How to Confuse an American

It is easy.

Spell 'colour' with a u.

Use 'spring' as a verb.

Pronounce park as we do in India. They would wonder why you are asking them to bark.

Do some quick arithmetic without a calculator.

Speak a language other than American English. Even Queen's English will do.

Add milk to your coffee.

Be knowledgable about world affairs.

Display knowledge of five countries not situated between Canada and Mexico.

Guns, Germs and Steel

Anthropology is not my favourite subject, but have been reading a fascinating account of some early humans in this book called Guns, Germs and Steel. I am only quarter of the way through the book, and I am already intrigued by how much of history and geography I am ignorant about. The author is Jared Diamond, a Medical doctor turned Professor of Geography.

The author talks of history of humans starting from prehistoric period (Neanderthal Man, Cro-Magnon man etc. are quite recent, it seems, relatively). But more than that, he tries to explore why certin continents/geographical areas and its people prospered, and why others did not. It is very interesting to read, and has the quality of a whodunit at times.

A region that I knew next to nothing about, Polynesia, stretching from New Zealand to Hawaai with hundreds of islands in between, is the subject of his first chapter, and that is what acutely revealed my ignorance to me. I hope to unravel more of the mysteries of our ancestors as I go along. Happy Discoveries to me!