Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly

A MAGA Feed, and DST

Posted on Saturday 8 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

(I’ve now posted summary notes and comments about all the nonfiction books I’ve read since the beginning of 2024. Before that there are titles I’ve read but not yet posted, and I’ll work those next.) A MAGA feed; A solution … Continue reading →

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Tyson & Wexler, TO INFINITY AND BEYOND

Posted on Saturday 8 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Neil deGrasse Tyson and Lindsey Nyx Walker Subtitled “A Journey of Cosmic Discovery” (National Geographic, Sep. 2023, 319pp, including 16pp acknowledgements, further reading, illustrations credits, and index.) This is literally a heavier-than-usual book that is nevertheless a light-weight read (even … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Book Notes, Cosmology, Science, Skiffy Flix | Leave a comment

Simplicity and Idiocy

Posted on Friday 7 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

[draft] I admit that I follow a Facebook group called America’s Cultural Decline Into Idiocy. It consists of group members posting examples (by others) of what they take as idiocy, for example someone who did not understand the movie: I … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Psychology | Leave a comment

Tom Nichols, OUR OWN WORST ENEMY

Posted on Friday 7 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled “The Assault From Within on Modern Democracy” (Oxford, August 2021, xvii + 245pp, including 25pp notes and index) Here’s the last of several books about current issues that I read in December and January. I read this one because … Continue reading →

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Back and Forth, On and Off

Posted on Thursday 6 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump has no plan. He has bluster, and a magic toy he’s discovered that he thinks can solve everything: tariffs. But he can’t make up his mind. On again, off again. Even his supporters are becoming discontent. \\ AP News, … Continue reading →

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Annalee Newitz, STORIES ARE WEAPONS

Posted on Thursday 6 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: “Psychological Warfare and the American Mind” (Norton, June 2024, xxv + 246pp, including 42pp of acknowledgements, notes, and notes.) Here’s a book that offers a different spin on the ideas of misinformation, fake news, and narratives, than earlier books … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Culture, Human Nature, Psychology | Leave a comment

Many Lies, No Coherent Plan

Posted on Wednesday 5 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Commentaries and fact-checks about Trump’s speech to Congress last night. – – – I did not watch the speech last night (Trump to Congress, in the spot on the calendar where the State of the Union speech would usually be), … Continue reading →

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Stepping Outward, from Tariffs to Globalization

Posted on Tuesday 4 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Rationales for tariffs against Canada and Mexico: perhaps Trump just hates Canadian decency, how his rationales keep changing, and in any case they’re foolish; With my thoughts about two possible motivations; How Trump is losing the 21st century: by alienating … Continue reading →

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Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach, THE KNOWLEDGE ILLUSION

Posted on Tuesday 4 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled “Why We Never Think Alone” (Riverhead Books, March 2017, 296pp including 30pp acknowledgements, notes, and index.) This is a book that I’ve thought of as a companion to the O’Connor/Weatherall book I just reviewed ever since they’ve been sitting … Continue reading →

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Triage, and Kittens

Posted on Monday 3 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Busy weekend, so I’m behind and have three days of political links to catch up on. I’ll triage. Reactions to the meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump/Vance/et al; Conservatives react by projecting; And links without comments about corruption, witchcraft, getting … Continue reading →

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