The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby My rating: 2 of 5 stars Back in 2007, I went to Thanksgiving with Mom to the home of a Philosophy professor. The professor’s father discoursed on why United States presidents should only be intellectuals. His arguments made sense. Someone able to understand the options, determine risk, and plan…
As I have previously written here, I am biracial. One parent is European descent while the other is of African descent. When I was born, I was the first biracial child many had ever seen. Thankfully, it was just the start of a trend, so these days plenty are around for people to notice us.…
I enjoyed reading Why We Should Design Some Things to Be Difficult to Use by Brian Millar for WIRED. It caught my attention and held it by referencing Dan Pink’s book Drive. I posted his TED Talk on Drive back in 2009. The sections of the piece: The Pleasures of Mastery Difficulty Makes Things Exclusive Danger May…
A while ago I posted a review about the book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck. The message of the book, I think, is critically important, but the book wasted my time with too many anecdotes and testimonials which are a taboo in science writing. The good parts remain where Dweck wrote about her own and…
About five years ago earlier this month, I went on Bahá’àpilgrimage to Haifa. It is funny how in that post I wrote about the experience my expectation of some significant change. Even that post stated, “Something like serving at the Bahá’à World Center would be the kind of change I foresee,” which clearly states where my head…
A friend posted about Winds of Winter not coming in 2015. Back in 2011, I posted about George R. R. Martin and the question “whether GRRMÂ has the time to finish the books before the HBO TV series catches up to him.” He had estimated the TV series will take multiple seasons for some books. Let’s…
Gate of Ivrel by C.J. Cherryh My rating: 5 of 5 stars A friend recommended this to me as the basis of Stargate. The concept of using a system of gates to reach other worlds certainly resembles Stargate. I like C.J.’s The Dreaming Tree, so this was obvious for me to try. I kept hoping…
One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: ‘To rise above little things’. ― John Burroughs Read 52 books. Yeah, I know. In 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014, I read more than this same exact amount. I like the number because it is a book a week. Read 50% by female authors. After reading…
This year was a mixed bag. Sorry for the lack of updates. Read 52 books. Today, at the end of the year, I should be at 52 books read. I reached that point back on October 12th. (A few days earlier than last year.) My total for the year is 74. (142%) SUCCEEDED. 30 need to be…