Monday, April 21, 2025

The 2023 & 2024 Book List

The 2023 & 2024 Book List

  1. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
  2. Helgoland by Carlo Rovelli
  3. Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy by David Chalmers
  4. Is Math Real?: How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics' Deepest Truths by Eugenia Chang
  5. 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones & others
  6. Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of the Nation by Heather Cox Richardson
  7. Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer's Enduring Message to America by Keisha A. Blain
  8. Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things by Adam Grant
  9. How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen by David Brooks
  10. Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly
  11. The Great School Rethink by Frederick M. Hess
  12. Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg
  13. Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will by Robert M. Sapolsky
  14. Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud by Ben McKenzie & Jacob Silverman
  15. Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman by James Gleick
  16. The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another by Ainissa Ramirez
  17. The Downloaded by Robert J. Sawyer
  18. Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
  19. Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
  20. The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism by Tim Alberta
  21. Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (And Why That's a Good Thing) by Salman Khan 
  22. Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller
  23. Jellyfish Age Backwards: Nature's Secrets to Longevity by Nicklas Brendborg
  24. Aurora's End by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
  25. Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It by Richard Reeves
  26. The Smartest Kids in the World (And How They Got That Way) by Amanda Ripley
  27. The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution's Original Meaning by A.J. Jacobs
  28. Hacking Project Based Learning: 10 Easy Steps to PBL and Inquiry in the Classroom by Ross Cooper & Erin Murphy
  29. We Are Electric: Inside the 200-Year Hunt for Our Body's Bioelectric Code, and What the Future Holds by Sally Adee
  30. Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom (New Expanded 2nd Edition) by Sylvia Libow Martinez and Gary Stager, PhD
  31. A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas by National Research Council of the National Academies
  32. American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
  33. The Learning Brain (The Great Courses) by Prof. Thad A. Polk
  34. The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security by Scott Galloway
  35. Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning by Liz Cheney
  36. The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, form the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement by Sharon McMahon
  37. Learning That Sticks: A Brain-Based Model for K-12 Instructional Design and Delivery by Bryan Goodwin with Tonia Gibson and Kristin Rouleau
  38. The BSCS 5E Instructional Model: Creating Teachable Moments by Rodger W. Bybee
  39. Black, Brown, Bruised: How Racialized STEM Education Stifles Innovation by Ebony Omotola McGee
  40. 2018 Annual Perspectives in Mathematics Education: Rehumanizing Mathematics for Black, Indigenous, and Latinx Students by National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
  41. Universal Design for Learning Science: Reframing Elementary Instruction in Physical Science by Deborah Hanuscin and Delinda van Garderen
Breakdown

Format:
  • Audiobooks: 29
  • Electronic: 6
    • Kindle: 6
  • Dead tree books: 12
Subjects:
  • Total Fiction: 5
    • Science Fiction: 4
    • Fantasy: 1
    • Non-Fiction: 36
      • Science: 16
        • Physics: 5
        • Psychology: 8
        • Biology: 3
        • Technology: 3
      • Mathematics: 1
      • Philosophy: 2
      • History/Politics: 12
      • Economics: 3
      • Education: 14
      • Game Design: 

    Podcasts

    In addition to listening to audiobooks, my intake of thinking consists enough of podcasts that it seems worth including them as a category. Here are the podcasts that I have listened to in 2021 on a fairly regular basis:
    • You Are Not So Smart
    • Making Sense with Sam Harris
    • The Glenn Loury Show
    • Talk Nerdy with Cara Santa Maria
    • Armchair Expert
    • Very Bad Wizards
    • Advisory Opinions
    • The Lawfare Podcast
    • Rational Security
    • The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg
    • Left, Right, and Center
    • Today, Explained
    The History

    And for anyone who is interested in looking into the past to see some of my previous book lists...
    Prior to 2008, I didn't keep a precise running record of the books that I read.
    Spewed forth from the mind of azjauthor at 9:06 AM 0 comments

    Monday, August 07, 2023

    Star Trek Adventures: Captain's Log Solo RPG

    I've just recently acquired the new Star Trek Adventures solo RPG Captain's Log from Modiphius Entertainment. This is a roleplaying game that contains a streamlined set of rules from the full Star Trek Adventures RPG (which I blogged about during the playtest and when it came out here, here, and here) and directions on how to run yourself through solo adventures.

