|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
my rating |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1982129352
| 9781982129354
| B07Q59MF8S
| 3.54
| 1,441
| Oct 22, 2019
| Oct 22, 2019
|
liked it
|
I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. The author mentions near the beginning that it would be formatted like a long-form essay, which it pretty
I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. The author mentions near the beginning that it would be formatted like a long-form essay, which it pretty much was. The numerous reviews from screeching leftists here convinced me to pull the trigger on this one, to be honest. Take a look at some of the bad reviews on here, if you need to get a sense of what I'm talking about. Despite my high hopes, there was nothing in this book that I had not heard about long ago. The author mentions a contingent of hysterical pussy-hat wearing #MeToo women, and takes a few well-deserved shots at some of their hyperbole and incoherency. She laments that modern "3rd" and "4th wave" feminism has largely gone off the rails. Good stuff. While it was not written badly, I guess I was just expecting more from this one. It is more a story of the author's personal journey navigating the polarized climate of today, than a data-rich book. To be fair, it is titled "My Journey Through the New Culture Wars", so you can't say it pretended to be otherwise... 3.5 stars. Merged review: I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. The author mentions near the beginning that it would be formatted like a long-form essay, which it pretty much was. The numerous reviews from screeching leftists here convinced me to pull the trigger on this one, to be honest. Take a look at some of the bad reviews on here, if you need to get a sense of what I'm talking about. Despite my high hopes, there was nothing in this book that I had not heard about long ago. The author mentions a contingent of hysterical pussy-hat wearing #MeToo women, and takes a few well-deserved shots at some of their hyperbole and incoherency. She laments that modern "3rd" and "4th wave" feminism has largely gone off the rails. Good stuff. While it was not written badly, I guess I was just expecting more from this one. It is more a story of the author's personal journey navigating the polarized climate of today, than a data-rich book. To be fair, it is titled "My Journey Through the New Culture Wars", so you can't say it pretended to be otherwise... 3.5 stars. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
2
|
Mar 10, 2020
not set
|
Mar 11, 2020
not set
|
Sep 21, 2024
|
Kindle Edition
| |||||||||||||||
1804184845
| 9781804184844
| B0CV37JC1Y
| 4.56
| 9
| unknown
| Aug 01, 2024
|
liked it
|
"This book tells the story of these repeating cycles of war and glimmers of peace, through the lives and experiences of Abdul Tayib and four other Afg
"This book tells the story of these repeating cycles of war and glimmers of peace, through the lives and experiences of Abdul Tayib and four other Afghans whom I got to know during my 20 years of reporting from their country – Bilal, Jahan, Farzana and Naqibullah..." War & Peace & War & War was an eye-opening look into everyday life in Afghanistan. As the quote above explains, the author tells the story of this tumultuous country through the lens of four Afghans he knows. Author Andrew North is a journalist and writer. For several years, North was the BBC's South Asia correspondent. North has been covering Afghanistan since 2001, and was based in Kabul for the BBC for many years. He has also worked in conflicts in Iraq, Libya, and Georgia. Andrew North: [image] The book is written with a decently engaging style. The author also read the audiobook version I have, which is a nice touch I almost always appreciate. He drops the quote above early on, and it continues below: "...It sets their stories against the backdrop of Afghanistan’s past as a battleground for outside powers, including the legacy of Britain’s 19thcentury colonial invasions, the Soviet occupation during the Cold War and America’s role in backing the anti-Soviet mujahideen. And it interweaves their journeys with my own, as an outsider who spent two decades working and living in Afghanistan. In my work as a reporter, I was focused on the war. But in my day-to-day life, I was witness to a country changing and growing in spite of it. So this is also my perspective on that other side to Afghanistan’s story." North also gives a brief summary of the history of the country here, and drops this quote, that talks about how Afghanistan is "the Graveyard of Empires:" "Calling Afghanistan the graveyard of empires overlooks the fact that it was itself the foundation of empires, including that of its own 18th-century Durrani dynasty. The term is also inaccurate. While both Britain and the USSR were badly mauled in Afghanistan, that wasn’t the reason their two empires came to an end. Most important of all, the term ignores the reality that it is Afghanistan rather than its invaders that has always paid the heaviest price, becoming a graveyard for its own people. And that pattern continued after the Soviet withdrawal in February 1989." ****************** War & Peace & War is an important historical record. If you are interested in a telling of life in this mysterious country, then you'll likely enjoy this one. 3.5 stars. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Sep 13, 2024
|
Sep 19, 2024
|
Sep 12, 2024
|
Kindle Edition
| |||||||||||||||
0063238470
| 9780063238473
| 0063238470
| 4.25
| 305
| unknown
| Aug 06, 2024
|
liked it
|
The worse the society, the more law there will be. In Hell there will be nothing but law..." —Grant Gilmore Over Ruled was an interesting book, but I fo The worse the society, the more law there will be. In Hell there will be nothing but law..." —Grant Gilmore Over Ruled was an interesting book, but I found the writing was a bit slow and dry at times... Author Neil McGill Gorsuch is the 101st Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Donald Trump to succeed Antonin Scalia and took the oath of office on April 10, 2017. Neil McGill Gorsuch : [image] The premise of the book is intriguing; as our Western societies have become more advanced socially and technologically, the amount of control the state has exerted over its populations has also grown. In many cases, this control has grown disproportionately. What is the ground-level effect of all this bureaucracy? That is the question this book seeks to answer. Many people's lives have been negatively affected, small businesses have been closed, and organic economic development has been stifled, says the author. Gorsuch drops this quote in the book's intro: "Often enough, men and women going about their lives with no intention of harming anyone are getting thwacked, unexpectedly and at times haphazardly, by our multitude of statutes, rules, regulations, orders, edicts, and decrees. Almost always, one authority or another replies that, while the impact on the individual at hand is most regrettable, we should really focus on the greater good our laws and regulations seek to achieve and the collective social progress they promise." He lays out the aim of the book in this short blurb: "This isn’t an academic work or a legal brief. It is a book of stories— stories about real people, their struggles to make their way in a world awash with law, and the toll on their lives and families. You will not meet lawyers in these pages but fishermen and foster parents, an Amish community, hair braiders and monks, even a magician and the polydactyl descendants of Ernest Hemingway’s cat." The writing in the book proper begins with the true case of a fisherman who had his life virtually ruined by an overzealous government gaming inspection agent and the subsequent prosecution that resulted. The agent measured all of the fisherman's thousands of fish and cited ~70 as being below the 20" limit. The rest of the story is a complete SNAFU, and almost beyond belief. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts; absolutely. In a theme that I've noticed emerge over and over again in my reading of social psychology, as well as my first-hand life experience: People love exerting power over others. In many cases, they will have the tiniest bit of control over you, but will leverage it for all its worth. Anyone who's ever been to a DMV has likely experienced this dark aspect of human nature for themselves. People love their petty power. And when you put those people in positions of dictating how others live their lives, predictable results ensue... As Ronald Reagan famously said: "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help...'” Personally speaking, I absolutely abhor people with petty power complexes, and will go far, far out of my way to avoid them - if at all possible. The book contains many historical case studies forwarded by the author to buttress his thesis. In this example, he talks about the British Royal Navy: "Reflecting on these developments sometimes reminds us of Parkinson’s Law. In 1955, a noted historian, C. Northcote Parkinson, posited that the number of employees in a bureaucracy rises by about five percent per year “irrespective of any variation in the amount of work (if any) to be done.” Unfortunately, as briefly touched on above, I found the writing a bit dry here more often than not. I am extremely picky about how readable my books are, and this one fell a bit short for me... Some more of what Gorsuch talks about includes: • The expansion of laws • Overzealous prosecution of minor infractions • Governmental bureaucratic bloat • Aaron Swartz • Regulatory Capture • Access to Justice Crisis • COVID-19 winners and losers • Foster children moved around frequently • The steady creep of licensing requirements in small businesses; eyebrow threaders, cosmetologists, fortune tellers, monks who make coffins • James M. Landis • The necessity of political disagreement ****************** Over Ruled was a decent look into the topic, but not quite as lively as I hoped. It was still an interesting book. 3.5 stars. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Sep 09, 2024
|
Sep 10, 2024
|
Sep 05, 2024
|
Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
0806534613
| 9780806534619
| B0041OT9JE
| 3.87
| 874
| Sep 01, 2008
| Apr 19, 2010
|
it was ok
|
"What if there were zombies? Could the routine and infrastructure of law enforcement and the combined strength of modern science be able to recognize
