Everything you wanted to know about 1st Century Palestine, but were afraid to ask…
The New Testament in Its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature, and Theology of the First Christians
By: N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird
Published: 2019
992 Pages
Briefly, what is this book about?
An deep dive on the New Testament covering (as the subtitle suggests) the history: Second Temple Judaism against a Greco-Roman background; the literature: the New Testament’s genesis, structure, authors and audience; and theology: the religious claims of the book, the doctrine, miracles, and contentions.
What's the author's angle?
Despite me saying that this is a deep dive, it is also something of a sampler for Wright’s other, even more expansive books. Also it’s important to note that Wright is very much a believing Christian and while the book is exceptionally scholarly, it’s also backgrounded by the idea that Jesus Christ is the Messiah who died for the sins of the world and was gloriously resurrected.
Who should read this book?
This is a long book, and I ended up deciding to read it, rather than listen to it. As such, it honestly took me several months to get through, so you should certainly take that into account. This should not be construed as saying the book is difficult. It’s very accessible, and reads easily. I will say that I learned a lot, but I’m not sure that will be true for everyone. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) don’t generally focus on straight down the line Bible scholarship. To the extent that we do deep scholarship in this area it’s in search of parallels between early Christianity and LDS Christianity. (For example in 1 Corinthians 15:29 when Paul mentions baptisms for the dead. Something no major denomination does, other than us.) This is all to say that I think LDS individuals might find this book particularly enjoyable, as being somewhat outside of our normal wheelhouse.
Specific thoughts: It’s both shocking how much New Testament we have and how little we have of everything else
Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart
By: Nicholas Carr
Published: 2025
272 Pages
Briefly, what is this book about?
On its surface, this is a fairly typical anti-social media book, though Carr does have some interesting things to say about weaknesses inherent to the medium: content collapse, algorithmic engineering, and hostility generation. All things I’ll get to in a bit.
What's the author's angle?
Carr comes from the Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman school of media criticism. Media have inherent properties that lead to different sorts of communication, and different strengths and weaknesses. Carr, like many, thinks that social media has some particularly salient weaknesses.
Who should read this book?
When considering whether to read a non-fiction book, one has to consider where it fits with one’s various interests. If you’re really interested in the negative effects of social media, then I would definitely read this book. If it’s one of many interests, but not in your top 5-10, then you can probably skip it.
What does the book have to say about the future?
A story of one Palestinian’s fight against brutality, bureaucracy, and bishops.
We Belong to the Land: The Story of a Palestinian Israeli Who Lives for Peace and Reconciliation
By: Elias Chacour and Mary E. Jensen
Published: 1990
212 Pages
Briefly, what is this book about?
An autobiographical account of Chacour’s struggles as a Palestinian Christian working to build up his community in Galilee (Ibillin) while under continual pushback from Israeli bureaucracy and internal church politics.
What's the author's angle?
At the time the book was written Chacour was a Melkite Greek Catholic Priest in the town of Ibillin. (He was later appointed to be the Archbishop of Haifa.) He has worked tirelessly to resolve the Palestinian problem using nonviolent means that emphasize reconciliation and the common background of both people. He pushes for Palestinians to be treated with dignity, but also for them to create dignified institutions. These institutions, particularly the school he founded, take up most of his energy.
Who should read this book?
As part of my post on Israel and Hamas I asked for books making the pro-Palestinian case. One of my readers recommended this book. It was a good book, but to the extent that it illuminated the problem it did so very obliquely. This is the story of a non-violent Palestinian Christian written over 30 years ago. Certainly it helped my understanding at maybe a 30,000 foot level? But it didn’t shed much light on the current crisis.
However, if you want the story of someone who took a really “bad hand” and did something truly extraordinary with it, then this is your book.
Specific thoughts: If every Palestinian and every Israeli resembled Chacour and his congregation then the problem would be solved.
The power of positive thinking and cocaine!
The Kid Stays in the Picture
By: Robert Evans
Published: 1994
432 Pages
Briefly, what is this book about?
This is the autobiography of Robert Evans. It jumps around a lot, but it’s mostly built around his time as head of production for Paramount pictures from basically 1966-1974. Evans had basically zero experience, but by working himself nearly to death he produced such films as: The Godfather, Love Story, Chinatown, and Rosemary’s Baby. In the process he saved the studio and became one of the most iconic figures of “New Hollywood”.
