Category: Books
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Review: Marantz’s Anti-Social
Anti-Social: Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians and the Hijacking of the American Conversation Andrew Marantz Antisocial is an extension of the reporting Marantz did for the New Yorker, both before and after the election on the rise of clickbait websites and alt-right trolls. Some of this will be familiar ground to those who read the earlier articles,…
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2019 My Year In Books
Every year I read 52 books. Some years that’s easy, some years it’s hard. This year, it was hard. Child rearing, work commitments and the siren song of the youtube video all conspired to keep me from my reading goal, but I prevailed. There’s a decent argument that my goal of 52 books a year…
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Koestler’s Arrival and Departure
Arrival and Departure Arthur Koestler A taught little novel about intrigue and politics in a town of transients and refugees. Our protagonist is a leftist hero, who has left the growing dictatorship in his country to either return to fight on the side of justice or flee to an apolitical life across the sea. He…
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Review: Manchette’s Ivory Pearl
Ivory Pearl Jean-Patrick Manchette The master of the noir novels final, unfinished, work Ivory Pearl was supposed to be the start a new, expansive series using the espionage novel as a means to talk about the revolutions and uprisings of the post WWII years. Manchette died before he could finish it, but what he left…
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Review: Morrison’s The Bluest Eye
The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison I am embarrassed to admit that until this year, the only Toni Morrison book I have read was Beloved. I’m determined to change that. And being me, I started at the beginning with Bluest Eye. Good lord it is stunning. A clear eyed, visceral, look into a black community in…
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Review: Ratliff’s The Mastermind
The Mastermind: Drugs, Empire, Murder, Betrayal Evan Ratliff From crypto computer programmer to mastermind of an international drug and arms smuggling ring, the story of Paul Calder Le Roux is a hell of a ride. We got assassins in the Philippines, online pill mills run out Israel, private armies in Somalia, and more. It’s all…
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Review Eyal’s Indistractible
Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life Nir Eyal I’ve lost count of how many books on attention I’ve read over the years, yet still I struggle with putting my phone away. This one is pretty middle of the road. It still feels a bit padded. There’s lessons here on running good…
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Review: Joy’s Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows
Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows Melanie Joy I picked up this book because it was billed to me as a book that examined why we in America love certain animals (dogs) and eat others (chickens). As someone who has recently been moving back towards an ethically vegan diet after some years…
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Review Manchette’s The Mad and the Bad
The Mad and the Bad Jean-Patrick Manchette A woman with mental problems is sprung from a hospital to watch a child heir. A tortured assassin with a bad ulcer is hire to make a murder like look a kidnapping. Nobody gets what they’re expecting. Welcome to another crime novel by the mad genius Jean-Patrick Manchette…
Milo and the Calf 