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Book Review: Speaking Freely (2005)

Floyd Abrams earned his reputation as one of this country’s leading First Amendment lawyers in the trenches as a trial lawyer. His Speaking Freely: Trials of the First Amendment is a welcome addition to the history of First Amendment law.

Abrams takes the reader inside his involvement with seven particular cases — including ones he […]

Book Review: Lies, Inc. (2004)

I am a Philip K. Dick fan. I think his induction this year into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame was long overdue. That said, Lies, Inc. has value only in allowing you to see in one book both standard Dick and the author at his worst.

During a time period in which he was […]

Accelerando to use Creative Commons license

Reportedly, the latest novel from Charles Stross is not only more of his somewhat unique approach to SF, it uses a different copyright approach. Accelerando is comprised of a short story sequence dealing with a couple generations of a family that gives away ideas for a living. In addition to normal book sales, Stross also […]

The “most harmful” books

Human Events magazine (which bills itself as “The National Conservative Weekly”) asked 15 “conservative scholars and public policy leaders” to list The Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Century. Not suprisingly, Marx, Hitler and Mao took the top three positions. But also making appearances were The Kinsey Report< (“designed to give a [...]

Book Review: The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana (2005)

Umberto Eco is one of those authors who frustrates me. I truly enjoyed The Name of the Rose and Foucault’s Pendulum as much, if not more. On the other hand, I gave up on Baudolino after about 100 pages. I did not give up on Eco’s new work, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, but […]