Le Procope

I flew from Beijing to Paris for this year’s IFP lectures – and even before giving any presentations, IFP invited me to have dinner with the visiting executives at Le Procope, the oldest restaurant in the city (founded in 1686). Certainly a delightful way to start this year’s Paris visit!

I was also invited to lunches & dinners with a number of friends & colleagues…. & you can see that significant portions of my Parisian visits seem to revolve around food & catching up with long-time friends — so it’s no wonder I enjoy them so much! But I did spend a bit of time in the classroom – and in fact upped my teaching load from nine to twelve hours for the Petroleum Economics & Management students. Obviously, there’s lots to cover now in emissions trading!

Just like last year, I was reading Alain de Botton’s latest book on this Paris visit, this one entitled The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. I’ve become quite a de Botton fan, and over the past year I’ve read more of his earlier works, including the books on Proust, philosophy, & his novel On Love. His latest work has chapters exploring the diverse ways in which people make a living, and I especially enjoyed the chapter about French rocket engineers launching a Japanese satellite (that would be broadcasting anime films & wacky game shows) from French Guiana in South America. He notes the struggle of living with modernity in such a primitive setting, and writes:

I felt the temptation of hoping that all activities would acquire the excitement and rigours of engineering while recognizing the absurdity of those who, overly impressed by technological achievement, lose sight of how doggedly we will always be pursued by baser forms of error and absurdity.

Perhaps — like Beida below — they should consider a statue of Cervantes at the launch site??