    How does a solo roleplaying game work? Basically the book contains a series of tables that you roll on to generate the initial incident and theme of the adventure, an advantage or disadvantage that's in place at the beginning, and then the first encounter that is taking place.

    The game can be played in any of the eras of Star Trek, with cover variants for TOS, TNG, DS9, and even the distant future from Discovery. The books are the same, from what I can gather, but the covers are different. 


    I decided to start my character during the original series era, year 2269, as a tellarite ensign in the science division, and then to generate the character as needed throughout play of the game. This is also outlined in the book, along with rules for designing the ship. I'm crew on the U.S.S. Asimov, an Oberth-class science vessel.

    For my first adventure, here's what I rolled up:

    Mission Type: Diplomacy - Negotiate Release of Political Prisoner

    Incident: Retrieve 

    Theme: Nest (Energy-based)

    Advantage: Second Wind

    Encounter: Uninhabited Planet - Port for Smugglers

    Prisoner: Tholian scholar from a mining colony, seeking to stop an event using extortion, with an interest in the Federation

    Jailer to Negotiate with: Edosian engineer from a busy colony, with a leadership role, who wants to earn someone's love by revealing secrets, and is blase toward the Federation.

    Energy-based lifeform: Patient attitude, feeds on chroniton energy, Cnidarian (jellyfish), mycelial network

    Smugglers: Caitian

    The adventure then begins. You start with an introductory log entry, and then progress through a variety of scenes. The adventure consists of three acts of about 5 scenes each, with a supplemental log entry written at each act change, and then the conclusion. Here's the result ...

    Act 1: Personal Log - I have just received my first mission since assigned to the U.S.S. Asimov. We were exploring the Brigellan Sector, but have been diverted from our scans to negotiate the release of a political prisoner ... a Tholian. Lieutenant Commander Jakes is in command, of course, but we are meeting on an M-Class world that's a rogue planet, drifting far away from any stars. He wants a science officer along to maintain scans to identify any unusual properties. The Asimov itself must stay a way back from the planet, until we have completed the negotiations.

    Act 2: Personal Log, supplemental - Lt. Cmdr. Jakes is unconscious and I'm in command of the mission now. As bad as that sounds, it's so much worse. We handled negotiation with the Edosian Ry-Lar easily enough, but then my tricorder reported strange energy readings ... just in time for a group of Caitian smugglers to attack us. Jakes was taken out early on, but I was able to stun the Caitians. The Tholian got spooked during the battle and ran for our shuttle to get out of here. Then the entire area became irradiated by chroniton radiation. Ry-Lar and I pulled Jakes and the Caitians into some nearby ruins that provided sufficient shielding. We are safe, for the moment, from the chronitons, though they are interfering with communications. I've been able to awaken the Caitians and negotiate a truce until we get to safety. Unfortunately, though, the chroniton readings are showing that a mycelial network throughout the planet is absorbing the radiation and growing ... as if the planet itself were an egg that were hatching. We need to find a way to get to the Ray-Lar's ship and launch. 

    Act 3: Personal Log, supplemental - We've made it to Ray-Lar's ship and launched, just as the planet was dissolving around us. The planet is home to energy beings and, as they consume the planet, they are converting it into chronitons for nourishment. The good news is we're in the air. And our sensors have located the stolen shuttlecraft. Unfortunately, it's also shown that the shuttlecraft is currently being chasen by what I can only assume is this nest's hen ... a giant energy being.

