Things that happen
Herbert J. Gans an eminent sociologist who studied the communities and cultural bastions of America up close and shattered popular myths about urban and suburban life, poverty, ethnic groups and the news media, died on Monday at his home in Manhattan. He was 97. For “The Urban Villagers” (1962), Dr. Gans immersed himself in Boston’s … [Read more…]
James C. Scott and the Art of Resistance The late political scientist enjoined readers to look for opposition to authoritarian states not in revolutionary vanguards but in acts of quiet disobedience. By Nikil Saval New Yorker April 7, 2025 Some books: The Moral traditional societies of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia (1976) … [Read more…]
Pluralistic: Machina economicus (14 Apr 2025) Arguably, we do live in the shadow of such modern demons: we call them “limited liability corporations.” These are (potentially) immortal colony organisms that treat us fleshy humans as mere inconvenient gut flora. These artificial persons are not merely recognized as people under the law – they are given … [Read more…]
Brad Holland, 81, Dies Brad Holland drew the 1971 illustration “Mouths to Feed” ” “Outcast” (1974) was one of many images of Richard M. Nixon that Mr. Holland created “
‘Yoda’ for scientists: the outsider ecologist whose ideas from the 80s just might fix our future The Guardian – April 10, 2025 John Todd’s eco-machine stunned experts by using natural organisms to remove toxic waste from a Cape Cod lagoon. Forty years on, he wants to build a fleet of them to clean up the … [Read more…]
Fatale, (1977,) by Jean-Patrick Manchette, is my first French noir novel. Translated by Donald Nicholson Smith and published by the New York Review of Books, I borrowed this slim volume from our county library. I read it in two sittings, wondering, after the first, if I wanted to finish it and I still wonder. There … [Read more…]
Jan 10, 2023 One thing mentioned in all the tidying up advice columns around the new year, you are unlikely to reread book from your bookshelf. To disprove that, I’m reviewing my Pynchon collection. Including some interesting book markers and some dust, so far they are holding up well. I reread the last half of … [Read more…]
In praise of failure : four lessons in humility by Costic? Br?d??an, 2023. I just finished this quirky little book (273 p) and am left with more than a few things to think about – birth, death, humility, human frailty, hubris, genocide, madness, disease, senility, poverty and wealth to name a few. He uses the … [Read more…]
On September 11, 2001, my wife and I were living in Switzerland, having moved there in November of 1999. At the end of August of 2001, my sister Theresa and nephew Thomas joined us, they arrived from Seattle, we met them in Zurich and brought them home to Neuchâtel. We celebrated my 50th birthday, it … [Read more…]
Daniel C. Dennett, Widely Read and Fiercely Debated Philosopher, 82, Dies Espousing his ideas in best sellers, he insisted that religion was an illusion, free will was a fantasy and evolution could only be explained by natural selection. From the New York Time obituary: “All varieties of perception — indeed all varieties of thought or … [Read more…]