as treatment to the young man's anxiety?

I shall not elaborate if there is some risk-benefit consideration for the mother, or if that unfortunate woman has more than one son with different triggers of anxiety.

But, you see? My point is this: As a doctor, it is sometimes difficult to tell who your patient is.

上醫

A trendy quote amongst our medical student recently is "a good doctor treats the country; a mediocre doctor treats the patient; an inferior doctor treats the disease" (上醫醫國，中醫醫人，下醫醫病).

I consider the statement most misleading.

My concern is simple: It calls for very different skills between treating a country and a patient. It doesn't mean that a person who could lead a people and rule a country well (and I doubt we have such kind of person around) is always a good doctor. Otherwise the best physicians in our history would all be politicians.

And, the worrying tendency recently is the extrapolation of the statement so as to give the impression that if a medical student participates in the treatment of our country, they would be a good doctor.

PS. This famous trilogy of statement originates from the masterpiece of Sun Simiao (孫思邈), Manual of Emergency and Essential Formulary (備急千金要方), Part 1, Chapter 4: Introduction to Diagnostic Techniques (論診候第四). No explanation was given in the text. However, considering the context of the whole chapter, it should be referring to the importance of public health and preventive medicine rather than anything related to politics.

You can read the full text from Wikisource.

Simpson

My recent leisure reading is The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets by Simon Singh.

This is a small book that summarizes many mathematical references appeared in The Simpsons, the famous American animated sitcom. Since many of the writers of the cartoon actually have an exceptional background related to mathematics or computer science, Singh tries to explain and analyze the underlying mathematical concepts and discuss how those games with numbers are related to the corresponding episodes of The Simpsons.

Is it difficult to read? Not quite. I believe anyone who has studied mathematics in high school could understand most of the jokes and explanation.

PS. A mathematical question that appears several time throughout the book is the P versus NP problem. Philosophically, the question could be translated into a single statement: Does all question have a simple solution?

Oh, it doesn't seem to be the case when I look at Admiralty.

MSM

I went on to explain, "I see marriage - in the legal sense, with all the right specified by the law - is a small token that a society gives to a man and a woman settling together. It is not a right, but some kind of welfare. The society would like to encourage such a behaviour because marriage usually means having children, which is, in the long run, desirable for the society. Two men could get together. It is their own choice and I don't think the law should prohibit that. But, the point is, these two men should not enjoy the benefit of a traditional couple."

"You know, while listening to your mini-lecture on a man falling in love with another, I suddenly come to realize the most discriminating label to this group of people comes from the health care profession."

"Really? What's that?"

"MSM, men who have sex with men," L said with a weird smile.

"You are right. It gives the impression that all these people are after is lust and pleasure of their bodies. No, I believe many of them do have true love."

Right

L looked serious to my sayings, "My friend, you are inviting enemy from all die-hard fans of equal opportunity!"

"That may be true," I nodded, "It obviously depends on for whom and what opportunity you are pursuing to be equal. If you talk about an equal right to get married, let me give you an extreme example: How would you respond if a Catholic priest or a Buddhist monk is making such a request? Silly, of course. By choosing to be a priest or a monk, you give up the right of getting married. I would therefore argue, two men who choose to fall in love do give up the same right. No, I'm not against them. As I said, if I have two friends holding a banquet to declare their relation, I shall be more than happy to attend and share their happiness."

"I cannot say I agree with you. As an academic, the two groups that you mention are not strictly comparable. It could be argued that getting married is a human right and you are compromising that right of a minority group."

"It depends on your definition of human right." I said, "I fully support all people - irrespective to their ethnic origin, religion and sexual preference - should have the same opportunity of taking up a job, getting into the university, or vote in an election. However, getting marry is a different matter."

"How could you say that?"

Discriminate

“But I’m serious,” I went on to explain, “The very fact is, I have no problem to accept people with a different culture or sexual preference, but I would have difficulty if they actively promote what they are doing!”

“Such as…?”

