We Are Not Saved
We Are Not Saved is a podcast covering Eschatology. While this concept has traditionally been a religious one, and concerned with the end of creation, in this podcast that study has been broadened to include secular ways the world could end (so called x-risks) and also deepened to cover the potential end of nations, cultures and civilizations. The title is taken from the book of Jeremiah, Chapter 8, verse 20: The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
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Drink Your Way Sober - Blocked (Receptors) and Reported (Sobriety)
11/19/2025
Drink Your Way Sober - Blocked (Receptors) and Reported (Sobriety)
Part memoir, part science writing, part history, and a lot of blaming her neighbor for her empties. Drink Your Way Sober: The Science-Based Method to Break Free from Alcohol By: Katie Herzog Published: 2025 208 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? You may be familiar with Katie Herzog from Blocked and Reported, the podcast she hosts with Jesse Singal. Or you might have seen her byline on the Free Press. What I didn’t know (at least before she started promoting this book) is that she’s also a recovering alcoholic. I also didn’t know about the Sinclair Method for “extinguishing” alcohol use disorder (AUD). Finally I didn’t know that we are now calling it alcohol use disorder. So you could say this is a book about a bunch of things I didn’t know. What's the author's angle? Herzog failed to get her drinking under control using any of the more common methods. Willpower, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), overwhelming shame, etc. The Sinclair Method was what finally worked for her. This method involves taking naltrexone before you drink. This blocks the reward circuit allowing you to train your body out of alcohol dependence. It’s also something that not a lot of people have heard about, so her angle resembles that of a fiery recent convert, who believes that people trapped in similar despair need to hear the good word. Who should read this book? As someone who’s never had a drink, I’m loath to recommend anything in the sobriety space. In the same manner that a fish doesn’t know about water, can I have anything meaningful to say about sobriety? That very large caveat aside, if you have AUD, and nothing else has worked, and you haven’t tried the Sinclair Method (or if you know someone who fits this category) I would definitely recommend this book. If you’re thinking of reading it just as Herzog memoir, there’s some pretty good stuff in here, but not enough to justify reading the entire book. But if you’re on the fence I would push you towards getting the book. Specific thoughts: So why isn’t the Sinclair Method better known?
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Replay - Groundhog Day in Novel Form, Sadly Without Any Groundhogs
11/16/2025
Replay - Groundhog Day in Novel Form, Sadly Without Any Groundhogs
Replay By: Ken Grimwood Published: 1998 320 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? A man dies and is sent back to his 18 year old self to relive his life over, and over, and over. Every time he dies he’s sent back. He dies in 1988, and awakens in 1963, so there’s a lot of discussion of those years (Kennedy Assassination, Moon landing, Iran Hostage crisis, etc.) Who should read this book? I came across a recommendation for this book on a Youtube channel that was doing a survey of all the movies that had functionally the same premise as Groundhog Day. And he included the book as sort of an appendix in other things people might want to check out. If you’re a big fan of the Groundhog Day contrivance, then I think you’ll like this book. Specific thoughts: Great on a personal level, weak on a world-building level. This review will go from spoiler free to light spoilers to full on spoilers. I will let you know at each transition.
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What Fresh Hell Awaits Us When SEO Is Replaced With AIO?
11/13/2025
What Fresh Hell Awaits Us When SEO Is Replaced With AIO?
It took 20 years from Bell inventing the telegraph before someone sent an ad with it. It took ~7 years for the first piece of email spam to be sent. Any bets on what it will look like for AI? Experimental AI Summary: I open with my own costly, underwhelming SEO experiment and the fact that I’ve mostly abandoned Google for LLMs, arguing that if AI chat replaces search then AIO (AI optimization) will replace SEO. I frame influence as “numerous / high-reputation / mentions,” recall the web’s shift from Yahoo’s directory to Google’s PageRank—where “reputation” changed everything and spawned link-farm tactics—and ask how the same gaming might hit AI. I sketch possibilities: models pre-vetting training data and tagging low-trust commercial pages; spam-style gatekeeping of AI inputs; straightforward paid placements inside AI answers; or darker outcomes where cheap marketing pollutes corpora and bad actors weaponize hallucinations. The core question for me is whether LLMs can build sturdier reputation defenses than Google or whether their architecture makes them easier to spoof. For now, AI search feels like Google circa 1998—astonishingly good—but I doubt it stays pristine once marketers and scammers fully arrive.
