On Tyranny is a depressing, but important read, and one whose urgency seems even more pronounced than when it was written during Trump's first term. IOn Tyranny is a depressing, but important read, and one whose urgency seems even more pronounced than when it was written during Trump's first term. It's a succinct, easily-digestible account of the warning signs of a failing democracy, with suggestions for what to do to resist fascist/totalitarian trends. It does feel like it could have used a few more pages though, as certain recommendations remain wholly unaddressed.
For example, the opening blurb for section 14, Establishing a Private Life, mentions, "Consider using alternative forms of the internet, or simply using it less." The second half of that is straightforward, but there's no indication of what "alternative forms of the internet" is even supposed to mean. Is Snyder advocating for different social networks? Using VPNs? Tor? Almost certainly not the much-maligned "dark web," but it's unclear what he means at all.
Or how about section 20, Be As Courageous As You Can, which says in its entirety: "If none of us is prepared to die for freedom, then all of us will die under tyranny." Not helpful, especially when peaceful protests and marching in the streets are covered in another section. Without any further guidance beyond "be prepared to die," this last section is unhelpful at best, and at worst, could feasibly encourage someone unstable to do something terrible.
Still, examples like that aside, the core of On Tyranny is accessible, and written with at least a nod towards there being hope. And even if its flaws gall you more than they did me, it's barely 125 pages long, even with the epilogue, so it's worth a read....more
What an absolute waste of an idea. For a book that promises "a history of the world according to coffee," what we actually get feels more like an accoWhat an absolute waste of an idea. For a book that promises "a history of the world according to coffee," what we actually get feels more like an account of some frat boy's summer break overseas. Actually, the closest comparison I can draw is the abysmal 2008 film, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?, where Morgan Spurlock discovers his real-life wife is pregnant, and the residuals from Super Size Me aren't going to be enough to pay the bills for that--so rather than get a real job, he decides to somehow convince the Weinstein Company to give him money to go to the Middle East, act like a clown, and hopefully not get himself or any of his film crew shot. Except, The Devil's Cup predates that film by nine years.
Allen portrays himself as something of a garbage heap of a human being, regularly denigrating the places he visits and the people he meets there, in his nominal search for the origins of coffee. Al-Makkha (or "Mocha," as he relentlessly reminds us), for instance, he describes as, "the grubbiest, most fly-infested hellhole I had ever seen," while the people there were "[dressed] in rags, their feet black with oil, [who] lounged about on the vulture-picked motorcycles that made up the local taxi fleet." Charming. Or how about Djibouti, which he only grudgingly acknowledges as "technically a nation," but would rather describe as, "a town the thirteenth-century Islamic pilgrim Ibn Battuta described as 'the dirtiest, most disagreeable and most stinking town in the world,' whose citizens had a taste for camel flesh"? True, he's quoting someone else here, but his own views seem to do nothing to paint the place or its people in a more flattering light. (Also, camel is delicious if prepared right, just FYI.)
He bumbles into war zones, pining for coffee, sometimes even forgetting which "hellhole" he was at last, as when he's detained by Yemen authorities, and tells them he's coming from Eritrea instead of Djibouti. He's so cavalier that he finds warnings that his hotel might be robbed at gunpoint to be "a refreshingly cool way to start the day." He's so willfully ignorant about the areas he's traveling to that he admits the only Arabic phrase he knows is "qahwa al-bon" or "The Wine of the Bean." And even that, he doesn't know how to pronounce, as he opines over the fact that nobody in Yemen is willing to give him coffee right now, by asking himself, "Was I pronouncing the word [qahwa] incorrectly? Kahwah, koowah, keeqay, keeah...how many ways could you pronounce the wretched thing?" I'm surprised the jackass didn't try to do a keg stand at some point--and for all I know, eventually he did. I stopped reading 53 pages in.
