A bewildering assortment of thoughts and half-thoughts about dozens of subjects.
A massive compendium of the author’s thoughts on society, religion, and other topics.
In this follow-up to Science, Religion, Politics, and Cards (2023), Blair presents his thoughts on a wide variety of subjects, from incidents in history to aspects of religion and spirituality. Despite the author’s attempts to broaden his focus, virtually everything in these pages remains intensely personal, oriented entirely around Blair’s own thoughts and experiences, often delivered in fragments and without any context. Long breakdowns of various religious concepts jostle against hand-drawn alternate Tarot cards and single-paragraph reviews of movies (about 2023’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Blair enigmatically writes, “Extraordinarily expressive virtually any way a person can behold it if the viewer does not feel jolted by implications”). The prose often reads oddly, as when the author describes the Oneida Colony as existing in “something like the Nineteenth Century” (it existed in the 19th century) in “something like upstate New York” (it was located in upstate New York) “an extremely long time ago” (it ended in 1875). Many of his reminiscences included here are abbreviated, incomplete, or jarringly self-incriminating. When someone asks Blair a pro forma question about what sets him apart from other people, his response is, “That is on a need-to-know basis, and you don’t need to know it at this time. If someday a situation happens such that you wind up needing to know that, then maybe you will wind up knowing it then.”
At the beginning of this book, Blair includes a note advising his readers that they need not have read its preceding volume to appreciate this present work. Although this is true in terms of continuity of content, familiarity with the first book would at least prepare the reader for the hyperactive delivery, abundance of material, and near-complete incoherence that characterize this project. The text essentially reads like an 800-page private diary, consisting mostly of transcribed notes from the author to himself. In 2010, for instance, he attends Olivia Newton-John’s keynote speech for Integrative Health in Westchester, Pennsylvania. Rather than describe the speech (or include a transcript), Blair reproduces the thoughts he recorded while listening “as an out-of-state visitor observing the proceedings, though remaining silent except for minimal small talk with attendees”; in other words, pages of jottings that are incomprehensible to anybody on Earth except for himself. The huge majority of the book is similarly circumscribed by the author’s solipsism. Some of the pages have illustrations by the author (and plenty of typos, like “I deliberately budded in”), and almost all of them are filled with telegraphic bits and pieces of nonsense or windy, aimless prose like, “However, I believe that there is potential value at times with if a human being, after killing an animal, rather than choosing to seek to fully eat that animal, chooses to leave some portion of the remains for whichever scavenger animals might happen to come along and eat that remainder of the remains.” Readers will find precious little to latch onto here.
A bewildering assortment of thoughts and half-thoughts about dozens of subjects.Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9781963470086
Page Count: 802
Publisher: Synapsid Revelations Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A frank and funny but uneven essay collection about neurodiversity.
An experimental, illustrated essay collection that questions neurotypical definitions of what is normal.
From a young age, writer and comedian Myers has been different. In addition to coping with obsessive compulsive disorder and panic attacks, she struggled to read basic social cues. During a round of seven minutes in heaven—a game in which two players spend seven minutes in a closet and are expected to kiss—Myers misread the romantic advances of her best friend and longtime crush, Marley. In Paris, she accidentally invited a sex worker to join her friends for “board games and beer,” thinking he was simply a random stranger who happened to be hitting on her. In community college, a stranger’s request for a pen spiraled her into a panic attack but resulted in a tentative friendship. When the author moved to Australia, she began taking notes on her colleagues in an effort to know them better. As the author says to her co-worker, Tabitha, “there are unspoken social contracts within a workplace that—by some miracle—everyone else already understands, and I don’t….When things Go Without Saying, they Never Get Said, and sometimes people need you to Say Those Things So They Understand What The Hell Is Going On.” At its best, Myers’ prose is vulnerable and humorous, capturing characterization in small but consequential life moments, and her illustrations beautifully complement the text. Unfortunately, the author’s tendency toward unnecessary capitalization and experimental forms is often unsuccessful, breaking the book’s otherwise steady rhythm.
A frank and funny but uneven essay collection about neurodiversity.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9780063381308
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2025
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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