책 읽는 즐거움 2: Reich, Pinckney, Power

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의외로 David Reich의 Who We Are and How We Got Here 를 먼저 다 읽었다. Jared Diamond가 뉴욕 타임즈 서평에서 요약한 대로, 아프리카인과는 달리 유럽인과 아시아인은 네안데르탈인에게서 온 유전자를 2퍼센트 정도 갖고있다는 거나 일본인은 80퍼센트의 DNA를 한국인과 공유한다는 것 등의  'ancient DNA'를 이용한 연구 결과가 꽤 흥미로웠다. Samantha Power의 The Education of an Idealist 와 Darryl Pinckney의 Come Back in September 는 아직 읽고 있는 중이다. 

 

 

David Reich, Who We Are and How We Got Here 에서

 

What we can already be sure of is that in Africa, as in every region that has yielded ancient DNA, the model of an evolutionary tree in which today's populations have remained unchanged and separate since branching from a central trunk is dead, and that instead the truth has involved great cycles of population separation and mixture. (p. 225)

 

It[ancient DNA] is providing definite answers to questions about whether changes in tha archaeological record reflect movements of peop;e or cultural communication. Again and again, it is revealing findings that almost no one expected. (p. 276)

 

The power of ancient DNA to track the rate at which the frequencies of biologically important mutations have changed is important not just because it offers the possibility of tracking the evolution of specific traits, but also because it provides a previously unavailable tool that we can use to understand the fundamental principles of how natural selection proceeds. (p. 281)

 

 

 

 

Darryl Pinckney, Come Back in September 에서:

 

The inscription for [Robert] Lowell's tombstone had been decided on. I thought it was going to be from 'Endings' [Lowell's poem 'Epilogue']:

 

          The immortal is scraped unconsenting from the mortal.

 

    Elizabeth [Hardwick] said he was writing about Cousin Harriet and she particularly liked the use of yhe word 'scraped':

    -- Its modernity. (p. 116)

 

She liked to talk about the Bible. For her, Scripture matched Freud when it came to abundance of case studies.... She laughed that Catholics were not really Christians. [Ernest?] Renan she didn't like, he was too sentimental. She urged me to try Karl Barth. She liked the Albert Schweitzer of The Quest of the Historical Jesus.... 

    Heine was someone she often read before she tried to write, just to open herself up. (p. 125)

 

 

 

겉표지 뒤 사진: Elizabeth Hardwick의 거실

 

"She went up to Maine.... I'd let myself into Elizabeth's place toward the end of the week,

sort the mail, settle in on the red sofa, and discover that I couldn't sit there comfortably

withou her. I couldn't steal a vodka and flip through her magazines." (p. 126)

 

 

 

Samantha Power, The Education of an Idealist 에서:

 

In 2014, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had decided to use his narrow administrative authority to do something bold for LGBT UN staff. Ban granted the spouses of all UN employees in same-sex marriages the same benefits as their heterosexual counterparts. The secretary-generals's administrative order was less important for its practical impacts, which was small, than for the important message it sent about equality.

    This was precisely the message to which Russia objected. Vitaly [Churkin, Russia's Ambassador to the UN] called me[Samantha, UN ambassador] a few days before Christmas. "We are taking this to a vote in the General Assembly," he sais. "It cannot stand." (p. 422)

 

    In the end, thanks to the widespread, relentless lobbying of US diplomats and spirited leadership from the Netherlands and Latin American countries like Argentina and Chile, the resolution to rescind benefits to LGBT couples faild. In fact, it failed by a margin of almost two to one. (p. 425)