A entertaining collection of essays written by schoolmaster, it attempts to give a look at the medieval church from the point of view of the average pA entertaining collection of essays written by schoolmaster, it attempts to give a look at the medieval church from the point of view of the average person or "man on the street" of the times. It is partly a catalog of wild incidents you probably didn't read about in class (monks and villagers waging war on each other over the right of common pasturage at Meaux Abbey, the going price for various relics in the 11th century, and St. Elizabeth of Hungary's still-warm corpse being attacked by crowds seeking relics rather like the mobs seeking souvenirs of executions and lynching in more recent history). I'm sure some of the stories are dated or even discounted by modern historians, but it's pretty fun read and a fairly comprehensive look at everything from how a parish church was managed to pilgrimage and beliefs about the afterlife. ...more
A wild ride, this is both a facsimile of a "real" grimoire and an description explaining how and why such books came to be. I use scare quotes becauseA wild ride, this is both a facsimile of a "real" grimoire and an description explaining how and why such books came to be. I use scare quotes because it's pretty clear that the original was created as a novelty for a rich buyer who would be seeking thrills via the transgressive nature of the contents, including the explicit and violent imagery. In a sense, it's like a 18th or 19th century horror movie: part morality play as we see incautious necromancers attacked by demons, part exploitation thriller with presumably authentic rituals and recipes. It dares the reader to try out the spells included while simultaneously warning them that it will bring them to ruin, sort of like the movies in the golden age of B cinema which offered barf bags and warnings in the lobby. It's certainly an eye-catching coffee table book....more
A nicely researched dive into grimoires, from ancient papyri to modern grifters. It does begin to drag on when we hit the 20th century, but for compleA nicely researched dive into grimoires, from ancient papyri to modern grifters. It does begin to drag on when we hit the 20th century, but for completeness sake I see why the author included books loosely adapted from older material. The focus is on the best known/most influential grimoires of the early modern period and their descendants. The alleged 6th through 10th books of Moses get a lot of discussion because they were so heavily copied in the 19th and 20th century, all over the world, while some of the more (in)famous titles like the Lesser Key of Solomon, the Picatrix, and the Book of Abramelin are given much less attention. So I' guess I'd say this is a good introduction to the publishing and dissemination of magic books or grimoires even if it does not get into a lot of analysis of their origins. I was about to give this only 3 stars because it spent so little time on modern Western occultism but that really has been covered to death, and the author's coverage of grimoires in Africa, Latin America, and the US is overdue....more
Interesting and compelling. This version of Crowley's life makes sense. He may well have been serious about his occult pursuits and also equally commiInteresting and compelling. This version of Crowley's life makes sense. He may well have been serious about his occult pursuits and also equally committed to his country's interests. That is to say, I hope this account is correct, but can't really be sure. It still seems equally plausible that he was just an a narcissistic grifter. He'd probably love our uncertainty. ...more
I'm torn about how to rate this. The information on how the eyes work and how different systems might affect reading seemed reasonable, but I grew a bI'm torn about how to rate this. The information on how the eyes work and how different systems might affect reading seemed reasonable, but I grew a bit suspicious when I saw that in every case the author does not actually say anything about how such issues might be resolved. Instead, it begins to feel like a sales pitch for visual therapy -- and apparently visual therapy is a panacea for reading delays, learning disabilities, lazy eye, and more. Any time we have a one-solution-to-all-problems pitch, my quackery detector goes off. I remember a former in-law telling me that chiropractics could treat not just back problems but hearing loss, asthma, and pretty much whatever ails you. Sure.
A bit of research on my own has confirmed that some science watchers consider the claims of visual therapy exaggerated and even unfounded. The science only seems to back up its effectiveness on a few problems.
