Category Archives: Book Notes

Timothy Snyder, ON TYRANNY (2017)

Posted on Wednesday 16 February 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: “Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century” and published in February 2017 by Tim Duggan Books. This is the third book I’ve read or reread recently with a numbered agenda, following the Zakaria book covered in previous post, and Harari’s … Continue reading →

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Fareed Zakaria, TEN LESSONS FOR A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD (2020)

Posted on Tuesday 15 February 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s the next book with a numbered agenda up for summary (following Harari’s 21 Lessons). It came out in October 2020, with journalistic promptness just six or seven months after the beginning of the lockdown, though before vaccines became available … Continue reading →

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Harari Quotes from 21

Posted on Saturday 5 February 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Here are some longer quotes from Harari’s book, with some comments.

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Yuval Noah Harari, 21 LESSONS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY (post #2)

Posted on Friday 4 February 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s my second concluding post about Harari’s third book. As usual, I find it hard to condense my notes too far, when the author has so many interesting things to say, especially in this second half. In the range of … Continue reading →

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Yuval Noah Harari, 21 LESSONS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY (post #1)

Posted on Thursday 3 February 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

This 2018 book is Harari’s third, of the three he’s published so far. It follows in ways from his second, HOMO DEUS (see here), in exploring some of its themes, but differs in being not a narrative, but a set … Continue reading →

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John Allen Paulos, ONCE UPON A NUMBER: The Hidden Mathematical Logic of Stories (1998)

Posted on Monday 31 January 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s another John Allen Paulos book, one from 1998, and one that I had not previously read. When I noticed it on the shelf a few weeks ago I realized this was now of particular interest, since in recent years … Continue reading →

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John Allen Paulos, INNUMERACY: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences (1988)

Posted on Friday 21 January 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

This slender book was first published in 1988 (I have the 1990 paperback edition) and became a bestseller. It was one of the earliest books on the very general theme of how many people don’t understand the world around them, … Continue reading →

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E.O. Wilson: THE SOCIAL CONQUEST OF EARTH (2012)

Posted on Wednesday 19 January 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

E.O. Wilson’s THE SOCIAL CONQUEST OF EARTH, from 2012, is in my estimation one of the four most significant books by this scientist and writer. (The others are ON HUMAN NATURE, 1978; CONSILIENCE, 1998; and THE MEANING OF HUMAN EXISTENCE, … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Changing One's Mind, Culture, Evolution, Morality, Religion | Comments Off

E.O. Wilson, GENESIS: THE DEEP ORIGIN OF SOCIETIES (2019)

Posted on Monday 17 January 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

This was Wilson’s second to the last original book, and it’s quite short, perhaps simply a long essay; 125 pages divided into 7 chapters with illustrations and blank pages in between; many references, and an index. Key Points The gist … Continue reading →

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E.O. Wilson: THE ORIGINS OF CREATIVITY (2017)

Posted on Sunday 16 January 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

What is creativity? It is the innate quest for originality. The driving force is humanity’s instinctive love of novelty—the discovery of new entities and processes, the solving of old challenges and disclosure of new ones, the aesthetic surprise of unanticipated … Continue reading →