    Conclusion: Personal Log, supplemental - We were able to get free of the chronitons and call the Asimov, which arrived in time to pull the shuttlecraft away from the energy being with its tractor beam. We were also able to dock, and get shields up just as the creature attacked. Jakes is in medbay, but will recover. The Caitians revealed that they had some chroniton-based explosives among their smuggled goods, which is likely what began releasing chronitons and triggered the creatures out of dormancy. We were able to shoot it with a modulated pulse, and the release of chronitons distracted both the parent and babies, giving us enough time to get free of the rogue planet. We then let Ry-Lar go, dropped the Caitians off at a nearby starbase, and took the Tholian to rendezvous with another ship. Everyone safe. A very successful first mission.

    Career Events:

    • Required to take command
    • Discovered an artifact
    • Encountered truly alien being

    Spewed forth from the mind of azjauthor at 8:47 PM 0 comments

    Friday, December 31, 2021

    The 2021 Book List

    The 2021 Book List

    Been a crazy year, marked with some health problems. Oddly enough, spending so much of the year bedridden and immobile has seemed to have a negative impact on my ability to focus on reading. My intake of audiobooks has drastically dropped off, as I've been listening a lot more to podcasts over the last couple of years. 
    1. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson (finished from 2020)
    2. No Country for Old Gnomes by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne (finished from 2020)
    3. Dark Convergence by Dave Gross
    4. Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker
    5. The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another by Ainissa Ramirez
    6. The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson
    7. The Teacher Wars by Dana Goldstein
    8. Think Like a Game Designer by Justin Gary
    9. The White Box Essays by Jeremy Holcomb
    10. Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman
    11. You Look Like a Thing and I Love You: How Artificial Intelligence Works and Why It's Making the World a Weirder Place by Janelle Shane
    12. The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal (reread)
    13. The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal
    Breakdown

    Format:
    • Audiobooks: 5
    • Electronic: 2
      • Kindle: 2
    • Dead tree books: 6
    Subjects:
    • Total Fiction: 4
      • Science Fiction: 2
      • Fantasy: 2
      • Non-Fiction: 9
        • Science: 4 
          • Physics: 1
          • Psychology: 2
          • Biology: 1
          • Technology: 1
        • History: 6
        • Education: 1
        • Game Design: 2

      Podcasts

      In addition to listening to audiobooks, my intake of thinking consists enough of podcasts that it seems worth including them as a category. Here are the podcasts that I have listened to in 2021 on a fairly regular basis:
      • You Are Not So Smart
      • Making Sense with Sam Harris
      • The Glenn Loury Show
      • Talk Nerdy with Cara Santa Maria
      • Very Bad Wizards
      • Advisory Opinions
      • The Lawfare Podcast
      • Rational Security
      • The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg
      • Left, Right, and Center
      • Today, Explained
      • The Weeds
      The History

      And for anyone who is interested in looking into the past to see some of my previous book lists...
      Prior to 2008, I didn't keep a precise running record of the books that I read.
      Spewed forth from the mind of azjauthor at 12:30 PM 0 comments
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      Friday, January 01, 2021

      The 2020 Book List

      The 2020 Book List

      Well, that's a crazy year in the record books ... and, speaking of books, here's the list of books I read this year. Ironically, everyone being locked at home meant that generally I did less reading than normal. Fewer audiobooks because there was no commuting, for example, but also even just in terms of having free time to read, I found I had less, because so many activities were cancelled, there was a lot more family together time and less time where I had blocks to just sit down and read without someone else coming along to interrupt.
      1. Exhalation by Ted Chiang
      2. God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World -- and Why Their Differences Matter by Stephen Prothero
      3. For the Killing of Kings by Howard Andrew Jones
      4. Upon the Flight of the Queen by Howard Andrew Jones
      5. Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim
      6. Kill the Farm Boy by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne
      7. An Economic History of the World since 1400 by Donald J. Harreld (Great Courses)
      8. The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revoluion by Francis Fukuyama
      9. Law School for Everyone by Molly Bishop Shadel (Great Courses)
      10. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Others Don't by Jim Collins
      11. Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi
      12. A Game of Birds and Wolves: The Ingenious Young Women Whose Secret Board Game Helped Win World War II by Simon Parkin
      13. The New Testament by Bart Ehrman (Great Courses)
      14. Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi
      15. The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli
      16. Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes by Maria Konnikova
      17. Making Sense: Conversations on Consciousness, Morality, and the Future of Humanity by Sam Harris & others
      18. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
      19. Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
      20. The ABCs of Educational Testing: Demystifying the Tools That Shape Our Schools by W. James Popham
      21. Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
      22. Unravel the Dusk by Elizabeth Lim
      23. Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie
      24. A Promised Land by Barack Obama
      25. The Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman
      26. The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths by Mariana Mazzucato
      27. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson (unfinished)
      28. No Country for Old Gnomes by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne (unfinished)
      Breakdown

