Doubt the Experts

I just finished this new book by Sabine Hossenfelder. It has similarities to her last book, Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray , ...

Since I don't do "light summer reading," I am reading almost nothing at the moment and am beginning to accumulate some books f...

I've been watching with some interest the news coverage of the shooting in Highland Park, since I used to live there not far from the pa...

Recently, I temporarily switched from reading accessible nonfiction books that are popular among educated readers to newly-published books i...

My Lord, I loved strawberry jam And the dark sweetness of a woman's body. Also well-chilled vodka, herring in olive oil, Scents, of cinn...

I've finished reading this new book by Jennifer C. French, an archaeologist, and will sum up my reactions. The text is academic in style...

I am in my usual spring mode and haven't had anything to say that is suitable for public discussion. As always, the weather is fantastic...

This is a new book by two astronomers, Donald Goldsmith and Martin Rees, in which the past and future of the exploration of the solar system...

I'm behind on my posts because I haven't had much to say. The arrival of spring always prompts changes in my daily activities. I spe...

I had hoped to start another book by now, but the one I ordered is new and isn't currently available. I am still thinking about Vinod Go...

I've finished the book and overall find it to be quite good. I'll just sum up my reaction to the last few chapters. One of the chapt...

This is not a particularly long book, but I am reading it in short segments because it is written primarily for academics, and I've neve...

While, so far, I am broadly in agreement with Goel's model, I am not particularly enjoying the presentation, which includes a fairly det...

I'm now underway on this new book by Vinod Goel, and will be discussing it for a few weeks. Goel is a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscienc...

I am currently going through another rethink on what to read and discuss on this blog. In the absence of any feedback, I am inclined to just...

When I began this blog eight years ago, the impetus was my frustration with online publications and Internet discussion generally. I had not...

We're having a more normal Vermont winter this year, which is what I prefer. If there isn't at least a foot of snow on the ground an...

When Voltaire's reputation in Geneva declined among the patricians, he moved out permanently from Les Délices. Ferney became his primary...

Voltaire stayed with Émilie du Châtelet for several more years, but kept Marie Louise Denis as a backup. The latter was about eighteen years...

I am plugging away slowly, as usual, and am about halfway through the book. Voltaire had such an active public life that it becomes exhausti...