The last straw for me was when he spends an entire page giving grave consideration as to just what spices Solomon received from the Queen of Sheba, as referenced in some Bible passage--which would have been a fine aside...if ten pages earlier, he hadn't dismissed an equally unverifiable bit of quasi-history about an Islamic hermit named al-Shadhili, who's the folkloric original person to have brewed coffee with a simple declaration of, and I quote: "Whatever." Allen's stiflingly egotistical and patronizing tone towards all these horrible, foreign things he has to be subjected to, when all he wants is to get coffee, and get coffee now, reeks of ignorant, Western privilege--and I say this as not the most politically-correct person out there. But the tone makes this book entirely insufferable. There are a handful of interesting historical tidbits scattered throughout this, but they're relayed by such a loathsome narrator that it just isn't worth the effort to find them....more
It feels a little strange to think that, even in contemporary times, there can still be civilizations that are almost entirely lost to history. Big diIt feels a little strange to think that, even in contemporary times, there can still be civilizations that are almost entirely lost to history. Big discoveries of forgotten peoples and cultures seem somehow very 20th century. Maybe it's because, with everything being so interconnected now, the world seems so much smaller and less mysterious than it used to. So, there's a certain joy to reading an account of the discovery of something truly unexplored in human history.
The search for Ciudad Blanca in Honduras was an engrossing tale from its almost folkloric roots in rumor and legend, through the advanced scientific methods used to narrow the field, to the boots-on-the-ground exploration. Preston does an admirable job of depicting just how remote and secluded the Mosquitia region of Honduras really is, full of treacherous weather and terrain, aggressive snakes, and insects that carry terrible diseases. In such a harrowing area, it's entirely believable that ruins could lie hidden for centuries, despite the advent of technologies like satellite maps and lidar.
While the search, itself, was fascinating, so were the sections devoted to the history of Honduras, and the examinations of some of the diseases particular to humid, jungle climate. The Lost City of the Monkey God succeeds in its main narrative focus, but these added elements are easily just as interesting. It's a fine read, if you're curious about contemporary archaeology, Central American history, or just a good, true adventure story....more
This is a nicely varied collection of anomalous creatures that could've used another round of editing, as there are errors sprinkled here and there, bThis is a nicely varied collection of anomalous creatures that could've used another round of editing, as there are errors sprinkled here and there, both in the text and the art.
The art, itself, is really quite good, but for example, the Owlman is described as "[having] large, glowing red eyes, pointed ears, a black beak, clawed wings, black legs with large taloned feet, and is covered in silver and gray feathers." The accompanying illustration gets the ears, beak, and wings right, but the eyes are yellow, and it's depicted in varying shades of brown. Nice as the art is, it would've been nice if it hadn't deviated from the descriptions so often.
Less often, you'll run into discrepancies in the text, itself. Take the Simurgh which must either immolate itself and be reborn every 1,700 years or (just two paragraphs later), 17,000 years.
Still, despite these unfortunate errors, Quinney covers a wide swath of cryptids, aliens, and beings from folklore and mythology from across the world. If nothing else, Cryptids, Creatures & Critters is a great primer for discovering creatures you might want to learn more about....more
I've always been fascinated by creatures of folklore, but I never paid much attention to the whimsical jackalope. What thought I gave to them at all aI've always been fascinated by creatures of folklore, but I never paid much attention to the whimsical jackalope. What thought I gave to them at all amounted to an assumption that they were little more than a gag, or marketing gimmick--the animal-equivalent of s Mystery Spot tourist trap, where you pay ten bucks to see architectural tricks that make it seem like physics is broken. That is, a hoax for the gullible, with nothing more substantial behind it. But it was the subtitle of this book, the part about curing cancer, that made me give it a shot.
Leaving the medical implications aside for a moment, On the Trail of the Jackalope confirms that jackalopes, as a whole, are a hoax, while simultaneously delving into their creation, the meanings they hold for people, and the surprising cultural impact they've had in the 90+ years since the first jackalope mount was fabricated. Jackalopes are a hoax in the same way that professional wrestling is a hoax: It all might be for show, but there's an undeniable artistry beneath the surface that resonates with people. This book is worth it, just for the extensive exploration into the history of how the jackalope came to be. Which is good, because that's like 75% of the page count.
The part about cancer only comes into play in the last quarter of the book, and while it's interesting, it certainly isn't the main focus. Simply put, "horned" rabbits do exist, their growths are the result of a cancer-causing virus, and they've had a huge impact on cancer research. It's fascinating stuff, and an element of real-world importance that I don't think I've ever seen before in a book about folklore or cryptids.