So, instead of the three stars I was going to give this (for clarity and presentation, I read it through in one sitting) is dropped down to two and big red flag for that the last chapter, urging any and all to try visual therapy....more
The premise is interesting and the case that the author begins building is fine, but my advance copy was badly misbound, with every page after 60 or sThe premise is interesting and the case that the author begins building is fine, but my advance copy was badly misbound, with every page after 60 or so upside-down and backwards. This doesn't sound like an intractable problem but it was enough of a disincentive that I gave up on reading the book after being frustrated by the effort it took to reverse the usual way of reading. For this reason I can't in conscience rate the book's contents. ...more
A very standard book of "the unexplained" by radio host and ufologist Frank Edwards. In fact many of the "mysteries" he wrote about were pretty well A very standard book of "the unexplained" by radio host and ufologist Frank Edwards. In fact many of the "mysteries" he wrote about were pretty well resolved in the 1950s when he was writing, and others are thinly sourced and reported so sensationally they are totally unconvincing. Sort of a poor man's Charles Fort, the author makes vague suggestions that some of his mysteries are tied to aliens, the supernatural, or unknown phenomena, but without any of the humor of Fort. The chapters on some nautical mysteries (lost ships, lost crews, and sea monsters) were the strongest, but it's hard to believe even Edwards was convinced of any of this nonsense....more
I think that at the time it was written, it must have been fairly groundbreaking. The author actually traveled much of the routes he describes, which I think that at the time it was written, it must have been fairly groundbreaking. The author actually traveled much of the routes he describes, which helps him convey the terrors these frontiers must have presented to the often woefully under-prepared explorers. I winced a lot at his descriptions of "savages" but to be fair he doesn't shy away from the fact that many, probably most, of the "explorers" were con-men at best and murderous ravagers at worst. He is not surprisingly a bit more sympathetic to the British and Anglo-Americans than to the French, Spanish, and native people, being British himself. I still enjoyed this quite a bit though, as many of the historical figures were relatively unknown to me and a few were kind of bad ass, like the Italian mercenary with an iron prosthetic hand. There were some good maps, though it could have used more, and some period illustrations which the author takes some pains to explain and fact-check. ...more
A nice look at how George Romero and his friends managed to create a massively influential film on a shoestring budget and with a cast and crew of mosA nice look at how George Romero and his friends managed to create a massively influential film on a shoestring budget and with a cast and crew of mostly amateurs. The book follows the career of Romero and fortunes of some of the principals involved in the movie, with interviews and guest sidebars by various filmmakers. Kane writes informally, and the book reads a bit like a series of articles from a zine, but his enthusiasm is mostly tempered by a willingness to be critical of other works by Romero, Russo, Streiner, and company. There is some detail given about remakes and various re-edits of the original NOTLD, as well as some capsule reviews of other zombie films, and my only complaint would be that it feels a bit like a series of articles were stitched together to bulk up the book, which would be pretty short if it only covered NOTLD. The inclusion of theo riginal NOTLD script underlines the ambiguity -- was this included for completists (it IS interesting to compare to the final film) or just a way to fill page space?...more
Reading this book I could not help but wish the author had used a quote from Paul Goodman as the epigraph of the book: "Technology is a branch of moraReading this book I could not help but wish the author had used a quote from Paul Goodman as the epigraph of the book: "Technology is a branch of moral philosophy, not of science." (Every technology ultimately is making a value judgement about what is important or worth doing, and what aspects of a task or reality are important.) This book is a fascinating look at how 'big data' is used and abused by colleges, banks, insurance agencies, in sentencing and parole decisions, by employers screening applicants, and more. Collecting vast amounts of data and using to guide decisions can be a very useful technology, but the author -- who herself had a career as a 'quant' or data analyst for a large firm -- points out the downside of basing decisions on data and algorithms. Of course it should be obvious, but our society's information fetishism can make us overlook that the data we collect and the algorithms we use to analyze it can be deeply flawed by omissions, prejudices, fallacies that the designers may not be aware