Mark R. Kelly
» Founder in 1997 and site-runner for 20 years of Locus Online (Hugo Award winner in 2002). Founder in 2012 and still site-runner of sfadb.com (Science Fiction Awards Database). Retired in 2012 after 30 years as a software engineer for a certain rocket engine factory.
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Meta
Category Archives: Reviews
This Is What Dictators Do
Many topics today. Trump plans to fire generals who are not “yes men”; RFK Jr. plans to fire scientists who do not subscribe to his anti-scientific ideology; Federal scientists anticipate firings, and the parallel with the Soviet Union and Lysenkoism; … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Politics, Psychology, Reviews
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Progressions
Topics in this post: The success of wokeness. How the least religious nations are among the healthiest along many measures. Partha Dasgupta on how the GDP should account for the cost of what we use. Julian Baggini on philosophy and … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Reviews, Science, Social Progress
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Ls&Cs: Meaning and Happiness
Kant’s take on happiness; Arthur C. Brooks’ three bite-sized dimensions to the meaning of life; Thomas B. Edsall on whether conservatives are happier than liberals.
Posted in Meaning, Psychology, Reviews
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NYRoB on PKD’s The Man in the High Castle
I haven’t picked up an issue of THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS in many years. On the one hand, it has been characterized in my reading life by the Harlan Ellison story, “The New York Review of Bird”, which … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews
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Inherit the Wind
Saw the movie INHERIT THE WIND today for the first time in many years. This is the 1960 film version of the 1955 play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, as directed by Stanley Kramer, about the famous 1925 … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Evolution, Films, Personal history, Reviews
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The Meaning of Human Existence
(Earlier posted on Facebook) Quick plug for Edward O. Wilson’s new book, THE MEANING OF HUMAN EXISTENCE, which is as expected a grand if concise philosophical summary of this important scientist’s views on the big issues of science and philosophy … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Evolution, Philosophy, Reviews
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Today’s Odds and Ends: Conservative rejection of science; Christians’ perceived persecution; Dinesh D’Souza’s paranoia
There have been several articles in recent days about how people [conservatives] who don’t accept evolution or climate science don’t necessarily know less about those subjects than others… they do so because their “community” rejects such conclusions, by instinct. New … Continue reading
Clarke, Childhood’s End, part 2 – themes
Last week I started my discussion of re-reading several classic Arthur C. Clarke novels, and summarized the plot of Childhood’s End, in this post. Now some comments on themes. My purpose in these rereadings is not to explore the history … Continue reading
Posted in Arthur C. Clarke, Book Notes, Personal history, Reviews, science fiction
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12 Years a Slave
Saw 12 YEARS A SLAVE on Sunday, a gripping, brilliantly directed and acted film that is at times difficult to watch – but not because you don’t think it’s telling you the truth. It’s about a free black man kidnapped … Continue reading
Review of Cory Doctorow’s Homeland
I’d meant to write more reviews on this blog, so let me catch up with a review of a novel I read a few weeks ago – Cory Doctorow’s Homeland. I confess that after the longueurs of his novel Makers, … Continue reading
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