If you like the stranger, quirkier sides of history, On the Trail of the Jackalope is easy to recommend. It's a witty, interesting, and endlessly offbeat dive into the unexpectedly rich and convoluted story surrounding these strange little fabricated creatures, and an absolute delight to read....more
The bulk of this book is an exhaustive history of the development of transistors and semiconductor technology, from their inception, through the Cold The bulk of this book is an exhaustive history of the development of transistors and semiconductor technology, from their inception, through the Cold War, and into the present day. And that's quite informative and pretty interesting, but it isn't until the last section of the book that Miller really gets to talking about the tense situation surrounding Taiwan. Just something to be aware of, if you're picking up Chip War, expecting it to be primarily an examination of current events.
If you have an interest in the trailblazers of the chip industry, or how/why so much of it came to be focused in such a limited set of companies, there's a lot to like here. However, for all the emphasis Miller places on the multi-billion-dollar EUV equipment used to manufacture today's smallest transistors, and the importance of TSMC as pretty much the only company capable of utilizing that technology, I can't help but feel he misses a big part of the equation going forward. Namely: quantum computing, or eliminating the need for physical transistors at all, with advances in optical computing. True, to really explore either of those subjects would require separate books, but Miller doesn't even mention them, or which companies are developing them, or if we'd still need to rely on a single Taiwanese corporation to manufacture chips using those technologies. It's a pretty big elephant in the room to just...ignore.
Still, for what it is, Chip War is an interesting read. The history of this industry is fraught with espionage, unexpected origin stories, big personalities, and some very lucky breaks. It could have used more emphasis on present-day developments, but for what it was, this book was an educational, enjoyable read....more
I'm shelving this under "nonfiction" in the broadest sense, because all of the scenarios considered here are entirely hypothetical, and largely impossI'm shelving this under "nonfiction" in the broadest sense, because all of the scenarios considered here are entirely hypothetical, and largely impossible. But it's all in good fun, in the same vein as that book about the science of Attack on Titan I read a long time ago.
What If? is built on a two-part foundation: ridiculous questions, and taking them to their extreme endpoints in a humorous light. Both parts are something of a mixed bag. Some of the subjects are a lot more interesting than I would've initially thought--the mole (unit of measurement) of moles (the animal), and the rainstorm in a single droplet are a couple of personal favorites. But then there are topics like "How long before there are more dead people than living ones on Facebook?" which feel kind of flat, by comparison. Similarly, the humor is sometimes spot-on, but trips over itself at other points (like when Munroe keeps hammering home repetitive asides in the endnotes).
All told, What If? is a fun little read that still somehow comes close to overstaying its welcome. If you like things such as Mythbusters, where hard science is brought to bear against often-silly questions, you'll get some enjoyment out of this book. Just be prepared for a somewhat uneven experience....more
I picked this up awhile back at a library book sale, without looking too closely at it. If I had, I'd have noticed there's no bibliography--which in aI picked this up awhile back at a library book sale, without looking too closely at it. If I had, I'd have noticed there's no bibliography--which in a nonfiction book, is almost always an immediate kiss of death for me. This is no exception.
All this book is, is a collection of...calling them "essays" is overly generous, as few are more than three pages long. The Day That Lightning Chased the Housewife is an assortment of idle musings by people who may as well be anonymous. I have no idea who Bruce Fellman, or Lynn J. Cave are, nor why I should assume they have any authority in the subjects they're talking about at all. No one is identified as, say, Steve Olson, PhD in Biology at UC Berkeley, or anything--just Steve Olson. So this book is a rare example of not only failing to cite sources for references in the text, but barely citing where the text, itself, came from. It's mind-bogglingly lazy.
Especially when you pare it with the as-written baseless assertions presented throughout this book. E.g. "In one study, XX male mice were found to lack the H-Y antigen." What study? By whom? "On the other hand, a young musical composer suffered damage to the right hemisphere of his brain...he had lost all interest in composition [and] even lost much of his enjoyment in listening to music." Sucks for that guy...whoever the hell he was, because we're never even given a name to go along with this story.
The entire bloody book is filled with stuff like this: empty claims, nameless subjects, presented in snippets too short to be gratifying, in tones that aren't even entertaining. There might be a few (likely outdated) scientific musings to be found in the meandering nothingness of these pages (hence the 2 stars instead of 1), but I don't think it's worth the effort to ferret them out....more
Slavic folklore has seen an unexpected uptick in pop culture references in recent years--particularly in the realm of video games. The Witcher series,Slavic folklore has seen an unexpected uptick in pop culture references in recent years--particularly in the realm of video games. The Witcher series, Black Book, Thea: The Awakening, The Thaumaturge, etc. and so on. It's such a specific niche to draw from, that the sudden focus on it had me curious to learn more.
