Doubt the Experts

My River runs to thee— Blue Sea! Wilt welcome me? My River waits reply— Oh Sea—look graciously— I'll fetch thee Brooks From spotted nook...

Having read some of de Beauvoir's fiction and memoirs, I had a few questions about her life, and this biography, by Toril Moi, was the b...

I've decided to continue reading a biography of Simone de Beauvoir that I recently started, even though I don't think that it will p...

I did end up reading From Signal to Symbol: The Evolution of Language , by Ronald J. Planer and Kim Sterelny, but overall found it too acade...

All of a sudden, we seem to be having a normal winter again. This is probably because there is currently a La Niña effect, making the temper...

Touch lightly Nature's sweet Guitar Unless thou know'st the Tune Or every Bird will point at thee Because a Bard too soon— —Emily Di...

Because I'm tired of biographies at the moment, I thought that I would instead write about how I see the current malaise that seems to b...

I had planned to begin commenting by now on a biography of Gustave Flaubert that I've been reading, but I just got sick of it and gave u...

I've sort of been waiting for the election season to end. But now it looks as if we're going to be hearing about politics nonstop fo...

I came across  this article , by Luke Glowacki, in 3 Quarks Daily . It is an unusually academic article for them to post, but I read it with...

I've started on a longer biography but haven't made much progress in it so far. There are more distractions than usual this year, an...

The fall colors are intensifying now, and it looks as if they may almost be peaking in the mountains. I think this is the best time of year ...

We do not know the time we lose— The awful moment is And takes its fundamental place Among the certainties— A firm appearance still inflates...

I haven't been doing much of anything for the last few days or had much to say. I do have another book to read but haven't started i...

This 2023 biography of George Eliot, by Clare Carlisle, was recommended to me by a reader. Reading it was like a walk down memory lane, beca...

I've been reading some new and old poetry for the last few days but haven't found anything that I like. The new poetry generally see...

This essay, by Ian Tattersall, from Rethinking Human Evolution , is probably the last I'll discuss from the book. Like the other essays,...

This short essay, by John de Vos and Jelle W.F. Reumer, is another from the book I'm reading. I found it interesting and will just sum i...

This is a short essay by Claudine Cohen in Rethinking Human Evolution , edited by Jeffrey H. Schwartz, which is part of a series in theoreti...

I've been distracted by some minor inconveniences for a few days. The remains of Hurricane Debby came through here on August 9, with win...

This is a new book by Anne Applebaum, the journalist. Politics isn't one of my favorite subjects, but global politics have become so com...

With all of the recent political developments, I thought I'd comment on the election again. In my opinion, it's a good thing that Bi...

I seem to be past the point when I was interested in finding a better place to live. After I graduated from college in 1972, I stayed tempor...

I've officially entered my summer doldrums and don't feel like reading much now. At this moment, I don't have many tasks to comp...