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Recent Posts
- On George Saunders’ New Novel “Vigil”: Jumping the Shark Across the Heavens
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- On “After the Hunt” and “The Tavern at the End of the World”: Land of the Lost Professors
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Tag Archives: Book Reviewing
On “After the Hunt” and “The Tavern at the End of the World”: Land of the Lost Professors
So the lives of professors are fodder for contemporary fiction and film, as evidenced by these two respective gems: the recent Julia Roberts’ film After the Hunt (2025) and Morris Collins’ just-published novel The Tavern at the End of History. … Continue reading
On Morris Collins’s Novel “The Tavern at the End of History” (2026) and the Coen Brothers’ Film “A Serious Man” (2009)
So years ago a good friend of mine had seen the new Coen Brothers’ film A Serious Man before I had and I asked his opinion. He liked it but added, “It’s very Jewish.” Which, now that I know the … Continue reading
On Randall K. Wilson’s “A Place Called Yellowstone”: Award-Winning History of Yellowstone National Park
So as a devoted National-Park aficionado I learned of Randall K. Wilson’s A Place Called Yellowstone: The Epic History of the World’s First National Park last Spring when it was announced as winner of the Barbara and David Zalaznick Book Prize for the best … Continue reading
On Candice Millard’s “River of Doubt” and “River of the Gods”: Bugs, Snakes, and Disease Aplenty
So a couple years back my wife read Candice Millard’s excellent nonfiction book The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey (2005). She raved about it and I put it on my reading list, but somehow or other I ended up reading … Continue reading
How To Write a Book About the Wind: On Simon Winchester’s “The Breath of the Gods: The History and Future of the Wind”
So I have to begin with a confession: I’m most definitely a fan of the much-acclaimed nonfiction writer Simon Winchester. One of my first Winchester reads and still one of his finest (and my favorite) was Krakatoa: The Day the … Continue reading
Ten Years Left of Humanity, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the A.I. Bomb: On Two Visions of the Upcoming A.I. Apocalypse: Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares’ “If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies” and Mustafa Suleyman’s “The Coming Wave: AI, Power, and Our Future”
So I recently read the somewhat-infamous bestseller by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares, If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All (2025). It’s a white-knuckled warning about the imminent peril of ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence). … Continue reading
Posted in A.I., A.I. 2027, A.I. Apocalypse, A.S.I. (Artificial Super Intelligence), Annihilation, books, Economics, Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares' If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies, Mustafa Suleyman's The Coming Wave: A.I., Power, and Our Future, Uncategorized, Universal Income, writing
Tagged A.I., A.I. 2027, A.I. Apocalypse, A.S.I., Book Reviewing, The Coming Wave
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On Yasunari Kawabata’s “The Lake” and the Pleasures of “Old” Books:
So one of the downsides of our irritating Consumer Culture is that we’re programmed to be always looking for the next New Thing—be it car, refrigerator, book, movie, or significant other. It can lead to a niggling feeling that our … Continue reading
Posted in Andrew Ross Sorkin's "1929, books, Consumer Culture, Simon Winchester's "The Breath of the Gods", Vladimir Nabokov, Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita", writing, Yasunari Kawabata, Yasunari Kawabata's "The Lake"
Tagged Andrew Ross Sorkin's "1929, Book Reviewing, Fiction Writing, Good Fiction, Simon Winchester's The Breath of the Gods, Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita
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Day 25: On David Quammen's "Spillover": Terrific Book That Foretold Our Pandemic, Kind of
So I’ve seen various books mentioned as predicting pandemics, now that the coronavirus time is nigh, but not much mention of one of the best virus books I’ve read: David Quammen’s nonfiction book about the biology behind zoonotic diseases, Spillover: … Continue reading
Posted in books, Covid-19, Spillover, Viruses
Tagged Book Reviewing, Covid-19, David Quammen's Spillover
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