The Slavic Myths largely succeeds in being the "accessible entry point" that the authors set out to provide. It covers everything from principle gods/goddesses, noteworthy mythological creatures, folkloric characters, and even a look at Slavic views of magic. The strokes in which all these subjects are painted are often broad, but it's a decent baseline. Especially considering that so many of the surviving written accounts have been colored by outside cultural influences (read: Christianity). Overall, a fine introduction to the subject....more
I do have to hand it to Goodell for being more upfront about just how screwed we are than a lot of other authors of books in this vein. Aside from theI do have to hand it to Goodell for being more upfront about just how screwed we are than a lot of other authors of books in this vein. Aside from the last two or three pages where he pays lip service to the notion that if we all work together, we might be able to mitigate the consequences somewhat, the bulk of The Heat Will Kill You First is an unflinching look at just how bad things have already gotten, with honest assessments of how much worse they can (and likely will) be if things don't change. As well as how unlikely that change will be.
Take Paris as just one example, where they can't keep people from being roasted under the zinc roofs of old buildings during heat waves, because any changes to the architecture would ruin the aesthetics and historical heritage of the neighborhood. As an American, it is simultaneously vindicating, and soul-crushingly depressing to see in no uncertain terms, that this kind of resistance to even the most basic measures to adapt to a warming world is in fact, a global phenomenon. It would have been embarrassing if that kind of backwards-thinking lunacy were relegated to my neck of the woods, but at least there might've been some cause for hope from the rest of the world.
Simply put, this is a depressing book, but I have to respect the fact that it doesn't sugarcoat things. As I write this review, I'm in the middle of a winter where there's hardly been any snow (I live pretty far north, as in "snowfall measured in feet, not inches" north), where I don't think a week has gone by in months that we haven't had at least one day of record high temperatures. Texas is currently suffering the largest wildfire in its recorded history. According to Reuters, instead of diminishing, the amount of garbage generated on a global scale is predicted to "soar" by the year 2050...the list goes on and on. So, while depressing in the picture it paints for the future, The Heat Will Kill You First is also unflinchingly realistic. Pretending that everything will be fine if you just recycle your pop cans and say no to plastic bags doesn't do anybody any favors. Being aware of what the future likely holds (unstable weather patterns, punishing heat, vanishing coastal communities, widespread diseases new and old, etc.), while grim, at least gives the reader an idea of what to expect....more
The author of this book really likes exclamation marks! To the extent that I'd be hard-pressed to find a page that doesn't have at least one! It gets The author of this book really likes exclamation marks! To the extent that I'd be hard-pressed to find a page that doesn't have at least one! It gets a little exhausting to read at times! But it's one of only a handful of complaints I have about The Impact of Iwata, so that's good, right?!
Hyper exuberance aside, this is a fascinating book. It's a little astounding, just how many projects Iwata had some sort of involvement with. He wasn't always a key developer--in fact, I'd argue that the lion's share of his legacy can be found in his lesser roles--but he played a part in translations, negotiations, the less glamorous coding of compression algorithms, physics models, and plenty more. He was a Renaissance man, whose influence extended farther through the gaming industry than I ever would have guessed.
The Impact of Iwata is a very enjoyable look at the life of a man whose accomplishments and insights changed not only Nintendo, but the gaming industry as a whole in a variety of ways. It's marred only by enough exclamation marks to choke an elephant, and a few unfortunate printing defects. There are plentiful sidebars where the text shifts to white on a black background, and unfortunately in a few of these, the font is quite small, and strangely...thin, is the only way I can describe it. The end result is something that can be very hard to read when the problem crops up--which thankfully isn't very often, but often enough to be worth mentioning. Aside from those issues though, it's an easy book to recommend....more
Looking for the Hidden Folk is part memoir, part travelogue, and part metaphysical navel-gazing. But mostly it's a crash course through the history ofLooking for the Hidden Folk is part memoir, part travelogue, and part metaphysical navel-gazing. But mostly it's a crash course through the history of Iceland and its folklore, that only barely touches upon its subtitle, "How Iceland's Elves Can Save the Earth," until chapter 13 or so. The rest is a not particularly focused account of Brown's numerous trips to the country, stories of the people she's met there, and explorations into its history and the semi-mythological history of its extensive sagas.
