"Infidel" and Other Matters

Today's VSL email is the first that really struck me.

The advertised book is part Salman Rushdie, part Gloria Steinem, part Iman; it's called "Infidel," and it's written by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born woman who served in the Dutch parliament and, I assume, knows a good bit about the life of a Muslim woman. In 2004, she and filmmaker Theo Van Gogh made a powerful and *very* controversial 10-minute movie portraying the abuses of women in Islam, depicted as a woman's prayer to Allah. (See it here, via Google Video.) Van Gogh was assassinated by a Muslim; Hirsi Ali is now hiding, a la Salman Rushdie. So, watching the movie, I realized that one Cause that I can really see myself getting involved in is this oppression of women; I'm not sure what I would do, but I firmly believe in giving women all of the same rights and freedoms as men (though I recognize that there are inherent differences between the genders). For some reason, out of all the issues plaguing the world (and there are many), this is the one that strikes me the most, and moves me most to action. Anyway, Hirsi Ali's book comes out in February, and I'm planning to buy it.
Best price: http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?PAGE=PRODUCT&PROD_ID=2141325&cid=80486&fp=F
Also good: http://www.strandbooks.com/profile/?isbn=0743289684
(Even Amazon has a pretty decent deal on it.)

I'll buy it once I convince myself that I have time to read it.

In other news, IAP stuff is going strong; I'll try to keep this blog updated on 6.370, the Berwick UROP, maybe some SATPrep, and other generally good stuff. Now it's either back to coding or off to sleep.