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Modern Physics and Ancient Faith - Don’t Mess With the Strong Nuclear Force!
11/12/2025
Modern Physics and Ancient Faith - Don’t Mess With the Strong Nuclear Force!
If you had been placing bets 150 years ago around what physics would have to say about the existence of God, you would have lost a lot of money. Modern Physics and Ancient Faith By: Stephen M. Barr Published: 2003 312 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? Barr takes all the discoveries of 20th-century physics, stuff like the Big Bang, quantum mechanics, the various forces, and argues that all of these things are more compatible with belief in God, specifically a traditional Judeo-Christian God, than with a belief in pure materialism. This is illustrated most succinctly in the underlying values for various background constants of the universe. For most of these if they varied even slightly then life would be impossible. This is known as the fine-tuning argument for the existence of God, and Barr lays it out in rigorous detail. What's the author's angle? Barr is a scientist, and a believing Catholic. So he definitely has a dog in the fight, but he also does a good job of steelmanning the other side of the argument. Also it’s important to clarify what the fight is. It’s not a fight between religion and science. Barr is both a believer and a scientist. It’s a fight between religion and materialism. Which is a different animal. This is not to say he’s dogmatic (perhaps I shouldn’t keep using the word “fight”) the tone is very reasonable. He’s mostly targeting a lazy “modern science shows that God is silly and unnecessary” crowd. Who should read this book? This was one of the books mentioned by Ross Douthat in his book Believe (see my review of Douthat’s book here, or check out the PSmith’s far superior one here). And I was glad I followed Douthat’s recommendation, the book did not disappoint. If you’re at all interested in the fine-tuning argument or related ideas I think you’ll love this book. But I can clearly see where it’s too niche for the majority of people. What does the book have to say about the future?
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Age of Diagnosis - Words Have Power! (said the podcaster)
11/07/2025
Age of Diagnosis - Words Have Power! (said the podcaster)
You’ve heard about placebo’s? Well what about nocebos? The Age of Diagnosis: How Our Obsession with Medical Labels Is Making Us Sicker By: Suzanne O'Sullivan Published: 2025 320 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? The idea that putting labels on something is not a free lunch—like everything else there are tradeoffs. Rather than framing numerous illnesses as being psychosomatic, O'Sullivan seems more to be suggesting that humans are very suggestible. (I get the meta-ness of the statement.) As such, once you generate a label it has a tendency to warp identities, and make people seek out confirming evidence. This all creates a sort of nocebo effect which may increase the severity of whatever symptoms they’re experiencing. To put it more succinctly, labels have power and we should be circumspect about applying them. What's the author's angle? O'Sullivan is a neurologist who noticed that lots of patients have “normal” tests, but are also indisputably suffering. As someone more focused on the brain than other parts of the body, she has long contended that expectations, culture, current fads, etc. play a much bigger role than most doctors want to admit. It’s not all about biology, psychology also has a role. Previous books include It's All in Your Head: True Stories of Imaginary Illness and The Sleeping Beauties: And Other Stories of Mystery Illness. Who should read this book? Anyone interested in a broader discussion of how the world outside of medicine interacts with the world of medicine. How the epistemic crisis, culture, disease advocacy groups, bureaucracy, and patient longing all affect the act of putting a label on a cluster of symptoms. What does the book have to say about the future?
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Inner Excellence - The Fine Line Between Cliche and Coaching
11/05/2025
Inner Excellence - The Fine Line Between Cliche and Coaching
It’s another self help book. Is this the one that will finally put you over the top, or another in a long line of endeavors that look like progress, but are really procrastination? Inner Excellence: Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life By: Jim Murphy Published: 2020 360 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? As you have already gathered, this is a self-help book. One of thousands (millions?) so the point is what sets this one apart from all those other books? I’m sure it hasn’t avoided all overlap, but the book does have a focus on character, and getting rid of self-centeredness that was refreshing. What's the author's angle? Jim Murphy played baseball in the minor leagues, and he was obsessed with winning. Then vision problems derailed his career, so he gave away most of his possessions and moved to the desert. Over the next five years he did nothing sports psychology, in an attempt to figure out how to compete in a way that produced calm regardless of the outcome. Something he had previously lacked. He draws explicit parallels to Thoreau: I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. He went to the desert, but the idea was similar. Of course, not everyone has the wherewithal to retreat to the desert to spend five years thinking. But potentially, if one did, it would bring some very valuable insights. Who should read this book? It’s once again time to do the self-help math...