"What if there were zombies? Could the routine and infrastructure of law enforcement and the combined strength of modern science be able to recognize and adequately respond to the threat? You know…it just might. Let’s go find out..." Zombie CSU was a mixed bag for me. It is an extremely comprehensive examination of all things zombie. While I was looking for something a bit lighter than some of the books I typically read, the hefty size of this presentation was a bit much... Author Jonathan Maberry is an American suspense writer, anthology editor, comic book writer, magazine feature writer, playwright, content creator and writing teacher/lecturer. Jonathan Maberry : [image] As its title indicates, the book is a deep dive into the workings of fictional zombies. If it is zombie-related, it's covered here. And not just covered, but discussed in a very in-depth fashion. He's got bits of writing about different zombie movie recommendations, the eternal "slow" vs "fast" zombie debate (8 parts on this LMAO), and much more. Fortunately, the book is written with a fairly lively and engaging tone, so it should be accessible to even the finicky reader. Unfortunately, as mentioned above, I found the overall presentation just too long for my tastes. The audio version I have clocked in at ~11.5 hours. While I do somewhat enjoy zombie movies, I think that the target audience for this one are the die-hard fans of the genre. If that's you, then I think that this book will resonate a bit better than it did with me... ****************** While the author did a decent job covering all angles of this story, I found the book just too long and unwieldy. A subjective thing, for sure. If you are a huge fan of the zombie genre, I think you'll probably like this one. My reviews have to reflect my level of enjoyment, however, and that will see it get a 2-star rating. If it were any longer, I would have put it down... ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Sep 05, 2024
|
Sep 09, 2024
|
Sep 04, 2024
|
Kindle Edition
| |||||||||||||||
1668010690
| 9781668010693
| 1668010690
| 3.50
| 246
| Nov 07, 2023
| Nov 07, 2023
|
it was ok
|
"TO BE ON A GUNSHIP is to be a god..." What the Taliban Told Me was a mixed bag for me. I generally enjoy books about war, warfare, and the Middle East "TO BE ON A GUNSHIP is to be a god..." What the Taliban Told Me was a mixed bag for me. I generally enjoy books about war, warfare, and the Middle East. Unfortunately, I found much of the writing here to be a bit slow for my picky tastes. Author Ian Fritz was an Airborne Cryptologic Linguist in the United States Air Force from 2008-2013. He became a physician after completing his enlistment. Now, he writes. Ian Fritz : [image] The book covers the author's time as an Airborne Cryptologic Linguist in the United States Air Force, mostly during his deployment to Afghanistan. He opens the book with the quote above, and it continues below: "...This is not to say that flying in these magnificent monstrosities provided me with some sort of spiritual moment or religious exaltation. This is to say that to be on a gunship, to carry out its mission, is to feel as powerful as any deity from the pantheons of old. But these gods, like all gods, are not interested in creation. To use the 105, a gun that is loaded with forty-five-pound bullets, a gun that, when fired, causes the 155,000-pound plane it’s mounted on to buck so far to the right that the pilot must actively correct the flight path, is to be Zeus hurling Hephaestus’s bolts. To fire a Griffin missile from an altitude so great that the men on the ground could only know of it in the same moment that it kills them is to be Mars flinging his spear." Colloquially known as "DSO's," he expands further on his role in the war: "Being a DSO in Afghanistan meant making life and death decisions (and not or). We could decide who lived, and who died. When we had flown a mission, and done our job right, it was no lie or even an exaggeration to say we had done something that very few other people were capable of doing. Unfortunately, as touched on above, I found a lot of the writing to be fairly dry. I am very particular on how engaging my books are, and this one fell a bit short for me. The author also did the narration of the audio version I have. Sadly, I was a bit disappointed with this, as well. I found that he tended to mumble his way through the book. He speaks in a very monotonous fashion, and I became frustrated numerous times... There was also quite a large chunk of writing in the latter ~half of the book that extensively detailed the author's inner dialogue surrounding the ethics of his job. I found this to be way too long, and was also becoming frustrated here. I get that his duties in the armed forces left him with some serious mental health issues, but this part read like a long-form journal entry. ****************** What the Taliban Told Me was an interesting historical record, but the delivery left a lot to be desired for me. 2 stars. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Sep 03, 2024
|
Sep 05, 2024
|
Aug 28, 2024
|
Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
B00STZT2X4
| 3.86
| 464
| Jun 07, 2014
| Jan 26, 2015
|
it was amazing
|
"Once upon a time, rock gods ruled the earth..." I am a huge music fan, so I put "I Killed Pink Floyd's Pig" on my to read list as soon as I came acros "Once upon a time, rock gods ruled the earth..." I am a huge music fan, so I put "I Killed Pink Floyd's Pig" on my to read list as soon as I came across it. I didn't know what to expect, especially with the book's somewhat campy title. fortunately, I really enjoyed the book, and it far exceeded any expecataions I had going in. Beau Phillips: [image] The author writes with a great natural style that was entertaining and engaging. He also read the audio version I have, and he did a great job of the audio, too This one shouldn't have trouble holding the finicky reader's attention.. As the book's title indicates, it is a collection of a few dozen stories around the golden age of radio rock, circa 1979-1994. A special time in the industry where radio stations had real soul, and were not homogenized, corporatized cookie-cutters like they are today; says Phillips. I won't give away any spoilers here, but a wide variety of rock and roll stories were covered; some were famous, others obscure. There were also some touching heartwarming stories. He's got a story of how generous Paul MacCartney was with a fan who had a terminal cancer diagnosis, as well as a heartbreaking story about the death of Eric Clapton's 4 year old son. A real tear-jerker a few times... [image] A small point of contention: In one of the later chapters talking about the plane crash that killed members of Lyrnyd Sykryd, he says that band member Artimes Pile died shortly after. According to Google, Pile is still alive and well in 2024. ****************** I really enjoyed this one. It was a fun read; all around. I would definitely recommend it to any music fans. 5 stars. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Aug 28, 2024
|
Sep 03, 2024
|
Aug 28, 2024
|
Kindle Edition
| |||||||||||||||||
1633882225
| 9781633882225
| B01BAZXZQY
| 3.86
| 218
| Oct 18, 2016
| Jan 24, 2017
|
liked it
|
"Amazing Stories of the Space Age is about the most mysterious and intriguing episodes of the history of space exploration—its undercover projects, gr
"Amazing Stories of the Space Age is about the most mysterious and intriguing episodes of the history of space exploration—its undercover projects, grandiose dreams, odd spinoffs, and muffled dramas..." I enjoyed Amazing Stories of the Space Age; for the most part. It was a decent look into the topic. Author Rod Pyle is an American writer, journalist, public speaker, and former television producer and educator who concentrates on subjects regarding spaceflight. Rod Pyle : [image] Pyle has a good writing style that I found to be fairly engaging. He covers the material here in a straightforward, no-frills manner that I felt worked. As the book's title hints at, the writing here examines many different episodes - some classified, others not - from the space race. Both Russian and American technologies are discussed. The contents of the book proper covers: • Nazis in Space: Project Silverbird • Red Moon: Countering the Communist Threat on Earth and in Space • Das Marsprojekt: Red Planet Armada • Project Orion: We Come in Peace (With Nuclear Bombs!) • LUNEX: Earth in the Crosshairs • The Wheel: An Inflatable Space Station • Venusian Empire: NASA's Mars/Venus Flyby Adventure • Blue Gemini: Weaponizing Orbit • Flirting with Death: The Terrifying Flight of Gemini 8 • Manned Orbiting Laboratory: How to Design, Test, and Never Fly a Space Program • Apollo 11: Danger on the Moon • The First Space Shuttle: Project Dyna-Soar • Beyond the Edge of Space: The X-15B • The Sad, Strange Tale of Soyuz 1 • The Turtlenauts • Falling to Earth: The Dangerous Science of Reentry • Funeral for a Viking: The End of Viking 1 • Saving Skylab: Cowboys in Space • Near Misses: Danger Stalks the Space Shuttle • Showdown in Space: Firearms on the Moon • Buran: The Soviet Union's One-Flight Wonder • Major Matt Mason: A Man for the New Space Age ****************** While this was a very well-researched book, it was not really the gripping page-turner I hoped for... I am very picky about how readable my books are, so I have to take a few stars off. Your mileage may vary, however, so don't let my review dissuade you from reading this one. 3 stars. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Aug 23, 2024
|
Aug 27, 2024
|
Aug 22, 2024
|
Kindle Edition
| |||||||||||||||
1642504157
| 9781642504156
| 1642504157
| 3.85
| 194
| Mar 2021
| Mar 30, 2021
|
liked it
|
"Science Let this word simmer in your mind for a moment. Examine every texture. Taste the nuance. What does this word make you think of? How does it m
"Science Let this word simmer in your mind for a moment. Examine every texture. Taste the nuance. What does this word make you think of? How does it make you feel?" Is This Wi-Fi Organic? was a decent book on science communication. I have watched a few videos by the author on his YouTube channel, and thought I'd check out his book. While most of the content was well done, I had a few small points of contention. More below. Author Dave Farina received a BA in chemistry from Carleton College, and performed graduate studies in both synthetic organic chemistry and science education at Cal State Northridge, receiving an MA in the latter. He is best known for his above-mentioned YouTube channel: "Professor Dave Explains," where he has over 3 million subscribers. Dave Farina: [image] As the book's title cheekily hints at; the writing in the book proper attempts to dispel common misconceptions about science. The average layperson has roughly zero knowledge of many basic scientific principles and are functionally scientifically illiterate. Books like this are important, to help these people familiarize themselves with some of the basics. There is a large-scale distrust and misunderstanding of science, and what it is, especially since the recent debacle of how COVID was handled. Many people have lost trust in science. Science communicators like the author are important to help push back against much of the irrationality that has bubbled up into the public arena in the age of a democratized internet. The author opens the book with the quote above, and it continues below: "Do you imagine futuristic cityscapes? Do you feel hopeful? Do you picture billowing smokestacks? Do you feel terrified? Does it remind you of school? Does that hold a positive or negative connotation for you? Farina