“Let me use ethnic minority as an example. In this city, if I have a dedicated Muslim colleague, it is absolutely fine to allow him praying five times a day. However, if he proposes to have the first day of Ramadan as a government holiday, I would hardly agree.”

“I see.”

“Another example is same-sex marriage. I have a handful of friends who are homosexual. That’s an open secret and I have no problem to work or make friend with them. In fact, if one of them invite me to his wedding banquet, I am quite happy to join. However, I would feel rather uneasy if they stand up and fight for a legal right to get married. If something is slightly out-of-the-way, we could accept and bear with it, but we cannot say it is right.”

Distinguish

L looked serious to my question, “I’m not sure. As Tsao Chip (陶傑) loves to say, it may not be a good idea to accommodate too much of a minority group – especially when these people are extremists.”

“Good point. The problem is, what should we do if we live in a place where extremists and supporters of dictatorship appear to be the majority?”

“My friend, that’s a more profound problem.” He nodded.

“On a second thought, however, I would have to disagree with your original proposition,” I said, “Some ideas are not meant to be spread, and we could easily distinguish freedom of holding an idea from permission to promulgate that idea. “

“Really? What kind of idea are you talking about?”

“I mean ideas that come from certain personal characteristics that could not be modified, for example, the race or sexual preference of a person.”

“Oh, my god!” L exclaimed, “You open the Pandora Box!”

Spread

I must say I found the subject too serious for a casual discussion and decided to change the topic a little, “There is a fine line of difference between freedom of holding an idea and permission to promulgate that idea.”

“Alas, there may be certain truth in it, but I’m not sure,” L shook his head, “You can argue idea is meant to be spread.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you allow a minority of people, however small a group they are, to hold an idea but not be spread it around, you are essentially giving permission to an endangered species to subsist but not reproduce. You are just killing off the species – or the idea – in a slow and painless manner.”

L had a point, but I remained uneasy, “Does it mean that we should allow minority group to promulgate their belief – however weird or evil that belief is?”

Paradox

"It is strange that you mention the word equal," L said seriously, "This is funny concept to apply when we talk about democracy - or pursuing democracy."

"What do you mean? I suppose they are the two sides of the same coin?"

"Yes and no. Let's go back to the very basic idea: Democracy means a government that allows all eligible citizens to participate equally. It encompasses the concept that minority has the right to voice out their opinion."

"Yes...?"

"Now, what if the minority group supports dictatorship?"

"What!?"

"You see? As a supporter of democracy, you have to give them a freedom of speech, and, as Voltaire said, you may even have to defend to the death their right to say. However, those few who support tyranny will not do the same to you. If they give you such a freedom, they are not supporters of their own belief!"

After a minute or two, seeing that I said nothing, L went on, "The problem is, there are circumstances when supporters of autocracy are in the majority..."

Parent

“Let me go one step further and ask: What if she does give a sound answer to both of your questions, but they are not logically linked? In other words, if your daughter knows what she is doing and why she is doing this, but her what does not help her why – what she is doing would not achieve her goal or purpose?”

“Alas, I see what you mean. However, I have not been asking for a logical sequence of action. I shall keep my words and be supportive.”

To my surprise, L nodded approvingly, “My friend, I shall take my hat off for you. What a keen supporter of liberalism! However, as a parent, you are a rare species. Many of the traditional Chinese fathers would insist their children to behave in a way that they parents think appropriate. Others may allow their children to pursue their own dream – but only if the teenager has a water-tight logical argument.”

“I could see the conflict now. When talking to the reporter, the King of the Round Table was playing the role of a parent – most likely from a traditional Chinese family. On the other hand, the students were taking him as an ordinary person, and, their motto is: Everyone should be equal!"

Support

I remained silent for a moment, and then I said slowly, “My friend, you really sound like our King of the Round Table.”

“Do I? That’s a compliment to me. Well, as to what he recently said to the media, I may not entirely agree. Nonetheless, our fellow students may be a trace too harsh to the old surgeon. As I am getting gold, I think I could understand his feeling.”

