Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language

Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language by Adam Aleksic

TikTok and short form video of accelerated the changes in language. Subgroups often adopt their own slang internal to the group. This will sometimes "Escape" the confines and become widely accepted. The original group may feel it "lost" its language and go on to something else. The cycle has gone on for some time, with African American Vernacular providing many words that came into modern usage (such as "cool") We see more and more new terms rise up and spread quickly due to the widespread reach and repetition of video.

Wag the Dog: A Novel

Wag the Dog: A Novel by Larry Beinhart

This was originally called American Hero and later reissued as Wag the Dog after the name of the movie based on the book. This is something about politicians staging a "fake war" to help get re-elected. However, this part barely appears. Instead, it is mostly about a detective and a movie star. It rambled on and tried to blur the line between fact and fiction. 

Inventing Abstraction, 1910-1925

Inventing Abstraction, 1910-1925 by Michael Taylor, edited by Leah Dickerman; contributors:Matthew Affron, Yve-Alain Bois, Masha Chlenova, Hal Foster, David Joselit, Philippe-Alain Michaud, Lanka Tatersall

This is a big thick art book that has too much text. The text is not enough to get a full understanding of the rise of abstraction. However, it takes up too much space and interrupts the flow of the pictures. There were a few interesting pictures, but the narrative was lacking.I didn't feel like I learned a lot.

The First Shots: The Epic Rivalries and Heroic Science Behind the Race to the Coronavirus Vaccine

The First Shots: The Epic Rivalries and Heroic Science Behind the Race to the Coronavirus Vaccine by Brendan Borrell

The government helped enable a rapid deployment of a COVID-19 vaccine primarily by getting out of the way. The government showed that it was not prepared to handle a large-scale pandemic. In some cases, the were learning in real time. In other cases, the actions were just plain stupid. They were both too aggressive and too slow to respond. Quarantining people on a cruise ship was a great way to increase spread of the disease. Willy-nilly quarantines did little to slow things down. Knowledge of the outbreak in China was kept under wraps before it "escaped". Previous research into other coronavirus vaccines enabled rapid development of vaccines. However, they refused to allow them to be used under a compassionate use exemption until after trials completed. The government was too concerned with control and perfection. This slowed the rollout of tests and new treatments. If people have a 30% of dying, does it make sense to hold out for something that is only 2% more effective? Then there were state governors with their own policies. Cuomo in New York seemed to be great at helping to maximize the negative impact of the virus. He would force the infected to commingle with the vulnerable and later prefer vaccines to be thrown out rather than be used by people not on the list yet.

The bulk of the book describes government response and Operation WarpSpeed. The rapid production of the vaccine was enabled by the Trump administration. What would have happened with another president at top? Did Trump slow things down? Or did his zaniness help speed up the vaccine release? The "process" seemed to be the biggest slowdown. There was a mix of competition and collaboration that helped bring about the release. Moderna was primarily going within the system. Pfizer tried to do things more on its own. There was also Johnson and Johnson as well as a few others that never quite made it. Are we prepared for the next pandemic?

Antibodies

Antibodies by Charles Stross

This short story was first published in 2000, and later published in the compilation Toast: And Other Rusted Futures. A mathematician publishes a paper that solves the traveling salesman problem and transforms NP-complete problems to easily solvable ones. This seemingly breaks all cryptography. The story them picots to AIs gone amok. The AI has grown and taken on an identity of its own. It has started to consume all electronic resources and then goes on to inhabit the real world. A couple is trying to reach an "extraction point" where they can escape from this world. Alas, they are caught a little before escaping. Luckily, they appear to have "anitbodies" and are able to escape. There are a few interesting concepts in this story, but they don't quite come together.

The Joyful Wisdom

The Joyful Wisdom (The Gay Science) by Friedrich Nietzsche, translated by Thomas Common

This is an early brain dump of Nietzsche's thoughts. He brings up concepts such as "god is dead" and "Zarathustra spoke" for which he would be known. The thoughts are all over the place, with thoughts of disadvantages of men being like women.  He even includes some of his poetry in there. Some parts aged well. A lot didn't.

Ruin and Renewal: Civilizing Europe After World War II

Ruin and Renewal: Civilizing Europe After World War II by Paul Betts

What is civilization? The definition has changed over time and space. In the early 19th century, Germany was seen at the forefront of progressive civilization. They even thought of themselves as spreading "civilization" through less civilized areas of Europe. Even concentration camps were justified as ways of cleaning out impediments to civilization. The rest of the world did not buy this and after Germany was defeated German "civilization" was in the trash can. Both the US and Russia had differing views of civilization that they tried to enforce within the world. 