writes with an effective style here, and I found the book to be very readable. I am admittedly very picky about how engaging my books are, and thankfully this one passed muster. The audio book version I have was also read by author, and I felt he did a great job of this, too. Farina speaks to the nature of the problem in this quote: "Prior to the internet, there were sources of information that were unanimously agreed upon to be trustworthy and reliable. Stories published by newspapers had to be heavily researched by professional journalists. Knowledge from an encyclopedia was not questioned by those who needed to reference a fact, because they were written by top specialists in every discipline, which contributed to their considerable cost. Whether we regard them as good or bad, those times are gone, and they are never coming back. Unlike the encyclopedias of old, the quality of information on the internet is not reliable. It ranges from outstanding to abysmal. For this reason, the internet can serve as a magic mirror, a place where people go to confirm pre-existing bias. Outlets that reflect what we already “know” are correct and trustworthy. Those that do not are ignored, deemed fraudulent, deceitful, paid for by malevolent institutions, or worse. This method of assessment rarely has any respect for the qualifications of those who produce the content we encounter, which has led to what is popularly referred to as the “post-truth era.” The writing in the book proper starts with Farina giving the reader a lesson in some basic chemistry. He continues on into organic chemistry, before talking about health and wellness. The rest of the contents of the book include: • What Are All These Lines and Hexagons? • The Death of Vitalism • Natural vs. Synthetic (Tackling Chemophobia) • The Molecules of Life • The Molecular Basis of Wellness • The Rise of the Alt-Health Industry • The Body as Machine • Recognizing Science-Based Medicine • Biotechnology and the Future of the Species • Energy Defined • An Equation for This and an Equation for That • To Debunk Is Divine • Science and Industry in an Educated World Ok, on to my gripes. Early on, he says that Schedule 1 drugs are "... a classification reserved for the most addictive drugs we are aware of." That's not what Schedule 1 means. According to The DEA, which designates drugs, Schedule 1 drugs are drugs "with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse." Also, he goes on to say right after that: "There is no evidence to support the notion that marijuana is addictive at all." This is not true. Any behaviour or substance which taps into the reward system has the potential for addiction. Anything that lights up the dopamine circuitry in the brain can become addictive. See Anna Lembke's book Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence for more. He also says that diet can't help treat cancer. Cancer is heavily correlated with inflammation. Someone's diet can be pro or anti-inflammatory. Certain compounds like turmeric can possibly up or down-regulate oncogenes and tumour-suppressing genes. Additionally, Paul Stamets has done some work on the polysaccharide compounds found in turkey Tail mushrooms; showing 7 different possible mechanisms of anti-cancer action. Japan also has used Turkey Tail derived PSK compounds in their mainstream oncology treatments for a few decades now. Farina is just not qualified to make blanket statements like this. No one is, really. Biochemistry is incredibly complex... Finally, in a case of hilariously tragic irony in a book about magical thinking, he closes the writing here with some magical thinking of his own. He has an airy-fairy epilogue where he chastises celebrity worship, consumerism, and other aspects of human nature. Unfortunately, celebrity worship is an evolutionary mismatch that has been baked into human psychology since time immemorial. To evolve and thrive in a cohesive tribe, people have always looked up to those they perceive as having higher social status than they do. Mindless consumerism just hijacks the basic biological desire for greed, and its related dopaminergic circuitry to accumulate as many possessions as possible in a world of scarcity. Additionally, consumerism has been a chief driver of innovation and invention. If there were no organic demand for new products and technologies, then there would be no incentive to produce them in the first place. So, much, or even most of our new technology can largely be attributed to the human desire for novelty and innovation expressed through consumerism. ****************** Is This Wi-Fi Organic? was a good short read, despite the minor criticisms above. Farina did a great job conveying complicated technical information in a manner that should be accessible to even the scientifically illiterate layperson. I would recommend it to anyone interested. 3 stars. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jul 23, 2024
|
Jul 27, 2024
|
Jul 23, 2024
|
Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
1648210864
| 9781648210860
| B0CX9BTG1S
| 4.18
| 297
| unknown
| Jul 09, 2024
|
really liked it
|
"This is not a book about communist ideology. You’ve read those. This is a book about the communist reality—and how to tell when it’s coming to a soci
"This is not a book about communist ideology. You’ve read those. This is a book about the communist reality—and how to tell when it’s coming to a society near you..." Unhumans was a good book, but the formatting was a bit jumbled at times, and I felt that the overall message here could have been conveyed without so much editorializing. More below. Author Jack Posobiec is a graduate of Temple University and a former Naval Intelligence Officer. He was deployed to Guantanamo Naval Base for ten months in 2012 and is fluent in Mandarin. Joshua Lisec is a writer with over eighty books to his credit. Together, Jack and Joshua unwrap a dazzling yet dire history of Communism’s impact on humanity across the globe. From the Russian Revolution to the true story of the Spanish Civil War, they describe and explain the 1950s emergence of Cultural Marxism in the United States, and its current resurgence. Jack Posobiec: [image] As the book's frank title indicates, the writing style here is very pointed and opinionated. While the prose is definitely very engaging and readable, I felt that a lot of the commentary was redundant. The book opens with a decent foreword by Steve Bannon. The quote from the start of this review continues: "...History does not repeat, but it rhymes. For as long as there have been beauty and truth, love and life, there have also been the ugly liars who hate and kill. This is the way of things in all things. There is light and there is dark. Always has been. Always will be. Civilization is the superstructure built on law and order that keeps the petty, the resentful, and the cruel away from the rest of us. Some societies have been better at this than others. Those who fail at repelling the repulsive fall to unhumanity—to a state of affairs in which human thriving is impossible and surviving improbable." The book's title is a reference to the barbaric - inhuman - nature of Socialism/Communism. Consuming roughly 100 million lives in ~100 years, this disastrous ~200-year social experiment is the worst man-made catastrophe in history. But still, somehow, you will find many useful idiots in academia, the media class, authors, commentators, and assorted pundits who advocate for it. I've always found it paradoxical that anyone in these arenas calling themselves a fascist would be run out of town by mobs of angry people, but being a socialist is considered interesting and "cool..." The authors drop this quote; speaking to the nature of the leftist threat, and its long history: "The authors argue that it is humanity itself currently under threat. They unwrap the history of Communism, a dehumanizing philosophy of oppression, of denial of human rights and nihilism. In this short bit of writing, they tell the reader what the book will cover: "While academic and reference titles explore the motives and agenda of household-name leaders during each left-wing upheaval, this book will give you on-the-ground descriptions of what it’s really like to witness (and fight) communist forces of change. We have recast the story of communism as individuals against individuals, as real people, to reveal how and why neighbors turn against neighbors. Why even yours might, against you. Along the way, we will reintroduce you to the household names of history, but in a way you’ve never seen before—we will tell their true stories. Unfortunately, and as touched on above; their tone here was not really measured. Although I, too have a great personal disdain for the ideology of communism, I feel that the book should have stuck more to just telling its story. There are many passages of commentary tossed in here, and I didn't feel like they added to the book. For example, the authors say "THIS is what they do." about 200x in the book. It got irritating. I'm sure that the average reader is able to draw patterns out of the writing here and come to that conclusion themselves... I also was not particularly fond of the formatting of the book. I felt that it jumped around way too much, losing narrative continuity and frustrating the reader (well, this reader, anyhow...) On a positive note; many of the most important socialist uprisings are briefly covered here, along with some other tangentially-related topics. Among them: • The death of George Floyd • The death of Michael Brown • The media persecution of Nicholas Sandmann • Historical case studies: France, Haiti, Russia, Spain, China • The Civil Rights movements of the 1960s • Cultural Marxism • Joseph MacCarthy; his name turned into a pejorative • Marxist propaganda infiltrating Hollywood • The Cuban Revolution (1953–1959) • Marxist Chile (1970–1973) • A Long Red Night in Nicaragua (1978–1990) • The Afghan-Soviet War (1979–1989) • Rhodesia House Blues • “Kill the Boer”: New Apartheid in South Africa • Three Ways to Crush the Revolution, Revisited ****************** Unhumans was a still a decent look into the history of socialist revolutions and their tactics. It is also a sobering look into the far-left's creeping power into all aspects of Western life. I would recommend it to anyone interested. 3.5 stars. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jul 18, 2024
|
Jul 23, 2024
|
Jul 17, 2024
|
Kindle Edition
| |||||||||||||||
162097925X
| 9781620979259
| B0CW1BMHJX
| 4.40
| 132
| Jun 13, 2023
| Sep 10, 2024
|
liked it
|
"What happens at the other end of American weaponry has remained almost entirely a mystery, with only occasional brief glimpses before the curtain fal
