Libsyn Directory

Forgotten Victory - Maybe the British Were Lions Led By Lions?

Release Date: 09/12/2025

The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 3] - True Freedom

We Are Not Saved

The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 3]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation (1918-1956) By: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Published: 1973 608 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? The final piece of Solzhenitsyn’s amazing, depressing, baffling, chilling, frightening, absurd, terrible, cold, weighty chronicle of the Soviet gulags. This part includes the period after his release which, by itself, could be a fantastic guide to simple contentment. What's the author's angle? I found it interesting how much of this book concerned just preserving the notes he’s made and all of the material which will...

Everything Is Tuberculosis - Well Not Everything, But More Than You Suspect

We Are Not Saved

Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection By: John Green Published: 2025 208 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? The ubiquity of tuberculosis (wait, did I just restate the title?) especially outside of the US. And its prevalence despite the fact that a cure is available. What's the author's angle? Green was already interested in global health when he met Henry, a young man with tuberculosis (TB) in Sierra Leone, literally on the way out of the country. Green was so affected by Henry and his plight that it eventually led him to completely change his...

Gerontocracy as a Supernormal Stimulus

We Are Not Saved

Biden was just the tip of the iceberg...

Forgotten Victory - Maybe the British Were Lions Led By Lions?

We Are Not Saved

Everything you know about WWI is wrong! Okay... maybe not everything, but some things definitely. Forgotten Victory: The First World War: Myths and Realities By: Gary Sheffield Published: 2001 318 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? An apologetic work directed at British leadership during WWI. It refutes the claim that the British Army was composed of “lions led by donkeys”, and instead lays out a case for increasing competence, the necessity of offensives, and a string of victories in 1918. What's the author's angle? Sheffield is a noted member of the revisionist school. He wants to...

Crisis Zone - What Did I Just Read?

We Are Not Saved

Forbes magazine, the bastion of conservative American business journalism, called it "a filth-spattered lens of depravity and dysfunction". Crisis Zone By: Simon Hanselmann Published: 2021 296 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? A very non-traditional household navigates the pandemic using violence and porn production. Who should read this book? I would not recommend this book to anyone. It is without a doubt the grossest, crudest work I have ever read. Though Forbes reviewed it and said: In the deluxe and beautifully designed Fantagraphics edition, Crisis Zone ends up looking like...

Noticing An Essential Reader (1973-2023) - Sailer, Not As Scary as You Think

We Are Not Saved

By: Published: 2024 458 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? A collection of essays from Steve Sailer covering immigration, culture war stuff, and human biodiversity. What's the author's angle? For some, Sailer is a horrible right-wing racist. For others he’s a data-driven contrarian. I mostly fall in the latter camp. Also whatever you think of his opinions, his tone is exceptionally mild. He’s not a fire-breather. Who should read this book? If you’ve been following Sailer forever there’s nothing especially new here. Even if you haven’t previously read all of the included essays...

Collapse of Complex Societies How Long Do We Have Left?

We Are Not Saved

By: Published: 1988 262 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? A new (at the time) theory for the collapse of societies based on declining marginal returns to complexity. What's the author's angle? This is a book definitely written in opposition to previous theories (think , , etc.) many of which Tainter rejects as overly moralistic. Who should read this book? If you’re interested in how the United States will end (and I can’t imagine how you’re not) this is a great book. Specific thoughts: Okay so this is how collapse happens. Can it be stopped?

[Review] Apple in China - Is China Playing a Longer Game Than the US?

We Are Not Saved

By: Published: 2025 448 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? How Apple went all in on China, not merely moving manufacturing there, but also educating their companies in, and co-developing with them, numerous advanced manufacturing techniques. These techniques then spread all throughout China. As such, Apple, far more than any other company, enabled China’s rise to be the world’s most sophisticated manufacturer. In effect they imported a super-charged industrial policy for China. This was bad enough, but the eventual result was that Apple is now utterly dependent on a capricious...

A Meta-tative Episode

We Are Not Saved

In which I start by using my massive intellect to predicte a timeline for the end of the world and end with admitting that I couldn't remember whether I'd read a specific book or not.

Writing in the Age of AI Errors, Eccentricity, and Ego

We Are Not Saved

In which I engage in an extended, and somewhat clunky Star Wars metaphor. And eventually conclude that clunkiness is sort of the point.

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Everything you know about WWI is wrong! Okay... maybe not everything, but some things definitely.

Forgotten Victory: The First World War: Myths and Realities

By: Gary Sheffield
Published: 2001
318 Pages

Briefly, what is this book about?

An apologetic work directed at British leadership during WWI. It refutes the claim that the British Army was composed of “lions led by donkeys”, and instead lays out a case for increasing competence, the necessity of offensives, and a string of victories in 1918.

What's the author's angle?

Sheffield is a noted member of the revisionist school. He wants to revise the vision of futility most commonly associated with the British participation in WWI.

Who should read this book?

Someone who wants a more complete view of WWI, and who is wary of simplistic tales of strategic idiocy.

Specific thoughts: WWI was horrible for the British, but it couldn’t have been won any other way

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