Links and Comments: 19 Nov 2022

Posted on Saturday 19 November 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

About FTX and effective altruism; political examples in the spirit of the recent Borowitz book; examples of how the media covers events; and a perspective on the American economy under Republicans and Democrats.

Image here: today’s sunset.

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Whither Science Fiction 2022?

Posted on Friday 18 November 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

It’s been obvious for a couple decades that fantasy is outselling science fiction, and dominates the books critics speak of when compile lists of the “best science fiction and fantasy” of the year.

Today’s post is about how that is playing out in 2022.

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Climate Change, 8 Billion, and Religion

Posted on Thursday 17 November 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Today’s items are inspired by a new Pew Survey on how religion influences Americans’ views on the environment, and by the UN announcement that Earth’s human population has reached eight billion.

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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 it…?

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SF Links: Stories and Crashed Spaceships

Posted on Tuesday 15 November 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Two notable items today from the Tor.com website. About stories; about crashed spaceships (loosely).

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Post-Election Blue, not Red

Posted on Monday 14 November 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Context; Where we are; Connie Willis; Christian dictatorships; More MAGA than ever; Russian delicacy; Lagniappes.

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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 book is another basic, entry-level book covering ideas familiar to forward-looking thinkers of all kinds, but especially to scientists and to science fiction readers.

The difference between this and those other books is that Tyson is a major cultural figure, probably the best-known scientist in the nation. He’s done TV shows (Cosmos), he does the lecture circuit, and he has lots (hundreds of thousands? Don’t know exactly) of followers on Twitter. He pokes fun at the bad science in sci-fi movies. (And in the latest Top Gun.)

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Quote of the Day: Recovering from Madness

Posted on Saturday 12 November 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Charles Mackay was a Scottish poet who lived from 1818 to 1889. He was the author of the book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, in 1841.

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Yesterday’s Streetworks

Posted on Friday 11 November 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Posted yesterday on Facebook. To the extent that there’s a difference, apparently I should have said streetworks, not roadworks. You can look it up.

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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 desk. Image turned sideways. (And others all over the house.)

First is this one, seen in a Publishers Weekly review this past week.

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