Opinion: The time of our lives
“Buona sera. This is Il Ristorante L’Anima d’Italia. How may I help you?” “Hello. I’d like to make a reservation for two at seven toes and half a pinkie. And we’d like a booth.” Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? But wait. Consider that we’ve been brainwashed for centuries into believing that a day is divided into […]
Charla de Libros: Greg Iles, ‘Sueño Profundo’
Greg Iles murió hace un par de meses a la edad de 65 años. Nació en Stuttgart, Baden-Wurtemberg, Alemania Occidental, pero vivió su vida en Natchez, Mississippi. Fue uno de los grandes novelistas estadounidenses que obtuvo su educación universitaria en Ole Miss. Y al igual que muchos otros autores de bestsellers (algunos en el sur [...]
Opinion: What’s going on with liberal arts?
Around the turn of the century, maybe earlier, education critics were saying that college majors in English, or philosophy, or art history were likely to spend their post-college years living in their parents’ basement. At the time, automation and cybernation were already replacing human beings in jobs, but they were mostly factory jobs that were […]
Book Talk: Finder, ‘The Oligarch’s Daughter’
I suppose that, for at least some men, marrying the daughter of a billionaire would be a dream come true. But what if that billionaire is a Russian oligarch who has agents and influence that reach everywhere? And what if, for some reason, that “lucky” man had done something that displeased his father-in-law? Well, for […]
Opinion: CA’s bullet train is ‘off-track’
Fifteen years ago (now closer to 16 years), the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CAHSRA) began work on a transportation system that would supposedly carry passengers from San Francisco to Los Angeles in two and a half hours. Since then, the CAHSRA has stumbled, bumbled, and tumbled through billions of dollars and now has hundreds of […]
Book Talk: Connelly, ‘The Proving Ground’
Michael Connelly’s protagonist, Mickey Haller (formerly known as the Lincoln Lawyer) was King of the Courtroom when he handled criminal cases. However, he’s sold off the Lincolns and is now located in a warehouse with an internal chamber that is safeguarded against electronic surveillance. Connelly writes, “The cage was a twelve-foot-by-twelve-foot cube of chain link. […]
Opinion: One world economy
Becoming upset that Zohran Mamdani has been elected Mayor of New York City seems to me to be a waste of emotion. For decades, most economists have agreed that there is really only one world economy, and that is capitalism. Not pure capitalism, but rather economic systems that are based on overriding capitalistic principles. When […]
Book Talk: Scottoline, ‘Someone Knows’
First, you may think that Lisa Scottoline has written a YA book. She has not. This book is written from several POVs, and the first fourteen chapters (99 pages) are from 15-year-old teens (Allie, Sasha, David, Julian, and Kyle). Because it’s written in their voice, it’s an easy mistake. The rest of the book is […]
Opinion: Your car — a bird poop target?
A new report by a Virginia-based company suggests that bird droppings on your car may not be as random as you might believe. The report is based on survey results and ornithological research. Writing for the Gizmodo Newsletter, Gayoung Lee states that the report’s conclusions “reveal a mix of expected yet surprising insights into the […]
Book Talk: Harlan Coben, ‘The Woods’
Harlan Coben is a best-selling author whose previous novel, The Stranger, has been the basis for a Netflix series.According to the cover of The Woods (2007, 404 pages in both hardback and softback), this work, too, is coming to Netflix.Coben’s novels have been translated into 45 languages and he’s sold more than 75 million copies […]