Knowledge

These days, the sound of the digital scythe being whetted makes me cast more lingering looks at the paper and cardboard relics on my bookshelves. At none more, since the announcement in March of their imminent extinction, than the familiar brown and gold, oddly titled volumes of my 1958 Encyclopedia Britannica: HYDROZ to JEREM, MARYB to MUSHE, SARS to SORC. During my teenage years, when my thirst and respect for knowledge were at an unsustainable peak, I resolved to read the Britannica from one end to the other.

Political advocacy corrupts academic institutions. Why? Because the mind-set of a genuine academic teacher is in every important respect the opposite of a political activist's. Academic teachers want to promote independent thought and analytical skills; political activists want conformity. The one fosters intellectual curiosity and encourages opposing viewpoints; the latter seeks to shut it down. This vital distinction is well understood. In California, the state Constitution contains this unambiguous statement: "The university shall be entirely independent of all political or sectarian influence and kept free therefrom.

I am writing in response to the reviews of "Tenured Radicals" (by Roger Kimball) and "The Political Meaning of Christianity" (by Glenn Tinder; both in Book Review of April 15). I was taught that Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Milton, Kant et al were engaged in "the disinterested pursuit of knowledge." To question this was to "politicize" knowledge and invariably "to throw the baby out with the bath water." I was taught that without Christianity, my politics could only be "despairing."

These days, the sound of the digital scythe being whetted makes me cast more lingering looks at the paper and cardboard relics on my bookshelves. At none more, since the announcement in March of their imminent extinction, than the familiar brown and gold, oddly titled volumes of my 1958 Encyclopedia Britannica: HYDROZ to JEREM, MARYB to MUSHE, SARS to SORC. During my teenage years, when my thirst and respect for knowledge were at an unsustainable peak, I resolved to read the Britannica from one end to the other.

MF Global Holdings Ltd. Chief Financial Officer Henri J. Steenkamp will tell lawmakers that he had "limited knowledge" of the movement of segregated customer funds in the final days before the firm's Oct. 31 bankruptcy filing. "I was taken up with other very serious matters" as the New York futures brokerage struggled for survival amid ratings downgrades and regulatory scrutiny, Steenkamp said in testimony prepared for Wednesday's House Financial Services subcommittee hearing on the collapse.

President Reagan, defending his Administration's record on providing aid to the needy, said Wednesday that anyone who is going hungry in America simply does not know where to turn for help. The President said that charitable donations had risen threefold in recent years and that much of it has been directed at shelters, food programs and school lunch programs.

I Hunt Killers A Novel Barry Lyga Little, Brown: 362 pp., $17.99, ages 15 and up A generation ago, young horror fans had to "read up" to adult authors such as Stephen King. Now novelists such as Barry Lyga are tailoring gore for a teen audience. In "I Hunt Killers," Lyga attempts one of the more daring concepts in recent years by a young-adult author. His multiple-murder mystery focuses on the son of a notorious serial killer who is forced to confront his fears that he will follow in his dad's footsteps and must also reconcile his attraction to grisly deaths.

Without the polls would we have any real confirmed knowledge of anything? WILLIAM KRAUSE Palm Springs

Knowledge, it has been said, is like a circle. What is known is inside, and what is unknown is outside. The larger the diameter of this circle of knowledge, the greater its circumference. And the greater its circumference, the more the circle borders on the unknown. Every time a question is answered, new questions are raised that people didn't even know were questions before. There is no end. Knowledge is infinite and unbounded.

I salute CBS pro football announcer John Madden. He is entertaining and makes any game an amusing pleasure with his on-the-field, one-of-the-guys style and knowledge. He's genuinely a delight. Paula Dare, Buena Park

Walt Disney Studios film chief Rich Ross' abrupt departure Friday comes at a difficult time for one of the largest, oldest and most successful of Hollywood's historic entertainment companies. It has also called into question Walt Disney Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Robert A. Iger's ambitious attempt to modernize the 89-year-old studio by placing a TV executive in charge of his film division and accelerates uncertainty at a time when all entertainment companies are struggling to come to terms with a dying DVD business and long-term declines in movie ticket sales.