It's still interesting, despite its scattershot approach, particularly to someone who's visited Iceland as well (though only once, in my case). Brown does an admirable job of conveying the ineffable majesty of Iceland's broad, quiet expanses and striking vistas. The book could have benefited from a map, though, just to get a better idea of where some of the places she's talking about are in relation to each other.
As for the message behind what is supposedly the book's central thesis, it boils down to: Rekindling a sense of wonder can reconnect us with the natural world, and in so doing, can inspire us to do more to protect it. That's really the long and short of it. But that isn't to say the book as a whole isn't worth reading--far from it. Looking for the Hidden Folk is very much more about the journey than the destination, and this eclectic assortment of interviews, anecdotes, and history lessons never fails to be interesting, if you have any passing fancy at all with this beautiful island and its storied past. Think of it as a stroll through a fantastic land, as opposed to a set of instructions on how to save the world (no matter what the subtitle would have you believe), and you'll probably enjoy it more....more
I've been in love with horror in games, ever since a mummy lurched out in front of me from around a corner in Dungeon Master, and scared the crap out I've been in love with horror in games, ever since a mummy lurched out in front of me from around a corner in Dungeon Master, and scared the crap out of my 8-year-old self. It was great seeing games I grew up with, but also discovering intriguing, unfamiliar titles that I may never have heard of otherwise (Anatomy, Deadeus, etc.). Some of the inclusions struck me as a bit odd (Sewer Shark as horror? Really?), and a few omissions are downright criminal (leaving Lost in Vivo out of the "New Retro" section), but overall it's a nice slice of horror gaming history. Whether you grew up with some of these, like me, and want a trip down memory lane, or you just want to get a feel for the games that laid the groundwork for modern horror, From Ants to Zombies is an excellent place to start....more
Go Straight isn't the first Bitmap Books release I've read, and it certainly won't be the last. True to their history, this is a fantastic journey intGo Straight isn't the first Bitmap Books release I've read, and it certainly won't be the last. True to their history, this is a fantastic journey into the storied history of this particular game genre. From well-known classics like Streets of Rage and Double Dragon, to obscure titles I'd never heard of before, like the Denjin Makai series, or Jitsu Squad, this is a fascinating exploration of the good, the bad, the weird, and everything in between that the beat 'em up genre has to offer. Whether you're a longtime fan of these games, or you're just wondering what's so compelling about beating up countless identical street thugs with the same, oddly-translated name, there's a ton of fun, informative content to be found here. It's an easy recommendation if you have even a passing interest in the genre....more
I knew I wanted to read this book as soon as I learned it existed. Partly, because I love RPGs (tabletop and otherwise), and this sort of geek historyI knew I wanted to read this book as soon as I learned it existed. Partly, because I love RPGs (tabletop and otherwise), and this sort of geek history is always of interest, but also because of the times in which we're living. If you're reading this in the future, and the mounting controversies stemming from Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast have long blown over, I'll do my best to summarize.
As I'm writing this, it's been a bit over a year now, since the company that owns Dungeons & Dragons has started doing seemingly everything it can to shoot itself in the foot. Everything from trying to rewrite licensing agreements, to laying off sizable portions of its creative staff, to releasing incomplete products (looking at you, Spelljammer), to trying to push the hobby further and further towards being primarily digital, they haven't been doing much to endear a discerning gamer to D&D as a brand. To the extent that there's even a Facebook group called "I'm Begging You To Play Another RPG," focused on offering suggestions for alternatives, depending on what themes/mechanics a player is looking for. So, when I discovered a book was being written that ostensibly chronicles the expansive world of tabletop RPG offerings throughout history, I was thrilled.
Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground largely delivers on that, though there are an awful lot of pages devoted to D&D-related content, until about the middle of the 2000s. And yes, D&D was formative to the hobby, and the various editions are worthy of discussion--but I question if we needed quite so much time devoted to various and sundry individual adventure modules. It's one of the only downsides to this book. Thankfully, thing get a lot more diverse from that point onward, highlighting a ton of RPGs I'd never even heard of before. Including some I might very well check out.
