SUMMARY: An excellent book on extremism and conspiracy theories in America, and how we can treat them. A little unpolished, but invaluable - with a grSUMMARY: An excellent book on extremism and conspiracy theories in America, and how we can treat them. A little unpolished, but invaluable - with a great Bibliography.
The book is a passionate but ragged thing. I felt it needed some more editorial work, maybe shorten a few sections, some different formatting choices, etc. At the same time the book has a rawness that helps communicate the importance - I'll take that over perfection. In some ways the rawness adds a kind of "punk" feel of doing its own thing and not trying to play nice, all wrapped in excellent writing.
Neiwart walks us through some introductions and history, then individual cases of extremists. From there he goes into the history of conspiratorial thinking in America, and then looks at our current insanity as of 2021. Neiwart does an excellent job of showing the timeline of how we got here - and it took decades.
After addressing this there is a useful - but all too-short - section on how to address the raging conspiratorial thinking in America. It's surprisingly hopefuly and has useful visions for how we can help - but it's an all-hands-on-deck job.
This is recommended reading for anyone that studies conspiratorial thinking, and who hopes to help friends and family out of extremism. It's not the end-all of the subject, but a pretty good start and overview....more
This is a mixed bag. If you're an experienced Agilist with no documentation or training experience, perhaps 20% of this book is useful to you. If you'This is a mixed bag. If you're an experienced Agilist with no documentation or training experience, perhaps 20% of this book is useful to you. If you're experienced in documentation and training and no agile, 70% of it will be useful. To someone who doesn't care it'll be useless, but they probably weren't interested.
There's a lot of smart stuff here, but its organized in small chunks and doesn't give a coherent picture of a pretty good idea - how to use Agile methods in training and documentation. For me, an experienced Agilist, it was a slog through things I recognized, combined with "woah" moments that surprised me (such as adapting sprints to rush-draft documentation).
I'd read a bit of the sample to see if it'll help you. It's heart's in the right place, but it's a bit of a wandering book....more
A good book on helping businesses accelerate their work - without the starry-eyed ideas of "disruption." This book is enthusiastic about change and raA good book on helping businesses accelerate their work - without the starry-eyed ideas of "disruption." This book is enthusiastic about change and rapid paces, almost too much, but is also realistic in acknowledging that rushing ahead, incubating ideas, and changing things doesn't always work. You need bureaucracy and stability - and in fact these can be good things.
Instead it's about how to accelerate your work more realistically, with specific tips and guides. How do you build structures for innovation inside a company - in a way that leverages what works traditionally and to create new ideas. There's helpful guides and summaries to give you an idea of what to do.
I've been able to apply the principles in this book successfully. Which is a great testimony to the book....more
Delicious in Dungeon is a simple idea - what's it like to have to eat in your Standard Fantasy Dungeon? Now take that question and build a light advenDelicious in Dungeon is a simple idea - what's it like to have to eat in your Standard Fantasy Dungeon? Now take that question and build a light adventure-comedy and slice-of-life story and you've got this Manga.
Adventurer Laios and his party's attempt to explore a mysterious subterranean kingdom backfire when a dragon swallows one of their mages - and Laios' sister. Teleported away by the recently-consumed mage, they make another attempt to get to her before she's digested by the dragon's slow digestion. She might not be alive, but there are resurrection spells . . .
Of course you need to save money, and Laios is realizing food is where it gets expensive. He's always had a desire to understand and even eat monsters, but when a dwarven cook named Senshi teams up with him, the team now has a chance to go deeper and faster by eating what they encounter.
Gear up for dishes using walking mushrooms, slimes, and more. Each chapter or two explores the ecology of different monsters and a different dish, as well as focusing on a more slice-of-life approach to adventuring as a lifestyle. From just why you want an expert locksmith to the economy of this dungeon, there's all sorts of lovely details built around a light character comedy.
It's not a deep book, but that's not the point - it's a comedy that takes certain fantasy tropes to logical extents, especially culinary and biological ones. Witty, clever, and fun it's a must-read for fans of fantasy and cooking....more
A fun romp of a book that manages to be both parody and homage to monster-hunting-heroines, Victorian bodice rippers, and a bit of steampunk. Imagine A fun romp of a book that manages to be both parody and homage to monster-hunting-heroines, Victorian bodice rippers, and a bit of steampunk. Imagine the classic florid prose of Victorian tropes grafted to a no-nonsense heroine with a weighted umbrella making her way in a world of monsters and manners.
