Search Results for: how the mind works

Daniel C. Dennett, BREAKING THE SPELL, post 1

Posted on Monday 2 May 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s a book published in 2006. The author, Daniel C. Dennett, is a professor of philosophy at Tufts University. He became grouped among the four so-called “new atheists” of the 2000s, along with Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens, … Continue reading →

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Stephen Prothero, GOD IS NOT ONE (2010)

Posted on Friday 22 April 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Here is a book I’ve mentioned a couple times, having read portions of it over the years since it was published. Only last month did I read it all the way through. Mixed review. The book makes some excellent points … Continue reading →

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LQCs: Imaginary Problems, Critical Thinking, 11-Point Plans, and Prophets

Posted on Wednesday 20 April 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Latest in a recurring theme about how Republicans not only aren’t trying to solve real problems, or even fighting the culture wars, they’re fighting *imaginary* problems to rile up their white working class base. NYT, Paul Krugman, 18 April 2022: … Continue reading →

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Richard Dawkins: THE BLIND WATCHMAKER (1986)

Posted on Tuesday 19 April 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

This now 35-year-old book was Dawkins’ third, following the famous The Selfish Gene (summary here) and the less-famous sequel The Extended Phenotype (which I still have not read). If the first two were relatively straightforward explanations of evolution and natural … Continue reading →

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How I Use Bookstores, Past and Present

Posted on Monday 11 April 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Slate, Jeff Deutsch, 9 April 2022: What Kind of Bookstore Browser Are You?, subtitled “We booksellers have seen it all.”

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Shf Reviews

Posted on Sunday 10 April 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

I wrote reviews of newly published science fiction and fantasy stories for over a decade in Locus Magazine beginning in 1988. Isfdb has this bibliography of those columns and of other reviews and commentaries, virtually all for Locus. Links to … Continue reading →

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Daniel Keyes: FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON (1966)

Posted on Friday 11 March 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s the next part of the batch of brief reviews of SF novels that I began last week. I’m now thinking, though, that with more substantial books like this one I’ll just cover one book per post — back to … Continue reading →

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Musings

Posted on Monday 7 March 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

A Table of Moral Polarities (beginning 11 May 2024) A first pass at summarizing many of the themes on this blog: how the left/right divide in American politics aligns with attitudes about so many things. Last Questions and Possible Answers … Continue reading →

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Watching the News

Posted on Monday 28 February 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Yesterday I quoted Robert Reich about the mainstream media — his issues were that they favor the status quo; they lack discussion of critical public choices; and they indulge in false equivalences — and ended by remarking that what I … Continue reading →

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LQCs: Conspiracy Theories and Authoritarians, One More Time

Posted on Saturday 26 February 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Links and comments today about the US Right’s continued taste for authoritarians and conspiracy theories.

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