of. A couple of the many examples she sues help illustrate this. We read about a school teacher whose performance is measured by an algorithm that takes into account his students' past performance, current performance on standardized tests, and various other factors. One year he is scored 6/100, and the next year 94/100 -- after making no changes to his syllabus, assignments, or anything else he was doing. Anyone with common sense can see there is something wrong with the algorithm if someone could get such wildly varying scores, but the scoring algorithm is a 'black box' that not event the school administrators understand. Among the many problems with the system here is that there is no allowance for the designers of the algorithm to get feedback on the scoring and adjust the model -- instead, the 'failing' teachers are fired and the algorithm rolls on. Contrast this with the use of 'big data' algorithms in commercial enterprises: when Amazon.com collects data on your browsing and purchasing habits, they use this recommendations to you for future purchases. If their models are bad, they suggest things you don't want, and they don't increase sales. But they take this feedback and change their algorithms, because there is a financial incentive to do so. So a huge blind spot in some of the models and algorithms policy makes use is the lack of feedback. Another is huge downside of the rise of big data modeling is that private companies can use opaque models to discriminate in ways that punish the poor particularly. The author explains how car insurance companies use data about where their customers live, drive, and work to assess risks -- which is largely legitimate -- but also abuse this information to determine which customers are likely to be able to shop around for better deals, and which are less likely to have the time, resources, or access to information to do so, and they are charged much more. Indeed affluent customers with DUI convictions may be better rates than safe drivers who live in areas with limited internet access and higher poverty. Likewise employers may screen applicants with big data algorithms that identify 'risks' which rule out the poor, people with past mental illness, or immigrants. Many other problems are discussed, and the final chapters look at how political parties have begun to utilize big data too -- an ominous prospect in light of the rest of the book. The author offers some solutions, ranging from the admittedly ineffective (a code of ethics for 'quants' who create the models) to the more daunting but effective measure of demanding transparency and regulation (which has made some progress in the insurance industry, but is far from complete). *Full disclosure -- I read a free advanced reader's copy that I won in a Goodreads giveaway.*...more
This is a paraphrase of the Pentateuch -- the first five books of Bible. It is very irreverent and calls attention to the many, many inconsistencies aThis is a paraphrase of the Pentateuch -- the first five books of Bible. It is very irreverent and calls attention to the many, many inconsistencies and shocking content in these books, and is especially attentive to the often bizarre characterizations of God in theses books. The author is pretty funny, and while the Bible can be easy to ridicule, he doesn't rely on all the usual stuff (like weird prohibitions and women being 'unclean') but finds a lot of other material to make fun of and does not get squeamish about the genocide and other horrors attributed to God. I can't give this more than three stars though because it is almost impossible to read straight through, however amusing it is to read in bits. Definitely not for the easily offended. I look forward to checking out the author's take on the New Testament.
**Full disclosure, I received a free copy of this book through the Goodreads "First Reads" giveaway.**...more
As the title and subtitle suggest, this is mostly an examination of odd mental illnesses that occur only in certain settings -- "culture-bound disordeAs the title and subtitle suggest, this is mostly an examination of odd mental illnesses that occur only in certain settings -- "culture-bound disorders" as the DSMV would put it. The author impulsively set off on a trip through three continents to learn more about "koro," a strange fear that one's penis is shrinking, retracting inside the abdomen, or even stolen by a witch. It seems like a perfect example of an imaginary illness that can only strike people with rather limited sophistication, right? But as the author slowly learns more and more about this and some other complaints that are marginalized and dismissed as superstition, he also learns that many illnesses codified in the DSMV are culturally bound too, only they are limited to the Western countries, or even just the US, where the DSMV was codified. Comedians might comment that bulima does not occur in countries where food is scarce; the author wonders whether all mental illness might not be culturally-determined. This is sure to cause some offense, since we are inclined to think that real illnesses