Or to come at it from another angle, imagine Hollywood in its most wheeling and dealing, debauched, and drug-fueled state, that’s what this book is about.
What's the author's angle?
Evans is an obvious narcissist, and it’s clear that he has axes to grind, scores to settle, and crimes to explain. But he also has people to thank, stories to embellish, and insights to dispense. This is the author’s book in a way that few books are. If Evans had any kind of editor, or even a lawyer look over this book I’m sure he told them to piss off far more often than he listened to them.
If you pick it up on audio, Evans did the reading which adds a whole other layer to his stories.
Who should read this book?
If you enjoy meeting that person at the party, the person who name drops like each name is a bomb and he’s over Germany in 1945. The guy who tells one insane story after another, stories so insane you can’t believe they’re not exaggerated. But it’s also possible that they’ve actually been toned down for legal reasons.
If you enjoy outrageous raconteurs, then this is the book for you.
Specific thoughts: What does success look like?
Chesterton mostly lost me after Arthur and Alfred, but I feel like I got his point in spite of that.
A Short History of England
By: G.K. Chesterton
Published: 1917
107 Pages
Briefly, what is this book about?
The book is titled the “History of England”, but it’s really a book about the soul of England. Chesterton examines this soul chronologically from the “Age of Legends” down to the time the book was written, which happened to be the middle of World War I.
What's the author's angle?
It’s Chesterton, so there’s obviously a religious angle, and a traditional cultural angle. Even expecting this, I was surprised by how much he missed the old guild system, and other features of medieval life. There’s a lot of anti-rich sentiment in the book, but he’s also no socialist either.
Who should read this book?
I don’t think it’s practical or even wise to read everything Chesterton wrote, but I have a vague goal to read most of what he’s written. Even then I’m pretty sure that knowing then what I know now I would have advised myself to skip this book, or at least only read the first few chapters.
The big problem is that Chesterton is not dispensing English history (contra the title) he’s interpreting it. He assumes you already know a ton of history, and he’s just going to tie it together in a new way. I’m sure a highly educated Englishman in 1917 would have had no problem with Chesterton’s references, but 100 years on, this poor American was frequently completely lost. Here’s an example:
It will be apparent, when I deal with that period, that I do not palliate the real unreason in divine right as Filmer and some of the pedantic cavaliers construed it. They professed the impossible ideal of “non-resistance” to any national and legitimate power; though I cannot see that even that was so servile and superstitious as the more modern ideal of “non-resistance” even to a foreign and lawless power. But the seventeenth century was an age of sects, that is of fads; and the Filmerites made a fad of divine right.
Who or what is Filmer and the Filmerites? One could look it up (apparently it refers to a 17th century political theorist, Robert Filmer) but you’re not going to get any information from the book. This selection, with its two references, is the first and last time the name shows up.
I’ll tell you what I got out of the book and you can go from there, but as a general matter I wouldn’t recommend reading this book. It has all the normal Chesterton witticisms and turns of phrase, but there are easier places to get those.
I actually never got around to discussing the Lord of the Flies element of this book. But trust me it’s in there!
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
By: David Grann
Published: 2023
352 Pages
Briefly, what is this book about?
This book is about what happened to HMS Wager, a Royal Navy ship that was shipwrecked on the south coast of Chile in 1741. The journey before the shipwreck was brutal, and it only got worse from there. Out of an initial crew of roughly 250, only about 36 eventually made it back to England.
What's the author's angle?
Grann is a writer for the New Yorker who has written three books centered around unearthing interesting and often tragic historical events. His first book was The Lost City of Z. (Which I have read, and it was quite good.) His second and best known book is Killers of the Flower Moon (which I have not read). This is his third book in that same vein.
Who should read this book?
I quite enjoy books like this: true survival stories, particularly those framed by ambitions and sensibilities we can barely imagine in 2025. It’s also history at its pointiest, the tale of a single ship, and really just a handful of men. (The book largely focuses on just three.) If all that sounds appealing, then I think you’ll like this book.
Specific thoughts: The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there
Banned in most prisons! That feels like a point in the book’s favor, but I’m not entirely sure I can articulate why.