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Damnable Tales - Spooky Stories for Long Nights
11/01/2025
Damnable Tales - Spooky Stories for Long Nights
Thomas Hardy wrote horror? Damnable Tales: A Folk Horror Anthology By: Various, Edited by Richard Wells Published: 2021 479 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? A collection of 22 older scary stories, presented in chronological order. The oldest story is from 1875, while the newest was written in 1965. But the majority are clustered in the late-victorian period 1880-1910. It includes stories from a few authors you might not expect like Thomas Hardy and Robert Louis Stevenson. Who should read this book? Anyone who has enjoyed an HP Lovecraft story will probably enjoy this book. Though I will say that you should view most of the stories as inspiration for Lovecraft, rather than similarly situated. Specific thoughts: A nice way to create a Halloween atmosphere.
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Game Wizards - Epic Rap Battles of History Gygax v. Arneson
10/30/2025
Game Wizards - Epic Rap Battles of History Gygax v. Arneson
Gary Gygax (Grognard 13/Writer 10/Businessman 2) vs. Dave Arneson (Plaintiff 14/Storyteller 9/Writer 1) Game Wizards: The Epic Battle for Dungeons & Dragons By: Jon Peterson Published: 2021 400 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? The history of Dungeons and Dragons, TSR’s meteoric rise, the fights that inevitably happen when something becomes enormously successful, and the catastrophes that follow when people are in way over their head. What's the author's angle? Peterson is the man when it comes to the history of RPGs and D&D in particular. He’s basically a historian, and he has no dog in any of the fights. Who should read this book? I really liked this book, and I really liked everything I’ve read by Peterson. That said, I might recommend the podcast When We Were Wizards, as an easier entry point for people interested in the story. And of course if you have no interest in the battle between Arneson and Gygax or the crazy initial years of D&D, I would not recommend either. Specific thoughts: Gygax was a jerk, and he was dumb, but he also deserves 90% of the credit for D&D.
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Progressive Myths - Some of the Things You’ve Been Told Are Wrong
10/28/2025
Progressive Myths - Some of the Things You’ve Been Told Are Wrong
It’s possible that in our pursuit of justice and equity that a few things might have been exaggerated. Progressive Myths By: Michael Huemer Published: 2024 277 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? A wide-ranging debunking of most of the myths that flourished during the recent peak of social justice activism. Some myths concern specific incidents like those around Michael Brown and Kyle Rittenhouse. Others are ideological myths like the gender pay gap, or the efficiency of masks at preventing the spread of COVID. In total he covers twenty different myths. What's the author's angle? Huemer comes at things from a strong classically liberal approach. He is very wary of activism in all its forms. He’s also clearly not worried about annoying people. Though he is very worried about people trying to “read between the lines”. Do not “read between the lines” to infer what I “must be implying”. If you think of some ridiculous or horrible political view that you think I’m implying, that is almost certainly just in your imagination. I am not the sort of writer who likes to imply his point. Who should read this book? If you consider yourself to be a good progressive I would definitely read this book. I suspect that such people won’t, but honestly, if you’re looking for the best steelman of the opposing arguments this is it. If you’re on the opposite side of the fence you still might find some things that surprise you (Also Huemer makes a point of also covering a few things that aren’t myths. Incidents progressives were correct about.) Many people speak very highly of Huemer’s books, and I’ll probably eventually read all of them. What does the book have to say about the future? Huemer has many recommendations for how to proceed, but they mostly boil down to having better epistemology. One of the great sins he identifies is motivated reasoning, which obscures facts, and beyond that leads to broad conclusions which are entirely unsupported by reality. And we seem to be getting more of such reasoning. Specific thoughts: How do we fix epistemology?
