Let’s begin with an item from December, on a website called Topia: A World of Good, promoted on Facebook today by David Brin since it reproduces a list Brin compiled on his own blog some time ago.
21 COSMIC WEBSITES YOU NEED TO KNOW: How big is space? Sci-fi legend David Brin investigates
These sites display the scientific urge to understand a universe that humans cannot correctly perceive intuitively.
Here’s a book I read near the end of last year that, like the Dawkins book recently reviewed, is a book directed at young people. Like the Dawkins, it’s heavily illustrated; unlike that, Harari’s book is essentially a rewrite of a book he has already written, his popular and bestselling SAPIENS from 2015 (my review here), aimed at younger readers. Apparently the first of several books. This one is subtitled “Vol. 1: How Humans Took Over the World.”
Today’s reading is yet another example of how narratives — stories that simplify the world and make it more understandable, even if they’re completely fictional — dominate so many people’s beliefs, especially in politics, that they amount to a denial of reality. (This isn’t about that anthology that tries to correct myths of American history; this is about what’s happening right now.)
Yet another item about that anthology of historical essays. Plus items about pandemics, bestseller lists, wokeness in the military, the attraction of conspiracy theories, and violence on TV.
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 Basic Books a few days ago. It’s an anthology of essays by various writers.
There are interesting points to be made from these, though I doubt I’ll buy or read the book. Consider this post a meta-review perhaps, a reaction to what others are saying about the book. It’s of interest to me because it relates to my running theme of how humans understand the world through stories, and how this plays out politically, why some are more attracted to stories than others.
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Two items today. Continue reading
Just one item today.
It’s always cool when some remark I make in my blog is amplified the next day by a widely read newspaper columnist. Actually, two or three remarks, from recent days, in today’s column from Paul Krugman.
NY Times, Paul Krugman, 5 Jan 2023: Making America the Opposite of Great
Not enough time to write a review this afternoon, so I’ll just post a few links about current events.
NY Times, Charles M. Blow, 4 Jan 2023: The Burn-It-All-Down Republican Caucus
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The news today is full of the chaos in the House of Representatives where the party in control, the Republicans, cannot elect a Speaker of the House (a position that is third in line for the presidency, after the Vice President). Long story short seems to be that a cadre of some 20 extremist MAGA Republicans will not approve the presumptive favorite for the job, Kevin McCarthy, without grave concessions. They’re rather like a third party candidate ruining the chances for the mainstream party to win an election, throwing it instead to the minority party. (This has happened.) Except I’m not sure how this will play out in a chamber that cannot function without a Speaker. We shall see.
For now I will note some related topics. Continue reading
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 out they are not separate editions, but the same identical edition, from the Apollo imprint of Head of Zeus, with a single ISBN, and only the UK price in pounds on the back. Why the delay in US availability? Don’t know.
The books is pleasant but unusual in Dawkins’ oeuvre. Continue reading