The only other downside is that Horvath is at times a bit reactionary. Some of his points are decent ones, like mentioning how Chaosium has taken measures to circumvent H.P. Lovecraft's by now largely-recognized racism in the Call of Cthulhu game, but other times it feels like he's trying too hard to virtue-signal. He stops short of the ludicrous "orcs are black people" claim from a few years back, but he goes so far as to imply that a Street Samurai character class in Shadowrun is somehow "troublesome." It just sometimes feels like he's searching for problems when he doesn't need to.
Still, this is a very enjoyable book, and a wonderful resource for anyone interested in the history of the hobby, and where it might be going. It isn't an exhaustive list, but I doubt any liftable book could be. Well worth a read for anyone who's ever sat down with friends and had a good time rolling dice....more
The focus of this book is skewed much more heavily toward the first part of its title, over the last. While it was interesting, reading about how McVeThe focus of this book is skewed much more heavily toward the first part of its title, over the last. While it was interesting, reading about how McVeigh's plot to blow up the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City came together, nearly half the page count is devoted to how his trial played out--something I frankly would have a hard time caring less about. But Homegrown spends chapter after chapter, detailing the lives and careers of lawyers for the prosecution and defense, their relation to the media, etc., which really don't have any relevance to the central thesis. The opening chapter or two, as well as the closing one do focus on the connections between what drove McVeigh to kill 168 people in 1995, but beyond a paragraph here or there, every 15-20 pages or so in the middle, that's all the exploration we get. The points Toobin makes in these sections, along with his unflinching denigration of McVeigh and his ilk, are laudable, but I wish the narrative had spent less time on the tedious, largely irrelevant courtroom drama, and more on an in-depth look at the very real problem of right-wing extremism that still exists to this day....more
Fuzz is entertaining fluff. Sometimes educational, usually comical, and occasionally eye-opening, this is an eclectic selection of animals from leoparFuzz is entertaining fluff. Sometimes educational, usually comical, and occasionally eye-opening, this is an eclectic selection of animals from leopards to mice to trees(!), and how the simple nature of their existence can sometimes lead to conflict with humans. It's a kaleidoscopic journey through the realms of theft, assault, murder, and property damage that's enjoyable enough thanks to Roach's generally on-point wit, but it all seems a bit disconnected until the end. Sometime during the last chapter, she realized she needed an overarching theme to tie this all together. She ends up on: Nature's going to do what nature does, so maybe instead of fighting it (often to little appreciable effect), maybe we should learn to coexist better with it. A noble, if sadly unlikely, note to end on.
Overall, this was a nice distraction. Nothing terribly deep, but enough nuggets of trivia, and a genial, approachable writing style, that it's certainly worth checking out....more
This may be the first DNF on my list that I stopped reading, not because it was bad, but because I was able to find most of the pertinent bits of infoThis may be the first DNF on my list that I stopped reading, not because it was bad, but because I was able to find most of the pertinent bits of info delivered more succinctly in a YouTube video I had on in the background while I was doing other things. The irony of this (considering so many pro-crypto shills rely so heavily on YouTube/Tiktok/etc. to try and rope more people in), is not lost on me. But I made it about halfway through Easy Money when I stumbled across the video in question*, and I kept hearing things I'd read. The main difference is, the video was only about an hour long, and it seemed like a better investment of my time, if it covered the same ground.
It also didn't help that the sourcing in this book is spotty, at best. Like, McKenzie will cite sources for some things that really don't matter, like how someone named his daughter after the crypto token he invented, but leave things like the fact that the Florida senate only took 75 seconds to deliberate before signing off on a shady crypto bill, as mere assertions with no supporting evidence. It's bizarre.
That said, the material here is interesting and topical, and does a good job of illustrating just how much of a ponzi scheme the world of cryptocurrency is. It's a little dry in parts, and was beginning to drag a bit when I stopped reading, but it's still worthwhile information.
*"Crypto: The World's Greatest Scam" by James Jani...more
I'm not sure I've ever DNF'd a book quite so early on. There are several reasons why.
First, the tone. I don't know if Zeihan was intending to make theI'm not sure I've ever DNF'd a book quite so early on. There are several reasons why.
First, the tone. I don't know if Zeihan was intending to make the material more accessible to a general audience or what, but he only comes across as flippant, overly casual, and perhaps flying by the seat of his pants. I can almost picture him as a teacher wearing an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt and a backwards baseball cap, trying way too hard to be cool as he's trying to teach his students about some totally rockin' socio-economic policies! I'm only mildly exaggerating. To give you an idea of what you're in store for, he uses phrases like "The Great Poo Breakthrough," and "the Gardening-in-Poo Revolution," when talking about the development of sedentary farming, using fertilizer.
