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IN A LIFE filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of …
Very well written and enjoyable, much better than Barack Obama's books. A much more realistic point of view. I can't say I know much more than before though.
One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society is a 1964 book by …
Already in 1964, Herbert Marcuse had understood that most of our political discourse is completely missing the point: we need to rethink our approach to technology, or we won't achieve anything apart from touching the cosmetic surface of things. 1986 and 1991 screamed for help, but we failed to listen. Now the climate crisis and the big technological oligopolies expose the deep rot of the system in smaller installments, and the background noise makes it impossible to understand why we seem unable to do anything. Marcuse reminds us to question the basics.
From chapter 7 (1964 translation via marcuse.org): «For example, the scientific approach to the vexing problem of mutual annihilation–the mathematics and calculations of kill and over-kill, the measurement of spreading or not-quite-so-spreading fallout, the experiments of endurance in abnormal situations–is mystifying to the extent to which it promotes (and even demands) behavior which accepts the insanity. It thus …
Already in 1964, Herbert Marcuse had understood that most of our political discourse is completely missing the point: we need to rethink our approach to technology, or we won't achieve anything apart from touching the cosmetic surface of things. 1986 and 1991 screamed for help, but we failed to listen. Now the climate crisis and the big technological oligopolies expose the deep rot of the system in smaller installments, and the background noise makes it impossible to understand why we seem unable to do anything. Marcuse reminds us to question the basics.
From chapter 7 (1964 translation via marcuse.org): «For example, the scientific approach to the vexing problem of mutual annihilation–the mathematics and calculations of kill and over-kill, the measurement of spreading or not-quite-so-spreading fallout, the experiments of endurance in abnormal situations–is mystifying to the extent to which it promotes (and even demands) behavior which accepts the insanity. It thus counteracts a truly rational behavior–namely, the refusal to go along, and the effort to do away with the conditions which produce the insanity.»
I like to compare Marcuse to the classic "Prometheus Bound" by Aeschylus, "Téchne d'anánkes asthenéstera makrô". This really is the basic problem of modern society, since 2500 years ago.
Bill is an IT manager at Parts Unlimited. It's Tuesday morning and on his drive …
A very enjoyable read which opens a window on much of today's software development. The way Agile is deployed to solve every single problem in the world is an outrageous simplification, but that's what makes it fun.
This book has a good premise, but the execution is catastrophically bad. Pages upon pages of bad and unremarkable prose are spent trying to convince us that capitalism doesn't help produce happy relationships: thank you very much. I understand that this might still be news to some people in the USA, but this filler completely destroys the book. A good editor would probably have cut the book in half without losing any substance. If the filler is necessary to give some air of academic value, it could be in endnotes.
The good part of the book is what comes from the author's qualitative research, namely the interviews with people after their relationships ended. There's a lot one can identify with, but which is seldom talked about.
What does the good life—and the good society—look like in the 21st century?
A toxic …
Supremely important topic and I agree with Monbiot that we need a different way of communicating it, but in the end the proposals he makes are underwhelming and unsubstantiated.
In this memoir, singer-songwriter Patti Smith shares tales of New York City : the denizens …
A captivating read. Patti Smith has so many good stories to tell!
Family Sayings (Original title Lessico famigliare) is a novel by the Italian author Natalia Ginzburg, …
Rileggere Lessico famigliare non è stata una delusione. Si può godere la pure bellezza linguistica, oppure assaporare l'immagine di una vita famigliare molto particolare eppure molto semplice, o ancora meravigliarsi della macrostoria di cui apprendiamo tramite questa microstoria, come l'episodio della fuga di Turati.
Piuttosto noiose: sono proprio cronache cronache e anche censurate. Non finito.
Non ho mai deciso che cosa pensare di questo libro. È Virginia, però vista attraverso la lente del marito. Non so quanto aggiunga veramente ai diari pubblicati in seguito.
Sostanzialmente una serie di definizioni. Probabilmente è inevitabile che sia interessante solo per gli specialisti.
Un romanzo sull'impossibilità per il narratore di scrivere un romanzo, per questioni stilistiche e narrative che emergono dalla storia e da tutti gli "inserti meta-narrativi" (mi invento il nome tecnico, vabbè, insomma qualcosa meta-qualcos'altro). Intelligente e divertente, ma leggendolo ho avuto la forte impressione che tale tecnica fosse già superata cinquant'anni fa, insomma non stupisce piú nessuno, e resta senza scopo una certa pesantezza linguistica che quindi non appaga molto. Comunque val la pena di leggerlo, anche perché è corto. Qualche citazione qui: it.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tommaso_Landolfi#La_biere_du_pecheur
Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution is a 1902 collection of anthropological essays by Russian …
Kropotkin is a classic, of course, but what I didn't expect is that this book is packed with data and and historical information about different land management structures which existed across Russia before a specific economic model was imposed on everybody. I wish Kropotkin had had the resources to conduct studies of the sort Elinor Ostrom did on Swiss pastures. Now so much has been lost forever.
Spiega molto bene l'evoluzione delle stelle; peccato non aver fatto a tempo a finirlo.
