Israel/PalestineHow to End the War of 1948 By Tanya Reinhart The history of the Israel/Palestine conflict is a history of how the Palestinians have failed: failed to foresee what was coming, failure to prepare, failure to unify in the face of adversity, and failure to negotiate. There are countless discussions of what happened in a broad sense, but for a more specific, small-picture analysis of the threats facing Palestine and the diplomacy used to confront it, Tanya Reinhart’s Israel/Palestine book...
The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler-Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917–2017by Rashid Khalidi It’s funny how caught up we can get in our lives where we don’t make an effort to learn more about the things that interest us. How’s that for an opening sentence? And I don’t necessarily mean it in a reprimanding way. If anything, I’m reprimanding myself. I think we would all benefit from learning more about the Israel/Palestine conflict. I’ve certainly been interested,...
Lord of the Fliesby William Golding I just finished this and I just gotta talk about it. I’ve always known about the Lord of the Flies allegory: a group of kids are stranded on an island and try to keep order in spite of their tribal inclinations. I think the Simpsons did it in the Camp Krusty episode. That reveal of Bart wearing the tribal head dress to the camera always struck me. So, how could I resist an old,...
Innumeracyby John Allen Paulos I was never a good student in high school, I just couldn’t pay attention. How would math, or history, or English help me beat the second racing level in Battletoads? I had priorities elsewhere, I guess. Do I feel bad about it? Of course I do. But not as bad as I do for the people I met when I moved to the US. Boy, the very idea of math scares them. I’ve always been a...
Essays in Humanismby Albert Einsein Am I really going to start a review with an introduction on who Albert Einstein is? He’s the guy who invented the poster of the old man sticking his tongue out, OK? He also wrote that science formula that you see on blackboards of people in movies who are depicted as being smart. As much as he’s known for his scientific accomplishments and ideas, it’s the side of Einstein that dealt with more humanitarian issues...
People Funny BoyThe Genius of Lee “Scratch” Perryby David Katz I love the Clash, and if your love of the Clash is true, you love reggae as well. And if you love both, you know who Lee “Scratch Perry is. And, if you know who Lee “Scratch” Perry is, you also know his reputation. Super Ape, along with King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown, changed my life and opened a whole new world to me. I just can’t get enough of...
I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alanby Steve Coogan, Rob Gibbons, Neil Gibbons I never thought I’d go down the Alan Partridge rabbit hole to this degree. Years ago, I watched the This is Alan Partridge show, liked it, then forgot about it. But then, the Steve Coogan/Rob Brydon “The Trip” series started popping up on my radar, and after watching all of them (in series form, not movies – I’m a cultured man), I then started mining the...
The Dark Knight Strikes Againby Frank Miller Isn’t this what everyone wanted? We all loved The Dark Knight Returns. I think at the time we saw it as an edgy dark take on a beloved superhero. A recent reread kind of puts the story, and Frank Miller, more in perspective. It’s super simplistically libertarian, man. Just, WOW. I don’t know if Miller is capable of being self-aware. One thing for sure is, he definitely doesn’t think it’s fascism if the...
Six Weeks in Russia, 1919by Arthur Ransome I look at Arthur Ransome’s Six Weeks in Russia, 1919 with both awe and disdain. It’s a thin book, definitely, and it’s also probably the last book I’ll be completing for a long time. After getting sick to the point of hospitalization and realizing I’ve taken on a new job which has very little interest in providing work/life balance, I’ve come to the realization that any opportunities to relax and “read a book”...
The Case of Leon Trotsky: Report of Hearings on the Charges Made against Him in the Moscow Trialsby Leon Trotsky I knew I was a fan of the life of Leon Trotsky but reading The Case of Leon Trotsky really made me realize that I might just be a Trotsky-head (no pun intended). There, I wanted to see how many times I could fit Trotsky in a single sentence. Way back in the 1930s, it wasn’t as clear to everyone...