Just an incredible book and work of scholarship. Caro has multiple deathbed confessions of people unburdening themselves for what they did for Lyndon Just an incredible book and work of scholarship. Caro has multiple deathbed confessions of people unburdening themselves for what they did for Lyndon Johnson during his 1948 campaign.
This is easily the finest biography I’ve ever read and up there with some of the finest books I’ve ever read
Feels weird giving a pseudo cooking book 5 stars. But this little book is fantastic for beginner and intermediate chefs. I consider myself pretty compFeels weird giving a pseudo cooking book 5 stars. But this little book is fantastic for beginner and intermediate chefs. I consider myself pretty competent in the kitchen and I learned a ton about why we do the things we do and added a lot of new ideas and potential skills to the toolbox.
Simplifies down reactions and essential skills of cooking into easily understandable buckets, along with good tips and sense making of what the heck is going on with something like blanching or the lime juice in ceviche. It’s an amazing example of a book that sets out to do something and does it perfectly. If I’m going to critique something, I wish it had gone into more detail at times about the various chemical reactions but as it stands, this is a great little book....more
What a tome. Painstaking and intricate detail of Lyndon B Johnson’s early life. From his childhood growing up the son of politician and farmer. To hisWhat a tome. Painstaking and intricate detail of Lyndon B Johnson’s early life. From his childhood growing up the son of politician and farmer. To his time at Texas State. To his early elections and eventual Senate run. I’ve lived around Austin for the better part of the last decade and so I’ve seen a lot of his effects and recognize a lot of the names in this book, simply from Rhodes and buildings and parks named after these characters. I know the dams and the infrastructure projects that they’ve tried to push through. I’ve been to LBJ presidential library.
This book is dense and long and full of all sorts of details and painstaking research. And if anybody else had written it, I probably would roll my eyes, but Caro makes it work.
It feels hopeless sometimes when you really dig into what it means to make an impact in the world, one’s lifFuck this was good.
Rethink your life good
It feels hopeless sometimes when you really dig into what it means to make an impact in the world, one’s life doesn’t seem to mean much. Unless it does.
I’ve looked for good answers, and this book doesn’t have any, but it does paint beautiful portrait of people searching and failing and still trying.
One of my other favorite books attempts to wrestle with the nonsensical nature of it all. “When We Cease to Understand the World” starts with the development of the color blue, reminding us of the beauty created with paint. The development of new colors over time and the increasingly complex chemical nature in the creation of paint. hydrogen cyanide was used in Prussian Blue, a deep, rich color. It became popular and was used widely, increasing the availability of cyanide and Access to it for experiments and other testing. Cyanide would later be used by the Nazis to kill millions of people. So when you look at the blue of a painting from certain eras and feel moved, there’s a pretty dark legacy.
And the Haber Bosch process used to create nitrogen, a process that props up modern agriculture system, supporting billions of lives, was created by a man who help create that same gas and used his knowledge to create bombs for the Germans during World War II.
How do we live in this world and not go mad?...more
Wonderful book about my adopted state. Less of a history than I expected, more a cultural tour of Texas and some Texans as seen through Wrights eyes. Wonderful book about my adopted state. Less of a history than I expected, more a cultural tour of Texas and some Texans as seen through Wrights eyes. The good and the bad, blended together like rice and beans on a styrofoam plate at a community bbq
A well written survey of things that I love about Texas. The culture, food, and land, the deep and wild spirit. Combined with an informative and interesting look at the things we can do better: the wild and noxious politics, the oversized influence of uniquely deranged loons who influence those politics, business leaders who make a bunch of money and then get into politics. You might have noticed a trend.
I think the shortcomings of this book are it's scope and Wrights limited depth on the topics he discusses. He has great access and is covering a topic in a reasonable way that most dont. But we fly through a wide variety of Texas lore, kind of like viewing the country on a roadtrip. Which is better than anything else I've read, better than the usual flyover nonsense. But it is limited and seems mostly focused on what Wright has in front of him and his journalistic network. I'd love to see him go deeper on some of the topics he soars over.
Overall this is less historical than Fehrenbach or Harrigan. More cultural and political commentary. Like if a NPR reporter actually took the time to learn about the Lone Star State instead of making grand pronouncements from the coasts....more
Combining what seems like extremely reasonable psychology with some actual wisdom about talking to, and connecting withBest thing Brooks has written.
