Milo and the Calf

Tag: recommended

  • Review: Gilbert’s The Last American Man

    The Last American Man Elizabeth Gilbert I was a little worried about reading this one. Gilbert is the author of the mega-best seller Eat, Pray, Love… and books like that aren’t really my jam. But a good friend, whose taste usually align with mine, got me this one as a gift so I gave it…

  • Review: Howley’s Thrown

    Thrown Kerry Howley I loved this little book. The conceit is that it is a recounting of a philosophy grad student who becomes enraptured with the world of MMA and follows two mid-west regional athletes through their ups and downs. Howley isn’t really a philosophy doctoral candidate, but she is a talented writer. The fighters…

  • Review: Mahler’s Ladies and Gentleman the Bronx is Burning

    This, and many more reviews I’ve been posting lately originally appeared in 2007 on a now defunct livejournal. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City Jonathan Mahler This is exactly what a journalistic history book should be. Fast, fun, and informative, as the…

  • Review: Lewis’s Moneyball

    Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game Michael Lewis Moneyball is among the top couple of books Michael Lewi. Its on one level a story of the Oakland As and how they do well with almost no money by capitalizing on a new way of looking at baseball that was developed by Bill James,…

  • Review: Packer’s Assassin’s Gate

    This review was originally published on a now long defunct livejournal account. The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq George Packer Packer was an earlier supporter of the war in Iraq, and for that, he deserves to get called out at every event at which he speak, forever. Despite that ill-advised position, he is also an…

  • Review: Gaiman’s Sandman (Volumes 1, 2 and 3)

    The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes (New Edition) The Sandman, Vol. 2: The Doll’s House The Sandman, Vol. 3: Dream Country Neil Gaiman Sandman is of course one of the classics of the modern graphic novel. Odds are if you give a shit about the medium, you’ve already read them. Hell, even if you…

  • Review: Nelson’s The Argonauts

    The Argonauts Maggie Nelson If you’re interested in parenting, gender identity, committed relationships, theory, love, sex, motherhood, queer theory or just gut wrenchingly good memoirs, you really should read Maggie Nelson’s the Argonauts. Conceived as a set of vignettes, the book tells the story first of Nelson’s marriage to Harry Dodge, a gender queer artist…

  • Review: Appiah’s Cosmopolitianism

    Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers (Issues of Our Time) Kwame Anthony Appiah I read a fair number of think-piece-next-big-idea type books. Most of these have little to no staying power, either in the culture at large, or in my own head. Appiah’s conception of cosmopolitanism as described in this little book is different.…

  • Review: Diamond’s Guns Germs and Steel

    Ed note: A version of this review was originally published on a now long defunct livejournal.   Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies Jared Diamond There is a whole industry of books that explain why the world is the way it is. They are all by definition reductive and fail to grasp…

  • Review: Mill’s Utilitarianism

    Utilitarianism John Stuart Mill How do you review a basic text of every undergraduate ethics course*? It seems silly. “Utilitarianism – pretty decent if you’re into canonical texts of the western philosophyical tradition” Look, if you want to be well read, you have to read this one, kids. You don’t have to like it, but…