have clear biological bases. But the author also points out the singular failure of psychiatry to find purely biological bases for any given illness. This doesn't meant they are unreal, or supernatural, or "all in our heads". What if all mental illnesses have cultural as well as biological bases? He is unable to come to any firm conclusions, and is admittedly a journalist, not a scientist. But the idea that how mental illness manifests is tied to one's culture is very compelling and makes a lot of sense. Among the stunning bits of evidence he points to are the widely varying rates of depression in different countries, the similarity of schizophrenia in "advanced" countries and shamanism in more tribal societies, and the shocking absence of PMS in many cultures. Clearly there is more to the mind than pure biology, and The geography of madness is a fascinating effort to find the cultural component, which is perhaps most clearly indicated in cases of minds that are not functioning normally. ...more
There's a handful of books that I can honestly say are like nothing else I've ever read. Egil's saga (an Icelandic saga); The worm Ouroboros; Borges' There's a handful of books that I can honestly say are like nothing else I've ever read. Egil's saga (an Icelandic saga); The worm Ouroboros; Borges' Labyrinths; Blood meridian; and now Wisconsin Death Trip. Originally submitted as a PhD thesis by a student of photography and history, this is a compendium of excerpts from a Wisconsin newspaper from the 1890s, a selection of photographs by a photographer who lived in the town covered by the paper, along with an assortment of excerpts from some novels and histories written in and about the same period and place. It's a harrowing and sometimes repetitive collection of stories of loss -- arson, epidemic, suicide, murder, and other disasters reported from the population of Black Falls and some neighboring communities. There are a few reports of lake monsters and miracles, but mostly the articles describe the hardships faced by struggling farmers, admissions to insane asylums, and the marauding bands of "tramps" who set fires to barns or rob people at gunpoint when refused charity. The photographs depict the people and street scenes in the county town, along with a number of funeral photos of the dead laid out in coffins (mainly children) and photos of flower arrangements made for funerals. The author crops and collages some of the photos for startling effects, especially when the face of person is crowd is repeated in extreme closeup and you can't help but see pure desparation in their eyes, even while they pose amid family or friends. The introduction and epilogue discuss the turmoil of the 1890s and the popular theories about poverty, criminality, and mental illness that were developed during and after that time. The author's own theory is a bit sketchy, but he weaves together a narrative that is compelling and makes as much sense of the events reported by the Black Falls newspaper as anything else. It's a harrowing read, and haunting, and worth seeking out. ...more
This book does a great job of covering pretty much exactly what the title promises: it describes medieval pilgrimages and pilgrims and what kinds of lThis book does a great job of covering pretty much exactly what the title promises: it describes medieval pilgrimages and pilgrims and what kinds of lives the pilgrims lead, before during and after a pilgrimage. It's written for a middle or possibly high school audience, so any difficult words in the sources that are quoted are explained. And the author does a marvelous job finding interesting and pithy passages to quote. This book is a nice overview of the topic, and I give the author credit for handling some sensitive topics, like the risk of being robbed or raped while on pilgrimage, the prejudices of Europeans and saracens in the Holy Land, and the improbable relics and holy sites that became destinations. However the brevity of the book also means that relatively few examples are cited and the details are scattered and few. ...more
Not bad, but dated, insofar as a lot of reevaluation of the "middle ages" has been done since this was first written. The author is an academic and deNot bad, but dated, insofar as a lot of reevaluation of the "middle ages" has been done since this was first written. The author is an academic and despite the title and brevity of this book, it is really not aimed at an amateur audience, so there are a lot of casual referneces to French historians of the early 20th century that I did not know. But I did find a few very interesting insights here. First, much of the cruelest and most "barbaric" things about the medieval period come from the rediscovery of Roman laws: in particular, the reduction of serfs to near slavery, the brutal treatment of criminals and heretics, and the decreased status of women. During the High Middle Ages and early Renaissance, the rediscovery of classical sources had a very dark side that we tend to gloss over. ...more
