Category Archives: Book Notes

Myth America

Posted on Sunday 8 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Today in the papers, both an op-ed about and a review of a new book called Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past, edited by Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer, published by … Continue reading →

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Richard Dawkins, FLIGHTS OF FANCY: Defying Gravity by Design & Evolution

Posted on Wednesday 4 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

This book was released in the UK in November 2021 — here’s its Amazon UK page — and was announced for US release in May 2022. I ordered the latter when it came out; here is its Amazon.com page. Turns … Continue reading →

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One More Book Story

Posted on Monday 19 December 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

The Washington Post did a list about two weeks ago about this: Washington Post, Alyssa Rosenberg, 6 Dec / updated 19 Dec 2022: Opinion | To build a delightful library for kids, start with these 99 books Then today posted … Continue reading →

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Two Tales About Books

Posted on Sunday 18 December 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

There is a wide range of attitudes about books. Many people read no books at all. Some read books but only by borrowing from libraries; some people buy and read books but treat them as disposable objects (these are the … Continue reading →

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Andy Borowitz, PROFILES IN IGNORANCE: How America’s Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber (2022)

Posted on Wednesday 16 November 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

I hesitated reading this book, because I’ve seen and heard for myself over the years the vacuous platitudes of Ronald Reagan, the jejune idiocies of Dan Quayle, the conspiratorial lies of Donald Trump. So what would be gained by reading … Continue reading →

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Neil deGrasse Tyson, STARRY MESSENGER: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization

Posted on Sunday 13 November 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Review: Rather similarly to a couple three other nonfiction books I’ve read lately –- Ari Wallach’s LONGPATH (review here, Jim Al-Khalil’s THE JOY OF SCIENCE (review here), and even Justin Gregg’s IF NIETZSCHE WERE A NARWHAL (review here) -– this … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Cosmology, Science | Comments Off on Neil deGrasse Tyson, STARRY MESSENGER: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization

Three Interesting Books That I Probably Won’t Read

Posted on Thursday 10 November 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

About free markets, the fundamentals of biology, and unsustainable growth. And I probably won’t read them simply because I have so many other books to read, such as the few on a bookcase just to the left of my computer … Continue reading →

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Ari Wallach, LONGPATH: Becoming the Great Ancestors Our Future Needs

Posted on Saturday 5 November 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

This is a modest little book with great ambitions to change the way people think. And more power to it if it does. But for anyone who reads science fiction, for example, or is familiar with big issues and long-term … Continue reading →

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G.H. Hardy, A MATHEMATICIAN’S APOLOGY (1940)

Posted on Wednesday 2 November 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

In perusing some of the earliest popular books I read about mathematics, including the ones I’ve blogged about here by George Gamow and Krasner & Newman, and then searching around for any other popular mathematical texts from the early 20th … Continue reading →

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Jim Al-Khalili, The Joy of Science

Posted on Wednesday 12 October 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s a short little book that is basic but substantive. Familiar yet essential. Frankly, if I had seen it in a bookstore, I would have glanced through it and likely set it back down. Seeing it online made it difficult … Continue reading →

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