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Category Archives: Book reports

Another book report

Friday, September 6, 2019

I just finished reading a book. Actually, I am always reading at least one book, but I’m going to write about this one, as it involves current events, something I usually avoid in books. The book is called A Lot of People are Saying; the New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy, written by Russell Muirhead […]

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Book report

Thursday, February 21, 2019

I’ve mentioned in a couple of recent posts that I’ve been reading Jill Lepore’s These Truths, a history of the U.S. Given it’s subject, it’s a predictably long read, almost 800 pages not counting about 100 pages of footnotes. I’ve just finished it. I slowed down a bit toward the end, as, to be frank, it […]

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Book report, continued

Monday, August 6, 2018

A few posts ago I wrote about my reaction to Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now, which I was in the process of reading. I’m still reading it, since it’s fairly thick, and I’m on vacation. Anyway, I have another bone to pick, and I think it illustrates anew Pinker’s both siderism and the fact that he […]

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Book Report

Thursday, July 26, 2018

As I write this, I’m reading Stephen Pinker’s Enlightenment Now. I’ve read at least five of his previous books. I’ve always found his work thought provoking, and this one is too. I recommend it, with a major caveat. The basic theme of the book is that we need to return to Enlightenment values; that the Enlightenment […]

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Book Report

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

I just finished Stephen Greenblatt’s latest book, Tyrant, Shakespeare on Politics. I’ve read a number of his books, but this one was by far the most enjoyable. Greenblatt never mentions the very stable genius, even in the Acknowledgments, where he recalls the book’s genesis when “not so very long ago…I sat in a verdant garden in […]

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Book report

Sunday, July 9, 2017

I just finished The Statesman and the Storyteller, by Mark Zwonitzer. It’s a dual biography covering the last years of Mark Twain and John Hay. Everyone knows who Mark Twain was, but Hay is not so well known, though he’s not forgotten either. For those who can’t place him: he was one of Lincoln’s secretaries, […]

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Piketty

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Blogging has been slow here, as I've been occupied making my way through Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century, attending conventions (still not finished with those), and watching episodes of Doc Martin on Netflix. I finished Capital today. (*Doc Martin* will take a little longer) It's an easier read than one might think. No […]

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