Category Archives: Book Notes

Michael Shermer: WHY DARWIN MATTERS: The Case Against Intelligent Design (2006)

Posted on Saturday 8 January 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

This is a middle-period Shermer book, from the range that begins with WHY PEOPLE BELIEVE WEIRD THINGS in 1997 (and omitting some earlier and middle-period books on extraneous topics), and the 6th of 12 Shermer books I have on my … Continue reading →

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Simon Baron-Cohen: THE PATTERN SEEKERS: How Autism Drives Human Invention (2020)

Posted on Tuesday 4 January 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

This is one of those books I heard about when it was published (via a PW review), but passed on at the time. (As I pass on 80% of books I hear about that I think I might like reading, … Continue reading →

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E.O. Wilson, HALF-EARTH (2016)

Posted on Wednesday 29 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

E.O. Wilson, Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life, Liveright, 2016, 259p This is one of Wilson’s last four or five books, the first one following The Meaning of Human Existence in 2014. These books seem slighter that most earlier Wilson … Continue reading →

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Carl Sagan, OTHER WORLDS (1975)

Posted on Sunday 19 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Continuing my stroll through my nonfiction library, of books I’ve read that I think are worth remembering. Carl Sagan, Other Worlds (produced by Jerome Agel). Bantam, 1975. This is a thin little book (160pp) with text by Carl Sagan but … Continue reading →

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Richard Dawkins: The Greatest Show on Earth (2009)

Posted on Thursday 16 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Richard Dawkins, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution. Free Press, Sept. 2009.

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Jerry Coyne, Why Evolution is True (2009)

Posted on Wednesday 15 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Jerry A. Coyne, Why Evolution is True. Viking, Feb. 2009. This is another of a dozen or so most significant books that I’ve read over the past decade or more that I’ve put off writing up on this blog simply … Continue reading →

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Steven Pinker: RATIONALITY (2021)

Posted on Sunday 12 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Pinker, Steven. Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters. Viking, 2021 I realize I’ve never written up a book by Steven Pinker on this blog, though I’ve read several and I think Pinker is one of … Continue reading →

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Carl Sagan: THE DRAGONS OF EDEN (1977)

Posted on Thursday 9 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Carl Sagan: The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence. Random House, 1977. This was Sagan’s first book since his 1973 hit The Cosmic Connection (revisited here), and is distinctive in two ways. First, it was the … Continue reading →

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Novella et al: THE SKEPTICS’ GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE

Posted on Wednesday 8 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Novella, Dr. Steven, et al. The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe: How to Know What’s Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake. Grand Central, 2018. *** I read this shortly after publication, nearly three years ago now, and … Continue reading →

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Links & Comments & Thoughts for the Day & Endpiece: 3 Dec 21

Posted on Friday 3 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Thought for the day: All the Christmas carols, all the movies about Santa, and so on, are *fan fiction*. Another thought for the day: I haven’t seen anyone point out that the reason Covid variants keep appearing, and then spreading … Continue reading →

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