Only she has no soul, which is complicated as she messes with supernatural powers and is the center of scientific speculation. Fortunately her attitude, education, and said weaponized umbrella help with that situation.
The plot is quite basic and there's the obvious romance angle as heroine and a handsome werewolf tangle and banter, but the fun to be had is in the details and the wit and language, which is where the book stands out. There's also some well-done worldbuilding that makes the setting come to life.
My only warning is that: 1) It's not an innovative book per se. It's fun, but it's deliberately bound to its genre and style choices. 2) There is an odd but intriguing character who seems to be a very over-the-top gay stereotype which may offend people.
I can't recommend the book to everyone, but CAN definitely recommend it to anyone who'd like to see some larks had about often overused genres that breathes new life into them....more
Samira Kawash's book "Candy" is a view, of, well, the History of Candy in the United States, going back to the late 19th/early 20th Century forward. TSamira Kawash's book "Candy" is a view, of, well, the History of Candy in the United States, going back to the late 19th/early 20th Century forward. That may sound simple, but Candy isn't simple.
The book isn't just about Candy per se - it focuses on sweet treats and the like - but is also a history of food and opinions about food and how they change (and don't change) through the ages. Though candy is center stage, around it swirls assorted stories and tales, joys and panics, and quite a few revealing things about knowledge and lack of knowledge of nutrition.
We assume that opinions about candy, food, and nutrition are stable, but they're not - in fact they vary to a shocking level. Candy has been a demon of sugar, and a quick form of nutrition, a shared pleasure, and a reason for panic. Around it are other issues of how we eat, how we make food, and what we regard as good for ourselves.
Imagine a time candy is the equivalent of today's modern nutrition bars (which, let's face it ARE candy). Or a time when there were far more brands, all local, now lost to obscurity. This book covers all of that.
However, what is most fascinating beyond Candy History is how health fads don't change. Fear of fat here, fear of carbs there. The book leaves you with a most unsettling impression that in the area of dietary fads, we're repeating ourselves here in America.
If the book has a flaw its that it ranges a bit far and wide on some occasions. This is understandable, but can be distracting.
I hesitate to spoil much about this book since for any food historian and cooking buff it's worth your time. In short, read it.
Jim Gaffigan's second book is focused on what he loves - and often jokes about - Food. From his childhood loves to specific foods, from regional diffeJim Gaffigan's second book is focused on what he loves - and often jokes about - Food. From his childhood loves to specific foods, from regional differences to ethnic cuisine, Jim talks about what he loves.
Each chapter is a bite-sized (sorry) coverage of a particular subject, written in his personable style. There's a lot covered and also a lot to laugh at and relate to. Since Gaffigan focuses on such primal experiences and culturally significant things like, say, hamburgers, he almost always hits on points you'll understand. You may be in agreement or horrified, but you will relate - and you will laugh.
The book is consistently funny and amiable - in short, if you like Gaffigan you'll like the book. More importantly, if you like food, you'll like the book. It's hard not to enjoy something this sincere and fun, and Gaffigan's wit works well in text form.
If you like food, just read it.
For fans, they will notice Gaffigan reuses many of his past food jokes in the text. In a few cases (especially with Hot Pockets) it feels he's almost retiring some of them. They don't make up the majority of the text at all, but they are recognizable to fans.
Summary: A collection of documents and records from a depression-era effort to catalog food trends and traditions around the country. Fascinating, oneSummary: A collection of documents and records from a depression-era effort to catalog food trends and traditions around the country. Fascinating, one-of-a-kind reading for food enthusiasts and food historians.
It's easy to forget how food habits, preparation, preferences, and productions can change over the years and decades. This book is a snapshot of food, food traditions, and memories from around the nation of the depression and post-depression era of America. Gathered from one of the many WPA projects that created both work for authors and amazing works that would never have be created, this is a snapshot of a lost time.
The author has taken this mine of documentation and tried to create the most coherent, representative, and informative book possible. The result is a broad, fascinating, series of views into American Food of the time. It's America before fast food and our far-flung transport networks, but also a time of transformation and changes. It's a time a lot of us never knew and can forget happened.
It's not a consistent collection of documents. The original works were variable in quality, focus, authorship, and goals. Some regions were over-represented, others under-represented. There's obvious racism and bias, and there's moments of deep humanity. The authors have varied voices and styles. If you're looking for an organized, simple, collated guide this isn't it.
What this is instead is a tour, a kind of food museum in writing form, taken from the documents of the time. You don't even have to read it in order, but stride through it at your leisure.
