This week I finished: Born to Run, by Bruce Springsteen: Growing up in Philadelphia, across the river from New Jersey, Bruce was always big. I loved this book, which I listened to, Bruce himself reading it. The first third recounted his doing what it took. He struggled to buy his first guitar for $18. He slept on floors, figured out how to play. He played what gigs he could. He[…] Keep reading →

I wanted to follow up yesterday’s post. It missed some of the more important experiences and lessons of spending so many years as a minority, or at least not in the majority. Since starting college at Columbia and mostly living in Manhattan, I’ve spent a lot of time with well-educated liberals. I’ve found them full of preconceptions about me, generally based on my skin color and sex. People who know[…] Keep reading →

This week I couldn’t use the computer much so read more than usual, including two long books and one hard-to-read one. I finished: The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, by Richard Rothstein: I confess I recorded my podcast episode with Richard before reading the book, initially motivated by my mom’s sharing (on her and my podcast episodes) about growing up in a mostly[…] Keep reading →

This week was overcast and rainy nearly every day. I barely caught rays so had to ration electric power, meaning a lot of reading and listening to books on my phone, which uses less power. I’m writing this post fast since it’s raining again and barely have power left. I finished this week: Superabundance by Marian Tupy and Gale Pooley for the Cato Institute: I knew the premise of the[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: The Social Life of Forests, by Ferris Jabr, about Suzanne Simard: This six-thousand-word New York Times article asks: “Trees appear to communicate and cooperate through subterranean networks of fungi. What are they sharing with one another?” and profiles a scientist at the forefront of studying forests. I came to it following up reading The Overstory, since one of its characters is based on Simard. Here’s an[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: Take the Lead, by Sasha DiGiulian: The author is one of the premier climbers today. The book describes her journey from childhood to winning too many competitions to count and being the first to climb many faces around the world, along with the fame that comes with it. My nephew loves climbing and she went to college where I did (Columbia), so when her team sent[…] Keep reading →

This week I read and watched: The Overstory, by Richard Powers: People recommended this long novel for a while, saying I’d like it for being about nature. I didn’t find it boring, but didn’t get it either for the most part. I found the language distracting. I prefer the grammar and syntax not to call attention to itself, away from the meaning. I don’t find ecoterrorism appealing. The author did[…] Keep reading →

What would Jesus do? Would he kill trees in a Pagan tradition for a few days and then put them in the garbage, like this? It’s January 2 and my neighborhood is swimming in dead trees people used for a couple weeks. I know people are just starting to throw away their Christmas Pagan trees, so I’ll post these few now and update with more. Why? So you can remember[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: Drug Dealer, MD, by Anna Lembke: She wrote this book before Dopamine Nation, which I finished last week. You know someone likes a book when after finishing it he reads the author’s previous book the next week. Drug Dealer, MD wasn’t as personal as Dopamine Nation, but described the growth of addiction well. She described the systemic forces driving doctors, insurance companies, government, medical associations, patients,[…] Keep reading →