      Format:
      • Audiobooks: 13
      • Electronic: 3
        • Kindle: 3
      • Dead tree books: 12
      Subjects:
      • Total Fiction: 13
        • Science Fiction: 3
        • Fantasy: 10
        • Non-Fiction: 15
          • Science: 2
            • Physics: 2
            • Psychology: 2
            • Technology: 1
          • Religion: 2
          • History: 5
          • Politics/Law: 4
          • Business/Economics: 4
          • Education: 1
          • Philosophy: 1
        These numbers don't quite match up, because some books cover multiple areas, and so I've included them in all relevant categories. So, for example, a book on free will would fall in both Psychology and Philosophy (and possibly even Religion) categories. And a book on Politics might drift enough into the realm of Philosophy (or vice versa) that I count them as both, or both might explore enough historical groundwork that I feel the need to include it as a History book.

        I've also included The Great Courses audios that I listen to through Audible.com. Though not actually books, I figure that a 10+ hour course on a subject contains about the same informational content, if not presented structurally in quite the same way as it would take in a written book.

        Podcasts

        In addition to listening to audiobooks, my intake of thinking consists enough of podcasts that it seems worth including them as a category. Here are the podcasts that I have listened to in 2018 on a fairly regular basis:
        • You Are Not So Smart
        • Making Sense with Sam Harris
        • The Glenn Show
        • Talk Nerdy with Cara Santa Maria
        • Very Bad Wizards
        • What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law
        • The Lawfare Podcast
        • Rational Security
        • The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg
        • Advisory Opinions
        • Left, Right, and Center
        • All the President's Lawyers
        • Today, Explained
        • The Weeds
        • Stuff to Blow Your Mind
        The History

        And for anyone who is interested in looking into the past to see some of my previous book lists...
        Prior to 2008, I didn't keep a precise running record of the books that I read.
        Spewed forth from the mind of azjauthor at 5:12 AM 0 comments
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        Tuesday, December 31, 2019

        2019 Book List

        The 2019 Book List

        In 2018, I initiated a plan to not read any of my "default" authors (white heterosexual males, which were by far the bulk of my reading library). I called this "Don't read white (males) after Labor Day." So up through Labor Day this year, I was specifically focusing on reading minority or female authors. During that period, I'm listing what I can tell of the identity of the author. (If you're paying attention, then you'll be able to tell this means that once I hit Labor Day in 2019, I only got through 4 books for the remainder of the year. It was a busy fall!)
        1. Becoming by Michelle Obama (African-American female)
        2. Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (African-American male)
        3. Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (African-American male)
        4. Children of Bone and Blood by Tomi Adeyemi (Nigerian female)
        5. The Soul of Yellow Folks by Wesley Yang (Korean-American male)
        6. Infidel: My Life by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Somali-born Dutch-American female)
        7. Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Somali-born Dutch-American female)
        8. Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Somali-born Dutch-American female)
        9. Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire Our World by Michele Gelfand (female)
        10. Radical: My Journey Out of Islamist Extremism by Maajid Nawaz (British Muslim)
        11. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
        12. Report On the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election (Vol I & II) by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller, III
        13. Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi (female)
        14. Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars by Nathalia Holt (female)
        15. A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic, Book 1) by V.E. Schwab (female)
        16. A Gathering of Shadows(Shades of Magic, Book 2) by V.E. Schwab (female)
        17. Aru Shah and the Song of Death by Roshani Chokshi (female)
        18. The Oppenheimer Alternative by Robert J. Sawyer
        19. A Conjuring of Light (Shades of Magic, Book 3) by V.E. Schwab
        20. Call Me God: The Untold Story of the DC Sniper Investigation by Jim Clemente, Tim Clemente, and Peter McDonnell 
        21. This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar 

