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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» Previous Views from Medina Road (2010-2013)
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Recent Posts
- What Our Time Will Be Remembered For
- Party of Hypocrites
- A New Cycle of Doom: Trump’s Second Inauguration
- For Certain Values of Great
- Immigration, Economic Growth, and the Limits of the Planet
- Lakoff on “Privateering,” and the Consequences of Shrinking the Government
- Cynics, Conspiracies, and the Oligarchy
- Jonathan Haidt, THE ANXIOUS GENERATION
- Competence Is Beside the Point
- MAGA Delusions About Health
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Meta
Category Archives: Book Notes
Recent Book Lists
Three items for today: a list of “influential” science fiction works, a list of nonfiction books that changed minds, and Elon Musk’s books he thinks everyone should read.
Posted in Book Notes
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Third Culture Books; Perceptions and Reality
Today’s three topics: A new Michael Shermer book I missed when it came out last October; How magenta is a color that doesn’t exist on the spectrum; Public perceptions of the economy. There are authors I’ve followed for years, both … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Politics, Psychology
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The Moral Arc and Animals, Animal Intelligence, and People Who Don’t Read Books
Just these three topics for today, one focusing on Ray Nayler’s SF novel The Mountain in the Sea.
Posted in Book Notes, Morality
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Michael Shermer: THE MORAL ARC
Subtitled: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom (Henry Holt, January 2015, 541pp, including 55pp of notes, 30pp of bibliography, and 15pp of acknowledgments and index) This is Michael Shermer’s magnus opus, perhaps, culminating a running … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Morality, Science
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Robert Lanza and Nancy Kress, OBSERVER
(The Story Plant, January 2023, 380pp) This is a hard science fiction thriller that impressed me in many ways, though I’m not a regular reader of thrillers per se and perhaps am not in a position to judge the book … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, science fiction
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Yuval Noah Harari, UNSTOPPABLE US
Here’s a book I read near the end of last year that, like the Dawkins book recently reviewed, is a book directed at young people. Like the Dawkins, it’s heavily illustrated; unlike that, Harari’s book is essentially a rewrite of … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Evolution
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More About Stories v. Reality
Yet another item about that anthology of historical essays. Plus items about pandemics, bestseller lists, wokeness in the military, the attraction of conspiracy theories, and violence on TV.
Posted in Book Notes, Conservative Resistance, Narrative
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Myth America
Today in the papers, both an op-ed about and a review of a new book called Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past, edited by Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer, published by … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Narrative
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Richard Dawkins, FLIGHTS OF FANCY: Defying Gravity by Design & Evolution
This book was released in the UK in November 2021 — here’s its Amazon UK page — and was announced for US release in May 2022. I ordered the latter when it came out; here is its Amazon.com page. Turns … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Evolution
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One More Book Story
The Washington Post did a list about two weeks ago about this: Washington Post, Alyssa Rosenberg, 6 Dec / updated 19 Dec 2022: Opinion | To build a delightful library for kids, start with these 99 books Then today posted … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Personal history
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