Combining what seems like extremely reasonable psychology with some actual wisdom about talking to, and connecting with people on a meaningful level....more
The yellow fever was going around in the 1790s. Spread by mosquitoes it’s mostly a tropical disease.
Hamilton is from the Caribbean where there’s plentThe yellow fever was going around in the 1790s. Spread by mosquitoes it’s mostly a tropical disease.
Hamilton is from the Caribbean where there’s plenty of tropical diseases. He has this doctor friend who is good at treating tropical diseases.
But Hamilton is living in New York where the practice at the time was bloodletting and like, weird enemas
Hamilton and his wife get yellow fever, instead of the “normal” course of treatment, maybe they’re morally opposed to enemas (idk Hamilton was a bit of a freak, he probably would have been into it), but anyways they get treated by this Caribbean doctor.
Hamilton’s friend gives them quinine, has them take cold baths and rest.
Where most people have a rough go of it, the Hamiltons get better. So Alexander is like “Hey maybe we all should all take quinine and like drink soup and stuff”
And because he was controversial, a bunch of people react commenting “you fascist” on his TikTok page and call him a fed and a psyop.
JoeRogan (Thomas Jefferson in a bodysuit) tweets saying “bloodletting is the shit. all my homies love bloodletting“ and it gets 500,000 ♻️
They literally split the yellow fever treatments by political party in the 1790s.
Excellent book about the rise and fall of class action lawsuits in America.
What a dumb name though. I thought this book was going to be kind of a shaExcellent book about the rise and fall of class action lawsuits in America.
What a dumb name though. I thought this book was going to be kind of a shallow salacious tale of lawyers making too much money.
Instead, it was a really compelling portrait of Lerach, a private attorney who sued what appeared to be the vast majority of public companies for about 30 years. He ends up losing his license and going to jail for illegally soliciting clients. Basically paying them a kickback above and beyond what is legally appropriate. It’s quite the racket.
But the core of the story revolves around how law overlaps and intersect with private attorneys. The role of litigators and lawsuits in America. And the changing norms around that. For that I thought the book was phenomenal if long and dragging in parts.
I’m increasingly coming to the opinion that many of the government organizations that we think are supposed to regulate, really fall short when it comes to the actual implementation of their duty. And books like this makes me question if that Duty is even one we should be charging them with. Should we, for example have the SEC be responsible for all enforcement of insider trading. Or is it more efficacious to allow private individuals to attempt to claim harm and seek redress on their own. I don’t have a strong answer. But this book makes me lean towards allowing the market and sort of the red blood cells of private attorneys attempt to navigate in regulate things outside of the heavy-handed clamp of the government. I think you probably pair this book with like “The Chickenshit Club” and see how a combination of forces around government regulation, lack of resources, lack of willpower, conflicting self interest, all lead to sort of a modern situation, where people feel hopeless about the way that corporations treat them. Really interesting for me to hear about how something like a class action lawsuit is actually potentially a way to curtail some of the more pernicious parts of corporate greed. Also, as I was previously unaware of the level of lobbying to change perception around class action lawsuits, we also encounter in this book one of my ‘favorite’ societal ills, campaign finance.
I don’t I have a good answer. I know that businesses, just kind of persistently and constantly advocate to be left alone, and there’s a fairly good track record of that not being the greatest thing. But I do think that there’s a lot of positivity in allowing a natural ecosystem of companies, along with sort of self policing from legal entities. I think it’s I’ve matured. I’ve increasingly step back from sweeping statements about capitalism and realize that unchecked it can be cancerous, but channeled and in balance with personal protections I think it’s a positive. It’s interesting to read how lawsuits are sort of that reasonable check. Lots to think on there.
The fees collected by lawyers are eye watering. And it seems like it’s a very captive system around that where once you have a certain lawyer, you can’t really solicit bids. Which presented in the way that this book presents it, you realize there’s a lot of effort and work that goes into these cases. But also, those fees are taking away from the people ultimately impacted.
