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Recent Posts
- On Randall K. Wilson’s “A Place Called Yellowstone”: Award-Winning History of Yellowstone National Park
- On Candice Millard’s “River of Doubt” and “River of the Gods”: Bugs, Snakes, and Disease Aplenty
- More Alone than “Alone”: On Adam Shoalts’s “Vanished Beyond the Map: The Mystery of Lost Explorer Hubert Darrell” (2025)
- Rachel McAdams film “Send Help” (2026) Makes Comic Gold Out of “Survivor” and “Alone” Audition Videos
- “The Wiggle Room”: A Short Story
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Category Archives: Uncategorized
The Birds Are Dying: Or in the National Wildlife Refuge, It Looks Like We Need "The Bird Saviors"
So more depressing news in the climate change/Western drought world. It seems that persistent drought conditions are drying up wildlife refuges in California, reported here. My new novel, due out June 21st, is titled The Bird Saviors, and one of … Continue reading
Posted in books, Climate Change, Politics, The West, Uncategorized, Weird Science, writing
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Colorado in Drought and Further Reflections on Michael Mann's "The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars," Or What's That Hot Breath on Our Necks? The Dry of Things To Come
So Michael Mann’s The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars is one of the best books that deals with both global warming/climate change and the politics surrounding it, especially the “despicable me” world of climate change deniers. I’ve read many … Continue reading
Posted in books, Climate Change, Politics, The West, Uncategorized, Weird Science
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The Effect of Reading Nicholas Carr's "The Shallows" on E-Reading: Just Say No to Distractions
So here’s a little (naive) gem in the NY Times this morning, an article about the lure of online distractions while e-reading titled “Finding Your Book Interrupted … By the Tablet You Read It On,” which contains this quote: “Can you concentrate … Continue reading
Posted in books, Uncategorized, Weird Science, writing
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On Charles Murray's "Coming Apart": It Comes Apart at the End
So I have to say this about Charles Murray’s just-published, semi-controversial look at the state of White America, Coming Apart: The State of White America1960-2010: I read it all the way through to the end, rather quickly, too—in a few days. … Continue reading
Posted in books, Education, Politics, Uncategorized
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On Being a "Tiger Dad," With a Nod to Amy Chua's "The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother"
So I’m having a little more sympathy for the famous “Tiger Mom” Amy Chua (author of The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother) of late, as I’m now trying to work every day on teaching my daughter to read. She attends … Continue reading
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Sony CyberShot, Guilty Gadget Pleasures
So much as I deplore how we’ve devolved in this Gadget Age, I’m as bad as anyone with a new toy. For my birthday my wife gave me a Sony Cybershot—small and light, 16 megapixel pics, easy and quick to … Continue reading
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On Timothy Egan's "The Big Burn" & the Obligatory Fall Foliage Photo
I recently finished Timothy Egan’s The Big Burn (2009) and rank it as one of the best nonfiction books I’ve read in the last few years. His analysis of the fight between conservative and progressive politics of the era, which … Continue reading
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Coen Brothers's "A Serious Man" Trumps Michael Chabon's Nostrums
So did many people read this Op-Ed by Michael Chabon in the New York Times last weekend? http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/opinion/06chabon.html?pagewanted=1&hp I like Chabon’s fiction, though I usually don’t go out of my way to read it. He often comes across as rather … Continue reading
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On John Hillcoat's Film Version of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
So it took me a while to get around to watching The Road (2009), partly because I knew it would be a grim experience. The novel is one of the few books that count as a masterpiece of the 21st … Continue reading
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In Moab, Utah: Where Dinosaurs Sleep
A full moon hung in the sky over Moab, Utah the other night, framed by a few puffy, cartoon clouds. We’d spent the day looking at dinosaur tracks. My daughter, Lili, looked up and said that dinosaurs were sleeping in … Continue reading
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