“Yes…?”

“Let me explain in a convoluted manner by asking you a hypothetical question: If Euterpe is now 17 rather than 7-year-old, and she asks you to write for her a letter to her school principal so that she could join the class boycott, what are you going to do?”

That’s a difficult nut to crack. I considered for a short while before giving a response, “I shall ask her to explain clearly to me what she is doing and why she is doing this. If she could give a solid answer to both, I shall be all supportive – even though I may not agree with her idea.”

Boycott

Met my friend L on my way home. As always, I tried to induce the old nerd to talk a bit more.

“My friend, what do you think about the class boycott this week?” I asked.

“Alas, go away, serpent! And take away the apple!” He burst out in a smiling face, “Why, as you always say, I do not need to have an opinion in this matter.”

“No, you do not need to, but nevertheless you have one – just like you don’t need to wear a tie to go to work but you always put on one.” I smiled back, “Friend, let’s be frank. What do you think?”

“Em… I think they have very good tactics but their strategy is slightly more controversial – although I’m not sure what better strategy they could adopt.”

“Do you mean the arrangement of the boycott is smooth but you do not think they could achieve what they want?” I asked, trying to translate what L said into layman language, "That view is not entirely exciting."

"Oh, why should it be? I am not bound to please thee with my answers."

Science

Like many working fathers, the most enjoyable hour for me every day is dinning with my princesses.

As you would expect, I have the most entertaining conversation with Euterpe and Alder at the dining table. To add to the flavor, my girls start playing a little mental game called “Is there any science” in the recent weeks to kick off the discussion every evening.

I must say I can’t recall how it all began. The rule is simple: When dinner is served, Euterpe and Adler each chooses a random subject (or object) and asks a question “Is there any science in…” and I shall have to give a two-minute talk on that topic.

For example, the questions I get today are “Is there any science in shrimps and crabs?” from Euterpe and “Is there any science in computer?” from Adler. Well, I do not need to be very sophisticated or informative. For the former, I talk about the edible life-forms between the two – lobster, crayfish, and squilla. For the latter, I touch on Windows and Apple, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, and how Pixar comes along.

As Confucius said, education starts by studying objects (格物而後致知).

Reference

(A reference letter that I am recently tempted to write for a house officer.)

To whom it may concern,

Dr. X worked for my team from July to September 2014.

I could see him in the ward during this period, and he often says “yes” when we ask him to do something.

As a result, I write this reference letter in response to his email request.

Sincerely, et cetera.

End

"That's tough work," K finds himself not easily being put off, "I shall finish the report on time. Is that all?"

"That's not the end. That is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

The young lecturer is apparently not amused with Winston Churchill. He pushes further, "What next?"

L stands up and walks to the other side of the office. In no time K realizes there stands two gigantic bookshelves, which are not filled with books, but files and folders. But, this time, L does not take out any of them. He merely points at the targets, one after another.

"You have all these to work on: Faculty strategic plan... Department strategic plan... Division development plan... Application of church approval... monastery approval... government approval... assistant performance report... amah performance report... justification of public lecture... justification of stationery usage... tendering of toilet paper... Well, that's probably all for this month."

"Alas, in that case, what's the time left for me to do some serious work - so that I could renew my contract and get promoted?"

"No - unless you are Jesus himself."

Colour

For a moment, K suspects the document is not written in English. But, in no time he knows he is wrong. He recognizes each and every word, but, all the same, he does not know what it means.

"You've got to submit the report next Monday." L says, in a matter-of-fact tone.

"My god, how could I? Em... who could be sure what to work on or what would happen 5 years down the road? The world of research is changing so quickly!" K replies.

"Well, maybe this one could help you." The chairman smiles a little. He peeps into his drawer again and takes out another folder. "Submit it by next Monday also." He adds.

K looks at the cover. On it are the words Review of Research Performance.