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The Bushido of Bitcoin - How Chivalry and Sound Money Will Save Us
10/25/2025
The Bushido of Bitcoin - How Chivalry and Sound Money Will Save Us
I expected to see a katana plunged into the heart of crypto. Instead I got a piece of wall art, where the two ideas were placed in near proximity, but without any contact. The Bushido of Bitcoin By: Aleksandar Svetski Published: 2024 529 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? Bitcoin will be the thing that saves the world from the fiat money created, debt fueled dystopia we’re already descending into. As part of this salvation it will require people to adopt ancient (though also somewhat apocryphal) warrior virtues. Specifically: righteousness, courage, compassion, honor, honesty, responsibility, excellence, respect, duty, and restraint. What's the author's angle? As you may have already gathered, Svetski is a Bitcoin hyper-maximalist. Bitcoin isn’t just our financial salvation, it’s our spiritual salvation as well. Who should read this book? As a “return to virtue” tome it was pretty good, though long-winded, and a retread of books I’d already read. (Like Ryan Holiday’s stoic stuff, if you’re familiar with that.) On top of that it adds quite a bit of culture war stuff, which annoyed many of the reviewers on Goodreads and Amazon. It feels like a book without a natural audience. It’s strident enough that you would already have to be convinced to enjoy it, but if you’re already convinced then you probably know everything Svetski is going to say. What does the book have to say about the future? The book lays out two paths, we can double-down on the fiat-future which, at best, leads to dependence, and at worst disaster. Or we can adopt the more muscular, responsible, and sovereign path of Bitcoin. As usual with such books it skips over the messy middle. Specific thoughts: We need a new civic religion, but I’m not sure this is it
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Does Your Assessment of AI Risk depend on Your Answer to Fermi's Paradox?
10/23/2025
Does Your Assessment of AI Risk depend on Your Answer to Fermi's Paradox?
A meditation on technological divinity...
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If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies - Yudkowsky at his Yudkowskiest
10/21/2025
If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies - Yudkowsky at his Yudkowskiest
Don’t hold back guys, tell us how you really feel. If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All By: Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares Published: 2025 272 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? This book makes the AI doomer case at its most extreme. It asserts that if we build artificial superintelligence (ASI) then that ASI will certainly kill all of humanity. Their argument in brief: the ASI will have goals. These goals are very unlikely to be in alignment with humanity’s goals. This will bring humanity and the ASI into conflict over resources. Since the ASI will surpass us in every respect it will have no reason to negotiate with us. Its superhuman abilities will also leave us unable to stop it. Taken together this will leave the ASI with no reason to keep us around and many reasons to eliminate us—thus the “Everyone Dies” part of the title. What's the author's angle? Yudkowsky is the ultimate AI doomer. No one is more vocally worried about misaligned ASI than he. Soares is Robin to Yudkowsky’s Batman. Who should read this book? For those familiar with the argument I don’t think the book covers much in the way of new territory. For those unfamiliar with the argument I might recommend Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom instead. It makes the same points without being quite so tendentious. Specific thoughts: The parable of the alchemists and the unfairness of life
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Grant - A Brilliant General Constantly Deceived by His “Friends”
10/18/2025
Grant - A Brilliant General Constantly Deceived by His “Friends”
A man who possessed a singular talent for making war and being duped. Grant By: Ron Chernow Published: 2017 1104 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? A biography of Ulysses S. Grant, the greatest general of the Civil War, but also simultaneously one of the most guileless individuals ever profiled by a biographer. What's the author's angle? Chernow clearly thinks that Grant has been unfairly maligned as a corrupt drunkard, and this book is going to set the record straight. In Chernow’s telling, Grant was the best general of the war, one of the better presidents, and overall a very honorable man whose only fault was that he was far, far too trusting. I’m not saying that Chernow is wrong about any of this, merely that there is a touch of the hagiographic to this book. Who should read this book? I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every Chernow book I’ve ever read. They’re long, but they go down pretty easy. (Though reading about the brutality of reconstruction—i.e. the original Klu Klux Klan and its offshoots was extremely sad and painful.) Specific thoughts: How can someone be so good at fighting enemies on the battlefield and so bad at detecting treachery in those closest to him?
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Chasing My Cure - A Catastrophe of Chaotic Castleman's Crises
10/16/2025
Chasing My Cure - A Catastrophe of Chaotic Castleman's Crises
Chiefly Caused by Cytokine Cascades… Chasing My Cure: A Doctor's Race to Turn Hope into Action By: David Fajgenbaum Published: 2019 256 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? Right as Fajgenbaum was finishing up the exams for his third year of medical school, he was struck by his first attack of idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease. It nearly killed him (last rites were administered). He went on to have four more attacks, each of which also nearly killed him, but somehow in between attacks he was able to research the disease enough that he eventually found something (rapamycin) which has (so far) kept additional attacks from happening. As an outgrowth of his own research he founded the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network. What's the author's angle? This is one of those cases where the author has a large “angle”, Fajgenbaum has Castleman disease, and is very much advocating (in the course of the book) for more research and more funding for the treatment of the disease he has. This is not a bad angle, but there is a lot of advocacy in the book. On the other hand the fact that he has the disease is also one of the book’s great strengths. It creates a compelling story, and a fascinating approach to the research and cure of the disease. Who should read this book? I think it’s most interesting for those who want to understand how medical research is done. Its failure points, but also its potential for life-altering outcomes. Fajgenbaum’s personal story is also very interesting, and people who just like good biographical stories will also enjoy it. Specific thoughts: How much should this story be read as an example of broken science?
