The Journey(s) of Ian

For the past month, prompted by my reading of William Paterson’s highly readable biography of Heinlein “Robert A. Heinlein in Dialogue with his Century” (2010), I have been re-reading my Heinlein. By way of background, for the 70s and 80s H was one of my “go to” authors. When in search of a book to reread he was always a starting point. By the 90s my tastes had changed and I looked to new fields of reading enlightenment, however, after a quarter of a century it is now time for renewed interest!  Let me say upfront, though I cannot agree with his libertarian justifications for violence, his casual acceptance of poverty, nor libertarianism itself, I do regard H as truly being one of the greats of science fiction, and a man who respected liberty and freedom, but only in a narrow sense. This short novel “Double Star” was written in 1956, and tells of the transformation of an apparently talented actor, but one with an empty even bigoted life into a larger, farsighted...

Online teaching is a recent and promising medium of instruction that has created promising teaching opportunities for educators and learners, however, equally new ideas and new approaches are needed to make best use of this medium.  Here are ten techniques I now use in my online teaching. These are aimed at western teachers who teach school aged Chinese students, however, they can be applied in varying extent to different students and different ages. One. Chat at the beginning of the lesson Before you dive into the lesson spend one to two minutes talking to your student about her or his day, and yours—the idle chitchat that people do. Discuss the weather, school, and friends.  For regular students keep track of what your student tells you, don’t forget any essentials (see point seven below). A month later, if you can refer back to the time your student lost her kite in the tree, you will make a long-standing favourable impression. This practice is good wit...

"I AM LEGEND" It is impossible for SF fans of my generation to see this movie without automatically comparing it to its predecessor, the classic 1971 film "The Omega Man", starring the late, great Charlton Heston. To cut to the chase, while "I am Legend" it is a good movie it is inferior to the original. This may surprise some. Clearly, in some respects the modern is superior—the CGI, the creepy vampires, the sweeping photography, the stunts, are all impressive, however, where the modern lags is in the story itself. IaL has a relatively simple plot. Neville lives in an unpeopled NY. We see him hunt, fish, and talk to his dog (the presence of which is an obvious survival necessity, missing in the original), and search for a cure to the plague that eliminated 95% of humanity. Well produced as it is this backstory is mostly filler, with good actions scenes, and the evocation of pathos for the lonely isolation of Neville. I...

 “Beyond this Horizon” (1942) by Robert Heinlein I was prompted to reread this novel by my current reading of William Paterson’s readable biography of Heinlein “Robert A. Heinlein in Dialogue with his Century” (2010). Rereading Heinlein after all these years! I first read H. and this novel in my high school days—1970s. For two decades it held the distinction of being a novel I reread every three or four years. I was always tantalised by the nuanced background and eclectic narrative of the novel, however by the early 90s my reading tastes had sufficiently changed (matured?) that I no longer turned to H. to fulfil my reading needs. Therefore it has been three decades since I last perused the pages of H’s first successful novel. After this long absence I still found H’s writing enjoyable. He creates a vibrant novel that challenges, entertainingly invokes, and criticises social norms. For example, he briefly, but directly states that men wear nail polish, that men wear brightly col...