        Breakdown

        Format:
        • Audiobooks: 15
        • Electronic: 1
          • Kindle: 1
        • Dead tree books: 5
        Subjects:
        • Total Fiction: 9
          • Science Fiction: 2
          • Fantasy: 7
          • Non-Fiction: 12
            • Science: 2
              • Psychology: 1
              • Technology: 1
            • Religion: 3
            • History: 11
            • Politics: 10
            • Business/Economics: 2
            • Philosophy: 3
          These numbers don't quite match up, because some books cover multiple areas, and so I've included them in all relevant categories. So, for example, a book on free will would fall in both Psychology and Philosophy (and possibly even Religion) categories. And a book on Politics might drift enough into the realm of Philosophy (or vice versa) that I count them as both, or both might explore enough historical groundwork that I feel the need to include it as a History book.

          Similarly, some books I read using Whispersynch-for-Voice to jump between the Amazon Kindle and Audible audiobook versions of the books, so they got double-counted in the format section if I read them in both formats. I've also included The Great Courses audios that I listen to through Audible.com. Though not actually books, I figure that a 10+ hour course on a subject contains about the same informational content, if not presented structurally in quite the same way as it would take in a written book.

          Podcasts

          In addition to listening to audiobooks, my intake of thinking consists enough of podcasts that it seems worth including them as a category. Here are the podcasts that I have listened to in 2018 on a fairly regular basis:
          • Writing Excuses
          • You Are Not So Smart
          • Waking Up Podcast with Sam Harris
          • History of Philosophy
          • History of Africana Philosophy
          • The Glenn Show
          • Talk Nerdy with Cara Santa Maria
          • Very Bad Wizards
          • What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law
          • The Lawfare Podcast
          • The Cyberlaw Podcast
          • Rational Security
          • The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg
          • Today, Explained
          • The Weeds
          • The Phil Ferguson Show
          • Hidden Brain
          • Stuff to Blow Your Mind
          The History

          And for anyone who is interested in looking into the past to see some of my previous book lists...
          Prior to 2008, I didn't keep a precise running record of the books that I read.
          Spewed forth from the mind of azjauthor at 4:41 PM 0 comments
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          Tuesday, January 01, 2019

          2018 Book List

          The 2018 Book List
          1. Ones and Zeroes by Dan Wells
          2. Children of the Divide by Patrick S. Tomlinson
          3. The Obstacle is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday
          4. The Higgs Boson and Beyond by Sean Carroll (The Great Courses)
          5. The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World by Bart Ehrman
          6. Republic, Lost: Version 2.0 by Lawrence Lessig
          7. The Square and the Tower: Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook by Niall Ferguson
          8. A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership by James Comey
          9. The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant
          10. Why Honor Matters by Tamler Sommers
          11. Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics is Destroying American Democracy by Jonah Goldberg
          12. NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity by Steve Silberman
          13. The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe
          14. Burn Me Deadly by Alex Bledsoe
          15. Dark Jenny by Alex Bledsoe
          16. Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility by James. P. Carse
          17. The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord (black Barbadian woman)
          18. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (African-American woman)
          19. I Should Have Honor: A Memoir of Hope and Pride in Pakistan by Khalida Brohi (Pakistani Muslim woman)
          20. All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders (caucasian transgender woman)
          21. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (caucasian lesbian woman)
          22. A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (caucasian lesbian woman)
          23. A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray (caucasian woman)
          24. Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray (caucasian woman)
          25. A Million Worlds with You by Claudia Gray (caucasian woman)

