by Donald R. Prothero ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2020
Prothero offers plenty of convincing proof that nonsense is nonsense.
A veteran scientist disproves a host of outlandish beliefs.
In his latest, geologist and paleontologist Prothero attacks many of the avalanche of conspiracy theories, pseudoscientific explanations of natural phenomenon, quack cures, and other mythical doctrines that have existed throughout history but have mushroomed over the past generation with the explosion of the internet and lowbrow journalism. Most readers know that some unscientific beliefs, such as UFOs and creationism, enjoy a mass audience, but the author deliver some jolts—e.g., 6% to 9% of Americans believe the Apollo moon landing might be a hoax (it’s 25% in both Britain and Russia). Many people are so gullible that parody internet sites purporting to advance ridiculous beliefs (“Christians Against Dinosaurs”) convince many. Prothero also delivers 20 pages of solid evidence that the Earth is not flat, which may be more than most readers require, and he demonstrates that it orbits the sun, is not hollow, and does not harbor advanced civilizations reachable though deep caves, perhaps beneath Mount Shasta in California. Also, Atlantis is a myth, the Earth is older than 6,000 years, bad weather does not predict earthquakes, and Noah’s flood cannot explain today’s geology. Aware of this pervasive and seemingly unending blather, most readers are unwilling to give themselves an ulcer fending it off—that stress produces ulcers is another myth. Prothero cannot resist, but he is an excellent writer, so readers will learn a great deal of science as well as the history and current status of a staggering number of absurd beliefs. His introduction and conclusion deliver an earnest case for the scientific method, although the best explication remains David Deutsch’s The Beginning of Infinity (2011), which dismisses the traditional defense (experiments, logic, impartiality, peer review) in favor of a simpler one: Science provides good explanations, not bad ones.
Prothero offers plenty of convincing proof that nonsense is nonsense. (63 b/w illustrations)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68435-061-2
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Red Lightning Books
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
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by Walter Isaacson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 12, 2023
Alternately admiring and critical, unvarnished, and a closely detailed account of a troubled innovator.
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A warts-and-all portrait of the famed techno-entrepreneur—and the warts are nearly beyond counting.
To call Elon Musk (b. 1971) “mercurial” is to undervalue the term; to call him a genius is incorrect. Instead, Musk has a gift for leveraging the genius of others in order to make things work. When they don’t, writes eminent biographer Isaacson, it’s because the notoriously headstrong Musk is so sure of himself that he charges ahead against the advice of others: “He does not like to share power.” In this sharp-edged biography, the author likens Musk to an earlier biographical subject, Steve Jobs. Given Musk’s recent political turn, born of the me-first libertarianism of the very rich, however, Henry Ford also comes to mind. What emerges clearly is that Musk, who may or may not have Asperger’s syndrome (“Empathy did not come naturally”), has nurtured several obsessions for years, apart from a passion for the letter X as both a brand and personal name. He firmly believes that “all requirements should be treated as recommendations”; that it is his destiny to make humankind a multi-planetary civilization through innovations in space travel; that government is generally an impediment and that “the thought police are gaining power”; and that “a maniacal sense of urgency” should guide his businesses. That need for speed has led to undeniable successes in beating schedules and competitors, but it has also wrought disaster: One of the most telling anecdotes in the book concerns Musk’s “demon mode” order to relocate thousands of Twitter servers from Sacramento to Portland at breakneck speed, which trashed big parts of the system for months. To judge by Isaacson’s account, that may have been by design, for Musk’s idea of creative destruction seems to mean mostly chaos.
Alternately admiring and critical, unvarnished, and a closely detailed account of a troubled innovator.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9781982181284
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
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by Judith Butler ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 19, 2024
A master class in how gender has been weaponized in support of conservative values and authoritarian regimes.
A deeply informed critique of the malicious initiatives currently using gender as a political tool to arouse fear and strengthen political and religious institutions.
In their latest book, following The Force of Nonviolence, Butler, the noted philosopher and gender studies scholar, documents and debunks the anti-gender ideology of the right, the core principle of which is that male and female are natural categories whose recognition is essential for the survival of the family, nations, and patriarchal order. Its proponents reject “sex” as a malleable category infused with prior political and cultural understandings. By turning gender into a “phantasmatic scene,” they enable those in positions of authority to deflect attention from such world-destroying forces as war, predatory capitalism, and climate change. Butler explores the ideology’s presence in the U.S., the U.K., Uganda, and Hungary, countries where legislation has limited the rights of trans and homosexual people and denied them their sexual identity. The author also delves into the ideology’s roots among Evangelicals and the Catholic Church and such political leaders as Donald Trump and Viktor Orbán. Butler is particularly bothered by trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs), who treat trans women as “male predators in disguise.” For the author, “the gap between the perceived or lived body and prevailing social norms can never be fully closed.” They imagine “a world where the many relations to being socially embodied that exist become more livable” and calls for alliances across differences and “a radical democracy informed by socialist values.” Butler compensates for the thinness of some of their recommendations with an astute dissection of the ideology’s core ideas and impressive grasp of its intellectual pretensions. This is a wonderfully thoughtful and impassioned book on a critically important centerpiece of contemporary authoritarianism and patriarchy.
A master class in how gender has been weaponized in support of conservative values and authoritarian regimes.Pub Date: March 19, 2024
ISBN: 9780374608224
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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