Reviews

“Taking You Out to See the Stars” 1

This entry was posted in Reviews and tagged filk music on by

(Off-topic for this blog, but I want people to know about this album.)

There are filk albums that excite me with their stories, impress me with their musicianship and technical skill, or make me laugh at their humor. Not many, though, grab me from the inside the way Gray Rinehart’s “Taking You Out to See the Stars.” The songs touch on hope for the future, love, painful loss, facing adversity, mortality, and more. It’s billed as a “pre-order,” but don’t be fooled; it’s got thirteen fully-realized songs.
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A new review of Spells of War

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Monica Cellio has posted a review of Spells of War.

Spells of War tells an interesting story with characters I cared about. In both books, the author made me care about, and understand the inner struggles of, people who are on the “other side” — the inquisitor in the first book and Petros and his peers in the second. Spells of War shows the devastation that war causes on all involved.

As she notes, Monica was a beta reader and got a free copy in return for her useful advice. There was no quid pro quo beyond that.

Here’s the information on ordering Spells of War.

Book Discussion: Tech Panic

This entry was posted in Book discussion Reviews and tagged Internet politics technology on by

Robby Soave is making a name for himself among the younger generation of libertarian journalists. His Tech Panic addresses many of the overblown concerns and bad recommendations about social media. The attacks come from both the right and the left, and they’re disturbingly similar even though the two sides hate each other. They’re often attacks on free speech as such. Tech Panic cover

I should mention that I don’t like the big social media platforms very much. Rather than go off on a major rant, I’ll just leave it at that. I make minimal use of Facebook and have given up on Twitter, and I’m not biased in their favor.

Politicians often demand the repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The bulk of the CDA was declared unconstitutional, but Section 230 remains as protection for hosting companies and their users. It says, basically, that websites aren’t responsible for user-posted content. There are some exceptions; for instance, hosts have to take down child porn as fast as they can. But if a user violates a copyright or libels a person, the liability falls on the user, not the host.
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Mysteries in Manatas

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Madness in Manatas coverWhat if the Reconquista hadn’t happened and the Iberian peninsula remained primarily in Muslim hands? What if Al-Andalus, rather than Christian Spain, had sent explorers and colonists into the New World? What if its people had colonized what we call Manhattan, mixing heavily with people from other cultures? This alternate history forms the basis of a series of mystery novels by Roberta Rogow. I’ve read the six that have come out so far and enjoyed them. The island is called “Manatas” in this version of history. Each book is presents one or more murders whose investigation falls to Halvar, a North European employed by the Sultan. The books so far are:

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Overcharged: Why Americans Pay Too Much for Health Care 1

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Charles Silver and David A. Hyman, Overcharged: Why Americans Pay Too Much for Health Care, Cato Institute, 2018.

Book cover for Overcharged It would be hard to believe all the outrages described in Overcharged if public information and personal experience didn’t back them up so much. We all know that medical costs are skyrocketing. This book goes into many of the details and provides a comprehensive explanation.

A number of my experiences make more sense in the light of what I’ve read there. One time a full surgical team, including an anesthesiologist, showed up for a procedure to remove a routine sebaceous cyst from my scalp. I had already said I didn’t want general anesthesia, and I continued to refuse it. I’m sure he got paid anyway. Fortunately, I had very good insurance at the time.

Another time I underwent a biopsy for prostate cancer because of elevated PSA. It turned out negative. I had recently had a bladder infection, which is a common cause of high PSA, but the doctor didn’t care that it was most likely a false positive. I won’t go into how disgusting the prep, the procedure, and the aftereffects are. Once I sued a doctor for overcharging, only to learn that in New Hampshire, you can’t sue a doctor in small claims court without an expert witness. (At least that was what he told the judge, and she didn’t contradict him.) In terms of practical economics, that means you can’t sue a doctor in small claims court. We all know that the very idea of getting a price or even an estimate in advance for a medical procedure is a joke, even though it’s expected for any other big-ticket expenditure.
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The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist

This entry was posted in Reviews and tagged books justice Mississippi on by

Cover of The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist This is a blog about writing, and books are writing, so book reviews are on topic here, right? The book in question here is The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist, by Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington. It’s an important book and one that may shock you. If I had more vivid powers of visualization, I might not have been able to get through it.

Before reading this book, I had plenty of reasons to believe the American criminal justice system is broken. Now I have more. The book focuses on Mississippi, which has a long record of being one of the worst states in that respect, especially if the accused is black. It focuses on two individuals, Doctors Steven Hayne and Michael West. Both helped to convict many people with what was believed to be their forensic expertise. Both have been pushed out of that role by the light shed on their work. Radley Balko has played a big role in accomplishing that. But the bigger issue is a legal system that allowed junk science to be used as evidence.
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