          Breakdown

          Format:
          • Audiobooks: 16
            • Audio courses: 1
          • Kindle: 5
          • Dead tree books: 7
          Subjects:
          • Total Fiction: 13
            • Science Fiction: 8
            • Fantasy: 5
            • Non-Fiction: 12
              • Science: 3
                • Physics: 1
                • Psychology: 2
              • Religion: 2
              • History: 5
              • Politics: 7
              • Business/Economics: 1
              • Philosophy: 5
            These numbers don't quite match up, because some books cover multiple areas, and so I've included them in all relevant categories. So, for example, a book on free will would fall in both Psychology and Philosophy (and possibly even Religion) categories. And a book on Politics might drift enough into the realm of Philsophy (or vice versa) that I count them as both, or both might explore enough historical groundwork that I feel the need to include it as a History book.

            Similarly, some books I read using Whispersynch-for-Voice to jump between the Amazon Kindle and Audible audiobook versions of the books, so they got double-counted in the format section if I read them in both formats. I've also included The Great Courses audios that I listen to through Audible.com. Though not actually books, I figure that a 10+ hour course on a subject contains about the same informational content, if not presented structurally in quite the same way as it would take in a written book.

            Podcasts

            In addition to listening to audiobooks, my intake of thinking consists enough of podcasts that it seems worth including them as a category. Here are the podcasts that I have listened to in 2018 on a fairly regular basis:

            • Writing Excuses
            • You Are Not So Smart
            • Waking Up Podcast with Sam Harris
            • History of Philosophy
            • History of Africana Philosophy
            • Talk Nerdy with Cara Santa Maria
            • Very Bad Wizards
            • What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law
            • The Lawfare Podcast
            • The Cyberlaw Podcast
            • Rational Security
            • The Phil Ferguson Show
            • Hidden Brain
            • Stuff You Should Know
            • Stuff to Blow Your Mind
            The History

            And for anyone who is interested in looking into the past to see some of my previous book lists...
            Prior to 2008, I didn't keep a precise running record of the books that I read.
            Spewed forth from the mind of azjauthor at 3:57 PM 0 comments
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            Monday, September 03, 2018

            Initial Thoughts and Reflections: Suicide of the West by Jonah Goldberg

            Regardless of political affiliation or inclination, I sincerely wish that we could have a national book club where everyone was encouraged to read Jonah Goldberg's Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics is Destroying American Democracy.

            It took me the better part of the summer to get through it. This is not because of any flaw in the book, nor is it difficult to get through on any level. It's actively engaging and entertaining, in fact, despite the serious subject matter. No, the delay is entirely on me. First, I am busy. Second, and probably more importantly, the book was one that I definitely wanted to deeply engage with. Therefore, rather than getting the book on Audible and listening to it, I actually wanted to read the book, with a notebook near me for writing down quotes or thoughts and observations as I went.

            Aside: This is definitely not a slam on audiobooks. I dearly love the format, and find it a great way to engage with a lot of my information intake these days ... but since I specifically listen to audiobooks when doing other things, it does not facilitate careful notetaking and reflection on the subject matter in the way that reading can. Reflection while reading is automatic, because you must consciously proceed to follow the author's flow of words, and the internal voice takes precedent. Reflection while listening, on the other hand, requires the active step of pausing the flow of the author's words (or ignoring their continued flow, at least) in order to reflect on your reaction to them. For comparison, while I very interested to read James Comey's Higher Loyalty, I felt no need to take careful notes on it, so an audiobook was a perfectly appropriate format ... and I finished it in a couple of days of listening, as I drove around town, did laundry, etc. Nor, for that matter, did I find 
            I imagine that there is a world in which I would have read Suicide of the West and been very convinced that the biases and assumptions with which President Hillary Clinton is running America are probably dangerous and troubling. I dearly wish that we lived in such a world.

            Goldberg's central thesis is focused on portraying admiration for something he refers to as "the Miracle" - which is, generally speaking, the Enlightenment and the subsequent growth of plurality, secular society, democracy, and capitalism - and expressing the concern that the tribalism, populism, nationalism, and identity politics of the title put those features of our society at risk.

