Mark R. Kelly
» Founder in 1997 and site-runner for 20 years of Locus Online (Hugo Award winner in 2002). Founder in 2012 and still site-runner of sfadb.com (Science Fiction Awards Database). Retired in 2012 after 30 years as a software engineer for a certain rocket engine factory.
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Monthly Archives: August 2022
George Gamow: One Two Three… Infinity
Here’s an oldie, not just for first being published in 1947 (see Wikipedia) but also for being one of the first science nonfiction books I ever read, back when I bought this copy in 1969. (Seen here is the Bantam … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Mathematics, Personal history, Physics, Psychology
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Longtermism
A key aspect of (good) science fiction is that it takes a long term view, of the species, of the universe, as so few individual people do.
Posted in Human Progress, science fiction
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Paperback Sets: Asimov’s Foundation Novels
I’m going to begin a series of posts capturing photos of some of the many sets of matching paperbacks that appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when I began buying books, that I have acquired (some when published … Continue reading
Posted in Paperback Sets, science fiction
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Walter Jon Williams: “Surfacing” + 2
This week’s story being consider by the Facebook Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Fiction group, for its reading of the big Gardner Dozois book shown here, is the second story in that book, a 1988 novella by Walter Jon … Continue reading
Posted in science fiction, Short Fiction
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Facebook Memes: Conspiracy Theories; Ignorant People
Quick post for this afternoon; I’m working a long post about the next story my Facebook reading group will address on Sunday, concerning a novella by Walter Jon Williams, and I’m taking the opportunity while revisiting these older stories by … Continue reading
Posted in Culture
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David McRaney, HOW MINDS CHANGE
How Minds Change: The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion, and Persuasion (Portfolio/Penguin, June 2022, 330pp) Almost a decade ago I discovered two books by David McRaney, YOU ARE NOT SO SMART (2011) and YOU ARE NOW LESS DUMB (2013) that … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Psychology
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Abortion Votes and Republicans on Parenting
When I opened Facebook this morning the first 10 items were all about the election results in Kansas (from news sources or friends citing them), in which an attempt to remove protections for abortion *failed* rather dramatically — by 60% … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Evolution, Politics
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Bothsidesism and Media Bias
Here’s an odd headline. What could this be about? Slate, Savannah Jacobson, 1 Aug 2022: Why the New York Times’ Post-Roe Abortion Coverage Has Felt a Little Off, subtitled, “It’s the same problem that always plagues the Times.”
Posted in Politics, Psychology
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Randy Olson, HOUSTON, WE HAVE A NARRATIVE
This is an interesting book that I’m disappointed by only because it’s not the book I wanted to read. That is, not the author’s fault. An interesting, useful, book nonetheless. (University of Chicago Press, 2015, trade paperback, 260pp) Olson’s book … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Narrative, Science
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Links and Comments: Some Good News, and the FBI
Some recent news is actually quite good.