Category Archives: Books

Book Review of Paleofantasy: What Evolution really tells us about sex, diet, and how we live

Alice Friedemann’s review of: Marlene Zuk. 2013. Paleofantasy: What Evolution really tells us about sex, diet, and how we live. My first introduction to Evolutionary Psychology was “The Adapted Mind” which posited we’re unhappy because of the tremendous difference between … Continue reading

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Northern California marijuana harms ecosystem, has huge carbon footprint. Legalize ASAP!

A book review by Alice Friedemann of Emily Brady’s 2013 book: “Humboldt. Life on America’s marijuana frontier.” The tales I hear from my friends in Mendocino and Humboldt counties fascinate me.  There are stories of mayors and sheriffs on opposite … Continue reading

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Science book review of Vaclav Smil’s “Approaching the Limits”

Steven W. Running  Science 15 March 2013: Vol. 339 no. 6125 pp. 1276-1277 DOI: 10.1126/science.1235886 Approaching the Limits Harvesting the Biosphere What We Have Taken from Nature by Vaclav Smil MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2012. 315 pp. $29, £19.95. ISBN … Continue reading

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The Big 5 Personality Traits – psychobabble or science?

Alice Friedemann’s review of : Daniel Nettle.  2008.  “Personality, What makes you the way you are”.  Oxford University Press. Scientists have considered psychology to be a very soft science at best and quackery or psychobabble at worst.  But psychology is … Continue reading

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Hirsch predicts Oil Shocks by 2017, panic, and stock market crash

I believe oil shocks could lead to a FAST CRASH Robert L. Hirsch was the author of the first US government report on peak oil in 2005, which recommended taking action to mitigate Peak Oil at least 20 years before … Continue reading

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Summary of Greenpeace “Nuclear Reactor Hazards”

This is a summary of: Hirsch, H., et al. April 2005.  Nuclear Reactor Hazards Ongoing Dangers of Operating Nuclear Technology in the 21st Century.  A report prepared for Greenpeace International. Aging. Nuclear power plants (NPP) age in four ways at … Continue reading

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Energy Security experts count how many angels can dance on the head of a pin

Sovacool, Benjamin (editor). 2011. The Routledge Handbook of Energy Security.  Routledge. I’m feeling very insecure if the discussions and conclusions in this book at all represent the latest thinking of scholars on energy security. They remind me of the recent … Continue reading

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How and Why Corporate Interests Attack Science. A Detailed Account of the Attack on the Hockey Stick graph

A Book review of: Bradley, Raymond. S.  2011.  Global Warming and Political Intimidation.  How Politicians Cracked Down on Scientists as the Earth Heated up.  University of Massachusetts Press. I would read Oreskes’ “Merchants of Doubt. How a Handful of Scientists … Continue reading

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When Life Nearly Died. The greatest mass extinction of all time

[ Benton shows why it was probably lava flows, not impact from meteors that caused the Permian extinction. I don’t know why everyone isn’t reading whatever they can find on the greatest mass murder of all time — the Permian … Continue reading

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