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The Dhammapada - The Eighth Oldest Wisdom Book
10/14/2025
The Dhammapada - The Eighth Oldest Wisdom Book
A small but powerful injection of Buddhism straight into your soul. The Dhammapada By: Unknown Translator: Gil Fronsdal Published: Sometime in the 3rd to 1st century BC 152 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? This is Buddhist scripture in a similar sense to how the New Testament is Christian scripture. In this case it’s 423 verses (as opposed to nearly 8,000 in the New Testament) all of which have supposedly been uttered by the Buddha. The verses are arranged into thematic chapters (Mind, Anger, Happiness, etc.) What's the author's angle? In theory the author is the Buddha, and his angle would be bringing the readers to enlightenment. In reality most people believe that the verses were compiled by early Buddhist communities. The angle I got out of it was the elimination of desire. Who should read this book? Given how important this book is to tens of millions of people, and how short it is (if you’re just looking at the verses absent commentary it’s around 10,000 words) I would say anyone who’s even remotely interested in religion, philosophy, or eastern thought, should read this book. Specific thoughts: More directly Buddhist than I expected
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A Primer for Forgetting - But Is It a Primer for Repairing?
10/11/2025
A Primer for Forgetting - But Is It a Primer for Repairing?
The more people you’re asking to forget the messier things become. A Primer for Forgetting: Getting Past the Past By: Lewis Hyde Published: 2019 384 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? The necessity of forgetting, as conveyed through a broad collection of stories, essays, quotes, reflections, etc. It’s more atmospheric than prescriptive. What's the author's angle? This is an important writer, doing important writing, lauded as important by other writers, teaching at an important university (for a time Harvard). None of this is necessarily bad, and it can be quite good, but you should know what you’re in for. Who should read this book? David Foster Wallace (who I greatly admire) called Hyde “One of our true superstars of nonfiction” though he can’t have been talking about this book since it was published long after he was dead. If his statement or anything in the last section piques your interest, then perhaps you will enjoy this book. I’m sorry I can’t be more specific. It’s that kind of book. Specific thoughts: An attempt to eat his cake and have it.
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Ignition! - Explosion? The Exciting World of Rocket Science
10/09/2025
Ignition! - Explosion? The Exciting World of Rocket Science
The history of attempting to make “controlled explosion” into something other than an oxymoron. Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants By: John Drury Clark Published: 1972 216 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? An insider’s account of the always exciting, frequently terrifying, attempts to develop the perfect liquid propellant. What's the author's angle? Clark was a program director, and he’s mostly telling personal stories about the vast effort to find better liquid propellants. His sense of humor is great and his disdain for bureaucratic minutiae is obvious. He’s one of those steely-eyed missile men you hear about. Who should read this book? People interested in a behind the scenes look at a fascinating period of engineering and discovery. Specific thoughts: Once We Were Engineers
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The Warlord Chronicles - "King" Arthur With More Mud and Less Radiance
10/07/2025
The Warlord Chronicles - "King" Arthur With More Mud and Less Radiance
Bernard Cornwell's best (and shortest) historical fiction series. The Warlord Chronicles By: Bernard Cornwell The Winter King Published: 1996 431 Pages Enemy of God Published: 1998 397 Pages Excalibur Published: 1999 436 Pages Briefly, what is this series about? The Arthurian Legends turned into historical fiction. All the tales are related retrospectively by Derfel, a Saxon boy raised by Merlin who eventually becomes Arthur’s right hand man. Who should read this series? If you’ve read anything by Cornwell, but haven’t read this, you should. Not only is this Cornwell’s personal favorite of his series, it’s only three books, unlike the Sharpe series which is apparently up to 24 books?!? Even if you don’t know who Cornwell is, if you like historical fiction at all this is a great series. Specific thoughts: A realistic Arthur
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The Tyranny of Metrics - Measure Your Way to Misery
10/06/2025
The Tyranny of Metrics - Measure Your Way to Misery
The superior man uses his superior judgement to look superior on all the metrics. The Tyranny of Metrics By: Jerry Z. Muller Published: 2019 248 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? The distorting effects of an over-reliance on metrics particularly when it comes to creating incentives. What's the author's angle? Muller was frustrated by the numerous metrics being imposed upon him in academia, frustrated enough to write a book about it. Who should read this book? If you’re in an environment where you feel like metrics are being overused and abused, this book can help you identify how that’s happening, and what you might be able to do about it. Specific thoughts: Bad metrics are everywhere, why isn’t this problem better known?
