It’s a big universe, so advanced life probably exists. If it does then the simplest explanation for religious miracles past and present is that something more advanced than us is messing with us for unknown reasons.
Do I believe every take? Nah. But it’s a book I continue to think about almost a decade after reading it, especially as religion continues to be used as a tool to dismantle all progress.
MerakiComment on
Indo-European Poetry and Myth by M.L. West
It follows the mythological, linguistic, and poetic reconstruction of original indo-European people.
PeaNo4394 on
“London Under”, by Peter Ackroyd. It satisfied my big love for discovery, ingenuity, progress, and London. Made me want to pick up a shovel and pickaxe and go to town at some random point in the city and see what I found
Imperator_Helvetica on
Bill Bryson and Mary Roach write some very engaging pop science entry level books on various topics which entertain and educate.
Bill Bryson: A Short History of Nearly Everything, explores not only the histories and current statuses of the sciences, but also their humble and often humorous beginnings and The Body: A Guide for Occupants on human biology. His books on entmology are good, but I very much enjoyed A Walk in the Woods which covers the history of the Appalachian Trail interspersed with his attempts to hike it.
Mary Roach has written an interesting book on a variety of topics – War (Grunt,) Sex (Bonk,) Afterlife (Spook,) and eating (Gulp,) but her best are Packing for Mars – about space travel and exploration and is excellent (A great companion piece to Andy Weir’s The Martian) and Stiff – about death and cadavers.
On that theme I should recommend Caitlin Doughtey for Smoke Gets in Your Eyes – a look at her experiences in the American Funeral-Industrial Complex, The Good Death – about funeral rites around the world and Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs – kid’s questions about death and decomposition.
Tommy_Castle on
Endurance by Alfred Lansing.
“Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honor and recognition in case of success.” – Sir Ernest Shackleton
Equal_Feature_9065 on
People have insanely shallow opinions when it comes to bias in journalism/in the media. Anytime anyone tries to talk to me about journalistic bias (I’m a student of the craft, and have worked in the industry) I always want to shout “don’t talk to me until you’ve read The Boys on the Bus by Timothy Crouse.”
It’s an amazing account of the journalists on the 1972 campaign trail, who watched Richard Nixon cruise to a landslide victory even as details of Watergate were starting to trickle out. It’s basically about how journalistic bias isn’t about left or right (tho, yeah, most mainstream journos at major media orgs are liberal), but rather a pack mentality among reporters and an industry-wide fear of scaring, confusing, or pissing off the readership. Case in point: everyone covering the election knew Nixon had dangerous authoritarian instincts, but very few included that in their coverage due to his popularity and an unwillingness to step out from the pack.
“The book covers the subject of scientific research for the military and some of the less well-known aspects of the lives of soldiers. Instead of focusing on the science that can kill (guns, bombs, drones), Roach looks at the science of saving lives and improving the quality of a soldier’s experience.”
In some way I feel connected to the subject of this book because during the mid 1950’s my father worked at the Clothing and Supply Depot at the Brooklyn Navy Yard designing cold weather clothing and gear for the Navy. At the time they did some of their testing on Mt. Washington. My father would be gone for the month of February leaving my mother home with four boys ages two to six. For years the entire family’s winter clothing consisted of clothing that wasn’t up to the Navy’s standards.
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Nuclear War: A Scenario – Annie Jacobs
Gods – Peter Levenda
It’s a big universe, so advanced life probably exists. If it does then the simplest explanation for religious miracles past and present is that something more advanced than us is messing with us for unknown reasons.
Do I believe every take? Nah. But it’s a book I continue to think about almost a decade after reading it, especially as religion continues to be used as a tool to dismantle all progress.
Indo-European Poetry and Myth by M.L. West
It follows the mythological, linguistic, and poetic reconstruction of original indo-European people.
“London Under”, by Peter Ackroyd. It satisfied my big love for discovery, ingenuity, progress, and London. Made me want to pick up a shovel and pickaxe and go to town at some random point in the city and see what I found
Bill Bryson and Mary Roach write some very engaging pop science entry level books on various topics which entertain and educate.
Bill Bryson: A Short History of Nearly Everything, explores not only the histories and current statuses of the sciences, but also their humble and often humorous beginnings and The Body: A Guide for Occupants on human biology. His books on entmology are good, but I very much enjoyed A Walk in the Woods which covers the history of the Appalachian Trail interspersed with his attempts to hike it.
Mary Roach has written an interesting book on a variety of topics – War (Grunt,) Sex (Bonk,) Afterlife (Spook,) and eating (Gulp,) but her best are Packing for Mars – about space travel and exploration and is excellent (A great companion piece to Andy Weir’s The Martian) and Stiff – about death and cadavers.
On that theme I should recommend Caitlin Doughtey for Smoke Gets in Your Eyes – a look at her experiences in the American Funeral-Industrial Complex, The Good Death – about funeral rites around the world and Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs – kid’s questions about death and decomposition.
Endurance by Alfred Lansing.
“Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honor and recognition in case of success.” – Sir Ernest Shackleton
People have insanely shallow opinions when it comes to bias in journalism/in the media. Anytime anyone tries to talk to me about journalistic bias (I’m a student of the craft, and have worked in the industry) I always want to shout “don’t talk to me until you’ve read The Boys on the Bus by Timothy Crouse.”
It’s an amazing account of the journalists on the 1972 campaign trail, who watched Richard Nixon cruise to a landslide victory even as details of Watergate were starting to trickle out. It’s basically about how journalistic bias isn’t about left or right (tho, yeah, most mainstream journos at major media orgs are liberal), but rather a pack mentality among reporters and an industry-wide fear of scaring, confusing, or pissing off the readership. Case in point: everyone covering the election knew Nixon had dangerous authoritarian instincts, but very few included that in their coverage due to his popularity and an unwillingness to step out from the pack.
Cultish by Amanda Montell.
I see that I was beaten to the punch but I just finished reading Mary Roach’s [*Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War*](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grunt:_The_Curious_Science_of_Humans_at_War, “Wikipedia”)
“The book covers the subject of scientific research for the military and some of the less well-known aspects of the lives of soldiers. Instead of focusing on the science that can kill (guns, bombs, drones), Roach looks at the science of saving lives and improving the quality of a soldier’s experience.”
In some way I feel connected to the subject of this book because during the mid 1950’s my father worked at the Clothing and Supply Depot at the Brooklyn Navy Yard designing cold weather clothing and gear for the Navy. At the time they did some of their testing on Mt. Washington. My father would be gone for the month of February leaving my mother home with four boys ages two to six. For years the entire family’s winter clothing consisted of clothing that wasn’t up to the Navy’s standards.