The Daily Laws: 366 Meditations on Power, Seduction, Mastery, Strategy, and Human Nature
By: Robert Greene
Published: 2021
464 Pages
Briefly, what is this book about?
A “page a day” book collecting bits of wisdom from Robert Greene’s other books (Laws of Power, Art of Seduction, Strategies of War, etc.)
What's the author's angle?
As a general matter Greene is something of a Machiavellian figure, he’s going to tell it like it is, and give you the tools you really need to succeed in life. Or at least that’s his claim. I generally find his approach to be refreshing, but there are also moments when I would say he takes things too far and dispenses advice that’s counterproductive.
Who should read this book?
If you’re one of the small number of people who likes to have a page of the day book as a way of marking the time from January 1 to December 31, this is an average entry in this very niche genre. But as the genre is not particularly large, any example might be welcome.
If you’ve never done a page a day book I would probably start with Tolstoy’s A Calendar of Wisdom. I thought it was quite good. Also, there’s an argument to be made for it being the first such book chronologically. (It’s the earliest example of a devotional book that wasn’t rigidly sectarian.) Finally, it was banned by the Soviets, which immediately gives it ten extra points in my book.
Specific thoughts: Some good advice, some okay advice and a few pieces of actively bad advice
If John Wick and Judge Dredd loved each other very much…
Saga of the Forgotten Warrior
By: Larry Correia
1- Son of the Black Sword
2- House of Assassins
3- Destroyer of Worlds
4- Tower of Silence
5- Graveyard of Demons
6- Heart of the Mountain
Briefly, what is this series about?
The series is set on the continent of Lok, in a world inspired by feudal India and Southeast Asia, meaning that there are castes, and outside of that, the casteless, who are literal non-people. The story follows Ashok Vadal, a pitiless “Protector of the Law”. The Order of the Protectors is like a branch of elite special forces, called in when the normal constabulary, or even the normal military is insufficient. Even among these elite warriors Ashok stands out as being particularly deadly because he bears one of the world’s twelve sentient magical swords.
Much of the law concerns the status of the first caste and the casteless’ lack of status. But it also forbids religion, illegal magic, and demons leaving the sea. The ocean is full of demons, and they don’t have much regard for the law, so Ashok spends much of his time killing them.
Given that the ocean is the exclusive domain of the demons, all status consists in living far away from it, and all insults reference the ocean in some way. “Saltwater!” Or calling someone a “Fisheater.”
Who should read this series?
Much of my discussion below will concern this very question, but as a tl;dr you should definitely like it if you like Correia’s other stuff. Also if you like fast moving action heavy fantasy series that are done, I would also recommend it.
Specific thoughts: How this fantasy series compares to other fantasy series
When "stigmatizing" has become a bad word and a bad thing everywhere and for every one, one brave British curmudgeon dares to demand it's return!
Romancing Opiates: Pharmacological Lies and the Addiction Bureaucracy
By: Theodore Dalrymple
Published: 2006
160 Pages
Briefly, what is this book about?
This book aims to shatter some of the myths around opioid addiction. The first part covers the myth that stopping opioids cold turkey is both painful and dangerous. The second part dissects the myths propagated by literature, primarily Coleridge and De Quincey. The final part ties it into an addiction bureaucracy, though that part still references De Quincey an awful lot.
What's the author's angle?
Dalrymple worked as a prison doctor and psychiatrist for many years. Accordingly, he has a lot of experience with addicts. But he’s also very culturally conservative. The combination of the two leads him to strongly oppose coddling addicts, arguing instead that they should be stigmatized.
Who should read this book?
I’m a fan of Dalrymple. I’ve enjoyed his columns over the years, and I appreciate his curmudgeonly British insight. I previously enjoyed and reviewed his book Life at the Bottom. I would definitely recommend that book before this book. Actually, I would not recommend this book period, unless, for some reason, you want a really deep dive into Coleridge and De Quincey’s writings about opium.
Specific thoughts: Opioid addiction is not a disease?
Maybe the answer really is to be found in early 1970’s Chilean socialism…
The Unaccountability Machine: Why Big Systems Make Terrible Decisions—and How the World Lost Its Mind
By: Dan Davies
Published: 2024
304 Pages
Briefly, what is this book about?
