I had missed your podcast on “Do Not Disturb” - it’s pretty telling that legislation almost exists for the purpose of deporting people to there, although I don’t think it’s procedurally completed yet. As I see it, the sole benefit (if that’s truly the word here), is that it makes a public record of its proponents and supporters.
All of this looks excellent - I do love your recommendations.
I might have to read Daniel Dennett’s last book next. I respect his work and may he rest in peace. Have you read I’ve Been Thinking and, if so, do you have any thoughts?
thanks as always, brian! it's nourishing brain food. hearty soup, in a bowl. mooore, please sir. and it's so much fun to read and follow your readers. your fans! right now i'm reading for fist time somerset maugham's, of human bondage. i like it. and i'm also reading for second time, dostoevsky's, notes from underground. first time was 1974, in high school. it was a so-called free school, meaning very liberal. also known as, a school without walls. we called our teachers by first name. it was good. so, i'm reading classic literature, just now. but i also read contemporary fiction and journalism exposes, etc. keep going, brian! oh, we have to give a nod to maria popova and her superior, marginalien website.
Anne Applebaum, yes! yes!!! Last week discovered her Substack, but thank you! Also worthy, her little book Twilight of Democracy (2020). And if I may add another, Richard J. Bernstein’s Why Read Hannah Arendt Now (2018). I think I have fallen down the Substack Rabbithole!!! Now I struggle between many wonderful pieces appearing almost daily and the ever-growing pile of books I cannot stop acquiring because I just have to read them. (I hear my father: “Where is your strength of mind?”) “Oh”, says a friend, “you must listen to podcasts?” But when? I began with HCR when she began to publish her Letters from an American, as I tried to cope with the “world that had become”. Then I added Joyce Vance. And I tried to ignore temptation, but…..then I found The Garden of Forking Paths, and I was suddenly deep, deep in the hole. I wonder how to cope…..so many great things out there. How do you manage?
I’ve recently fallen under the spell of the murder mystery novel. I’m sure you’ve already heard of the author, but if not I highly recommend Anthony Horowitz. I’ve been enjoying his Hawthorne and Horowitz series (book 5 of 5 released this week) and currently reading the second book (of 2) of the Magpie Murders series - also fantastic.
My own recommendation unrelated to substack is for everybody to get the Al Jazeera app for another view of the world and its affairs and wars and social interactions coming from a different place. Although it has its biases, they are less so and quite different. But they never say anything bad about Qatar because that's where their headquarters are!
As an Atlantic subscriber and a cruiser, I read the piece you mentioned and thoroughly enjoyed it. Smaller ships are better,IMO, and sights like those on an Alaska cruise offer more to me.
Great List; I am saving it to explore those other Substacks. (Btw Malice (The Detective Kaga Series) is available on Kindle Unlimited in the US)
But I immediately signed up for Anne Applebaum. That story from 2021 is scarily prescient:
"autocracies are run not by one bad guy, but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, security services (military, police, paramilitary groups, surveillance), and professional propagandists."
We are really verging on this, and perhaps on the Maduro Model: autocrats “willing to pay the price of becoming a totally failed country, to see their country enter the category of failed states,” accepting economic collapse, isolation, and mass poverty if that’s what it takes to stay in power. "
Her story on Substack today is equally gut-wrenching.
Thanks for the suggestions. Subscribed to Anne Applebaum immediately.
I had missed your podcast on “Do Not Disturb” - it’s pretty telling that legislation almost exists for the purpose of deporting people to there, although I don’t think it’s procedurally completed yet. As I see it, the sole benefit (if that’s truly the word here), is that it makes a public record of its proponents and supporters.
All of this looks excellent - I do love your recommendations.
I might have to read Daniel Dennett’s last book next. I respect his work and may he rest in peace. Have you read I’ve Been Thinking and, if so, do you have any thoughts?
thanks as always, brian! it's nourishing brain food. hearty soup, in a bowl. mooore, please sir. and it's so much fun to read and follow your readers. your fans! right now i'm reading for fist time somerset maugham's, of human bondage. i like it. and i'm also reading for second time, dostoevsky's, notes from underground. first time was 1974, in high school. it was a so-called free school, meaning very liberal. also known as, a school without walls. we called our teachers by first name. it was good. so, i'm reading classic literature, just now. but i also read contemporary fiction and journalism exposes, etc. keep going, brian! oh, we have to give a nod to maria popova and her superior, marginalien website.
Thanks for the shout-out!
Anne Applebaum, yes! yes!!! Last week discovered her Substack, but thank you! Also worthy, her little book Twilight of Democracy (2020). And if I may add another, Richard J. Bernstein’s Why Read Hannah Arendt Now (2018). I think I have fallen down the Substack Rabbithole!!! Now I struggle between many wonderful pieces appearing almost daily and the ever-growing pile of books I cannot stop acquiring because I just have to read them. (I hear my father: “Where is your strength of mind?”) “Oh”, says a friend, “you must listen to podcasts?” But when? I began with HCR when she began to publish her Letters from an American, as I tried to cope with the “world that had become”. Then I added Joyce Vance. And I tried to ignore temptation, but…..then I found The Garden of Forking Paths, and I was suddenly deep, deep in the hole. I wonder how to cope…..so many great things out there. How do you manage?
I’ve recently fallen under the spell of the murder mystery novel. I’m sure you’ve already heard of the author, but if not I highly recommend Anthony Horowitz. I’ve been enjoying his Hawthorne and Horowitz series (book 5 of 5 released this week) and currently reading the second book (of 2) of the Magpie Murders series - also fantastic.
My own recommendation unrelated to substack is for everybody to get the Al Jazeera app for another view of the world and its affairs and wars and social interactions coming from a different place. Although it has its biases, they are less so and quite different. But they never say anything bad about Qatar because that's where their headquarters are!
As an Atlantic subscriber and a cruiser, I read the piece you mentioned and thoroughly enjoyed it. Smaller ships are better,IMO, and sights like those on an Alaska cruise offer more to me.
Great List; I am saving it to explore those other Substacks. (Btw Malice (The Detective Kaga Series) is available on Kindle Unlimited in the US)
But I immediately signed up for Anne Applebaum. That story from 2021 is scarily prescient:
"autocracies are run not by one bad guy, but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, security services (military, police, paramilitary groups, surveillance), and professional propagandists."
We are really verging on this, and perhaps on the Maduro Model: autocrats “willing to pay the price of becoming a totally failed country, to see their country enter the category of failed states,” accepting economic collapse, isolation, and mass poverty if that’s what it takes to stay in power. "
Her story on Substack today is equally gut-wrenching.