To discover things unknown, was the very beginning of what we today call science. From hundreds, thousands, of years back, humans have tried to describe the world around them – to understand why things are as they are and how things will be. It started with consulting the stars… the mesopotamia, egypt, and the arabs. To find answers in the sky have always been present to this day.

Disciplines have been many: astrology, alchemy, math… but the further we get, the more questions arise. It is not always as clear as it seems, and some things are not always as difficult. I am currently reading a book by Rasmus Dahlberg: Det avgörande ögonblicket (eng. The defining moment) – where he writes about the unlikely causes of major world changing events in history. In the introduction Rasmus correlates historical moments and how they come to pass with mathematical equations and similarities to caos theory. A quotation stuck with me, of Pierre Simon de Laplace’s description of the goal of mathematics:

After the days of Newton, the goal of science came to mapping all the equations ruling the universe, from its smallest to its largest pieces. Thereafter, it would be possible, from everything’s position at a set time, to calculate how everything would act in the future. And for someone with this knowledge, nothing would be impossible.

(Freely translated from Swedish.)

Page 14, Det avgörande ögonblicket by Rasmus Dahlberg

Rasmus continues to write a short history of mathematics up to this day and the start of caos theory – he relates this to the happenings of history, how things are not always as they seem – and how they may have the most unlikely of causes. He writes of Lorenz, a meteorologist in the 1960′s, who, by sheer mistake of three decimals, corresponding to the flutter of a butterfly’s wing, came to the prediction of a hurricane on the other side of the earth.

The Lorenz Attractor (google search)

Since February I’ve been a full-time employee of ABB’s HVDC company. It has been an amazing learning experience and everyday there’s something new. Like with all my ”projects”, and everything that I engage myself in, I give 110 %. Sometimes it is frustrating, because things don’t always turn out the way you expect. But being firm in what you want, is always the best step forward.

What I found fascinating about HVDC and ABB during my working periods while studying, was that not many people knew about Sweden actually still having great industry, even less so a high technology frontier like HVDC-technology. Because that is what it is. I truly believe HVDC is a thing for the future.

I remember my first time spent in Ludvika. This was by the department who assembles the thyristor and IGBT valves. There was a man there named Glenn. He had been working at ABB (ASEA) for all his life, and he shared many stories with me. History is a subject warm to my heart, I read a lot of historical books, both fiction and non-fiction… so in a way it is natural that I searched for a read of the history of the company at which I spend my days.

So when Percy Barnevik, entreprenaur and long time industry leader and manager of ABB had his memoirs published in the middle of October, I just had to read it. It is a great read, where you learn not only of ASEA, the fusion with bbc, and the hard times due to the acquisition of ce (Combustion Engineering, US), but also about Barnevik himself, his thoughts about life and the people he met. I’m only half way through yet. But I’m learning the story from the man who sat in the very centre.

This month has been quite hectic. It started off with a meeting with Customers in Ireland, which gave me several hours of reading while in the air. Back at the office there has been great works with documents that needed to be produced, and that quickly. The last two weeks in October were spent down south in Karlshamn on a refurbishment at the Sternö station of the SwePol link. So overall, October has not been a month where reading has been a priority. Even so, this is the month’s bookshelf:

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The Other Hand is written by Chris Cleave and also goes under the title ”Little Bee”. It is a fictional story of a nigerian refugee girl in the UK – I especially enjoyed the protagonist’s reflections and comparisons between Western culture and language to that of Nigeria. A thoughtful and inspiring read.

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Engelbrechtsdivisionen is a Swedish book written by Lars Fredrikson and a book I would probably file under Suspense. It is a fictional story set on the Swedish countryside. The story builds around the idea that towards the end of WWII, there was a last, desperate attempt, to transport German weaponry from the north of Finland, through Sweden and over to Norway to build a final assault. However, the train went missing – and 50 years later, an elderly german officer seeks to find out the truth. Not as good as I hoped, the ending left much to be wished for.

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Satans raseri, written by Bengt Ankarloo is a non-fictional investigation and discussion about the 16th and 17th century religions, cultures, folk lores, and belief systems that ultimately led up the today infamous witch hunts – focusing on Northern Europe. Bengt Ankarloo discusses several aspects of that times’ society and comes to the general conclusion that the number of victims that were accused and sentenced to death for ”dark magic” were far less than the popular history would have us believe.

Last weekend, we spent the day with my fiancés’ parents at the Swedish annual Book Fair (Bok- och Biblioteksmässan) in Gothenburg – the largest event for book lovers in Sandinavia. On my way there however, the following thought crossed my mind: Would the book fair be as interesting as earlier years now that the e-book is on the market?

The whole market of e-books is something that I support completely (and also take advantage of) – perhaps even more than the general book reader since I tend to travel a lot in my work, and the fact that ten hardcover books really causes a lot more trouble than tens of e-books in a 200 gram package. But as it turned out we left with a total of eight hardcovers (+ one e-book)… cause they have their charm after all… when they’re signed (!).

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Peter Temples’ new book ”Truth” in Swedish translation

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A whole new world opens up at the book fair where you got every opportunity in the world to really meet face to face with the author of that 1000+ pages book that weighs like a brick – then its worth it to bring it home because it suddenly is more than ”just a book”.

Perhaps that is the future for the book industry? The e-books may perhaps replace the paperbacks completely, while the hardcover books become those rare, exclusive editions. A future I can definitely imagine.