            Goldberg began work on the book prior to the 2016 election, so the transformation in his understanding of the thesis as he watched his own conservative party get taken over by a form of rampant nationalist populism is intriguing to witness. The book is a coherent, well-edited whole, so you don't see the gradual transformation take place as you move from page 1 to the final page, while Goldberg realizes that his own house is far from in order. No, instead, the tone throughout consistently recognizes that everyone is subject to these foibles of human nature.

            Despite the fact that I no doubt am much more willing to give the state a free hand in trying to help people out than Goldberg is inclined to, I found very little in his criticism of this approach - or, indeed, in most of the arguments in his book - to take issue with. For the issues he brings up, if our concerns were placed a scale of 1 to 10, I'd imagine that in general we'd be off by a point or two here or there.

            Intriguingly, one of the claims that he makes that I most took issue with was the following quote:
            Indeed, as much as I hold Trump in contempt, I am still compelled to admit that, if my vote would have decided the election, I probably would have voted for him.
            I am certainly not disagreeing that this is how Goldberg would have felt compelled, but given his own arguments, I am definitely disagreeing that this is how he should have felt compelled.  Even given all of his concerns about the statism and over-reliance on regulation embodied by the Obama administration, which would certainly have continued under a Clinton administration, by his own metrics there should not have been no contest that Clinton was the better choice.

            There are a ton of arguments that I could make why Clinton wasn't as big a danger to America's values and "the Miracle" as Trump is, but let's focus on Goldberg's own points here.

            At one point, he quotes some of Clinton's comments, such saying that Islam has "nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism," pointing out that she "painted with a broad brush in a single color and so did Trump." But there are two differences here, and both are ones that Goldberg is trying to highlight and then ignoring in the case of Clinton.

            First is the nature of the "broad brush in a single color" being used. Clinton's comment is made in an attempt to demonstrate respect to good Muslim people, and to re-affirm (if incorrectly) that American society has a place for them and that Americans would to well to welcome and embrace them as a whole. This is 100% in accord with the arguments that Goldberg himself makes throughout the book.

            Trump's comments about Mexico sending us their rapists and banning all Muslims, on the other hand, paints "with a broad brush in a single color" that is specifically at odds with the very American values that Goldberg is admirably defending.

            Second is what this rhetoric covers up. Here, admittedly, Goldberg may well disagree with me, but I see absolutely no reason to believe that Clinton doesn't know that she was painting with a broad brush in a single color. Yes, she was making a rhetorically excessive statement in support of a higher principle (inclusiveness for peaceful Muslims), but in practice is there any reason to believe that this would inhibit her ability to implement security procedures when acting as President of the United States? Is Goldberg suggesting that she does not actually understand that there is a connection between Islam and terrorism that has to be considered by the intelligence and security communities?

            Trump, on the other hand, seems to believe his rhetorical excesses about Muslims to quite a significant degree ... both in the moment he's making them, and when called out on them. There's nothing in his subsequent comments to really make it clear that he understands the differences between Islam and terrorism, or between dangerous and peaceful illegal immigrants for that matter.

            Toward the end of the book Goldberg identifies the key elements of conservatism as twofold: Ideas matter and character matters. As flawed as Hillary's ideas and character may have been, on both of these accounts that Goldberg clearly values, she has to be held up as superior to Trump. Indeed, of the two candidates, by this metric (and many others) she was actually more fundamentally conservative than Trump actually was (or is).

            All of this, of course, is to parse hairs over inconsequential differences. Goldberg's book, even when I disagreed with it, forced me to be far more critical of my assumptions and how different rhetoric that sounds good resonates through our society. Hell, he even convinced me that if I were to watch one of my favorite movies as a teenager, Dead Poet's Society, I would probably find that it is no longer appealing to my adult sensibilities.

            And being forced to confront the flaws of one's own assumptions is, I think, the best that one can ever expect to get from a book.
            Spewed forth from the mind of azjauthor at 12:06 PM 0 comments
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