Search Results for: how the mind works

Links and Comments: Suffering Death without Religion; Fox News; Fundamentalism

Posted on Tuesday 4 June 2019 by Mark R. Kelly

New York Times: Surviving the Death of My Son After the Death of My Faith, subtitled, I had lost the one thing that could have numbed my pain. By Amber Scorah. A woman leaves her religion, gets on with her … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Psychology, Religion, Ten Commandments | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Suffering Death without Religion; Fox News; Fundamentalism

Links and Comments: Fiction and Truth, Ignorance and Knowledge, Science Denial and the Scientific Attitude

Posted on Monday 27 May 2019 by Mark R. Kelly

Three interesting essays this week. In the New York Times Sunday Review section, an essay by Yuval Noah Harari: Why Fiction Trumps Truth, subtitled “We humans know more truths than any species on earth. Yet we also believe the most … Continue reading →

Posted in Changing One's Mind, Lunacy, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Fiction and Truth, Ignorance and Knowledge, Science Denial and the Scientific Attitude

E.O. Wilson: ON HUMAN NATURE

Posted on Sunday 14 April 2019 by Mark R. Kelly

I first read this book shortly after its 1978 hardcover publication, and it was revelatory; elegantly written and insightful, it challenged conventional ideas about human nature, especially the one about the mind being a ‘blank slate’ completely molded by environment, … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Evolution, Religion | Comments Off on E.O. Wilson: ON HUMAN NATURE

Nichols, THE DEATH OF EXPERTISE

Posted on Sunday 17 February 2019 by Mark R. Kelly

Tom Nichols’ THE DEATH OF EXPERTISE: The Campaign against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters (Oxford, 2017) is one of the better in the batch of recent books I’ve read about current events and how they reflect issues of science … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Conservative Resistance, Culture | Comments Off on Nichols, THE DEATH OF EXPERTISE

Lightman: SEARCHING FOR STARS ON AN ISLAND IN MAINE

Posted on Thursday 7 February 2019 by Mark R. Kelly

Alan Lightman is the best known of the three authors reviewed today; he’s published numerous books before, including the novels EINSTEIN’S DREAMS and THE DIAGNOSIS, as well as numerous volumes of essays, out of all of which I’ve only read … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Lightman: SEARCHING FOR STARS ON AN ISLAND IN MAINE

Eric Frank Russell: SINISTER BARRIER

Posted on Tuesday 22 January 2019 by Mark R. Kelly

This is an early genre science fiction novel, first serialized in Unknown magazine in 1939, later revised and expanded and published in 1948 by Fantasy Press. I have the latter edition, in a used copy I picked up about six … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, science fiction | Comments Off on Eric Frank Russell: SINISTER BARRIER

Links and Comments: Progress; San Francisco Values; Value of Literature

Posted on Sunday 20 January 2019 by Mark R. Kelly

From earlier this month. New York Times, Nicholas Kristoff: Why 2018 Was the Best Year in Human History!: Once again, the world’s population was living longer and living better than ever before. Kristof does a version of this column every … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Human Progress | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Progress; San Francisco Values; Value of Literature

Hawking: BRIEF ANSWERS TO THE BIG QUESTIONS

Posted on Thursday 10 January 2019 by Mark R. Kelly

This is the lightest Stephen Hawking book you are likely to read. Published posthumously, it’s a set of reminiscences on 10 big questions compiled and edited from various speeches, interviews, and essays in Hawking’s personal archives, “completed in collaboration with … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Science | Comments Off on Hawking: BRIEF ANSWERS TO THE BIG QUESTIONS

Links and Comments: Unread Books; Psychology and Logic; GOP Paranoia; Political Extremes

Posted on Friday 19 October 2018 by Mark R. Kelly

From recent weeks’ NYT. Essay by Kevin Mims: All Those Books You’ve Bought but Haven’t Read? There’s a Word for That. The print title, October 14, was “The Importance of Unread Books” subtitled “Why a personal library should include books … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Unread Books; Psychology and Logic; GOP Paranoia; Political Extremes

More San Jose Worldcon Panels

Posted on Tuesday 28 August 2018 by Mark R. Kelly

(Long post — from Facebook, 23 August) Finishing my report on this year’s Worldcon, about the several interesting panels I attended — long post, about panels on SF and philosophy, definitions of SF, evolutionary theory and 19th Century SF, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Conventions | Comments Off on More San Jose Worldcon Panels