The European powers also wanted to return to their colonies after the war ended. They did not notice the irony of fighting a war in defence of "local freedom" only to decide to resume controlling their colonies. The locals saw the value of freedom and wanted it for themselves. The colonies achieved independence in various ways. Some had fought the colonizers. Others had a more peaceful handover. In some cases the colonizers acted "bitter" and took out much of their know how and "stuff" during the handover. In other cases, there was a more knowledge transfer. These colonies were also involved in the battles between the communists and capitalists both before and after freedom.

During the postwar era, global civilization came out. UNESCO was an organization to help protect global heritage. Other organizations such as the EU and the UN spanned multiple countries. Science and arts organization also worked together across country lines. Multiculturalism and identity sparked a backlash with a response of closed borders, nationalism and far right organizations. Where does civilization go from here? Have we learned the lessons of the past, or will we continue to cycle through the same problems again?

Kuleana: A Story of Family, Land, and Legacy in Old Hawai'i

Kuleana: A Story of Family, Land, and Legacy in Old Hawai'i by Sara Kehaulani Goo

A large tax bill becomes an opportunity for the author to explore her Hawaiian heritage. She represents a Hawaiian mutt, with heritage from China, Hawaii as well as other areas. She grew up in California and lives on the east coast. She still connects with family in Hawaii, but feels somewhat distance from the place. Her family has some land near Hana. A trust was set up to help maintain it. However, a large tax increase puts that into question. There are some complications. They had donated a heritage historical site to a local park entity. However, the terms were still not fully settled and that makes it difficult to build on the land. The narrative in the book travels back and forth in time as the author explores her and Hawaii's history. There are interesting contradictions to explore in the process. Her "native" culture is really a mixed culture of many of the pre-tourist immigrants. Should this be prioritized over the modern culture? Or were these just as destructive to the early Hawaiian way. How do we react to the various capitalist exploiters? They were able to rake land due to better understanding of the legal systems. However, they were also able to improve it in ways the others could not. Chasing out the tourists may help win elections, but do people really want to go back to pre-industrial society. Is there a way to do things so that everyone benefits? Often the attempts to "stick it to the tourists" really just help benefit the big hotels. This just swaps one tourist out for the other. What would be the best endgame for Hawaii?

The Anglo-Saxon World

The Anglo-Saxon World by Nicholas J. Higham and Martin J. Ryan

This book tries to be more than an academic history of the Anglo-Saxons. Despite the efforts, it slips into the boring trops of academic ancient histories. There are diversions into pottery and archeological finds. These are all nice in academic works. However, for a popular history, I would like more narrative and less pottery. The book would occasionally get on a role with a good narrative before falling back to pottery. I ended up recognizing a lot of the names from the times before William the Conqueror. However, I had trouble putting hte whole story together in my mind. We may be able to tell by place names, but it is still hard to grasp.

Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy

Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy by Mary Roach

Various body parts can be replaced. These are sometimes replaced by using the same part from another person. (This is common in the west,  but not in China.) Other times parts are grafted from different parts of the body or from other animals. Sometimes things are fully created implements. Sometimes "new" can be seen by people as better. I found it interesting that people would pull their teeth in order to use dentures. This seems crazy. But then today we may pull half-healthy teeth in order to put implants in place. Sometimes surgeries are done arbitrarily. This book provides a number of anecdotes of various people engaged in replacing body parts. It is created as a "popular" story rather than providing details. Genitalia and implants are covered as are various types of cosmetic implants. There is not a whole lot of coverage of "boring" replacements.

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1: The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Book 1

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1 by Beth Brower

A woman goes back to live in Lapis Lazuli house. She is supposed to inherit it when she comes of age. However, now she is subject to some evil relative that occupies it. Through the journals we discover her history and how she ended up in this state. Her parents have both died. They had took pity on the relative that lives in the house. However, he has returned that niceness by squandering the fortune and treating the protagonist poorly. She seems to be in the upper middle class. Her family is not among the poor, neither are they rich. There are relatives that have various schemes they are engaging. She participates to some extent. The book is well written, but quite short and seems to end halfway through the story. It does make a "Jane Austen" scenario actually readable.