The development of accountability sinks, a construct used by governments, corporations, and really any large-scale organization to deflect responsibility (and potential punishment) away from individuals and into processes. As part of his critique and his hoped for solution Davies leans heavily into management cybernetics and Stafford Beer. If neither of those ring a bell perhaps you’ve encountered Beer’s most famous saying, “The purpose of a system is what it does.”
What's the author's angle?
Davies sits in a weird place ideologically. He’s a huge fan of Beer, and spends lots of time talking about Beer’s partnership with Salvador Allende, the president of Chile in the early 70s. They partnered to create Cybersyn, a cybernetic management system for the whole economy. Davies admits it wouldn’t have worked at the time, but seems to think that maybe with AI something like it might work now? On the other hand, in many places he seems to be channeling Taleb, and while I can’t find anything by Taleb directly commenting on Cybersyn, I’m confident he would not be a fan. Davies also levels significant criticism at Milton Friedman, which makes sense in the Chilean context, but it feels out of character for a soberly written business book.
Who should read this book?
I read it as part of a Slate Star Codex/Astral Codex Ten book club. If that means anything to you, you’ll probably find the book interesting. Additionally, anyone looking for another way to describe the hidden brokenness of the world will probably enjoy the book.
What does the book have to say about the future?
Pick it up because it’s short. Continue it because of the brutal Bavarian accent. Finish it because maybe he’s on to something?
The Future of Truth
By: Werner Herzog
Published: 2025
128 Pages
Briefly, what is this book about?
Legendary badass, and sometimes filmmaker Werner Herzog weighs in on the concept of truth, how best to represent truth, and what’s happening to it. Drawing on his own experiences he distinguishes between dry, factual truth, and what he calls ecstatic truth, a deeper kind of truth revealed by art.
Who should read this book?
I don’t think anyone should literally read this book. It’s best consumed as an audiobook with Herzog’s strangely compelling narration carrying you along. With a voice like Herzog’s and clocking in at only 3.5 hours of audio, it almost doesn’t matter what it’s about.
What does the book have to say about the future?
Many college age girls lead lives of quiet desperation.
The Mind Reels
By: Fredrik deBoer
Published: 2025
168 Pages
Briefly, what is this book about?
The book follows Alice. Alice has severe bipolar disorder. This doesn’t come out until she’s at college. It’s entirely awful. Going from least to worst bad, we see: large weight fluctuations, social fallout, impulsive sex, being committed, psychotic and manic paranoia, and depression so deep she can’t make it to the bathroom.
What's the author's angle?
Normally I don’t talk about the angle for a fictional book, but this book deserves (demands?) an exception. DeBoer is known for many things. (And I would say that he’s one of the few Substack writers where I read 90%+ of what they write.) One of the big things he’s known for is pushing back against the old vision of the mentally ill as tortured geniuses or the more modern quirky, actually it’s kind of a super power narrative. This book was explicitly written to provide a very real depiction of what it’s like to have a severe mental illness. (It succeeds by the way.)
Who should read this book?
If you like anything deBoer has written, I think you’ll like this. His unsparing view of reality is his biggest charm, and it definitely comes through in this book. I know people who don’t like deBoer’s fiction, but who nevertheless liked this book.
If you’ve never heard of deBoer, but you like books where characters have an intense interior life, and there’s not necessarily a hopeful “happily ever after” arc, I would also definitely recommend this book.
Specific thoughts: Most men (and women) lead lives of quiet desperation
Part memoir, part science writing, part history, and a lot of blaming her neighbor for her empties.
Drink Your Way Sober: The Science-Based Method to Break Free from Alcohol
By: Katie Herzog
Published: 2025
208 Pages
Briefly, what is this book about?
You may be familiar with Katie Herzog from Blocked and Reported, the podcast she hosts with Jesse Singal. Or you might have seen her byline on the Free Press. What I didn’t know (at least before she started promoting this book) is that she’s also a recovering alcoholic. I also didn’t know about the Sinclair Method for “extinguishing” alcohol use disorder (AUD). Finally I didn’t know that we are now calling it alcohol use disorder. So you could say this is a book about a bunch of things I didn’t know.
What's the author's angle?
Herzog failed to get her drinking under control using any of the more common methods. Willpower, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), overwhelming shame, etc. The Sinclair Method was what finally worked for her. This method involves taking naltrexone before you drink. This blocks the reward circuit allowing you to train your body out of alcohol dependence. It’s also something that not a lot of people have heard about, so her angle resembles that of a fiery recent convert, who believes that people trapped in similar despair need to hear the good word.