"What happens at the other end of American weaponry has remained almost entirely a mystery, with only occasional brief glimpses before the curtain falls back into its usual place. Meanwhile, the results at home fester in shadows. Overall, America has been conditioned to accept ongoing wars without ever really knowing what they’re doing to people we’ll never see..." War Made Invisible is a sobering look into the ramifications of the bellicose foreign policy of The United States. The writing was well done, for the most part. Author Norman Solomon is an American journalist, media critic, activist, and former U.S. congressional candidate. Solomon is a longtime associate of the media watch group Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting. Norman Solomon: [image] Solomon writes with an engaging style, and I found the book decently readable. It shouldn't have trouble holding the finicky reader's attention. The author drops the quote above in the book's intro. The author also drops this quote early on: "The militarism that propels nonstop U.S. warfare is systemic, but the topic of systemic militarism gets little public attention. Ballooning Pentagon budgets are sacrosanct. While there can be heated disagreement about how, where, and when the United States should engage in war, the prerogative of military intervention is scarcely questioned in the mass media. Personally speaking, I love the core ethos of America, but abhor their many foreign interventions, wars, and policy of "nation-building." I have read enough about war and conflict to know that it should be avoided if at all possible. War is hell... Unfortunately, many policymakers here in the West are all too eager to advocate for war when they have zero skin in the game. My political inclinations began to form in the early 2000s, when I was in my early 20s. The primary reason that I identified with the political left was that the political right were imperial war hawks and "nation builders." Post 9/11 saw America invade Afghanistan first, and then Iraq in 2003 after that. I was (and still am) strongly opposed to interventionist wars in the Middle East. A good case could be made that these wars were the worst foreign policy blunders that the US ever made. A case could also be made for a direct causal chain linking those wars with the destruction of aforementioned Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as Lybia and Syria after (with hundreds of thousands dead), on to the creation of ISIS, and then the 2015 migrant crises after. A crisis that resulted in millions of people fleeing their war-torn homes to make their way to Europe, and the resulting chaos - including horrific acts of terrorism - that inevitably results from importing millions of people from polar opposite regressive cultures into the free liberal democratic countries of the west... Solomon writes this of the "War on Terror:" "The “war on terror” became—for the White House, Pentagon, and Congress—a political license to kill and displace people on a large scale in at least eight countries, rarely seen, much less understood.11 Whatever the intent, the resulting carnage often included civilians.12 The dead and maimed had no names or faces that reached those who signed the orders and appropriated the funds. As years went by, it turned out that the point wasn’t to win the multicontinent war so much as to keep waging it, a means with no plausible end; the quest, in search of enemies to confront if not defeat, made stopping unthinkable. No wonder Americans couldn’t be heard wondering aloud when the “war on terror” would end. It wasn’t supposed to..." Central to the thesis of the book is the concept that war is something that should affect other people. It is something to be done to and happen in other countries, and never at home. This has the effect of minimalizing and dehumanizing the very real victims of these questionable wars: "In media frames, the routine exclusion of people harmed by U.S. warfare conveys that they don’t really matter much. Because we rarely see images of their suffering or hear their voices or encounter empathetic words about them, the implicit messaging comes through loud and clear. The silence ends up speaking at high volume: Those people hardly exist. They are others. They are not our concern. They don’t particularly matter, while our country is causing their misery." I was disappointed that the book did not address the ultimate cause of all this warmongering. Instead, it is just an after-action report of sorts; heavy on ground-level stats. While the dead from war absolutely are important, a book covering the foreign policy of the United States should have also talked about the people responsible for these actions, and their motivations. A glaring omission, IMHO. More of what is talked about here includes: • The ~20 year invasion of Afghanistan • The Iraq War; civilian deaths • The disparate coverage of Ukrainian war casualties vs Iraqi casualties • The United States led NATO’s bombing of Libya • Usage of banned depleted Uranium in Iraq • "Gulf War Syndrome;" The usage of cancer-causing "burn-pits." • Crime and incarceration in the US; the militarization of law enforcement • Privatization of the military. PMCs doing roles that the military traditionally filled Unfortunately, the author couldn't help but add some low-resolution commentary in here about racism. There's some mindless nonsense about how American blacks are incarcerated at rates 5x higher than whites. The insinuation is that they are locked up for no reason, other than their race. No mention is made however, of the incidence of crime among American blacks, compared to whites. Making up ~6% of the population, American black men commit ~51% of all murders, 27% of all rapes, and 53% of all robberies. With some exceptions (obviously), and generally speaking- people in prison are there because they are criminals. He also calls the Washington Capital protesters of Jan 6th "insurrectionists." LMAO. This guy needs to read a bit more history if he thinks that Jan 6th is what an actual insurrection looks like. In the most well-armed country in the world, none of these so-called "insurrectionists" thought to arm themselves? Words matter. I wonder if people (like this author) that use these weasely words like this do so out of ignorance, or actually know that they are being hyperbolic, and want to further their propagandist talking points. I'm not even sure which is worse... ****************** War Made Invisible was a decent book, minus the above criticisms. I would still recommend it to anyone interested. 3 stars. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jul 16, 2024
|
Jul 17, 2024
|
Jun 25, 2024
|
Kindle Edition
| |||||||||||||||
B0CVBJV3ZF
| 3.76
| 447
| unknown
| Mar 14, 2024
|
did not like it
|
Despite its short length, Neurodiversity and the Myth of Normal was a really shoddy presentation. While there was some interesting content presented h
Despite its short length, Neurodiversity and the Myth of Normal was a really shoddy presentation. While there was some interesting content presented here; mainly early on, there were some fairly sizeable structural problems with the overall presentation. More below. Co-author Kyler Shumway a professional writer, and psychotherapy practice developer. Co-author Daniel Wendler, MA is a doctoral student in Clinical Psychology and the founder of MarketingforTherapists.org. Kyler Shumway & Daniel Wendler: [image] The book is an audio presentation, so I won't be including the quotes I typically add to my reviews. It is also a shorter presentation; clocking in at a little less than 3 hours. As the books title implies, the authors unfold a theory of neurodiversity. Although not summarized exactly this way here (and it should have been); the theory is that modern science does not know enough about the workings of the human brain to be able to tell what "normal" neural functioning looks like, compared with pathological functioning. The authors talk about ADHD and autism a lot in the first part of the book, using these case studies to explain how people are differently wired. Ok, so all good so far. Right up until they started editorializing... The authors are self-loathing leftist "progressives" who subscribe to Neo-Marxist "intersectionality." They have been thoroughly parasitized by the Woke Mind Virus. And, as is oh-so fashionable in 2024, they spare no opportunity to push their political narrative here; with frustrating results. Many people on the autistic spectrum don't behave according to social norms. Autism is primarily a disorder associated with reduced empathy, so autistic people often miss the social cues that non-autistic people take for granted in their interactions with others. The authors talk about the "harm" caused by people trying to "mask" these abnormal behaviours; making a victimology claim. This may be true, but people are social animals. Every aspect of human behavior is strongly influenced by culture. All of our expectations, behaviours, decisions, and habits are strongly influenced by the group. Every society has norms and taboos. They are a foundational part of any social group. The authors don't seem to like this, and use magical thinking to wish that this wasn't so. Encouraging autistic people to behave normally may cause them some distress, but encouraging them to not conform also has downsides. Namely; rejection and ostracism from the group; which is arguably more damaging than having to internalize your abnormal behaviour. It's not a black and white issue... Ridiculously enough, these authors think that it is the entire world and the majority of people that need to change to accommodate everyone's specific preferences, and not the other way around. How would this even work in practice?? By definition, you can't please every minority group there is, because for every special need or preference that you accommodate, you'll end up displeasing someone else's needs or accommodations. This is not a feasible strategy. These two accredited academics don't seem to realize this obvious reality. Also, unfortunately, there was a plethora of leftist newspeak in here. Terms like "starting a conversation" "creating space," "marginalized," and other assorted ideological language was liberally peppered in the writing. I really don't like political language in a book, as it typically indicates that the author has been ideologically captured. And these guys clearly have been. They've got a ridiculous bit of writing saying "when we give someone the "psychosis" label, it makes it ok for the police to haul them off to jail." Umm, no. People are not just carted off to jail for no reason. They are taken to jail for criminal behaviour. If a psychotic person is arrested, it is because they are a threat to themselves or others. What should we do when someone who is detached from reality (the definition of a psychotic episode) is posing a danger to society? Just leave them alone and hope for the best?? This is airy-fairy utopian nonsense. Interestingly, most normal people wouldn't advocate for such nonsense. It takes a certain amount of education to become so stupid. “Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals believe them...” The authors also have some garbage in here about gender ideology. They trot out the fact that there are intersex people as "evidence" for the fact that sex and gender are completely uncorrelated. Human beings are sexually dimorphic, sexually reproducing