The CIA Book Club: The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War with Forbidden Literature

The CIA Book Club: The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War with Forbidden Literature by Charlie English

The CIA had a small clandestine operation to funnel books to eastern block underground. These would include various books like 1984, that the sensors had banned. This was a low budget operation on the part of the CIA, with most of the Eastern Europeans not knowing the true source of the books.

This book focusses on publishing in Poland in the late 1980s. The solidarity union had come into being and got some key concessions out of the communist government. Shortly thereafter, the government took those back and started a crackdown on publshing and freedom. This lead to more clandestine operations to smuggle in literature and printing presses. Additionally, the rise of VCRs and satelite video transmissions provided another source of "contraband." Smugglers worked to bring in material by various means. Many of the anecdotes would be fitting in a cold war thriller. Poland eventually aquiesed to free elections, and through the help of publishing, the oposition swept into power.

Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream

Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream by Megan Greenwell

This is a "make you mad at private equity" book. It provides a few examples of private equity in low income apartments (in D.C. area), retail (Toys 'R Us), newspapers and rural hospitals (in Wyoming). It is easy to get mad and worked up about the cases. However, it feels like part of the story is missing.  All of these industries were distressed in some way. Did private equity just change the timelines for failure? Private Equity firms are big and seem to take advantage of a number of regulatory loopholes. However, most of the "solutions" advocated simply entrench them more in power. (See the case of healthcare that has become more and more expensive, consolidated and regulated at the same time.)

The book ends with some success cases. The Toys 'R Us workers were able to get a little bit of severance. A group in rural Riverton, Wyoming was able to get funding to open a new hospital. Though I do need to wonder how it will pan out? Will the deep pocketed hospital may be challenging. Would they just operate at a loss to kill the competitor, and then go back? The case of the housing is also challenging. Rent control is nice for those that get it. But it doesn't help those that still don't have a place to live. Renter unions may seem nice, but the problems spread across housing types. In Seattle, Bellweather housing is a nonprofit provider of affordable housing. Yet residents have a tenants union and have demanded better maintenance, security and keeping promises made to residents. Private equity may come in to real estate to earn money, but the problems are deeper. Enabling more 3-flats and other small multi-unit housing would make home ownership more affordable. However, we may be eliminating this path by creating universal rental regulations. A business with thousands of units can afford to deal with a few scofflaws, but a small time landlord will take a much greater hit. 

Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection

Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green

You can look at many world events through the lense of Tuberculosis. World War I may have been started due to TB. (The assassins of "ugly hat" guy were dying of TB and had nothing to lose.) Creativity was seen as something influenced by TB. 

Today tuberculosis is curable. However, most of the victims are in the poorer, less developed world, while the cures are readily available in the developed world. The book focuses on the plight of a boy with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. He went through various failed treatments, before finally getting the special treatment needed to save his life. (The drugs were initially cost prohibitive and restricted.) It does seem like a simple solution would be to make the drugs and diagnosis tools cheaper and more readily available. However, there are challenges. There are already many strains of TB that are resistant to the most common treatments. What if they do become resistant to other drugs? TB treatment requires taking the drugs for a significant length of time. Would doling out more the drugs lead to more resistance? There is also the problem of finding new cures. Pharmaceutical companies have been doing little research into TB drugs because it is primarily a low-income problem with little potential revenue stream. The common TB tools and drugs are criticized for being too expensive. This brings a double-edge problem. Why spend the effort without the return. Since government's fund the research, shouldn't these drugs be nearly free? Alas, even with government research funding, there is still significant effort to produce and ship the drugs. What would be the best way to wipe out the disease?

The author is a novelist who came into tuberculosis through some personal encounters. The book is a personal rather than scientific view of the disease, though it does provide some basic scientific background.

Beef, Bible and Bullets: Brazil in the Age of Bolsonaro

Beef, Bible and Bullets: Brazil in the Age of Bolsonaro by Richard Lapper

Bolsonaro was a Brazilian version of Trump. He was adamantly not politically correct. During the campaign, he was the victim of a failed assassination attempt. He gradually lost popularity during his term in office and was criticized for his handling of COVID-19. He was eventually defeated by Lula, a former left wing president who had been convicted of fraud. (The conviction was later overturned and he was allowed to run again.) The bulk of the book covers the background of brazil leading up to the election. Brazil has significant crime. The criminal gangs have active operations within prisons. (and seem more effective than the government in punishing evildoers.) Police play a significant role in society and hold many elected positions. In spite of this, many neighborhoods have vigilantes which also fight crime. (Alas, these can be just as bad as the criminals.) The court system is slow and delayed through multiple appeals. Things seemed to be going well with oil reserves, but the country was not able to benefit. There is a ton of potential, but few results. Big events such as the World Cup and Olympics brought tourists, but also cost huge amounts of money. Meanwhile, there are significant swaths of poverty. Most of the book covers the past and current history and politics of Brazil. This all provides an understanding of how Bolsonaro came to power.