Who should read this book?
As someone who’s never had a drink, I’m loath to recommend anything in the sobriety space. In the same manner that a fish doesn’t know about water, can I have anything meaningful to say about sobriety? That very large caveat aside, if you have AUD, and nothing else has worked, and you haven’t tried the Sinclair Method (or if you know someone who fits this category) I would definitely recommend this book.
If you’re thinking of reading it just as Herzog memoir, there’s some pretty good stuff in here, but not enough to justify reading the entire book. But if you’re on the fence I would push you towards getting the book.
Specific thoughts: So why isn’t the Sinclair Method better known?
Replay
By: Ken Grimwood
Published: 1998
320 Pages
Briefly, what is this book about?
A man dies and is sent back to his 18 year old self to relive his life over, and over, and over. Every time he dies he’s sent back. He dies in 1988, and awakens in 1963, so there’s a lot of discussion of those years (Kennedy Assassination, Moon landing, Iran Hostage crisis, etc.)
Who should read this book?
I came across a recommendation for this book on a Youtube channel that was doing a survey of all the movies that had functionally the same premise as Groundhog Day. And he included the book as sort of an appendix in other things people might want to check out. If you’re a big fan of the Groundhog Day contrivance, then I think you’ll like this book.
Specific thoughts: Great on a personal level, weak on a world-building level.
This review will go from spoiler free to light spoilers to full on spoilers. I will let you know at each transition.
It took 20 years from Bell inventing the telegraph before someone sent an ad with it. It took ~7 years for the first piece of email spam to be sent. Any bets on what it will look like for AI?
Experimental AI Summary:
I open with my own costly, underwhelming SEO experiment and the fact that I’ve mostly abandoned Google for LLMs, arguing that if AI chat replaces search then AIO (AI optimization) will replace SEO. I frame influence as “numerous / high-reputation / mentions,” recall the web’s shift from Yahoo’s directory to Google’s PageRank—where “reputation” changed everything and spawned link-farm tactics—and ask how the same gaming might hit AI. I sketch possibilities: models pre-vetting training data and tagging low-trust commercial pages; spam-style gatekeeping of AI inputs; straightforward paid placements inside AI answers; or darker outcomes where cheap marketing pollutes corpora and bad actors weaponize hallucinations. The core question for me is whether LLMs can build sturdier reputation defenses than Google or whether their architecture makes them easier to spoof. For now, AI search feels like Google circa 1998—astonishingly good—but I doubt it stays pristine once marketers and scammers fully arrive.
If you had been placing bets 150 years ago around what physics would have to say about the existence of God, you would have lost a lot of money.
Modern Physics and Ancient Faith
By: Stephen M. Barr
Published: 2003
312 Pages
Briefly, what is this book about?
Barr takes all the discoveries of 20th-century physics, stuff like the Big Bang, quantum mechanics, the various forces, and argues that all of these things are more compatible with belief in God, specifically a traditional Judeo-Christian God, than with a belief in pure materialism.
This is illustrated most succinctly in the underlying values for various background constants of the universe. For most of these if they varied even slightly then life would be impossible. This is known as the fine-tuning argument for the existence of God, and Barr lays it out in rigorous detail.
What's the author's angle?
Barr is a scientist, and a believing Catholic. So he definitely has a dog in the fight, but he also does a good job of steelmanning the other side of the argument. Also it’s important to clarify what the fight is. It’s not a fight between religion and science. Barr is both a believer and a scientist. It’s a fight between religion and materialism. Which is a different animal. This is not to say he’s dogmatic (perhaps I shouldn’t keep using the word “fight”) the tone is very reasonable. He’s mostly targeting a lazy “modern science shows that God is silly and unnecessary” crowd.
Who should read this book?
This was one of the books mentioned by Ross Douthat in his book Believe (see my review of Douthat’s book here, or check out the PSmith’s far superior one here). And I was glad I followed Douthat’s recommendation, the book did not disappoint. If you’re at all interested in the fine-tuning argument or related ideas I think you’ll love this book. But I can clearly see where it’s too niche for the majority of people.
What does the book have to say about the future?
You’ve heard about placebo’s? Well what about nocebos?