creatures, with 2 default phenotypes. The binary idea of sex is not flawed. The overwhelming majority of people are either XX or XY. Even when intersex and sex chromosome aneuploidies are taken into account, M-F still applies to ~99.9% of the population. They also mention that brain scans show that the brains of trans people more closely resemble the brains of the sex they identify as, and cis people's brains more typically resemble the brains of their biological sex. The first problem with the entire "brain scan" line is thinking that there is a "male brain" and a "female brain." There are effeminate men, and there are masculine women. The amount of overlap between the brains of the sexes is so vast that trying to dichotomize the two is not workable. Disposition is not "gender." Dr. Kenneth Zucker, one of the world's leading gender researchers has a great bit of writing about this in Abigail Shrier's book Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters. They trot out some stats that say that >20% of Gen Z, >10% of millennials, 4.2% of Gen X and only 2.6% of Baby Boomers identify as LGBT+. The authors say that this discrepancy is reflective of stigma. It doesn't seem to occur to them that this parabolic rise in these numbers over the last few decades may also have social influence as a causal factor. We get the result we want first, and then go backwards to establish causation. Great "science," guys. They've also got a bit of writing in here about obtaining "enthusiastic consent" for sex. What the fuck does this have to do with neurodiversity?? Answer: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. But, much like an evangelical Christian who never shuts up about Jesus, these people just can't help themselves. Ideology is a hell of a drug, kids... Sadly, ideologues ramming their shit political takes down your throat has spilled out of academia and Hollywood, and is becoming more and more commonplace in books... ****************** I had high hopes for Neurodiversity and the Myth of Normal, but it ultimately fell way short. I would not recommend it. There's not much real value here. Instead of using the <3 hours of this book's runtime to talk about the science of neurodiversity, the authors spend most of this short time evangelizing for a worldview. How tiresome... 1 star, and off to the return bin. Remind me to give a hard pass on anything else these guys produce. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jun 21, 2024
|
Jun 25, 2024
|
Jun 21, 2024
|
Audible Audio
| |||||||||||||||||
0520253337
| 9780520253339
| 0520253337
| 3.91
| 1,254
| unknown
| Mar 25, 2008
|
it was amazing
|
"My first thought, I remember clearly, was: “This can’t be happening.” Once I registered that it was indeed happening, my second thought was simple: “
"My first thought, I remember clearly, was: “This can’t be happening.” Once I registered that it was indeed happening, my second thought was simple: “I’m toast.” The Reluctant Communist was a great telling of an incredible real-life saga. The author drops the quote above early on. Author Charles Robert Jenkins (18 February 1940 – 11 December 2017) was a United States Army deserter, North Korean prisoner, and voice for Japanese abductees in North Korea. Charles Robert Jenkins: [image] The book's introduction was written by Jim Frederick. Fredrick describes the process of meeting and interviewing Jenkins for the material in the book. The writing in the book proper is told in a style akin to how Jenkins speaks; says Fredrick. I felt that this formatting worked here. Fredrick says this about Jenkins: "Charles Robert Jenkins is, quite simply, a figure of lasting historical importance. He has lived a life that’s unique in twentiethcentury history. No other Westerner has survived so long in the world’s least known, least visited, and least understood country on the planet and been able to return to tell the tale. And what he has to say is vitally important: Is there any country in the world harder to get a handle on than North Korea? And while there are certainly rivals when it comes to the intensity of American diplomatic bungling, has any country been a U.S. foreign relations debacle so consistently for so many years? While native North Korean defectors and escapees from its gulags have made some horrors of that nation known to the world, Jenkins is the first Westerner able to provide a long-term, detailed view of this secretive and brutal society from the perspective of an outsider who became intimately familiar with its inner workings. I do not profess to know much about North Korea, but I’m confident Charles Robert Jenkins knows more about it than just about any foreigner on the planet." And this of the strange Hermit Kingdom: "The curtain Robert draws back on the mundane, relentless, dehumanizing operation of the North Korean state—its wastes of money and labor on domestic spying rather than economic output, its language-debasing doublespeak, its interference in the most intimate details of its residents’ lives—helps demonstrate how insidious and debilitating, bizarre and oppressive the country is. The story of Robert’s life was more difficult to tell since it did not reach either extreme of the sensationalism spectrum. He is neither a villain nor a hero, just a man trying to cope with the guilt of a horrible mistake while eking out an existence in a country unimaginably strange and hostile. But I hope that this attention to the quotidian, this focus on the struggle of everyday life, has produced a more nuanced and valuable contribution to our understanding of North Korea." I will keep any plot details out of this review, to avoid giving away any spoilers, but the story told here was pretty incredible. As the book's title tells you, he would spend 40 years imprisoned in North Korea. For anyone interested, this article sums up the events of the book well. ****************** I really enjoyed The Reluctant Communist. It was a fascinating glimpse into some of the workings of the world's most secretive country. I would recommend it to anyone interested. 5 stars. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jun 14, 2024
|
Jun 17, 2024
|
Jun 12, 2024
|
Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
1419727613
| 9781419727610
| 1419727613
| 4.31
| 5,979
| Sep 13, 2016
| Oct 17, 2017
|
it was amazing
|
"North Korea is indeed a Hermit Kingdom: a true-to-life dystopian nation. It’s against this backdrop that my story takes place..." Wow, what a story! It "North Korea is indeed a Hermit Kingdom: a true-to-life dystopian nation. It’s against this backdrop that my story takes place..." Wow, what a story! It's not often for me that a book absolutely knocks my socks off, and leaves me wanting more, but Every Falling Star did just that. It is an incredible story of a wild real-life saga. Author Sungju Lee speaks across Europe, Asia, and North America about his experiences and about North Korean political social issues. He lives in South Korea. Sungju Lee: [image] The author has a great writing style, and the tone and pace of the book are akin to a Hollywood thriller. Born in the ironically named "Democratic People's Republic of Korea," or "DPRK," the author lived a relatively good childhood in the capital city of Pyongyang. After Kim Il-Sung's death in 1994, their family was forced out of Pyongyang to live in the north-western town of Gyeong-Seong, where they moved into a tiny, unheated house. To cover too much more of the story would be giving away the plot, so I'll keep it tight to avoid spoiling the book. The writing here drives home the unfathomable harsh reality of everyday life in the Communist Utopian social experiment that is the DPRK. Long known as "The Hermit Kingdom" for its secrecy, the government of the DPRK has committed (and still commits) human rights violations on a wholesale level. Every young, mindless useful idiot who simps for socialism should be made to live for a year in the DPRK, to see what life in a communist country looks like in practice. Sungju Lee talks about the local markets he frequented, and how commonplace death was: "Death was all around us. We’d enter the market in the mornings to find women wailing and rocking in their arms children who had died during the night. As we plunged deep into the merchants’ stalls, we found the corpses of old men and women, mouths still agape as if, in their final moments, they wanted to say something, their eyes staring out, pleading with us to hear them. I always thought the place after death was peaceful. It was how my eomeoni had described it. But what I saw on the faces of the dead was anything but. It was as if they had got stuck looking at and feeling all their grief and pain..." I am going to include a brief summary of the incredible events of this book here, mostly for my own future reference. I'll cover it with a spoiler to avoid giving anything away. This article from The BBC also gives a decent summary: (view spoiler)[ * The family did not receive food rations in Gyeong-Seong, so the father left for China. He doesn't return. * Shortly after, his mother leaves to visit his aunt in search for food. He is left on his own when his mother doesn't return. * Starving, he goes to visit his schoolmate, Young-bum, who is living with a sick and dying grandmother. Young-bum's grandmother dies of starvation and tuberculosis. * He becomes a "kotjebi," and forms a gang with 6 other young boys. * They travel around to many different markets and have to fight other kotjebi for the right to steal from the market. * After a vicious fight, one of their gang is killed. * They travel to the collective farms to steal food. Young-bum is caught by the guards and beaten to death. * They decide to travel back to Gyeong-Seong to see if their families had returned. * He finds his grandfather at the train station selling medicines. * He lives with his grandfather and grandmother tending to their crops and livestock. * One day a man comes with a note from his father from China, asking him to go see his father. * The man is a human smuggler, who takes him by plane, with a forged passport to South Korea. (hide spoiler)] ****************** Every Falling Star was an incredibly well-done book. The entire presentation was top-tier. I would definitely recommend this one to anyone interested. 5 stars, and a spot on my "favorites" shelf. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jun 10, 2024
|
Jun 13, 2024
|
Jun 10, 2024
|
Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
1722523840
| 9781722523848
| B07XYGNQP8
| 3.80
| 824
| 1923
| Oct 14, 2019
|
liked it
|
