Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly

Links and Comments: Tyson v. Douthat

Posted on 24 May 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

I started writing up a few notes about the new (small) Neil deGrasse Tyson book, ASTROPHYSICS FOR PEOPLE IN A HURRY, and got sidetracked by a passage that reminded me of a Ross Douthat column from a few weeks ago. … Continue reading →

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Link and Comments: Kids These Days

Posted on 23 May 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

From Sunday’s New York Times Book Review, a review by Jennifer Szalai of a book by new Nebraska senator Ben Sasse, THE VANISHING AMERICAN ADULT: Our Coming-of-Age Crisis — and How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance. The review is … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Reality and Fantasy about Abortion

Posted on 22 May 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

I don’t have any horse in the race about abortion, per se, except how it is an example of right-wing authoritarian, anti-science thinking. (I’ve seen but need to document the historical background about how abortion wasn’t on the conservative religious … Continue reading →

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Parents, Children, Identities: Andrew Solomon’s FAR FROM THE TREE

Posted on 19 May 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

This is an enormous book, 962 pages long, 702 of that text (with the remainder consisting of encyclopedic notes, a lengthy bibliography, and an index). The book is about how parents deal with exceptional children, covering ten categories of exceptionality, … Continue reading →

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Sapolsky on religion, and human behavior

Posted on 18 May 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Via today’s Morning Heresy blog by Paul Fidalgo, this item from Robert M. Sapolsky, a short video on a site called Big Think, called Atheism vs. Religion: Which Is the Healthier Viewpoint?. His thesis is that religious belief, in eternal … Continue reading →

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Link and Comment: Religion v. Reality

Posted on 17 May 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

One more item from last Sunday’s New York Times: the weekly “Modern Love” column, reader-submitted essays about “the joys and tribulations of love.” White Shirt, Black Name Tag, Big Secret It’s about a young Mormon man sent into the world … Continue reading →

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Link and Comment: Modern Conservatism

Posted on 17 May 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

From a review in Sunday’s NYT Book Review, by Damon Linker, of a book about the famous conservative intellectual William F. Buckley, and his relationships to various presidents of the United States. The review is titled “William F. Buckley and … Continue reading →

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Link and Comment: The Changing US Demographic

Posted on 15 May 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Essay in Sunday’s NYT: The Census and Right-Wing Hysteria, by Herbert J. Gans The “right-wing hysteria” concerns the predictions, for several years now, than within a few decades the US would become a “majority-minority” nation by the 2040 — i.e., … Continue reading →

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A Chilling Journey Through Worlds Beyond Imagination: TOS by James Blish

Posted on 15 May 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

As noted a couple posts ago, in my series of Star Trek Rewatch posts, I’ve just reread James Blish’s first Star Trek book – published just over 50 years ago! – to note the changes he made from the original … Continue reading →

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Blood thins. The Body fails. TOS “The Conscience of the King”

Posted on 15 May 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Kirk must determine if a Shakespearean actor is the same man as the infamous “Kodos the Executioner,” whose crimes Kirk witnessed 20 years before.   This is an offbeat, exotic episode, with strong characters and a powerful moral dilemma, that … Continue reading →

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