The Age of Diagnosis: How Our Obsession with Medical Labels Is Making Us Sicker
By: Suzanne O'Sullivan
Published: 2025
320 Pages
Briefly, what is this book about?
The idea that putting labels on something is not a free lunch—like everything else there are tradeoffs. Rather than framing numerous illnesses as being psychosomatic, O'Sullivan seems more to be suggesting that humans are very suggestible. (I get the meta-ness of the statement.) As such, once you generate a label it has a tendency to warp identities, and make people seek out confirming evidence. This all creates a sort of nocebo effect which may increase the severity of whatever symptoms they’re experiencing.
To put it more succinctly, labels have power and we should be circumspect about applying them.
What's the author's angle?
O'Sullivan is a neurologist who noticed that lots of patients have “normal” tests, but are also indisputably suffering. As someone more focused on the brain than other parts of the body, she has long contended that expectations, culture, current fads, etc. play a much bigger role than most doctors want to admit. It’s not all about biology, psychology also has a role. Previous books include It's All in Your Head: True Stories of Imaginary Illness and The Sleeping Beauties: And Other Stories of Mystery Illness.
Who should read this book?
Anyone interested in a broader discussion of how the world outside of medicine interacts with the world of medicine. How the epistemic crisis, culture, disease advocacy groups, bureaucracy, and patient longing all affect the act of putting a label on a cluster of symptoms.
What does the book have to say about the future?
It’s another self help book. Is this the one that will finally put you over the top, or another in a long line of endeavors that look like progress, but are really procrastination?
Inner Excellence: Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life
By: Jim Murphy
Published: 2020
360 Pages
Briefly, what is this book about?
As you have already gathered, this is a self-help book. One of thousands (millions?) so the point is what sets this one apart from all those other books? I’m sure it hasn’t avoided all overlap, but the book does have a focus on character, and getting rid of self-centeredness that was refreshing.
What's the author's angle?
Jim Murphy played baseball in the minor leagues, and he was obsessed with winning. Then vision problems derailed his career, so he gave away most of his possessions and moved to the desert. Over the next five years he did nothing sports psychology, in an attempt to figure out how to compete in a way that produced calm regardless of the outcome. Something he had previously lacked. He draws explicit parallels to Thoreau:
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
He went to the desert, but the idea was similar. Of course, not everyone has the wherewithal to retreat to the desert to spend five years thinking. But potentially, if one did, it would bring some very valuable insights.
Who should read this book?
It’s once again time to do the self-help math...
Thomas Hardy wrote horror?
Damnable Tales: A Folk Horror Anthology
By: Various, Edited by Richard Wells
Published: 2021
479 Pages
Briefly, what is this book about?
A collection of 22 older scary stories, presented in chronological order. The oldest story is from 1875, while the newest was written in 1965. But the majority are clustered in the late-victorian period 1880-1910. It includes stories from a few authors you might not expect like Thomas Hardy and Robert Louis Stevenson.
Who should read this book?
Anyone who has enjoyed an HP Lovecraft story will probably enjoy this book. Though I will say that you should view most of the stories as inspiration for Lovecraft, rather than similarly situated.
Specific thoughts: A nice way to create a Halloween atmosphere.
Gary Gygax (Grognard 13/Writer 10/Businessman 2) vs. Dave Arneson (Plaintiff 14/Storyteller 9/Writer 1)
Game Wizards: The Epic Battle for Dungeons & Dragons
By: Jon Peterson
Published: 2021
400 Pages
Briefly, what is this book about?
The history of Dungeons and Dragons, TSR’s meteoric rise, the fights that inevitably happen when something becomes enormously successful, and the catastrophes that follow when people are in way over their head.
What's the author's angle?
Peterson is the man when it comes to the history of RPGs and D&D in particular. He’s basically a historian, and he has no dog in any of the fights.
Who should read this book?
I really liked this book, and I really liked everything I’ve read by Peterson. That said, I might recommend the podcast When We Were Wizards, as an easier entry point for people interested in the story. And of course if you have no interest in the battle between Arneson and Gygax or the crazy initial years of D&D, I would not recommend either.
Specific thoughts: Gygax was a jerk, and he was dumb, but he also deserves 90% of the credit for D&D.
It’s possible that in our pursuit of justice and equity that a few things might have been exaggerated.