"A new phrase has come into the language—counsel on public relations. What does it mean?" Crystallizing Public Opinion contained some interesting info, "A new phrase has come into the language—counsel on public relations. What does it mean?" Crystallizing Public Opinion contained some interesting info, but I didn't enjoy the book as much as his more notable book: Propaganda Author Edward Louis Bernays was an American pioneer in the field of public relations and propaganda, and referred to in his obituary as "the father of public relations". His best-known campaigns include a 1929 effort to promote female smoking by branding cigarettes as feminist "Torches of Freedom", and his work for the United Fruit Company in the 1950s, connected with the CIA-orchestrated overthrow of the democratically elected Guatemalan government in 1954. Edward L. Bernays: [image] Unfortunately, I did not find the writing here as engaging and lively as it was in Propaganda. The tone of this book is more like an academic paper, or other factual diatribe. This one is missing all the flow and panache of Propaganda. Although it is a shorter book, the audio version I have had a boggling 52-minute introduction. Way too long... The average member of organized society thinks that they are the authors of their own opinions and beliefs. Unfortunately, this is (mostly) not the case. People are a deeply tribal animal, with an inborn tendency to follow the herd. Early influencers realized this, and the field of "public relations" was born. With a successful public relations campaign, societal norms and taboos can be shaped, created, or destroyed. Mankind's inborn pro-social wiring is both his greatest trait, as well as his Achilles heel. If society is aimed towards noble goals and endeavours, then it can accomplish incredible feats. However, if the established groupthink of the crowd becomes disordered, the herd can go off in a bad direction, often right off the cliff. History is replete with many examples of this maladaptive behaviour. So, influencing the direction of the herd has become a top priority for those in positions of power; the upper echelons of the economic, political, and academic classes - to name but a few. This is how propaganda spreads. For it to be effective, it is disseminated in a top-down fashion. In a clever "hack" of our evolutionary biology, people look up to those seen to have high social status. People in this position are able to shape the thoughts and behaviours of their followers. Add to this the fact that people typically do not examine an issue objectively and look at its pluses and minuses to determine what is "true." People are cognitive misers, and reluctant to expend any more mental energy on thinking than is absolutely necessary. To navigate the complex world, evolution has created a "shortcut" of sorts to help people assess complicated issues. Typically, they look to the group they most identify with, and adopt the same beliefs and opinions as that group. In evolutionary psychology, this is called "social proof." Personally speaking, I've always found it fascinating (from a scientific standpoint), and terrifying (from a realistic standpoint) - that most people get their entire worldview via osmosis from the crowd. People are the strangest creature, which is why I enjoy reading about social psychology so much. ****************** Crystallizing Public Opinion fields some incredibly interesting and rich subject matter. Sadly, something here about the writing style just did not land with me. 2.5 stars. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jun 07, 2024
|
Jun 08, 2024
|
Jun 05, 2024
|
Kindle Edition
| |||||||||||||||
B0BTZ9124L
| 4.44
| 1,184
| unknown
| Apr 30, 2024
|
it was amazing
|
"Regardless of your political affiliation or leanings, or which candidate you like or dislike, we should all be alarmed when those who are driven by t
"Regardless of your political affiliation or leanings, or which candidate you like or dislike, we should all be alarmed when those who are driven by their insatiable hunger for power are actively undermining our democracy without care for the short- and long-term consequences of their actions..." For Love of Country was an excellent look into the current state of the modern-day American Democratic Party. Hopelessly drowning in a quagmire of woke racial politicking and pathological groupthink, they have completely abandoned the core ethos of the country that they run, the author says. Author Tulsi Gabbard is an American politician, United States Army Reserve officer, and political commentator who was the U.S. representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district from 2013 to 2021. Gabbard was the first Samoan-American to become a voting member of Congress. Tulsi Gabbard: [image] Tulsi writes with an excellent style here, which I found to be clear, lively, and engaging. She's got a natural talent as an orator, and it carried over into the writing here. She also reads the audiobook version I have, and did an excellent job of the narration. The quote from the start of this review continues: "...They are doing all they possibly can to keep the American people from being able to choose who we want to vote for as president. They have no respect for us and our fundamental rights as citizens in a democratic republic. They are so afraid that we, the people, might make “the wrong choice” that in the name of protecting our democracy and saving us from ourselves, they are destroying our democracy and taking away our freedom to decide who our next president should be. She lays out the scope of the issue: "What’s at stake here is far greater than Donald Trump and Joe Biden. In this short bit of writing, she explains why she left the Democratic Party: "The party I joined over twenty years ago no longer exists today. I used to wonder why Tulsi Gabbard didn't get the Democratic Presidential nomination. She ticks all the boxes: She's a woman, a woman "of colour," and a war vet. Unfortunately, she's also everything they dislike in a candidate: She's too independent, intelligent, and principled to tow the crooked party line. Instead of giving Tulsi the nomination, or making her a running mate, they chose Joe Biden, a man who can barely string a full sentence together, and cackling Kamala Harris as his running mate. The creation of America as a nation-state founded upon the core values of freedom and liberty is a unique idea in world history. The values of freedom, liberty, and independence are sadly not the default state of human organization. Rather, as history has shown countless times; authoritarianism and restriction tend to be the default state of societal organization. The First and Second Amendments were put in place to help prevent Governmental tyranny. The First Amendment is a bulwark against mankind's proclivity towards pathological groupthink. The Second Amendment is in case the First Amendment no longer works: "Our Founders intentionally passed the Second Amendment right after the First. They knew how fragile this new, free democracy was, and how susceptible it would be to those who sought to abuse their power and take away our freedom. We must defend our right to bear arms, not only for recreational purposes, but to defend ourselves and our loved ones, and to serve as a check on the abuse of power by an increasingly tyrannical government." Unless you have been living under a rock for the last ~10 years, it's hard to ignore how polarizing politics in the West are becoming. Partisan tensions have been steadily rising on both sides. If we don't find a way to soothe these flames, civil war will be an inevitability, and the entire house could burn to the ground... The erosion of constitutionally protected rights and the core ethos that the country was founded upon should be alarming to you, regardless of your political leanings. Unfortunately in politics, this is rarely the case. Very few people are objectively principled, and only care if their side is winning. This is the tragedy of the deeply partisan human animal. For anyone who's read about history, it is repeating, almost exactly 100 years later, IMHO. In Europe, Russia was the first nation-state to fall to a Socialist revolution in 1918. Organic far-leftist sentiment spread through much of Europe like wildfire. These tensions reached a boiling point in Spain first, resulting in the Spanish Civil War, circa ~1936-1939. The rise of Fascism also occurred in the post-WW1 period after the Russian Revolution, and saw the rise of right-wing strongmen Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini; both of whom came to power partly in opposition to this far-leftist sentiment. The reader should look into the state of Germany's Weimar Republic post-WW1 for more context. What resulted was the Second World War, and over a hundred million dead... In this quote, she talks about the Washington Uniparty's support for endless wars: "For too long, United States foreign policy has consisted of enacting crippling sanctions and waging regime-change wars, all under the banner of “defending freedom and democracy” around the world, and usually in the guise of humanitarianism. That was true under Democrat Bill Clinton, Some more of what Gabbard talks about in these pages includes: • The Democratic Party attacking foundations of American freedom; free speech, gun rights, • The Biden-Harris administration working with the FBI and other agencies of the federal government to pressure Big Tech companies, directly and indirectly, to censor and suspend the accounts of specific individuals. • Political bias by Google; sending conservative political emails to spam folders • Hunter Biden's laptop fiasco; its authenticity, and the squashing of the story during the 2020 election. • The Elitist Cabal of Warmongers; Their aim of regime change in Russia • Fomenting Racism; the cult of D.E.I. • What’s True? The Powerful Decide • Families Under Fire; Neo-Marxist Critical Race Theory and sexualized books as part of school curriculum ****************** For Love of Country was a sobering look into the state of the modern-day Democratic Party. Anyone who has not closely been following the ongoing culture war needs to put this one on their to-read list. Tulsi Gabbard did a great job with this book. Hopefully, if more sensible people speak out as Tulsi is here, we can walk back from the approaching abyss. I'm not sure where all this will end, but if history is any indicator, it will be a bumpy ride... 5 stars, and a spot on my "favorites" shelf. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jun 05, 2024
|
Jun 06, 2024
|
Jun 04, 2024
|
Kindle Edition
| |||||||||||||||||
1250191173
| 9781250191175
| 1250191173
| 3.73
| 1,142
| unknown
| Mar 05, 2019
|
it was amazing
|
