Blogroll

Book Review: How Music Works by John Powell

If there’s one thing that can be said about music, it’s that as much as we may love it we generally don’t want to think about it. After all, music speaks to the emotions, not logic. That’s why if you ask someone about the music they like, you will get a list of genres or […]

2010 in books — by the numbers

2010 was a record year in one respect. I read more books this year than in any one year since I started keeping a book diary in 1976. This year’s total was 127, quite a bit higher than the 111 from last year, the previous record. I attribute the number to 2010 being the first […]

My Best in Books 2010

As usual, I’m posting my favorite books of the year at year-end. Given that I tend to do a lot of reading over the holidays, I fear that if I do it too early there’s a chance I’ll miss THE book. That didn’t happen this year. In fact, I wasn’t really overwhelmed by anything this […]

Book Review: The Atheist’s Guide to Christmas

It may now be as customary as carols, eggnog or nativity scenes. Odds are that each November and December there will a fracas over whether there is a “war on Christmas.” No doubt, those who contend Christmas is under attack by liberals, secular humanists or what have you will say “we told you so” if […]

Book Review: A Kidnapping in Milan by Steve Hendricks

George Orwell said they defend the indefensible. According to George Carlin, they “conceal reality.” Both reasons can explain how euphemisms have come to pervade modern media and be increasingly relied upon in government and politics. The so-called war on terror has generated plenty of them, from “regime change” to “enhanced interrogation techniques.” Yet one of […]