Judaism had sectarian faultlines in the Second Temple Era. The main ones were: The pharisees are the group that evolved into the mainstream rabbinic Judaism of today after the destru...
April 2025
Links Genmaicha, AKA popcorn tea. The Shadow Book of Ji Yun, an edited and translated collection of weird fiction from the 18th century Chinese political figure (both Special Advisor to the Em...
Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin
Overall, it was… A quick, enjoyable read that taught me something new. It’s not my favorite book on the subject (that would be An Immense World by Ed Yong), but it’s written in a refre...
Call me Ishmael
Abraham banishing Hagar and Ishmael, Doré's English Bible, 1866. Wikimedia I’ve read in several places that Arabs were identified as descendants of Ishmael even before the rise of...
March 2025
Five extra books/articles/links/etc. from March 2025: The Bee Sting by Paul Murray. The story of a seemingly normal family, told from each of their perspectives. I thought the book was full of ...
Meet the Zell-Ravenhearts
Oberon and Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart are/were a couple of top tier hippies, who have spent years of their lives doing hippie things. Here are a few quick highlights before we get to the big stu...
February 2025
Five extra books/articles/links/etc. from February 2025: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. I don’t know that I’ve read another book that managed to capture the sublime so well. Longevity no...
January 2025
Five extra books/articles/links/etc. that piqued my interest in January 2025 (excepting what I’ve written about elsewhere): The Women’s Petition Against Coffee was a 1674 pamphlet about exactly...
Nixon, Kennedy, and the Victory of Style over Substance
Kennedy was considered the victor by those who watched on TV, while Nixon was thought to be the winner by radio listeners, driving home the importance of visual media in shaping our...
Metropolis by Ben Wilson
Metropolis: A History of the City, Humankind’s Greatest Invention by Ben Wilson is an example of my favorite sort of history book — an overview of many different topics, not in-depth on...