"We’re all just some street-hustlin’ dudes who put in that work, and we made it..." Growing up I was a huge fan of The Wu-Tang Clan, so naturally I put "We’re all just some street-hustlin’ dudes who put in that work, and we made it..." Growing up I was a huge fan of The Wu-Tang Clan, so naturally I put Raw on my list when I came across it. I wasn't sure what to expect from the writing here. Fortunately, the book was really good. The author did a great job with this one. More below. Author Lamont Jody Hawkins, better known by his stage name "U-God," meaning Universal-God, is an American rapper and member of the hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He has been with the group since its inception, and is known for his deep voice and rhythmic flow that can alternate between gruff and smooth. Lamont "U-God" Hawkins: [image] The book gets off to a bit of a slow start, as Hawkins (from here on - "U-God") talks a lot about his early life living in Staten Island. He writes with a decent style that's both gritty and authentic. The book is full of real-life hardcore stories; many of which will likely shock the reader unfamiliar with this lifestyle. Despite its somewhat slow start, the book became a real page-turner. It turned out to be a very well-written, produced, and delivered book that is one of the better musical biographies I've read. If you are a fan of Wu-Tang, you'll likely really enjoy this one. The author also narrated the audiobook version I have, and he did a great job. The book is formatted in a chronological fashion, beginning with his early life, following his time in Park Hill, his time in prison, and joining the now famous hip-hop group. In a nice touch, some chapter titles were taken from their famous C.R.E.A.M. song, and other chapter titles were also nods to their songs. He drops this quote early on: "Time is a motherfucker. Time reveals shit. It wears things down. Breaks things. Crushes things. Kills things. Reveals truth. There’s nothing greater than Father Time. U-God talks about his early life in the Park Hill projects of Staten Island. He hustled and made money selling drugs before he became famous. He drops some interesting writing about his history of dealing drugs and all the shit he saw while doing that. Eventually, the law would catch up with him, and he ended up doing 3 years in Riker's Island. Some more great writing here. In this quote, he talks about the above-mentioned song C.R.E.A.M: “C.R.E.A.M.” is a true song. Everything Inspectah Deck and Raekwon said is 100 percent true. Not one line in that entire song is a lie, or even a slight exaggeration. Deck did sell base, and he did go to jail at the age of fifteen. Rae was sticking up white boys on ball courts, rocking the same damn ’Lo sweater. And of course, Meth on the hook was like butter on the popcorn. Meth knew the hard times, too, being out there smoking woolies and pumping crack, etc. That raspy shit he was kicking just echoed in everyone’s head long after the song was done playing. Another thing I really liked about this presentation was how real U-God was in this book. He doesn't come across as arrogant or braggadocious. Quite the opposite, actually. He is very humble and real here. The book is a very authentic portrayal of his life; faults and all. Arguably one of the least-well known members of The Wu-tang Clan, he addresses this directly many times in the book, and pulls no punches. It's just all very real writing. It takes a big man to expose himself the way U-God did here. Here he talks about how he had trouble establishing credibility for his lyrical skills amongst the other members: "...But I still kept getting kicked out of the booth. The only thing I knew was that I had to keep going. I had no other choice to get it right. No was not an option for me. That’s when I learned about the difference between being a warrior—a champion, really—and a regular person. It was the Later on in the book, he talks about the almost inevitable clashes that result from the combination of nine different yet supposedly equal members with their respective fames and fortune. He also spends a bit of time telling the reader how RZA (the producer of The Wu-tang Clan) controlled the group. U-God says he was/is too much of a control freak, and was taking too much money from the group's members; including their popular clothing brand line: Wu-Wear. U-God launched a lawsuit to get some transparency on the group's finances, and where all their money was going. He closes the book with this great bit of short writing: "Our journey here was rough, no doubt. We lost our brother Dirty along the way, but the rest of us are still here, still alive, still bringing it. We’re not posted up in front of 160 anymore, ducking cops and bullets, scrambling for drug money while dreaming of stardom and getting out of the projects. We’ve done that. We’re not locked up or on parole pissing in cups. We left all that shit behind us years ago. We’ve achieved fame and success the likes of which most people can only dream about, and in the right circumstances, we’ll do it again. ****************** Raw was an excellent look into the life of Lamont "U-God" Hawkins, as well as The Wu-Tang Clan. I really enjoyed this one. I'd recommend it to anyone interested. 5 stars. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
May 29, 2024
|
May 30, 2024
|
May 22, 2024
|
Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
B003JTHFXE
| 3.53
| 17,941
| Jan 01, 2002
| May 05, 2010
|
liked it
|
"India is Hotel California: you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave..." I came across Holy Cow! by chance, and saw that it managed "India is Hotel California: you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave..." I came across Holy Cow! by chance, and saw that it managed to trigger the fragile sensibilities of many of the top reviewers here. So naturally, I had to read it to see what all the fuss was about. I enjoyed the writing here for the most part, and found the outrage the book generated to be ridiculous. More below. Author Sarah Macdonald is an Australian journalist, writer, radio presenter, and has been associated with several ABC radio programs, including Triple J and Radio National. Sarah Macdonald: [image] As the book's title implies, it is a travelogue that covers the author's time living in and traveling around India. Macdonald writes with a decent, fairly engaging style, and this one shouldn't have trouble holding even the finicky reader's attention. She drops this quote early on: "It’s now that I remember that India is like Wonderland. In this other universe everyone seems mad and everything is upside down, back to front and infuriatingly bizarre. I’m Alice: fuzzy with feelings about my previous trip down the rabbit hole, I’m now flying straight back through the looking glass to a place where women are blamed for sleazy men and planes are sprayed when they fly from a clean city to a dirty one. In this world we applaud a dreadful landing that’s as fast and steep as a take-off, we jump up and tackle fellow passengers in a scrum at the door while the plane is still moving, and the air hostess gets off first." When I came across this book, I gave a cursory read of many of the top reviews here. Quite a lot of people were triggered by the subject matter here. It seems they were set off by the talk about Indians freely and openly defecating in the streets, clearing their throats and spitting, and the mass epidemic of sexual groping by Indian men. I was left a bit puzzled by this. So people are upset that the author talks about what she experienced when she was in India? Many people decried her as a "racist." It's interesting that their outrage did not extend to the people committing these offenses, but rather, towards the person recounting her story of experiencing this detestable behaviour. Cultural relativism 101. Although I have not personally been to India, I am very close with several people that have either grown up and lived there, or have spent long periods of time there. When I recounted some of the author's experiences to them, they said that they also experienced these types of things, and more. The author summarizes some of her frustration with the country in this quote: "...I begin to regurgitate my repressed memories of why I never wanted to come here again. It’s a vomit of hatred and a rambling rage against the bullshit, the pushing, the shoving, the rip-offs, the cruelty, the crowds, the pollution, the weather, the begging, the performance of pity, the pissing, the shitting, the snotting, the spitting and the farting..." Before the naive reader gets their knickers in a twist, I'd like to drop a few unsettling quotes from the book, highlighting some of the more brutal aspects of Indian society/culture. I challenge anyone to read these, and not be horrified. In this short quote, she tells the reader about the Indian practice of "dowry burning": "...in her place is a woman begging. One of the closest people in my life is Indian-born and raised - having moved to the West when they were 8 years old. They told me that India is "a place where life has no value." From what is presented in this book, as well as what I've heard first-hand, it seems that this is tragically often the case: "...Amid the manicured lawns of the embassy district cars slow down to avoid what appears to be a branch on the road. But it’s not a branch. It’s the twisted limbs of a beggar who’s been hit by a car; he is lying in the middle of the road crying and reaching out his hands for help. We pull over and Jonathan jumps out. But as he approaches the stricken man, a bus lurches to a halt; its driver gets out, grabs the beggar by his arm, drags him to the gutter and dumps him, his face and abdomen bleeding from the bitumen. Some of the other material covered here includes: • The author at a meditation retreat • Travels to Kashmir • Sees the Dali Lama • Zoroastrians; the Parsis • Religions in India; Hinduism, Islam ****************** Holy Cow! was an interesting travelogue. I would recommend it to anyone interested. 3 stars. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
May 22, 2024
|
May 29, 2024
|
May 17, 2024
|
Kindle Edition
| |||||||||||||||||
1250288355
| 9781250288356
| 3.64
| 526
| Feb 2024
| Feb 20, 2024
|
it was ok
|
"Though it may be easy to find information about animal sex in one place, birdsong in another, the first vaccine in yet another, and the science of th