Interesting and accessible for non-linguists, this is one linguist's exploration of the various languages people have deliberately invented (rather thInteresting and accessible for non-linguists, this is one linguist's exploration of the various languages people have deliberately invented (rather than natural languages, which developed over time within populations). The author looks mostly at the motives different inventors had, and it is pretty fascinating to see how and why they failed. The later chapters, on more recent efforts, have some interesting anecdotes too, but ultimately there is not a lot of insight into why people continue to invent languages beyond "it's a lot of fun if you find this sort of thing fun."...more
Man, the title and cover really oversell this book. It’s actually a collection of short profiles of criminals of the nineteenth and early twentieth ceMan, the title and cover really oversell this book. It’s actually a collection of short profiles of criminals of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. I’m not sure I’d have counted coastal Oregon in the 1920s as part of the “old west” but one of the longer entries chronicles an escaped convict who spent weeks on the lam there, forcing people to cook for him at gunpoint whenever he stopped at a house. Other criminals that are included don’t really seem to rise to the level “outlaw” status -- a burglar who murdered a sleeping woman with a meat cleaver, a man who went on a drunken rampage robbing some railroad employees and shooting his brother-in-law, and several other cases of murder. There are a few bona fide famous outlaws mentioned -- the James brothers, the Apache Kid, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, as well as infamous killers like John Wesley Hardin and William Quantrill. A few of the less well-known characters are pretty interesting too -- Old Tom Starr and Dart Isom, for example. But all too many seem to have been selected for their evocative nicknames rather than their deeds: “Bad Eye” Santamarrazo’s crime was trying to poison a miner, and “Rattlesnake Dick” Barter murdered and dismembered an eccentric old man in order to take over his farm; in both cases these were the only crimes the subjects committed. Worse, a lot of them seem to be included simply because the writers found a lot of details about their trials and executions, which make for pretty uninteresting reading when the criminals were spectacularly inept. So it’s really a very mixed bag, some of it entertaining and some of it boring.
I’m not sure what I was expecting, exactly; maybe tales of men who were “badass” by some standard other than simply being killers. Really the vast majority of the people profiled sound like sociopaths and bullies. Most of the killings are ambushes or surprise attacks on unarmed men. I know that this is the reality of most crime generally and most of the killings in the Old West. I guess I was hoping they would be enough true stories where a gunslinger did something that actually was “badass” to fill a book. You know, stuff like this: http://www.cracked.com/article_18607_... . Evidently not. I know, I know. Most of the people from history who we think of as "badasses" were actually sociopaths and bullies. The "most badass" warrior cultures -- Vikings, Romans, Spartans, samurai, knights -- were basically sociopaths and bullies who won more by surprise, material wealth, and ruthlessness than courage or toughness. That's pretty much how human history works. Still, the Old Western idea of a tough individual dies hard, and maybe if we pretend the intent behind this collection was demythologization, it works. Except that the obviously amateur and amateurish articles don't really address the question, and it's more on the editor for pretending these are about badasses rather than a collection of crime stories.
I also wish the articles were signed, rather than just having a list of contributors on the copyright page, because the style and tone of the articles varies a lot. I get the impression that the publisher or editor just wanted to cash in on a great title and classic photo for the cover (a cowboy standing on the saddle of a horse and aiming straight for the camera with his gun), reprinting chapters from various “Outlaw tales of…” books in the publisher’s stable. If this is meant to be a “best of” collection, I’ll skip the books they’re excerpted from....more
The format here is to give a large illustration of a camera, describe it and and how it represents an innovation or trend, and then sidebars fill in sThe format here is to give a large illustration of a camera, describe it and and how it represents an innovation or trend, and then sidebars fill in some gaps. It's a nice history of photography; as someone who doesn't know a lot about photography, I found it understandable and interesting, especially the sidebars on various failed or unusual designs for cameras, the origins of "instant" photography, and the spy cameras. Disclaimer: I got a free copy for review in a Goodreads "first reads giveaway". I am not sure I would have read this otherwise....more
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