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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Recent Posts
- Then They Came for the Meteorologists
- Sausalito, and Heartstopper
- Groupthink, Reason, and Conspiracy Thinking
- Moving Toward One Kind of Science-Fictional Future
- Three from SciAm
- Fox News Admits They Were Wrong; Reviews by Michael Dirda
- More Examples of What MAGA Really Means
- Today’s Fantasy vs. Reality Watch
- Lessons in Media Literacy
- Today’s Authoritarianism Watch
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Meta
Category Archives: Book Notes
Robert Reich Speaks, Writes, and Cartoons
More about Robert Reich’s appearance at UC Berkeley last night; and summary notes about his book Economics in Wonderland.
Posted in Book Notes, Economics
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About New Books by Phil Plait and Jamie Green
Phil Plait’s Under Alien Skies Jamie Green’s The Possibility of Life And a Facebook cartoon about the cynicism of anti-intellectuals Phil Plait on John Scalzi’s blog today, about his new book Under Alien Skies: A Sightseer’s Guide to the Universe, … Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy, Book Notes, Cosmology, Lunacy, science fiction
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Enid Blyton via Sarah Bakewell
I mentioned Sarah Bakewell in my post of March 29th, for two reviews of her new book on the history and meaning of humanism, Humanly Possible, a very long book on one of my primary interests, but so long that … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Personal history
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Last Questions and Possible Answers, 1
When I was browsing through several John Brockman books a few weeks ago, I decided to buy the last one he published in that series, from 2019. It’s called The Last Unknowns, and instead of gathering answers from many contributors … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Philosophy, Science
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A Literary Break
Read last week: six short literary novels in five days. Three by Steinbeck; one each by Henry James and James Joyce and Leo Tolstoy. A break from my routine of reading science fiction and current nonfiction.
Posted in Book Notes, Culture
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Basic Principles: Passages from Shermer
In the closing pages of Michael Shermer’s new book, he quotes Jonathan Rauch’s list, from his book The Constitution of Knowledge, about social rules for turning disagreement into knowledge. Shermer expands upon them, and for one of them provides a … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Morality, Quote at Length, Science
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Michael Shermer: CONSPIRACY: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational
Michael Shermer’s latest book, a thorough account of why people believe conspiracy theories, why it might be beneficial (for evolutionary reasons) to give them the benefit of the doubt (even if they’re not true), with some deep dives into several … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Psychology
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Brockman, This Explains Everything, 1
Key topics so far: Evolution by means of natural selection. How life is a digital code. Reflective equilibrium and the evolution of non-objective morality. How evolution explains the conflicts in human social life. And how levels of such “variation-selection processes” … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Science
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Dacher Keltner, AWE: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life
This is a book about the subjective experience of awe, and how being aware of everyday examples of awe can make your life more meaningful and fulfilling; yet how (in my take) it’s about the emotion, triggered by both the … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Psychology, Science, science fiction
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Varieties of Fantasy, and Book Notes
Today’s three topics: A conservative’s take on a fantasy novel; A Le Guin fantasy novel; And insights into books by Heinlein and Brockman.
Posted in Book Notes, Culture, Religion
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