Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly

Levitan: NOT A SCIENTIST

Posted on 17 February 2019 by Mark R. Kelly

Journalist Dave Levitan’s NOT A SCIENTIST: How Politicians Mistake, Misrepresent, and Utterly Mangle Science (Norton 2017) addresses a dozen or so kinds of mistakes that are typically behind any politician’s use of the phrase “I’m not a scientist, but…”, and … Continue reading →

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Nichols, THE DEATH OF EXPERTISE

Posted on 17 February 2019 by Mark R. Kelly

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

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Levitin: A FIELD GUIDE TO LIES

Posted on 16 February 2019 by Mark R. Kelly

Daniel J. Levitin’s A FIELD GUIDE TO LIES: Critical Thinking in the Information Age (Dutton, 2016) is a nice complement to the book previously reviewed. Levitin an academic at UC Berkeley and has written three previous books, including This Is … Continue reading →

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Ariely: PREDICTABLY IRRATIONAL

Posted on 12 February 2019 by Mark R. Kelly

Dan Ariely’s PREDICTABLY IRRATIONAL: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (Harper 2008) is one of the earliest popular books that summarizes various findings of experimental psychology in recent decades that reveal the biases of human nature. Key point: traditional … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Psychology | Leave a comment

Keen: HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE

Posted on 10 February 2019 by Mark R. Kelly

Andrew Keen’s How to Fix the Future (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2018) is a breezy book in the Thomas L. Friedman mode, as the author travels the world speaking to various experts, and describing his trips and circumstances as he goes. … Continue reading →

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Lightman: SEARCHING FOR STARS ON AN ISLAND IN MAINE

Posted on 7 February 2019 by Mark R. Kelly

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

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Gould: UNIVERSE IN CREATION

Posted on 7 February 2019 by Mark R. Kelly

Roy R. Gould’s UNIVERSE IN CREATION: A New Understanding of The Big Bang and the Emergence of Life (Harvard, 2018) overlaps on a couple topics with the Adam Frank book reviewed previously. But. Gould would like to claim that the … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Cosmology | Leave a comment

Frank: LIGHT OF THE STARS

Posted on 7 February 2019 by Mark R. Kelly

Adam Frank’s LIGHT OF THE STARS: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth (Norton, 2018) asks, what can thinking about the prospect of alien civilizations tell us about our own fate? Currently our species’ story (by those of us … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Book Notes, Cosmology, Species Reset | Leave a comment

H.G. Wells: THE TIME MACHINE

Posted on 3 February 2019 by Mark R. Kelly

H.G. Wells’ THE TIME MACHINE is one of the foundational science fiction novels. Published in 1895, it was Wells’ first novel, though it’s short enough that later anthologists have reprinted it as a novella (e.g. in the second volume of … Continue reading →

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Specialists

Posted on 2 February 2019 by Mark R. Kelly

For years I’ve been bemused by TV commercials that show shiny happy people living glorious lives, with a narrator who claims the benefits of some prescription drug that you should consult your [particular specialist] about. (I gather that such commercials … Continue reading →

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