I Hunt Killers A Novel Barry Lyga Little, Brown: 362 pp., $17.99, ages 15 and up A generation ago, young horror fans had to "read up" to adult authors such as Stephen King. Now novelists such as Barry Lyga are tailoring gore for a teen audience. In "I Hunt Killers," Lyga attempts one of the more daring concepts in recent years by a young-adult author. His multiple-murder mystery focuses on the son of a notorious serial killer who is forced to confront his fears that he will follow in his dad's footsteps and must also reconcile his attraction to grisly deaths.

MF Global Holdings Ltd. Chief Financial Officer Henri J. Steenkamp will tell lawmakers that he had "limited knowledge" of the movement of segregated customer funds in the final days before the firm's Oct. 31 bankruptcy filing. "I was taken up with other very serious matters" as the New York futures brokerage struggled for survival amid ratings downgrades and regulatory scrutiny, Steenkamp said in testimony prepared for Wednesday's House Financial Services subcommittee hearing on the collapse.

Congress gave final approval to one of the most sweeping ethics overhauls in years, clamping down on insider trading by lawmakers and administration officials in an election year push to improve the public's low opinion of Washington. The Senate passed the legislation overwhelmingly Thursday, 96 to 3, sending it to President Obama, who had called for such a measure during his State of the Union address. Few lawmakers want to stand in the way of ethics reforms at the moment, and the bill was received with gusto in Congress - even though one of its most compelling provisions was stripped by Republicans in the House.

No wonder C.J. Wilson struggles occasionally with insomnia. Who can sleep when your mind is racing like the Porsche GT3 RS the new Angels left-hander says he once cranked up to 165 mph at the Fontana raceway? "I get up and I have 10 things I want to do every day," Wilson says during a recent interview over breakfast in West Hollywood. "I've had teammates who sleep for 10 or 12 hours a night. I don't know how people do that. " It seems 24 hours a day isn't enough for Wilson, the former Texas Rangers ace who signed a five-year, $77.5-million deal with the Angels in December and will join pitchers and catchers for their first spring-training workout Monday in Tempe, Ariz.

The Clippers, still not done dealing after signing Kenyon Martin on Friday, will pursue guard J.R. Smith after the team he plays on in the Chinese Basketball Assn. finishes its season and he becomes eligible to play in the NBA, said a person not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. The Clippers aren't getting enough production off the bench behind small forward Caron Butler and feel as if Smith can provide the team with a big scoring punch at the position, the person said.

What distinguishes truly innovative businesses? Over the years, we have been told that innovative companies master the art of knowledge management; focus on their core competencies; get close to and listen to customers; have a long-term strategy for innovation and invest in the future; or are superior in identifying disruptive technologies. Now, in "The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking Is the Next Competitive Advantage" comes a new idea, or what purports to be one. Roger L. Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, argues that the key to success is design, or what he calls "design thinking."

Your editorial, "Price Tag on Knowledge" (June 18) certainly hit the mark. If more people viewed libraries as the public treasure they are we would not be faced with continual deliberations over whose responsibility they are. Instead we would band together to make certain that libraries continue to illuminate us in our quest for knowledge and guide us in our journey towards wisdom. WALTER BACKSTROM Los Angeles

Reporting from Orlando -- The smile on Kenyon Martin's face said a lot. Martin had just joined the Clippers for practice Sunday in Orlando — he didn't take part in the session, however — two days after he signed a contract to play for team. Both Martin and Coach Vinny Del Negro said there is no timetable for him to play in a game, but Martin said he'd like to be in uniform playing before the team finishes a six-game, 10-day trip that continues Monday night against the Orlando Magic.

If you want to know how badly UCLA football recruiting had fallen, let me tell the story from Harbor City Narbonne Coach Manuel Douglas. He said that during the City Section playoffs in 2010, a UCLA recruiter was on campus and didn't know who the best player was at Crenshaw High. "He didn't know who De'Anthony Thomas was," Douglas said. "If you don't know in your backyard who the best player in the City was, you're doing a crappy job recruiting. " Fast-forward to 2012. New UCLA Coach Jim Mora hasn't held a single practice, but in recruiting, he's getting an A on an early report card thanks to his hiring of assistant coaches Adrian Klemm, Steve Broussard, Eric Yarber and Demetrius Martin.