He sighs and turns to the first page. It begins like this: List of publications for the last 10 years, in chronological order, with citation number and impact factor. Please highlight in red the names of staff members from your own division, in orange for members from the same department, and in yellow for those from the same faculty. If the first or corresponding author of the paper from your division is a contract staff, please highlight that paper in red. If the publication is supported by a public grant, please highlight in green. For projects supported by personal grants and donations, highlight in blue and purple respectively.

The young lecturer believes the final report would be a lovely rainbow.

Folder

The room remains silent for a minute or two. At last, K decides to speak again.

"Sir, what do you mean?"

"I mean what I say, in the most literal sense. To begin with, you have to plan and prepare for what you are going to do."

"What does it involve?" K is puzzled.

Professor L does not speak. He opens a drawer of his desk, takes out an arm-breaking folder, and passes it to the young lecturer, with the eyes seem to be saying: See this.

On the cover of the folder K finds the words Five-Year Research Strategic Development imprinted in the Times New Roman 72.

He opens the folder and starts turning the pages - rather carelessly to begin with, but becomes more and more anxious as he goes on. There are endless chapters with titles Survey of competitive landscape, Current flagship research programs, Planned strategic research development, and so forth and so forth.

Duty

(The conversation between the young lecturer and his department head continues.)

"Oh, yes, of course, I've got to teach students. It is also very important." K says, thinking that he knows what the chairman means.

"Em... You don't really need to worry too much about teaching. To tell you the truth, you don't need to teach very much. We've outsourced most of our students to other churches." L shook his head.

"How about postgraduate students?"

"I don't think you would have any. You know, the university is cutting down the quota of research student to many departments, including ours. Well... they say that the total number of quota stays the same but they are allocated to dedicated fields of research excellence. A positive feedback - the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. You know what I mean."

"I know, but, in that case, what is my major duty? As a theologian, I also work as a part-time clergy, but, from the department point of view, I don't think you want me to spend all the time listening to people's confessions?"

"No, of course not. The major things that you are going to do are to plan what you are going to do and review what you have done."

"What!?" For a moment, K imagines the man sitting in front of him is Humphrey Appleby.

Lecturer

K is nervous.

Standing outside the office of his new boss, he finds his hands sweating. This is his first day of joining the university as an academic staff, and, as you would expect, the first thing that he does is to see his department head.

He knocks on the door, and a husky voice comes out, "Come in!"

K opens the door and finds a frail old man sitting by a large desk. This is Professor L - K has searched from the Internet how his boss looks like and he recognizes the face immediately. He wants to say good morning, but L is faster to act, "Dr. K? Good morning! Pray sit down. Welcome to join our department. You are the new Lecturer of Alternative Theology. Am I right?"

"Yes, professor," L nods and sits down, "I am sure I have a lot to learn and this post is very competitive. I shall focus to do good research."

"Research?" L looks confused, "Oh, yes, you need to. Well, you may have some spare time after all."

(To be continued.)

Cuisine

In one evening, Vivian and I dined at El Restaurante Botin –supposedly the oldest existing restaurant in the world (opened in 1725) as well as a Michelin star winner. The place is famous for roast piglet and, from what we had, the dish does match its fame. We also had some amazingly impressive blood sausage as our appetizer. The only disappointment came from the saute assorted vegetables. In fact, no where in Madrid could we find vegetable dish with a good quality, and everyone seems to eat nothing but meat and potato.

Of all Spanish cuisine, my personal favorite is paella, and we had a good traditional one in another evening – at a place just a short walk from Botin. Served in a huge pan, juicy rice with a charred bottom, four different types of shrimp, two kinds of shellfish, a good many other kinds of ingredient, and a good pinch of saffron.

It was so good that before we left for home, I bought a small dose of saffron from a local supermarket– so that I can try to make my own version of paella in Hong Kong.

Food

Another remarkable aspect of Madrid is the city is full of interesting restaurants and good food.

Except an early morning business meeting (from 7 AM!), I had breakfast in the hotel, and my favorite combination is a piece of tortilla plus some Spanish ham. In essence, the former is a kind of scrambled egg mixed with meshed potato. There is also a trace of minced bacon inside which adds to the flavor. Spanish ham? Oh, it’s never enough.