That sort of thing is really distracting, but it could be forgivable if the rest of the book was worthwhile. However, I realized after a chapter or so that there weren't any citations. For anything. And to be fair, since Zeihan's just going over societal developments in early history in those opening chapters, you could argue that his source is just that: history. Or, as he'd more likely put it, "It's just history, dude!" considering he uses "dude" around four times in 25 pages or so. But presumably, he starts making claims later in the book that could really benefit from some sort of source backing them up--and there isn't any of that. There are footnotes, but rather than anything useful, they're generally reserved for pointless, jokey asides like, "Or whatever nasty brown liquor they could distill back then." (RE: a lame joke about Fireball whiskey being a core part of colonial America's agricultural economy.), or "Yes, this is all very Civilization by Sid Meieer. Dude did his research." (RE: how waterwheels led to a series of social and technological advances. Also, I wasn't kidding about all the "dude"s.)
Zeihan was in serious need of someone to rein him in, make him focus on making points rather than jokes, and tell him in no uncertain terms that if he's writing a book with a premise as bold as "globalization is collapsing," then he needs stronger evidence for it than, "Just trust me, dude!" As it stands though, this is so sloppy and unsupported that it almost feels like it was self-published, and not something that came out of a major publishing house like HarperCollins....more
This is one of the most depressing books I've read in a long time. I know it wasn't Thunberg, et al's intent to stun readers intotl;dr: We're screwed.
This is one of the most depressing books I've read in a long time. I know it wasn't Thunberg, et al's intent to stun readers into inaction, but after enduring this long, thorough, sometimes repetitive list of how many milestones we've already passed, how ineffectual any measures have been, and how much worse things are likely to get, it's hard to feel like there's anything that really can be done. Especially when what the book says we need to do sounds about as likely as us discovering unicorns and riding them off to another planet that isn't ruined.
According to the various voices in this book, in order to keep temperatures from rising to anything short of utterly catastrophic levels, all we need to do is: Immediately ban the production of all fossil fuel-burning vehicles. Make it illegal to advertise coal, oil, and gas. Have everyone switch to vegan diets. Lift everyone in the world out of poverty. Pay reparations to every ethnic and cultural group that's ever been exploited. Completely restructure Western society...the list goes on and on, with each entry seeming at least as implausible as the last. Doubly so, when the evidence that supposedly shows these things can work on a very abrupt and accelerated pace, is the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
I don't know how things went in Sweden, but in the US, damn near half the population didn't care one bit about acting for the common good. People couldn't even do something as simple as stay home and watch TV for a month, to try and stop the spread of a disease--do you honestly think they're just going to give up their trucks, and their hamburgers, and be fine with sending money to Uganda or whatever for reparations? Not even if houses were bursting into flames within their line of sight.
And even those of us who are trying to do what we can, can find our hands tied. Just an example from my own life: We're in the middle of a month-long drought where I live. The grass in my yard is dead, but somehow weeds were able to eke out a living of sorts. I figured there was no sense in mowing until we got some rain--particularly since there was a story a week or so ago, about a lawnmower starting a grass fire at Ford Airport in Kingsford. The weeds were at least a bit of green, and some even had flowers, so they might've provided something of a meal for pollinators during this dry time. Long story short, I got a letter in my mailbox; someone had complained to the city, and I had to cut what little there was, or face a fine. So in the end, I couldn't even make a gesture that small and innocuous to try and help the environment.
It doesn't help that, while reading this book, I can taste the smoke in the air from the wildfires in Canada, or how I keep seeing headlines about record demand for oil, or the unprecedented heat dome over Texas, or most recently, how we as a species may have pumped out so much groundwater that we've shifted the planet's freaking axis.
In the face of all that, anything I could feasibly do feels next to pointless. I'll keep doing what I can, because why not, but I'm much more pessimistic about this whole situation than I was, prior to reading this. The Climate Book is full of information about all aspects of climate change, but no solutions that feel even remotely achievable, given how much of humanity responded to the "easy mode" crisis of COVID. I'd love to be proven wrong, but I'm not holding my breath. I'll just be over here, doing what I can, and cheering for the orcas, I guess....more
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