Category Archives: Science

Paul Kalanithi, WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR

Posted on Wednesday 6 April 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

This is an almost unbearably sad, yet poignant and moving and thoughtful, memoir by a young Stanford neurosurgeon who is diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer at the age of 36. His life changes from being the physician to being … Continue reading →

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Carlo Rovelli, SEVEN BRIEF LESSONS ON PHYSICS

Posted on Wednesday 6 April 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Very slender book, drawn from a newspaper column and intended for readers who know nothing about science. I read it because it’s short and because a NYT review of the book, pointed out that its final chapter is about human … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Historical Jesus; God’s Plan; Sagan on religion v science

Posted on Thursday 31 March 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Relevant to some of my current reading, and the recent Easter holiday: Salon from last year, Valerie Tarico, 5 good reasons to think Jesus never existed. Most antiquities scholars think that the New Testament gospels are “mythologized history.”  In other … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Historical Jesus; God’s Plan; Sagan on religion v science

Links and Comments: Living in the Real World

Posted on Friday 5 February 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Salon: College students were asked simple questions about politics and history and their answers are a dramatic wake up call about the state of our education system. (The same video has been posted elsewhere.) Street interviews with college students asked … Continue reading →

Posted in Lunacy, Psychology, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Living in the Real World

Links and Comments: Narrative; the Limits of Rationality

Posted on Saturday 23 January 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

I seem to have not yet mentioned yet another essay about how narrative is taking over the world. James Murdoch (CEO of 21st Century Fox) a couple weeks ago in Time Magazine: Storytelling—both fiction and nonfiction, for good and for … Continue reading →

Posted in Narrative, Science | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Narrative; the Limits of Rationality

The Narrative of Narratives

Posted on Monday 28 December 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

A couple of years ago, when I read David McRaney’s second book, You Are Now Less Dumb, with its long section about human beings’ ‘narrative bias’, in which everything must be understood as some kind of story, this was a … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Science and Math and Religion

Posted on Monday 21 December 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Radio interview with Lee Goldman, MD, about his new book Too Much of a Good Thing, subtitled “How Four Key Survival Traits Are Now Killing Us”. This is about the familiar idea that our species is optimized for survival in … Continue reading →

Posted in Cosmology, Evolution, Science | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Science and Math and Religion

Elizabeth Kolbert on Climate Change and Florida

Posted on Sunday 20 December 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Fine essay by Elizabeth Kolbert — whose 2014 book The Sixth Extinction I greatly admired — in the current New Yorker, The Siege of Miami, about how rising sea levels are already affecting that city. This dovetails with my previous … Continue reading →

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Sunday’s New York Times: Links and Comments

Posted on Monday 30 November 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Opinion column by Curt Stager: Tales of a Warmer Planet. This relates to my suspicion and prediction that efforts to ameliorate climate change will come too little and too late — because human nature cannot respond to a potential threat … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Evolution, Morality, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Sunday’s New York Times: Links and Comments

Links and Comments: Bruni on Cruz; Flip-flopping presidents are most effective; political persuasion; Republicans’ economic narrative; Lisa Randall, a new Trek

Posted on Thursday 19 November 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

From last Sunday’s New York Times: Frank Bruni on Ted Cruz’s Laughable Disguise He emphatically recalls how his father’s embrace of Jesus Christ led him back to his mother — and to him — after his parents had separated. He … Continue reading →

Posted in Narrative, Politics, Psychology, Science | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Bruni on Cruz; Flip-flopping presidents are most effective; political persuasion; Republicans’ economic narrative; Lisa Randall, a new Trek