I think the last interesting part is that you look at the legislation that was passed to try to curtail class action litigation mostly consolidating the industry around the largest players. Those who are able to weather the ups and downs. Making it so smaller law firms were pushed out of being able to advocate for clients. And I think that trend follows a very similar perception I’ve had of a lot of legal wrangling. Instead of democratizing the industry legislation just makes it so that the larger entities are rewarded for being larger, consolidating their impacted influence. I think generally it’s sort of a lot in effect, but I’m not sure I’ve read enough to really speak to that concept.
In all, this was a surprisingly thought-provoking book, provided a lot of really unique examples for concepts and issues I’ve been wrestling with. Probably a bit of legalistic for the casual reader, but I like that about the book. It explains things fairly simply, without dumbing down the core concepts. Still a stupid title though....more
Good book. Kind of academic but describes modern America pretty well.
It’s billed dramatically but the author is basically just saying we’re going throGood book. Kind of academic but describes modern America pretty well.
It’s billed dramatically but the author is basically just saying we’re going through the same period of inflection as we did in like 1910s to 1920s. Middle 1800s, etc. Overproduction of educated “Elite” leads to a lot of sniping among well educated upper class. We don’t have enough good jobs so things get highly competitive. That competition leads to turmoil and things like Trump. None of that is super new, but I think he presents it well
I think the drawback of this book is that it is largely a liberal arts theory masquerading as a more rigorous framework. Having graphs and scoring on your theory does not all of a sudden turn it into physics. It helps. And I think this guy is way closer to some sort of objective truth then most of the chuckle fucks who wax polemical on these topics. The author convincingly shows a lot of the similarities between historical events and current situation. But I think the sort of original sin for all of these sorts of theories is that they want to be predictive in a domain, where prediction is very tenuous. It’s easy for your theory to sound beautiful in hindsight. It’s a lot harder to make some thing that actually allows good decisions in the future....more
Awesome book about how the nuance of an entire continent is flattened into a monolith of singular idea. What a great introduction to a topic I hope toAwesome book about how the nuance of an entire continent is flattened into a monolith of singular idea. What a great introduction to a topic I hope to learn more about. Challenging and illuminating many dense and uninspired preconceptions with humor and clear writing.
Meets the reader where they’re at, with the expectation of low prior knowledge of Africa and it’s disparate parts. Doesn’t condescend or demean despite presenting pretty “oh well duh” concepts in retrospect.
from cultural artifacts to the western non-profit savior complex. A tour of how the west has appallingly misunderstood (to be generous) and often flatly pillaged the culture, history and resources of the Continent. Told in a way that is approachable and charming.
This book seems to be a great place to start learning more. Africa is massive and contains multitudes. it can be incomprehensible at times. It may contradict itself.
As Emerson said:
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines”
The vastness contained is more than empty space and eternal veldt. It is rich and amourous. Full of joy and Jollof. Can’t wait to learn more...more
I’m not particularly religious, but this quote from the gospel of Thomas has always resonated for me
“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bI’m not particularly religious, but this quote from the gospel of Thomas has always resonated for me
“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you."
That which we bring forth will destroy us anyways.
What a beautiful book. What a sad book.
“if you get a chanse put some flowrs on Algernons grave in the bak yard”
Merged review:
I’m not particularly religious, but this quote from the gospel of Thomas has always resonated for me
“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you."
That which we bring forth will destroy us anyways.
What a beautiful book. What a sad book.
“if you get a chanse put some flowrs on Algernons grave in the bak yard”...more
Without concern for the literary elements of a WESTERN novel (cmon, not reinventing Shakespeare here) this wasWhat a fun and well done western novel.
Without concern for the literary elements of a WESTERN novel (cmon, not reinventing Shakespeare here) this was a fantastic book. They ride horses, they fight, the dialogue is pithy and sufficiently badass, there’s unrequited love and twists and turns of fate. The overall writing is clear and easy to follow. The characters are believable. What more could you want?...more
Kafka in his dark wisdom said: “We need books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of This book disgusts me. 5 stars.
Kafka in his dark wisdom said: “We need books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. That is my belief”
a story about cannibalism that touches on many parts of the modern experience. As you try to read and interact with this book, you draw analogies to your daily life, and then find yourself repulsed by your conclusions because it is, ultimately, about cannibalism. The dehumanization and raw nature of reading this stings. There are parts that are visceral. Seductive. Sensual even. It’s like being tickled with a sledgehammer.
Kafka would’ve liked this book. I like this book. I’m slightly repulsed by my like of this book....more
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