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Can a Society Be Too Focused on the Law?
10/04/2025
Can a Society Be Too Focused on the Law?
Lawyers vs. Engineers. Infrastructure in America, China and Europe. Edmund Burke and the Revolutionary War.
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Breakneck - Hegelian Engineering
10/03/2025
Breakneck - Hegelian Engineering
Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future By: Dan Wang Published: 2025 288 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? The rise of China’s immense manufacturing prowess, where it comes from (a culture of engineering according to Want), and where it might be going. What's the author's angle? Wang has been putting out a well regarded annual letter on China for many years now. This is a distillation of his thoughts in book form. Also he has Chinese parents who often regret leaving China when they did. Who should read this book? If you’re at all interested in what’s happening with China you should absolutely read this book. Specific thoughts: Which theory of China is correct?
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Shorting the Grid - The Complicated World of Power Generation
10/02/2025
Shorting the Grid - The Complicated World of Power Generation
Shorting the Grid: The Hidden Fragility of Our Electric Grid By: Meredith Angwin Published: 2014 496 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? A deep dive into the convoluted nature of the electrical grid with a particular focus on how attempts to make it more effective through competition have failed. Beyond that Angwin describes how the challenge of integrating and encouraging renewables has turned a convoluted problem into an impossible one. What's the author's angle? Angwin is a blogger (her newsletter is titled “Electric Grandma”) who has dedicated her energies to the very narrow focus of the power grid and related issues. Before retiring she worked with the utilities as a chemist. Since then she’s been a consumer advocate, primarily in the northeast where she has been closely involved in the laws and regulations for many years. Who should read this book? This is a book for infrastructure nerds. Particularly if you’re interested in the fragility of infrastructure or the challenge of grid management in an era of intermittent renewals. An initial caveat: I read this book a year ago...
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Strange New World - Try to Imagine 2022 in 2012
09/30/2025
Strange New World - Try to Imagine 2022 in 2012
Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution By: Carl R. Trueman Published: 2022 208 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? The long philosophical journey that took us to the current prioritization of expressive individualism, and how this journey eventually carried us to a strange new world, where expressive sexual/identity politics seem normal if not inevitable. What's the author's angle? Trueman is a Christian, and this book is written towards a religious audience. Who should read this book? Trueman’s previous book, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self is one of my all-time favorite books. (You can see a review here.) This covers basically the same territory, but in a shorter, more accessible format. If you’ve read his longer book, you can probably skip this one, but if you haven’t then I would recommend this book to anyone trying to understand the modern world. Specific thoughts: It is indeed a strange new world
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Cryptomania NFTs, Hope, Fraud, and Parents
09/29/2025
Cryptomania NFTs, Hope, Fraud, and Parents
How much of the mania is inherent to crypto and how much is just SBF? Cryptomania: Hype, Hope, and the Fall of FTX's Billion-Dollar Fintech Empire By: Andrew R. Chow Published: 2024 416 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? The 2020-2022 crypto boom. Three groups stand out. The scammers, as represented by Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF). The idealists, as represented by Vitalik Buterin and the victims as represented by African NFT artist Owo Anieti. What's the author's angle? Chow definitely thinks that there was a crypto bubble that popped in 2022 with the implosion of FTX. Whether he thinks crypto is a bubble in its entirety is less clear. He’s definitely not a crypto booster. Who should read this book? I mostly read it to partake in some schadenfreude at SBF’s expense. It delivered on that. If you have similar desires I would recommend it, but it also did a great job of outlining the craziness of that era. What Black Swans does it reveal? The collapse of FTX played out over a much shorter time period than the collapse of, say, Enron or Lehman Brothers. If crypto gets more entrenched into the world’s financial system while maintaining this quality of rapid volatility, that would be bad. Specific thoughts: Owo vs. SBF
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Glee, "Freaky Friday", and the Assassination of Charlie Kirk
09/27/2025
Glee, "Freaky Friday", and the Assassination of Charlie Kirk
Should I translate someone's glee at the murder of Charlie Kirk into an actual willingness to commit it?
