Category Archives: Book Notes

Thoughts on Jo Walton’s WHAT MAKES THIS BOOK SO GREAT

Posted on Saturday 27 February 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Jo Walton’s WHAT MAKES THIS BOOK SO GREAT is a wonderful book, and I wish there were more like them. It’s not a book of reviews, so much as a book of reviews about *re*-reading books, and why she does … Continue reading →

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Gilovich, 2, part 2

Posted on Thursday 25 February 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

The second half of Thomas Gilovich’s and Lee Ross’ new book THE WISEST ONE IN THE ROOM: How You Can Benefit From Social Psychology’s Most Powerful Insights is four chapters under the heading “Wisdom Applied.” Chapter 6, “The Happiest One … Continue reading →

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Gilovich, 2, part 1

Posted on Wednesday 24 February 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

The new book by Thomas Gilovich (author of the 1991 volume HOW WE KNOW WHAT ISN’T SO: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life, just discussed here) and coauthor Lee Ross is THE WISEST ONE IN THE ROOM: How … Continue reading →

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Gilovich, 1

Posted on Tuesday 23 February 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

I just finished a new book co-written by Thomas Gilovich, author of the 1991 volume HOW WE KNOW WHAT ISN’T SO: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life, the earliest volume in my library on the theme of that … Continue reading →

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Item’s from Sunday’s New York Times: Pace of Change; Criticism; Religion in Politics; Creative Children

Posted on Thursday 4 February 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Most interesting, a review, by Paul Krugman, of a book by Robert J. Gordon, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, whose thesis is that the extraordinary growth and change brought about by technology over the past century has pretty … Continue reading →

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EO Wilson, Consilience, 3

Posted on Saturday 23 January 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Third post about Edward O. Wilson’s 1998 book Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge. (first post; second post) Chapter 4, “The Natural Sciences”, focuses on the nature of science and how scientists actually work. The great divide among cultures on Planet … Continue reading →

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EO Wilson, Consilience, 2

Posted on Saturday 16 January 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Second post about Edward O. Wilson’s 1998 book Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge. (first post) Chapter 2, “The Great Branches of Learning”, seems a bit off the mark since it doesn’t address those branches directly. Wilson says the Enlightenment thinkers … Continue reading →

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EO Wilson, Consilience, 1

Posted on Wednesday 13 January 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

So now, after reading Edward O. Wilson’s The Meaning of Human Existence a bit over a year ago (last of five posts about it here), I’m returning nearly 20 years to one of his earlier, foundational I think, books: Consilience: … Continue reading →

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Review: The Outsider Test for Faith

Posted on Tuesday 12 January 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

John W. Loftus’s THE OUTSIDER TEST FOR FAITH: How to Know Which Religion Is True (2013) is a trade paperback book, one of a number of similar volumes I’ve perused over the past couple years, generally from Prometheus Books or … Continue reading →

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Review of David Silverman

Posted on Wednesday 6 January 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

The book is FIGHTING GOD: An Atheist Manifesto for a Religious World, just published in December 2015, and I’m not linking it with a cover image as I often do with books I review, since I can’t especially approve of … Continue reading →

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