"Though it may be easy to find information about animal sex in one place, birdsong in another, the first vaccine in yet another, and the science of the hangover in a fourth, it’s much more difficult to find in-depth, quirky content about multiple scientific subjects in one spot. Therefore, we think this book will fill that void of underservedness. With plenty of quirkiness and silliness along the way..." I was in the mood for something a little lighter than the books I typically read, so I thought I'd give How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi a go. While there was some interesting info here, I didn't really enjoy the overall presentation very much. More below. Author Chris Balakrishnan founded Nerd Nite when he was a graduate student in evolutionary biology at Boston University. Nerd Nite was born of a Boston bar owner’s curiosity about Chris’ ornithological adventures and Chris’ goal of making science more accessible. Chris Balakrishnan: [image] The book is presented as a collection of numerous short essays; across a wide swathe of territory. The presentation was supposed to be funny. Unfortunately, I didn't laugh once. Usually, I appreciate the narration of audiobooks. Unfortunately (again), some of these narrators began to grate on me as the book went on. The presenters have a habit of speaking in an overly exaggerated tone, and frequently uptalk - sort of how you might speak to a 2-year-old. The writing here is also full of talk about sex, which is not really my cup of tea. Also, for a fun science book, there was a baffling amount of pro-LGBT propaganda crammed in here. Nowadays, you can't even pick up a science book without being force-fed THE MESSAGE. It seems you can't escape this crap no matter where you go... SIGH Instead of just sticking to telling amusing scientific stories and anecdotes, many of these presenters take the opportunity to evangelize for their leftist "progressive" worldview here, instead. I really, really dislike when authors cram their shit-tier political opinions into books where they have no business being, and my ratings always reflect this. In a super-cringey attempt to make a funny, one of these lobotomized authors proclaims: "...if you care about teens, don't ever vote for a Republican." Oh, wow. Cool opinion. Thanks for sharing. Maybe just stick to talking about science next time? There was also more nonsense in here about how biological sex is on a spectrum. That some animals have different chromosomal characteristics than people do is trotted out as "evidence." Human beings are sexually dimorphic, sexually reproducing creatures, with 2 default phenotypes. The binary idea of sex is not flawed. The overwhelming majority of people are either XX or XY. Even when intersex and sex chromosome aneuploidies are taken into account, M-F still applies to ~99.9% of the population. Later in the book, another lobotomized scientist talks about the dangers of tribalism, noting that there has been a rise in (gasp) nationalism, and pearl clutches over the election of Jair Bolsonaro. Strangely enough, no mention was made of the danger of wide-sweeping far-leftist sentiment: the literal Neo-Marxist movements sweeping across college campuses, and the violent riots of summer 2020, to name but a few. On a positive note, there was a good bit of writing here about GMO foods. ****************** Despite being excited to start this one, How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi ultimately was a disappointment. 2 stars. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
May 16, 2024
|
May 21, 2024
|
May 16, 2024
|
ebook
| ||||||||||||||||
B00CKXEAB0
| 3.82
| 283
| 1998
| Jan 12, 2012
|
it was ok
|
"Since 1970, when it was plunged into the Indochina War, which had begun with the Vietnamese rising against French colonial rule and lasted until the
"Since 1970, when it was plunged into the Indochina War, which had begun with the Vietnamese rising against French colonial rule and lasted until the Communist victories in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in 1975, Cambodia has suffered the worst that this callous century has devised..." Despite Cambodia fielding some important historical material, I did not enjoy the overall presentation. More below. Author Henry Kamm was a German-born American correspondent for The New York Times. He reported for the Times from Southeast Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Henry Kamm: [image] The book opens with a preface that was a bit flat and slow. This proved to be a harbinger of the writing to follow. I am very particular about how readable my books are, and this one missed the mark for me here. The quote from the start of this review continues: "...It struggled through five years of bloody civil conflict with the destructive intervention of bellicose foreign powers, four years of a genocidal revolutionary regime, then liberation through invasion and a decade of military occupation by Vietnam, a hated and feared big neighbor, and throughout these years unceasing internecine warfare on its soil, continuing to this day." The author lays out the scope of the book in this quote: "What follows is an attempt to retrace the events of nearly three decades as seen by a reporter who was granted the privilege of being taken into the confidence of many Cambodians, men and women whom I admired and whose hopes for their country I shared, as well as others. I recall with infinite sadness those among them who paid with their lives for staying when they could have fled, before total darkness enveloped Cambodia for four years that have known no equal in history." In one of the worst genocidal regimes in modern history, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge killed 1.5 to 2 million people from 1975 to 1979; some ~20-25% of Cambodia's population at the time. The country and its Socialist revolution became another addition to a long list of failed Communist shit holes, and another terrifying case study of how to fuck up your society in the worst way possible. That so many of its citizens took place in the rampant and widespread persecution, arrests, and even murders of their fellow countrymen is a sobering look into the depths of the human condition... Unfortunately, and further to what I wrote above, the telling of this terrible story was just not up to snuff. I did not like much of the author's writing style here. I found large parts of the book long-winded and dry. I found my finicky attention wandering numerous times. If the book were any longer, I would have put it down. A shame, as the writing here is no doubt of important historical record... ****************** I did not particularly enjoy Cambodia. The writing was just too lackluster to hold my attention. 2 stars. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
May 10, 2024
|
May 13, 2024
|
May 09, 2024
|
Kindle Edition
| |||||||||||||||||
0358646502
| 9780358646501
| 0358646502
| 3.86
| 503
| unknown
| Apr 09, 2024
|
liked it
|
"IN THE LATE 1990S, INSIDE A FORMER NUCLEAR MISSILE silo in Kansas, Leonard Pickard set up what was probably the biggest LSD lab of all time. The choi
"IN THE LATE 1990S, INSIDE A FORMER NUCLEAR MISSILE silo in Kansas, Leonard Pickard set up what was probably the biggest LSD lab of all time. The choice of this site for such a large-scale operation seems symbolic, given that the history of the powerful substance is tightly interwoven with that of the Cold War and its arms race. On twenty-eight acres of land, behind electronically controlled gates and a hundred-ton steel door that could withstand even a nuclear attack, Pickard was alleged to have produced a kilogram of the drug per month—due to its potency, an unimaginably large amount. With it, the graduate of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government was said to have provided 95 percent of the world’s supply of LSD..." Tripped is my second from the author, after his 2015 book: Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany, which I really enjoyed. So, I admittedly went into this one with high expectations. Unfortunately, I did not find the writing here to be quite on par with the writing in Blitzed. Author Norman Ohler is a German New York Times bestselling author, novelist and screenwriter, best known for this book, which has been published in over 30 languages. Norman Ohler: [image] The writing here opens with a bang, as Ohler delivers a high-energy intro where he drops the quote above. He writes in a matter-of-fact, straight-forward manner here that shouldn't struggle to hold the finicky reader's attention. Ohler describes the aim of the book in this short quote: "...I myself became curious about the drug when my father, a retired judge, started to consider giving microdoses of LSD to my mother to treat her Alzheimer’s disease. He had asked me why, if the drug was actually supposed to help, he couldn’t just get it at the pharmacy. This launched me on my research. As the book's subtitle implies, the author takes the reader through the history of psychedelic drug use in the West, and America; more specifically. The book also covers the roots of the modern Western drug prohibition movement, and the history of the "War on Drugs." The West adopted the Nazi's temperance movement, which was ultimately blowback from the decadent and degenerate culture that emerged in Weimar Germany post WW1. The author continues, telling the reader about the discovery of early psychedelics and the synthesis of LSD. Although not mentioned here, the Americans became paranoid that the Russians had developed a mind control agent, after freed POWs from the Korean War were returning to America seemingly brainwashed. This had the Americans up in arms, and drove later efforts by CIA scientists to produce a mind-control agent of their own. This project became known as Project MKUltra. MKUltra was preceded by two drug-related experiments, Project Bluebird and Project Artichoke. It began in 1953, was reduced in scope in 1964 and 1967, and was halted in 1973. It was organized through the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence and coordinated with the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories. The program engaged in illegal activities, including the use of U.S. and Canadian citizens as unwitting test subjects. MKUltra's scope was broad, with activities carried out under the guise of research at more than 80 institutions, including colleges and universities, hospitals, prisons, and pharmaceutical companies. The CIA operated using front organizations, although some top officials at these institutions were aware of the CIA's involvement. Some more of what is covered in here includes: • LSD in America • The Case of Frank Olson • Mösch-Rümms • LSD JFK • "The Revolt of the Guinea Pigs" • "The Bear" • Elvis Meets Nixon • The author microdosing his mother to treat her Alzheimer's. (Some great info here) ****************** Tripped was a decent read, but I didn't enjoy it as much as the author's first book in the series. I also felt that John D. Marks book: The Search for the Manchurian Candidate: The CIA & Mind Control already covered this topic in a more effective and engaging manner. The book was still a decent read if you don't know this history. 3.5 stars. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
May 09, 2024
|
May 10, 2024
|
May 08, 2024
|
Hardcover
|
|
|
|
|
|
my rating |
|
|
||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3.54
|
liked it
|
Mar 11, 2020
not set
|
Sep 21, 2024
|
||||||
4.56
|
liked it
|
Sep 19, 2024
|
Sep 12, 2024
|
||||||
4.25
|
liked it
|
Sep 10, 2024
|
Sep 05, 2024
|
||||||
3.87
|
it was ok
|
Sep 09, 2024
|
Sep 04, 2024
|
||||||
3.50
|
it was ok
|
Sep 05, 2024
|
Aug 28, 2024
|
||||||
3.86
|
it was amazing
|
Sep 03, 2024
|
Aug 28, 2024
|
||||||
3.86
|
liked it
|
Aug 27, 2024
|
Aug 22, 2024
|
||||||
3.85
|
liked it
|
Jul 27, 2024
|
Jul 23, 2024
|
||||||
4.18
|
really liked it
|
Jul 23, 2024
|
Jul 17, 2024
|
||||||
4.40
|
liked it
|
Jul 17, 2024
|
Jun 25, 2024
|
||||||
3.76
|
did not like it
|
Jun 25, 2024
|
Jun 21, 2024
|
||||||
3.91
|
it was amazing
|
Jun 17, 2024
|
Jun 12, 2024
|
||||||
4.31
|
it was amazing
|
Jun 13, 2024
|
Jun 10, 2024
|
||||||
3.80
|
liked it
|
Jun 08, 2024
|
Jun 05, 2024
|
||||||
4.44
|
it was amazing
|
Jun 06, 2024
|
Jun 04, 2024
|
||||||
3.73
|
it was amazing
|
May 30, 2024
|
May 22, 2024
|
||||||
3.53
|
liked it
|
May 29, 2024
|
May 17, 2024
|
||||||
3.64
|
it was ok
|
May 21, 2024
|
May 16, 2024
|
||||||
3.82
|
it was ok
|
May 13, 2024
|
May 09, 2024
|
||||||
3.86
|
liked it
|
May 10, 2024
|
May 08, 2024
|