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Things Fall Apart - Colonialism and Flattening
09/25/2025
Things Fall Apart - Colonialism and Flattening
Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy, #1) By: Chinua Achebe Published: 1958 209 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? The main character is Okonkwo, and saying that he’s complicated is to put it mildly. He’s desperately afraid of failure, which in his case means following in the footsteps of his father. On top of the complexity of Okonkwo there’s the additional complexity and richness of the Igbo culture: its customs, its gods, its method of delivering justice, etc. Into this rich and (for me) strange world, the Europeans arrive. Though not till around the 2/3rd mark. The consequences are perhaps not as bad as you might fear, but they’re bad enough. Who should read this book? I quite enjoyed the book, and it was certainly different from my normal fare. Also it reads quickly. Finally, it’s widely regarded as a modern classic. I’m not sure I have a good reason why you wouldn’t read this book. Specific thoughts: The flattening of colonialism
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Remain in Love and Embrace Hatred - A Biography
09/23/2025
Remain in Love and Embrace Hatred - A Biography
Remain in Love: Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Tina By: Chris Frantz Published: 2022 208 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? The life and musical career of Chris Frantz and his wife Tina Weymouth. With particular attention paid to his antagonistic relationship with David Byrne, the front man for Talking Heads, a band they were both members of. What's the author's angle? Frantz seems to be going for three things here. First it’s an ode to his wife. Second it lays out his side of the fight between him and Byrne. Finally it’s a snapshot into the origin of punk in the late 70s. Who should read this book? If you’re a huge Talking Heads fan. Or if you really want a behind the scenes look at what it was like to be in a band in the late 70s. Otherwise I would skip it. Specific thoughts: The fact that he’s stayed married for all these years counts for a lot.
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Regretting Motherhood - Soft Antinatalism
09/22/2025
Regretting Motherhood - Soft Antinatalism
Regretting Motherhood: A Study By: Orna Donath Published: 2017 272 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? Donath interviewed 23 Israeli women who regretted motherhood. In most, but not all, cases these mothers asserted that they still loved their children, they just didn’t like the responsibilities and restrictions that came with being a mother. In some cases they only realized this after having children, in other cases they knew they would regret motherhood, but reported feeling forced into it by societal, patriarchal, and pro-natal pressure. What's the author's angle? This book belongs to the “unsilencing” genre. Donath is “unsilencing” mothers who regret their motherhood. Whether they are actually being silenced just in Israel in 2017, or everywhere even now is a good question, but outside of the scope of this review. Donath herself does not want kids, so she’s not an unbiased observer of things. What's my angle? This was recommended to me as a counterpoint to Hannah’s Children by Cathrine Pakaluk (see my review here). I am definitely more Pakaluk’s side than Donath’s, but it is important to see what the opposition is saying. Nevertheless I was biased going in, and I remained biased all the way through. Who should read this book? If you’re trying to gain a broad perspective on mother’s feelings about motherhood, then this book definitely lays out one side of the debate, and you will have a broader understanding after reading it. Otherwise I would skip it. Specific thoughts: Where will the fertility rate naturally settle?
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How Fast Is Technology Moving? Is That Even What We Should Be Measuring?
09/20/2025
How Fast Is Technology Moving? Is That Even What We Should Be Measuring?
Perhaps it's not how fast technology moves, but where it's impact is felt? Also S-curves...
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The Rules of the Game - That Game Being Massive Naval Combat Between Great Powers
09/19/2025
The Rules of the Game - That Game Being Massive Naval Combat Between Great Powers
The Rules of the Game: Jutland and British Naval Command By: Andrew Gordon Published: 1996 708 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? An incredibly detailed examination of the battle of Jutland, combined with an equally detailed history of naval command, and its failings in the lead up to the battle. What's the author's angle? Gordon’s target is excessive signalling. And he’s written a very long book to demonstrate just how bad it was. Who should read this book? You have to be pretty committed to WWI naval history or military minutia before this is the book you should be reading. But if you are, it’s excellent. Specific thoughts: Militaries acquire bad habits during peacetime; it’s hard to know which of these habits might end up causing great harm
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