So if you're into food or food history, you pretty much want this book....more
An update of an earlier book with a new afterwards, examining the history of fast food in America.
We may talk about fat food being bad for us nutritioAn update of an earlier book with a new afterwards, examining the history of fast food in America.
We may talk about fat food being bad for us nutritionally, but that discussion misses the larger issue of how fast food affects and shapes the American economy and politics as well as diet. Unionization, economics, federal subsidies, and more are part of the story.
We really are a Fast Food Nation.
Each chapter covers specific issues, times, and subjects, giving you both in depth knowledge and an understanding of how different issues come together. Our potato crops are shaped by the fast food industry, down to technological innovations for making fries. Our politics are shaped by the money in the industry.
First of all, a fair warning - I edited the first draft of this book. That being said, it was actually an enjoyable experience it didn't feel like worFirst of all, a fair warning - I edited the first draft of this book. That being said, it was actually an enjoyable experience it didn't feel like work. I've been long craving good space opera, and this delivers it - rebooted.
Rush ahead to a far future where humanity is among the stars (and apparently the only sentient species), in a society driven by reconfigurable "protonomics" - self-programming matter. Literally everything is a computer and a construction set, most people are at least marginally wired to a far-flung communication network, and among the many scattered worlds (habitable planets are at a premium) are many diverse cultures - and a large split between the Old Way people who prefer less modified lives and cultures of humans who are heavily wired, engineered, and enhanced.
Now enter Henré Sim, starship designer, who lost his best friend, wife, daughter, and career in a massive starship accident - on a ship he designed. With a ruined career, a large legal settlement, and a hole in his life he wanders vaguely among worlds hoping to find an answer to what happened on his perfect, tested-and-retested creation. Of course his real goal slowly fades and his life has turned into mostly wandering and drinking and avoiding any entanglements.
Of course that can't last forever, and when he visits a planet known for it's adherence to the Old Way, he makes friends with a futuristic circus performer and finds himself called upon by the leader of the Old Way itself to design a most unique starship - and then assassination, violence, and political intrigue become part of his previously vagabond life. As he finds himself drawn into a complex web of intrigue, so are others; a gender-shifting rock star, two futuristic police who have data that may solve his family's death, sleazy technology archivists, and more. Soon Henré Sim is far, far more entangled than he ever expected - he started with more questions than answers, but sometimes it's far worse when you have more answers than questions.
Cultural changes, conspiracies, and rogue technologies are out there, and a lot is coming apart at the seams. Fortunately Henré Sim is an engineer, and he's very good at putting things together . . .
Flight of the Vajra is a giant, sprawling space adventure that is alive with tiny details that bring it to life. There's a planet big on genetic engineering but that occasionally means some of their more off-kilter members are "dishonorably exported" to other lives. Reprogrammable clothes become unexpected weapons. Automatic brain backups have unusual side effects. Yet among all this it really is a story of the characters, and the cast is delightful - there's going to be at least one character you want to find out more about.
Best of all, this is SF that goes back to the smart characters who do smart things - indeed, some of the worst things that happen are because very smart people are on different side. It's often an escalating chess-game of actions and witty dialogue and high technology that move the story forward.
Ultimately, the most humorous way I found to describe it is "A more responsible version of Tony Stark finds he's got to save the galaxy - and his team consists of a circus acrobat, a futuristic Dali Lama, Jim Gordon, Seven of Nine, and David Bowie." That only just begins to scratch the surface of the wild ride that awaits you here....more
"Sugar Salt Fat" examines the processed food industry, from history to its publication, focusing on those three charming but always overdone ingredien"Sugar Salt Fat" examines the processed food industry, from history to its publication, focusing on those three charming but always overdone ingredients - Sugar, Salt, and Fat. It's no spoiler that it points out that this is bad for us, the food is bad for us, and it's a problem.
What is different however is that the book goes in depth into the trends, science, people, marketing, and more behind the processed food industry and American's own poor choices in nutrition. You'll understand the surprisingly rational and healthy origin of processed cheese, explore brilliant science, and learn about the economy. You'll gain a larger understanding of food, as well as how we've turned it into "foodlike items."
Drawing from all these sources, you'll get a clearer, larger, picture of processed food, its role in health problems, and how we got there. It's also done by looking at a human-level view, from communities to individuals, which makes it clear that this is not a simple bad-guys-versus-good-guys situation, but a much larger economic and social trend.
Well worth reading for anyone into science, economics, or eating things that won't kill you.
![ダンジョン飯 1 [Dungeon Meshi 1]](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1452880800l/28574253._SX50_.jpg)
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