"... the book's first-person narrative and empathetic tone mask a basic problem in the text: all Israeli soldiers are portrayed as anonymous rapists and killers, while Palestinians are victims of trigger-happy occupiers. Violence against Israeli civilians is not mentioned, perhaps because it is considered a legitimate means in the struggle for liberation against the occupiers."
Borrowed The Lost Cause, written by @pluralistic (from the library), and was an enjoyable sci-fi novel, although perhaps too close for comfort to the present, and most certainly more optimistic than some of us here would be about the future; but, well recommended nonetheless. The hero of the book most certainly would be a denizen of this slice of the Fediverse. #bookreview#books#bookstodon
"Surprisingly, our results show that women's contributions tend to be accepted more often than men's. However, when a woman's gender is identifiable, they are rejected more often. Our results suggest that although women on GitHub may be more competent overall, bias against them exists nonetheless."
Truth: A Brief History of Total Bullsh*t by Tom Phillips, 2019
As the editor of the UK's leading independent fact-checker, Tom Phillips deals with complete bollocks every day. Here, he tells the hilarious story of how we humans have spent history lying to each other - and ourselves - and asks an important question: how can humanity move towards a truthier future?
"In my darkest hours, what has saved me again and again is some action of unselfing — some instinctive wakefulness to an aspect of the world other than myself: a helping hand extended to someone else’s struggle, the dazzling galaxy just discovered millions of lightyears away, the cardinal trembling in the tree outside my window."
The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think by Jennifer Ackerman, 2020
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Genius of Birds, a radical investigation into the bird way of being, and the recent scientific research that it dramatically shifting our understanding of birds — how they live and how they think.
A New Basis for Animal Ethics: Telos and Common Sense by Bernard E. Rollin, 2016
“Possibly the most important book on animal welfare written to date. In exquisite chapter after chapter Rollin presents the philosophical background of what telos is, why it matters and demonstrates with stories, anecdotes, and data, why common sense is an important basis for understanding animals, their needs and their wants."
It’s good staying at places with good book collections
“The ecological crisis we face is due largely to the way we see, or rather, the way we don't see the world around us. In the life of our Western developed culture we are often too busy, trav-elling too fast, and too distracted to pay the sort of attention that Francis gave to the created world. Like those of whom Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote in the middle of the nineteenth century, we are blind to the sacramental presence of what is before our eyes:
Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes, The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries.”
English self-taught mathematician and physicist Oliver Heaviside was born #OTD in 1850.
He invented a new technique for solving differential equations, independently developed vector calculus, and rewrote Maxwell's equations in the form commonly used today. He significantly shaped the way Maxwell's equations are understood and applied in the decades following Maxwell's death. His practical experience in telegraphy provided a foundation for his later theoretical work.
British mathematician, logician, philosopher, & public intellectual Bertrand Russell was born #OTD in 1872.
One of Russell's most significant achievements is the co-authorship of "Principia Mathematica" (1910-1913) with Alfred North Whitehead. His works, such as "The Problems of Philosophy" (1912) & "Our Knowledge of the External World" (1914), explored issues related to knowledge, perception, & the scientific method.
The list of #ebooks that you can actually own (unlike most greedy corposlag publishers) curated by @libreture now has filters to isolate what you're looking for. A great list got even better.
"Destiny stands behind people, veiled in a veil of mystery, and in her hand she holds a quiver with a thousand events..."
Gloria Victis
Polish novelist Eliza Orzeszkowa died #OTD in 1810.
Orzeszkowa was a leading writer of the Positivism movement during foreign Partitions of Poland. In 1905, together with Henryk Sienkiewicz, she was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Going to organise my bookshelf soon with all these new books 📚 Do you organize your books by color, author, genre, or in some creative way? Show me your shelves! #BookshelfBrowsing#Bookstodon#books
Started listening to the audiobook edition of Everything Is Predictable. How Bayes' Remarkable Theorem Explains the World, written and read by Tom Chivers.