The Speakers’ Dinner was nothing but an endless supply of drinks, snacks, and tapas. To be honest, the food was excellent. My only disappointment is it was a standing dinner – a torture to ladies on high-heels as well as old people like me. My sister Jenny told me later that it is a custom of European hosts to serve standing dinner. Em… they should have told us in advance so that we could be better prepared – in terms of footwear as well as psychologically.

Madrid

Had a short business trip to Madrid. To begin with, I went there for some academic (or business if you prefer the term) reason. But, since Vivian was going with me, we ended up spending a bit of time for sight-seeing.

The two of us have not been to Europe since 2008 (it was Istanbul last time), and Madrid is a terrific city. It’s amazingly easy to get around by the underground, and we meet friendly and helpful people almost everywhere.

Soon after settling in the hotel, we visited Museo Nacional del Prado. In the following days, we had the opporunity of visiting the Museo Thysesen, Palacio Real, as well as a small guided tour in the Real Monasterio de la Encarnacion.

These places have one thing in common – they all have a huge collection of paintings, especially those related to Christianity. Although most people nowadays prefer impressionism, cubism, or other forms of abstract art, I find religious painting a much more interesting subject to study. Yes, the topic is boring and subjects repetitive. However, it calls for solid fundamental techniques, and there are often a whole lot of stories behind each trivial subject on the picture. After all, these paintings are not only meant to be artistic – they are supposed to tell a story or convey a message to the audience.

Strawberry

While reading Dobelli’s book, I was particularly impressed by the story of strawberry experiment.

It goes like this:

A group of experienced tasters and a group of college students were asked to sample 45 different brands of strawberry jelly, and the results were almost identical. In short, both groups preferred the same type. However, when the tasting experiment was repeated by asking the students to fill in a structured questionnaire to score each individual component of the “taste”, the ranking became completely different. Some of the best samples ended up at the bottom of the list.

What lesson do we learn? Yes, if we think too much, we lose the wisdom of our feelings. This is particularly true if we are talking about the assessment of practiced activities by experts of the field.

For example, I dare say, clinical examination conducted by experienced physicians.

Thinking

Talking about the books that I keep, my recent leisure reading was The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli.

The author used to work in the financial sector, but this book is about practical psychology. It summaries 99 common errors in logics and decision making. The chapters are short and easy to follow. In fact, if you have no background knowledge in this area, this small paperback could well serve as a comprehensive guide to logical thinking.

You may ask: How do I compare this book to Thinking, Fast and Slow?

For visitors with some medical background, I would put it like this: Kahneman's book is a narrative review of (mostly) his own work with a wealth of the first-hand experience, while Dobelli is a meticulous student who does a systemic review of the literature. The topic was stunning when I first read it from Kahneman, and was impressed but much less shocked by the time I encountered Dobelli.

In the very words of Dobelli himself, this is the primacy effect.

Excluded

Further to the 10 books that I mentioned, there are another few that are influential to me personally, but they were not included yesterday because they do not fulfill one criteria or another.

Here you go:

1. The Book of Genesis from the Holy Bible
2. Border Town (邊城) by Shen Congwen (沈從文)
3. Galaxy Express 999 (銀河鉄道999) by Leiji Matsumoto (松本零士)
4. The Murder of Roger Ackyrod by Agatha Christie
5. The Smiling, Proud Wanderer (笑傲江湖) by Jin Yong (金庸) 
6. Lateral Thinking by Edward de Bono
7. The Complete Yes Minister by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn
8. Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd
9. The Art of Strategy by Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff
10. Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick

To keep the record straight, I do not keep a copy of items #1, #2, #6, and #8. I watched #3 as TV series but not really the book. Items #4, #5, and #7 are influential but mostly for fun; #9 is less stunning when placed next to the masterpiece of Kahneman, while the scope of #10 is not as wide as the others.