Sleep Better!: A Guide to Improving Sleep for Children with Special Needs

Sleep Better!: A Guide to Improving Sleep for Children with Special Needs by Dr. V. Mark Durand Ph.D.

A lot of the challenges with sleep can be solved in a fairly straightforward, though counterintuitive method. If somebody has trouble getting to sleep, it often works to gradually wake them up earlier and prevent them from napping. Many other fixes require similar gradual changes. Sleep drugs are often not helpful. They can also lead to addiction and get adaptation. Caffeine consumption can often lead to headaches in the morning. The book itself seems to be fairly repetitive, with practices repeated in different sections. There are a few anecdotes with different people and their challenges. Some were interesting, such as the woman who would "sleep eat" when she was supposedly on a diet.

The Convenience Store by the Sea

The Convenience Store by the Sea by Sonoko Machida, translated by Bruno Navasky

The book is a simple heartwarming tale of the lives of many people whose lives are connected via a local convenience store, "Tenderness". The store manager is charismatic and cares for others. He really seeks the best and love to help others. He has his own fan club of older women. A woman pursues her passion of manga and helps others. (Her son thinks she is having an affair in a later episode.) There is a schoolgirl who sneaks treats and befriends another girl who is bullied for being different. (The later finds out she was caring for her dying father.) A retiree finds the joy of being a substitute grandfather and is helped in the process. He shunned convenience stores at first but found they can be helpful. The many episodes are all fairly independent, but tie together. In the end there is a classic mixup where the manager sister comes to the store while the manager goes to the family home (and they don't have cell signal.) It all works out after the everyone in the community rallies together to help. The characters are universal, though it is strongly placed in Japan with many subtle bits of Japanese culture.

The Air-Conditioned Nightmare

The Air-Conditioned Nightmare by Henry Miller

Henry Miller grew up in New York and fled to Europe. Shortly before World War II, he returned to America and wrote this book about his journeys in the country. His tone is extremely negative, and comes across as an "apostate" from the country. He hates America and criticizes just about everything he sees. His positive views are on things like France and the Baha'i faith. 

The journey was made in 1940, shortly before the US entered World War II. The most interesting parts are the side notes about the country in the time. Hitler was rising, but it was not clear what the end result would be or whether the US would become involved. The prices at the time were ridiculously low compared today. Big tourist attractions still attracted tourists doing the tourist things. In some ways it does not seem different from many more modern road trip travelogues. 

Abundance

Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson

The United States has adopted a lawyer-centric regulation system that slows progress and makes development slow and expensive. Much of the problem comes originally from the left. Activists successfully argued that laws originally written to apply to the government would apply to private parties also (as they were enabled by the government.) Environmental studies and the like become a way to quash development, while also taking time and money. Further "good intentions" also drive up costs. Government funds typically come with many compliance requirements that all cost money. These may include building standards, the type of people that can be hired, local outreach and impact and much more.

California high speed rail is case in point. Billions have been spent and there is still no rail line. China could easily build 400 miles of high speed rail for the cost that California has spent to build nothing. California started planning for high speed rail before China did. Today China has 30,000 miles. California has none.

This book is written by liberals and aimed at liberals. The right is occasionally mentioned when they intentionally dismantle programs (such as when Reagan ended solar subsidies.) The right has also learned the bureaucratic was of the left. Rather than fight all plans, they just require more studies.

There are examples when things have got done quickly. Operation Warp Speed delivered COVID vaccines much quicker than usual. However, a lot of groundwork had been made. The concept of an mRNA vaccine had been proposed decades earlier, but rejected (for being "different" and "not as good"). However, some companies were still running with it and ready to leap. The government helped provide funding and regulatory guarantees and then got out of the way. The vaccines were developed, tested and manufactured quickly and helped save many lives. (This is in contrast to the overly cautious approach to testing in the pandemic which lead to greater viral spread and cost many lives.) Another case mentioned was replacement of a damaged section of I-95. The government got out of the way and was able to build a replacement quickly.

The biggest problem with the narrative is the value judgement of "what is good". The interstate highway system was seen as something very good, yet it destroyed cities and lead to dependence on cars. Many of the future scenarios envision massive public building projects to expand solar, high speed rail and other green technology. Will these pan out? Or will some of the negatives outnumber the positives? Or will it be something that is outdated? There is danger in subsidies targeting the wrong thing or missing the mark. They mention renewables are much cheaper than fossil fuels. Yet use of solar died off when subsidies were dropped. Why was this? If industry relies on subsidies, it is open to changing whims of government. If it is a pure cost benefit, it is much clearer. Blue states tend to pass laws and subsidies for renewables, but red states have become the leaders in bringing on new renewable capacity.

The book also discusses science and innovation. There is a lot of money sloshing around and many publications. However, very little of it is useful. There is a reluctance to fund younger scientists or projects that differ significantly from the status quo. (There are some interesting quotes from James Evans on the sociology of science.) Like in the case of infrastructure projects, there is a desire to ensure that money does not go to waste. However, this is carried to far and ends up creating the waste.

Victor, the Wolf with Worries

Victor, the Wolf with Worries by Catherine Rayner

A wolf worries about a lot of things. He just can't do a lot of wolf things well. Then a friend helps him see that all wolves have worries. Then he goes on to be a good wolf. It is a fairly generic story.

There's No Such Thing as...Unicorns / No hay tal cosa como los... unicornios

There's No Such Thing as...Unicorns / No hay tal cosa como los... unicornios by Lucy Rowland, illustrated by Katy Halford

A girl hears from everyone that there is no such thing as unicorns. In the zoo, school and elsewhere the message is repeated. Finally, she looks in the sky and sees a unicorn. The book has a nice rhyming style in English, but the accompanying Spanish is just a literal translation that misses out on the structure.

Wicked Fox

Wicked Fox by Kat Cho

If you mix Twilight and Korean drama you'll get Wicked Fox. A family of human-like "fox" creatures must feast on humans to survive. They move to a small town where the daughter goes to public school. She has struggles with some kids. However, she falls for a boy who she helps save from goblins. For a fantasy story, this is pretty good, but it is still a fantasy.

Archive of Unknown Universes: A Novel

Archive of Unknown Universes: A Novel by Ruben Reyes Jr.

El Salvador and Cuba. Gay and Straight. Real and alternate history. Past and Future. This book contains a number of contrasts. A couple are having some relationship trouble. They have the ability to use a device which can show alternate histories. In the past, there is a gay couple in El Salvador. There are challenges with the revolution that occurred. There are a few different stories that sort of go together, but it is not quite connected.

Korea: The Impossible Country

Korea: The Impossible Country by Daniel Tudor

There are surprisingly few histories of South Korea in English. Most of those that do exist focus on the Korean war of North Korea. South Korea meanwhile has grown from almost nothing to be a significant economic power. Korea has been occupied by various other powers, with Japan and China both exerting influence. Japan was in the process of wiping out Korean language and culture, and may have wiped out "Korea" had it won World War II. In the Korean war, Korea was a proxy in the West vs. Communism cold war. At the end of the cold war, the country was torn apart and extremely poor. South Korea successfully used import substitution and built up a significant economy. Seoul became a great city. The tight knit, hard working Korean culture has helped to build up the economy. The big conglomerates such as Samsung have been able to compete on the global market. They would often copy, but do things better. Today, Korean media is another popular export. There are still challenges. Korea has a high suicide rate. People work and study for long hours. The outcomes may be good, but other places have achieved similar outcomes with significantly less effort.  The book is a good introduction to Korea and their history from ancient times to today.

Power and Liberty: Constitutionalism in the American Revolution

Power and Liberty: Constitutionalism in the American Revolution by Gordon S. Wood

This book explores the background under which the US constitution was created. The time was different from today (and what we think of back then.) Land was abundant. Concepts of "representation" were different from what we have today. Travel was difficult. The colonies were all fairly independent. The results that were created were only done after significant compromise. The discussions on slavery were especially interesting. Prior to the time, it was fairly common for people to "own" other people and have the ability to trade their contracts, whether they be short term or long term. Indentured servitude was a primary means that people used to come to America. Lifetime generational slavery was on its way out. It was even falling out of favor in places like Virginia. The writers of the constitution didn't even mention it. I wonder what would have happened if they did not use the 3/5 compromise to attract the south? Would they have simply stayed on their own?