Category Archives: Books

Book review of “Livewired. The inside story of the ever-changing brain”

Posted on November 19, 2024 by

Preface. This book conveys a sense of wonderment and awe about our brains work and how we become who we are.  I think if you read the excerpts below you will understand why Artificial Intelligence will probably never come close … Continue reading →

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Book review of “Pandemic Politics: The Deadly Toll of Partisanship in the Age of COVID”

Posted on October 15, 2024 by

Preface.  This is a book review of “Pandemic Politics” about the myriad ways Trump mishandled the covid-19 pandemic. With the 2024 election coming up, it is a good time to remember how spectacularly Trump failed in managing covid-19. In 2016 … Continue reading →

Posted in Pandemics, Political Books, Politics | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Why some people are conservative and others liberal

Posted on October 10, 2024 by

Preface. A book review of: Garcia, H. 2019. Sex, Power, and Partisanship. How evolutionary science makes sense of our political divide. Although Chris Mooney’s book “The Republican Brain” was brilliant, it didn’t address that politics must surely go back to … Continue reading →

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Book Review “Conservatives without Conscience” by John Dean

Posted on September 29, 2024 by

Preface. This is a book review of “Conservatives without Conscience” by John Dean. It is the best book I’ve read in explaining the history of conservatism and leaders like Newt Gingrich on the increasing authoritarianism of Republicans, It also explains … Continue reading →

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Fox news estranges millions of families and instills hate and fear in its cult members

Posted on September 22, 2024 by

Preface.  This is a book review that has key excerpts of “Foxocracy”, by Tobin Smith, who worked at Fox for 14 years and was friends with Roger Ailes as well as the staff that decided what the propaganda of the … Continue reading →

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Book review of “Surveillance State”

Posted on August 23, 2024 by

Preface.  My next book is going to be about why the electric grid can’t stay up for many reasons, including energy storage not scaling up, heavy-duty transportation is still dependent on diesel despite a few $400-$500,000 electric trucks subsidized in … Continue reading →

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Why large projects fail. Especially Renewable Energy

Posted on August 9, 2024 by

Megaprojects over $1 billion in order of likelihood to go over budget and timeline Preface.  This is a book review of Flyvbjerg et al “How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from … Continue reading →

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America is not the good guy anymore

Posted on June 14, 2024 by

Preface.  This is a book review of Toft & Kushi’s 2023 Dying by the Sword: The Militarization of US Policy.  Oxford University Press. They make the case that America is not the good guy anymore, and hasn’t been for a … Continue reading →

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The pillaging of Native American coal, water, uranium and more

Posted on May 24, 2024 by

Preface. This is a book review of: “Unreal City: Las Vegas, Black Mesa, and the Fate of the West” by Judith Nies.  This book is about how stealing the resources of native Americans lands was made legal, despite enormous Native … Continue reading →

Posted in An Index of Best Energyskeptic Posts, Biodiversity Loss, Coal, Energy Books, Energy Infrastructure, Global Warming, Infrastructure & Fast Crash, Mass migrations, Peak Resources, Pumped Hydro Storage (PHS), U.S. Congress Energy Policy, Water Pollution | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The pillaging of Native American coal, water, uranium and more

Rare Earth updates: recent research on why complex & intelligent life are rare in the Universe

Posted on March 15, 2024 by

Preface. These are updates to Ward & Brownlee’s book “Rare Earth: Why Complex life is Uncommon in the Universe”. If we are one of the few planets with intelligent life, what a shame it would be if we destroyed ourselves … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, Human Nature, Planetary Boundaries, Wood | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment