Reading these two books at the same time was a bit of a gut punch. Together, you get a very large overview of where we’ve come from with the ‘attention economy’ beginning with the changes caused by Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press all the way through to Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter in order Continue reading Sirens’ Call The Gutenberg Parenthesis
I decided to read this book because I am always looking for more historical information about peoples who lived in the mountainous areas between empires. (I just find it interesting to think about the peoples who avoided getting swept up into the larger historical states of their eras). I picked this up, in part, because Continue reading Book 5: Himalaya: A Human History by Ed Douglas
I think I decided to read Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality (pub 2024) after Hank Green recommended it in one of his videos in late December. I can see why Green was interested in it, considering his own work online. DiResta has a background in Computer Science and Political Science and Continue reading Book 4: Invisible Rulers by Renee DiResta
I include a lot about early writing systems in my ancient world history class and I ve learned what I teach in a fairly piecemeal fashion. So, at some point over winter break, I decided to look for a more systematic introduction on writing. I cannot remember if someone specifically recommended this book or if I Continue reading Book 3: A History of Writing by Steven Roger Fischer
This is the first book in the Tyrant Philosophers series. I wrote quite a bit about this series in my 2024 fiction roundup. If you re not familiar: the book introduces you to Ilmar, a city under occupation by the Palleseen and ready to revolt. The city sits on the edge of the Anchorwood, a dark Continue reading Book 2: City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Just finished Adeeb Khalid s Central Asia: A New History from the Imperial Conquests to the Present (2021). Khalid is a history professor at Carleton College and he s won a fair number of awards for his research and teaching, including several NEH Fellowships. This book is his fourth. As the subtitle indicates, this book covers from Continue reading Book 1: Central Asia by Adeeb Khalid
My most-read genres tend to be science fiction, fantasy, and mystery. In general, I consider myself more of a scifi reader than fantasy, but, looking back, I read a lot of fantasy that I loved. I started and ended 2024 with Adrian Tchaikovsky s Tyrant Philosophers series. I have trouble articulating what it is about this Continue reading Reading 2024: Fiction
History: Other Non-Fiction:
I ve been working to get my news from more independent sources and I subscribe to several news newsletters that deliver excellent reporting right to my inbox. So, this morning, I got an email from The Tyee, a local Vancouver independent online news magazine, that contained the headline COVID-19 Turns Five Today. The Next Pandemic Is Continue reading 5 years of covid, a lot of change
As I was finishing up my last semester at IUP in December 2021, I wasn t quite sure what I was going to do next. In October, I had made it to the first interview for a local tenure-track job, but hadn t heard anything back (still haven t). Serendipitously, a local school, Coquitlam College, that focuses on Continue reading Vancouver Teaching