This week I finished: The Problem of Social Cost, by R. H. Coase: I heard about this paper months ago, or maybe years. I read it because it came up in the Cato Institute podcast I wrote about in Libertarians confused on pollution, sacrificing their core values. At the root: lack of hands-on practical experience. I believe I see Coase’s starting point that conflicts don’t necessarily mean one person harming[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space, by Janna Levin: Somehow I started receiving Janna Levin’s Substack (that Is, Substack spammed me, though I doubt Levin caused it). I looked her up. She teaches physics at Barnard. I got my PhD at Columbia and worked with a professor at Barnard, who was one of my main reasons for returning there after starting graduate school[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs: Respecting and Caring for All God’s Creation, by Joel Salatin: I spoke with a pastor last month. When I shared about my disconnecting my apartment from the electric grid and leadership work on the environment, he recommended this book. I hadn’t heard about Joel Salatin. I found many videos by and about him online. He seemed a mix of passionate, kooky,[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: Propaganda, by Edward Bernays: Bernays wrote this book before WWII and shared views on propaganda with Hitler, whose Mein Kampf, volume 1 I just finished. Both share views on influencing public views with modern practice. Bernays points out that the world works this way. You can deny it and still be swayed by it but be helpless to act on it, or accept it, embrace it,[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: Cool Food: Erasing Your Carbon Footprint One Bite at a Time, by Robert Downey Jr. and Thomas Kostigen: I listened to this book for a book club. I found it painful to listen to. It’s nice to eat foods that pollute less so I won’t argue with it, but it distracts from the problem: our culture lost values that kept humanity safe, secure, healthy, and living[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: Manufactured Landscapes, by Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky: I hadn’t heard of Burtynsky before reading a review of an exhibit in Manhattan of decades of his photography, which included several images. He creates images that are compositionally beautiful of scenes that are scary and horrific but resulting from our culture and lifestyles. They show mines, factories, dying landscapes and ecosystems, and apocalyptic scenes. I plan to[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: Mein Kampf, volume 1, by Adolph Hitler: I’m partly nervous about posting about finishing it or even reading it. The First Amendment may make it legal, but just associating with it can blemish, but I oppose that thinking. I finished other works this week but put them in a separate post since who wants to be on a page with Mein Kampf? When I teach the[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, by Hannah Arendt: I heard about this book a long time ago. I wondered if I’d ever read it. I took it on now while learning how people came to do things so contrary to what seems human we can’t believe they happened, in particular after The Lucifer Effect. For a book about one of the[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, by Philip Zimbardo: Many of us know something of the Stanford Prison Experiment. It was a psychology experiment in 1971 where a Stanford psychologist led a team that turned the basement of a building into a temporary prison-like space. They recruited two dozen local people whom they randomly assigned to play guards and prisoners for twelve days.[…] Keep reading →