(pub. 2017) The game of pachinko is little like pinball and little like a slot machine. You don’t need to know much more about the game other than to understand that the machines are manipulated in much the same way the slot machines are programmed. To favor the house at all times but to allow …
Category Archives: reviews
Women & Power: A Manifesto — Mary Beard
(pub. 2017) Two essays published in the London Review of Books in 2014 and 2017 In the Public Voice of Women, Beard shows the depth and breadth of the practice of the silencing of women. She begins with the silencing of Penelope by her son Telemachus in the Odyssey. When Penelope enters the hall to ask …
The Books Of January
Fiction: Artemis — Anthony Weir From the guy who brought you The Martian, one of the finest sci-fi adventures of the last 20 years, Artemis is another adventure in space. This time on the moon with lots of science: lunar shelters and manufacturing in zero G and more than most of us need to know about …
The Books of December
More or less. I’ve got a lot of books to catch up on. Here’s the first batch. Fiction: Beartown — Fredrik Backman (2017) Dropped it after just a couple of chapters. I like hockey but not this much. And I don’t simpatico with the characters. The idea of an entire town’s future resting on the …
The Books of November
Several books in this issues point to a trend: writers seem to be losing the magic in their work. Is it age, too much writing, or the unbelievably cartoonish reality of the times? Whatever, the magic is gone from a lot of writing at the moment. * Magical Realism can’t keep up with the zeitgeist. * …