Trevor

More narrative than analysis

Revisado: 11-25-21

Good narrator, easy to follow.

The content differed slightly from what I expected, profiling three modern women in white nationalism, rather than focusing just on women’s involvement overall. It personalizes their stories at the expense of more meticulous research, which I think is a fair approach to this work.

The book heavily references social media activities and points out a number of alt-right code phrases and behaviors which I feel are already fairly obvious to most people. While there’s not a lot of new insight, it’s useful in constructing the narrative of these women during the last few years; perhaps I’m just sick of seeing Tweets and posts in the news.

It’s not perfect, but the book is well-documented and provides a useful summary of the feminine aspects of hate movements, bundled in a thoughtful narrative.

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Rich white lady stories

Revisado: 09-21-21

I wanted a title by a female author that wasn’t a report or a history, and the title of this book was ambiguous enough to hook me. Unfortunately, wading into it produced more of a sense of exasperation than excitement.

This book is a string of typically no more than five-minute think pieces/diary entries. Common themes include the author’s wealth, family events, feminism, vacations, love of art, and various expressions of discomfort about said wealth and privilege. The narration seemed appropriate to what I envision the author sounding like when reading the pieces aloud, though that’s not necessarily a positive.

It’s basically a rich white lady writing about how she’s indifferent to her supposedly newfound wealth, obtusely claiming artistic purity in her outlook on life and attempting to depict her circumstances in a somewhat ironic light. She occasionally weaves a novel thought into the stories, but usually they come across as overdrawn attempts at profundity, and in my view are cheapened as a result. She even claims near the end that she wrote the book to “reclaim my time” by making enough from it to not have to work as much at her job as a university assistant professor.

I assume people who enjoy this book might also enjoy shows like Emily in Paris and other content centered around female wealth, whiteness, independence, and some level of cognitive dissonance between perception and reality. I tried this book to experience something different, and am now motivated to go back to reports, exposés, and other works I see as less pretentious.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Engaging critique of the court’s methods

Revisado: 12-09-18

This book usually reads more like an investigative exposé into the inner workings of the Supreme Court and its less-than-ideal members. The author lays out a case for how the Court has subverted the overall democratic process starting around the ruling of Roe and continuing into the present, albeit now under the sway of a different political party. He deftly points out the hypocrisy of many of the Justices responsible for these shifts, as well as the consequences of the court being transformed into just another political branch.

Naturally, the book itself is required to make a number of judgments about the Court’s motives. Readers may not always agree with the logic presented by the author, but most will find it worthwhile to hear the entire argument against judicial activism and the detrimental effects it has caused within the past few decades.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Interesting if you haven't considered the premise

Revisado: 12-26-16

This book covered some interesting topics that most authors do not touch, but after digging deeper into the text you start to realize that the basic ideas here seem intuitive to an unnerving degree. Most of this premise can be summarized as follows: you should care about others up to the point of feeling their pain. If this idea interests you, you will find the parts of this book you haven't already considered to be quite engaging.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Methodically gripping narrative

Revisado: 04-08-16

One of the most gruesome, thought-provoking and subtly beautiful short novels I've encountered. The book contrasts themes of darkness, desperation and human depravity with the unconditional love between a scarred father and his innocent son effortlessly. Delivered by a compelling narrator who expresses the story with muted sincerity, this is a work you'll probably finish before realizing how far you came.

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Interesting sometimes, but mostly tedious

Revisado: 04-03-16

Shermer discusses some intriguing psychological concepts regarding belief as a behavior, but I felt he spent far more time describing general ideas than necessary, often due to the book's underdefined scope. Combined with his bland presentation style, I had a difficult time staying engaged with the book for any extended period of time.

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Practical yet profound

Revisado: 07-06-15

I don't consider myself to be a particularly spiritual person, even after listening to this book. Yet Sam Harris still managed to open my eyes to the real, transcendent feelings my mind is capable of experiencing, and has intrigued me to pursue some of these practices for the tangible benefits that even I have experienced to a small degree. Whether you are enraptured by the idea of spiritual transcendence or dismiss the concept entirely, this book will teach you amazing things about ethics, the mind and its capacity for what we call spirituality, all in the engaging speaking style for which Harris is known.

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