This semester I am taking a graduate class on the history of human rights. It has been fantastic even though snow has interrupted it twice now. One of our first books was Inventing Human Rights by Lynn Hunt. She examines the language of human rights as it emerged with the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the American Declaration of Independence. She argues that before and during that time period we see a change in thinking and a rise in empathy towards other people. This coincided […]
Who killed Kurt Cobain?????
Since I am essentially close to being an old person (30th birthday next month!), I decided to revisit my youth with my first book in the Cannonball Read, Love & Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain written by Max Wallace and Ian Halperin. As you can probably tell from the title, this book is about a well-known theory that Courtney Love of the band Hole had some degree of involvement in the death of her husband, Kurt Cobain of the epic grunge band Nirvana. The […]
It’s like the Double Dare obstacle course in book form!
What’s a good way to get your kids interested in life science? This book about gross stuff that’s printed in purple and green is a good start.
Redefining Realness and the ownership of story
Janet Mock has recently been publicizing her memoir, Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More, on multiple talk shows, some of which have interviewed her in ways that seem insensitive.
Batman and Psychology: It was a long and boring book
I received this book for Christmas and my face was happy. However I turned the book over, read the back and immediately became sceptic. Alliteration can be a powerful rhetorical tool, but this striving for a comedic effect felt tawdry to me. This feeling returned to me again and again as I was reading this book, Langley just seemed to be trying so hard. The book delivers pretty much what the title promises; it talks of Batman and it talks of psychology. The book tries […]
Godwin’s Law Doesn’t Apply
There is likely no rule in internet debate as well known as Godwin’s Law. The semi-satirical law coined in 1990 by author/attorney Mike Godwin states (essentially) that the invoking of Hitler or the Nazis by any participant in a debate causes the participant doing so to lose the debate. Godwin’s Law is not without its detractors: Kevin Drum of Mother Jones and liberal firebrand Glenn Greenwald have each argued for its repeal, noting rightly that since WWII analogies are so universally known they can be […]