Progressive Myths
By: Michael Huemer
Published: 2024
277 Pages
Briefly, what is this book about?
A wide-ranging debunking of most of the myths that flourished during the recent peak of social justice activism. Some myths concern specific incidents like those around Michael Brown and Kyle Rittenhouse. Others are ideological myths like the gender pay gap, or the efficiency of masks at preventing the spread of COVID. In total he covers twenty different myths.
What's the author's angle?
Huemer comes at things from a strong classically liberal approach. He is very wary of activism in all its forms. He’s also clearly not worried about annoying people. Though he is very worried about people trying to “read between the lines”.
Do not “read between the lines” to infer what I “must be implying”. If you think of some ridiculous or horrible political view that you think I’m implying, that is almost certainly just in your imagination. I am not the sort of writer who likes to imply his point.
Who should read this book?
If you consider yourself to be a good progressive I would definitely read this book. I suspect that such people won’t, but honestly, if you’re looking for the best steelman of the opposing arguments this is it. If you’re on the opposite side of the fence you still might find some things that surprise you (Also Huemer makes a point of also covering a few things that aren’t myths. Incidents progressives were correct about.)
Many people speak very highly of Huemer’s books, and I’ll probably eventually read all of them.
What does the book have to say about the future?
Huemer has many recommendations for how to proceed, but they mostly boil down to having better epistemology. One of the great sins he identifies is motivated reasoning, which obscures facts, and beyond that leads to broad conclusions which are entirely unsupported by reality. And we seem to be getting more of such reasoning.
Specific thoughts: How do we fix epistemology?
I expected to see a katana plunged into the heart of crypto. Instead I got a piece of wall art, where the two ideas were placed in near proximity, but without any contact.
The Bushido of Bitcoin
By: Aleksandar Svetski
Published: 2024
529 Pages
Briefly, what is this book about?
Bitcoin will be the thing that saves the world from the fiat money created, debt fueled dystopia we’re already descending into. As part of this salvation it will require people to adopt ancient (though also somewhat apocryphal) warrior virtues. Specifically: righteousness, courage, compassion, honor, honesty, responsibility, excellence, respect, duty, and restraint.
What's the author's angle?
As you may have already gathered, Svetski is a Bitcoin hyper-maximalist. Bitcoin isn’t just our financial salvation, it’s our spiritual salvation as well.
Who should read this book?
As a “return to virtue” tome it was pretty good, though long-winded, and a retread of books I’d already read. (Like Ryan Holiday’s stoic stuff, if you’re familiar with that.) On top of that it adds quite a bit of culture war stuff, which annoyed many of the reviewers on Goodreads and Amazon. It feels like a book without a natural audience. It’s strident enough that you would already have to be convinced to enjoy it, but if you’re already convinced then you probably know everything Svetski is going to say.
What does the book have to say about the future?
The book lays out two paths, we can double-down on the fiat-future which, at best, leads to dependence, and at worst disaster. Or we can adopt the more muscular, responsible, and sovereign path of Bitcoin. As usual with such books it skips over the messy middle.
Specific thoughts: We need a new civic religion, but I’m not sure this is it
A meditation on technological divinity...
Don’t hold back guys, tell us how you really feel.
If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All
By: Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares
Published: 2025
272 Pages
Briefly, what is this book about?
This book makes the AI doomer case at its most extreme. It asserts that if we build artificial superintelligence (ASI) then that ASI will certainly kill all of humanity.
Their argument in brief: the ASI will have goals. These goals are very unlikely to be in alignment with humanity’s goals. This will bring humanity and the ASI into conflict over resources. Since the ASI will surpass us in every respect it will have no reason to negotiate with us. Its superhuman abilities will also leave us unable to stop it. Taken together this will leave the ASI with no reason to keep us around and many reasons to eliminate us—thus the “Everyone Dies” part of the title.
What's the author's angle?
Yudkowsky is the ultimate AI doomer. No one is more vocally worried about misaligned ASI than he. Soares is Robin to Yudkowsky’s Batman.
Who should read this book?
For those familiar with the argument I don’t think the book covers much in the way of new territory.
For those unfamiliar with the argument I might recommend Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom instead. It makes the same points without being quite so tendentious.
Specific thoughts: The parable of the alchemists and the unfairness of life