Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly

Floating

Posted on Tuesday 28 May 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

After three days summarizing recently read nonfiction books, today let’s capture recent items from the news. A conservative blames the unpopularity of an ice cream flavor on Biden; Conservatives are eager to impose Christian indoctrination in Florida and Texas; Paul … Continue reading →

Posted in Music, Narrative, Politics, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Floating

Jonathan Gottschall, THE STORY PARADOX

Posted on Monday 27 May 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s a nonfiction book from 2021 that I read just a couple weeks ago. It’s similar in heft to the two books just discussed, in terms of length and conceptual depth, perhaps somewhere in the middle below Wilson and above … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Narrative, Psychology, Religion | Comments Off on Jonathan Gottschall, THE STORY PARADOX

Woo-Kyoung Ahn, THINKING 101

Posted on Sunday 26 May 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: “How to Reason Better and Live Better” (Flatiron Books, Sept 2022, 276pp, including 21p of acknowledgements, notes, and index) Here’s another short book, read the same month as yesterday’s Robert Charles Wilson book though it was published a year … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Psychology | Comments Off on Woo-Kyoung Ahn, THINKING 101

Robert Charles Wilson, OWNING THE UNKNOWN

Posted on Saturday 25 May 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

This is a book about theology, atheism and the idea of God, from the perspective of a science fiction writer. Wilson is a significant contemporary SF writer whose fiction output has slowed in recent years; I reviewed his 2015 novel … Continue reading →

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More Panic, Projection, Nonsense, and Superstition

Posted on Friday 24 May 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Takes on the “Biden assassination plot” fantasy, and projection; Why would DeSantis think the Founding Fathers would hate sociology? Tribal mentality from Royce White and Bryce Mitchell; And Christian rejection of the nature of the real world. First for today, … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Lunacy | Comments Off on More Panic, Projection, Nonsense, and Superstition

Idiots, Disingenuous, or Both?

Posted on Thursday 23 May 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Republicans misinterpret, either naively or maliciously, boilerplate language about use of force by the FBI as a plot by Biden to assassinate Trump; Thoughts about accountability; Testimony from Stew Peters and Steve Bannon, both presumably self-proclaimed Christians, about their plans … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Lunacy, Politics | Comments Off on Idiots, Disingenuous, or Both?

For Certain Values of Natural

Posted on Wednesday 22 May 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Conservatives are obsessed over things that are allegedly “unnatural” (especially homosexuality), when what they are really concerned about is any behavior unsuitable to tribal morality, in particular the expansion and growth of the human tribe, for which any sexual behavior … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, The Gays | Comments Off on For Certain Values of Natural

Living By Stories, Not Reality, Part 2

Posted on Tuesday 21 May 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

A New Yorker review of a new book about human origins; Robert Reich on how Americans don’t understand the reality of Trump and Biden; Short items about the Pope, and fundamentalists beliefs in the evil nature of human beings; how … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Narrative, Psychology, Religion | Comments Off on Living By Stories, Not Reality, Part 2

Most Humans Live by Stories, Not Reality

Posted on Monday 20 May 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Books by Gottschall and Rosenberg, and how history is just a bunch of stories; A couple notes from the fringe; Beck’s “We Live Again”. I’ve mentioned more than once the truism that “history is written by the winners.” I just … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Music, Narrative | Comments Off on Most Humans Live by Stories, Not Reality

Climate Change and Conservative Denial

Posted on Sunday 19 May 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Like any journalist or storyteller or blogger, I am alert for items with thematic connections. Here are two, or three. About climate change and conservative denial. NY Times, today’s front page, 19 May 2024: Mexico City Has Long Thirsted for … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Science | Comments Off on Climate Change and Conservative Denial