Fossil Future: Why Global Human Flourishing Requires More Oil, Coal, and Natural Gas--Not Less

Fossil Future: Why Global Human Flourishing Requires More Oil, Coal, and Natural Gas--Not Less by Alex Epstein

Alex Epstein argues that we have a moral obligation to support  fossil fuels in order to have humanity flourish. He argues that while emissions can impact the climate, the damage they cause is overshadowed by the gains humanity receives. Most of the argument to reduce carbon focuses on the harm without looking at the positive. If there were no positives, there would be no justification for using fossil fuels at all now. However, there are positives and we don't have any alternatives that can provide the benefit they provide. There is also confusion on adoption of policies, with some of the best non-carbon energy sources (nuclear and hydro) being attacked, while intermittent sources like solar and wind are subsidized. The climate research framework and reporting is willing to bend the facts to support an anti-fossil fuel agenda. The focus is on harm rather than benefits. Even as weather and climate related deaths have plummeted, reporting declares any incident as being climate change related. There is very little reporting on positive response to increased temperatures. Estimates of negative impact are also significantly underreported. Many advocates are seeking to eliminate any human impact rather than doing what is best for people.

It is easy to see the hyperbole and inconsistencies of climate change. Every heat wave of forest fire is declared to be a symptom of climate change (even if the problem had nothing to do with climate.)  Plastic straws and shopping bags are replaced by paper ones. Electric cars are mandated instead of gas. These are "swap in" solutions that may be a little less convenient, but feel better for the environment - even if they actually require more energy to produce. "Others" are encouraged to skip fossil fuels. We have low flush toilets that may need to be flushed a few times, high efficiency dishwashers that require more handwashing and other "improvements" that have limited value. 

If we really want to reduce energy use, we need to reduce it. The cheats are not going to cut it. We need to allow cities to be built in a way that people can walk instead of drive. We need to be "smaller" and produce less waste. If we are not willing to use less energy, then making changes is just rounding errors. Wind and Solar are "green", but they require disturbing the environment with their placement and the transmission lines needed. They also need backups, which can require moreland and possibly fossil fuel.

The books simple argument is that we should focus on what is best for humanity. With that model, fossil fuels are required. No other fuel is close to providing similar benefits. Others may have some limited benefit, but all have challenges. Things get a bit slow in the middle of the book, before the end presents ways to argue the point. 

Against Democracy

Against Democracy by Jason Brennan

Democracy enables everyone to have a say. This is both a feature and a bug. Everybody has a vote, but not everybody has a clue as to what they are doing. Many frequently vote against their own best interests - often because they don't have any idea how their votes impact them. They would be better off if they did not vote. It is not worth the investment to become more knowledgeable. Encouraging people to become involved and vote generally makes things worse. (As a thought experiment, how would Black activists feel if we could wave a magic wand and make all Black voters vote in all election? ... if it had the side effect of always having them vote for MAGA Republicans?)

The author explores different types of voters. "Hobbits" are uninformed. "Hooligans" are highly partisan and passionate, but generally clueless.  "Vulcans" dispassionately analyze and choose what is best. A nation of Vulcans would produce great results, but alas we have mostly Hobbits and Hooligans. People are often attached to a particular party and favor people that way and will even vote if out of their best interest.

Other systems may provide better results. Epistocracy is a potential system where the most knowledgeable rule. We could provide additional votes for those with more education or who have passed a civics test. Or we could randomly pick from among the people that had shown basic knowledge. (Though there are questions on how the demonstration of knowledge can be made - one proposal is to have that democratically produced. People often have a strong idea of how they should act, they just don't necessarily act that way.)  There are other ways that could also be explored that would be improvements on democracy. Is there a will to adopt anything better?

This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Young Doctor

This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Young Doctor by Adam Kay

The author worked as an ob/gyn in the British National Health Service. He had plenty of experiences as a young doctor. Detailed birth plans were often thrown out the window when the fetus had other ideas. Hours could be very long, with limited sleep or any time outside of work. Standards and work regulation could seem very arbitrary. Bodily fluids could be all over the place, with risk of HIV possible. Even the British medical system is far from perfect.

The Most Dazzling Girl in Berlin

The Most Dazzling Girl in Berlin by Kip Wilson

In Weimar Germany, queer clubs were popular and somewhat accepted. This book paints Germany as an LGBT Utopia that was only brought down by the rise of Hitler and Nazis. The book paints a picture of revisionist history that was extremely black and white. It feels like a revisionist Germany painted to look like the modern world. It is pretty short.

The Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrative

The Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrative by Vivian Gornick

How do you make a memoir sound alive? This book provides examples and tools for helping to write memoirs. There is not much narrative in the book itself, but it may be appealing for writers.

Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now

Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now by Jeff Yang, Phil Yu,and Philip Wang

"Asian American" is a huge category. Over half lives in Asia. Pacific Islanders are often included in the group, further expanding the diversity. A Somoan, Pakistani and Vietnamese are all grouped together in what becomes a catch-all group. Though they have little in common, they are often seen as part of this "other" and band together. After events such as 9/11 or coronavirus outbreak, Asians found themselves in an area of shared victimhood.

The book provides some background of Asian history and early pop culture, but the focus is on more modern times. Early pop culture was fairly bleak. There would often be white actors in yellow-face playing to Asian stereotypes. Even when there were Asian actors, they would rarely be the stars. Asian films and TV shows would lose much of the Asian-ness when coming to the US. Things have changed over the past decades. Crouch Tiger, Hidden Dragon was popular and earned awards despite being subtitled and having an Asian cast. Asian actors have been playing more leading roles. Kpop and Kdrama have become extremely popular. Yet despite this popularity, they still are paid a fraction what white actors would be paid.

Asian-Americans often grew up with the same popular media as their white friends. However, they also had some of their own culture and expected values. The group is diverse on many levels. There are more actors and musicians today with Asian backgrounds. The diversity remains. One recurring part of the book is podcasters that talk about "disgrasians". A group are criticising Asians that disgrace their community - which often means they are behaving in a way that they don't like. (It can be challenging to advocate for identity politics while still being open minded.) The book bounces around among advocacy, history and culture and is quite relatable, if not a little long.

There are also good explanations of the "pop history" of Asian Americans. Many of the "towns" still have old-time ethnic inhabitants. However, newer, well-to-do immigrants often decamp straight to the ethnic suburbs like Cupertino. Will Asian immigrants retain a cultural identity after a few generations? Or will they become subsumed in a new Euro-Asian melting pot? 

Asian American Histories of the United States

Asian American Histories of the United States by Catherine Ceniza Choy

What is the history of people from Asia in the United States? You won't find much of that hear. However, if you are interested in the role that Asians have played in labor movements and community organizing. Business and culture are barely mentioned. The "Donut King" of Southern California gets much more coverage than Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. Chinese and Japanese culture is barely mentioned until it is under stress. In an attempt to be show the importance of Asians in the US, the book portrays them as dependent on the non-Asian culture. The focus is on Asian Americans adopting American-style organizing to get more privileges from the government. We could have a much better Asian history.

Korean Hangul for Beginners

Korean Hangul for Beginners by Soohee Kim, Haewon Cho and Emily Curtis

Hangul is a logical writing system that combines an intuitive alphabet in a syllabic writing system. The letters are written in a way that relates to the way they are pronounced. They are then combined in blocks with consonants and vowels that make up a syllable. The sounds are almost always the same, though there are some special cases especially at the ends of the words. This workbook provides a good way of learning. It explains the symbols and provides details on how symbols are built upon previous symbols. There is plenty of practice with both writing and hearing the characters. It does require some effort to learn the characters, but just reading the book can provide some background.

Korean Folktales for Language Learners: Traditional Stories in English and Korean

Korean Folktales for Language Learners: Traditional Stories in English and Korean by Sukyeon Cho, Yeon-Jeong Kim and Andrew Killick

This is a language learning book disguised as a storybook. The Korean folktales are presented in both English and Korean. The book contains additional instruction on the basics of Korean characters and language. There are also definitions of many of the Korean words used. This would be a great text for intermediate Korean language study. Even without knowledge of Korean, the book works as a series of English stories. The folktales are short and include a paragraph of discussion. There are some that have parallels in the west (such as Cinderella). Many of them emphasize traits important to Koreans, such as humility and family loyalty. It would be a great book to revisit after learning more Korean.

A Map for the Missing: A Novel

A Map for the Missing: A Novel by Belinda Huijuan Tang

Tang Yitian is a  Chinese man from a small village currently working as a young professor at Stanford. He receive a call from home that his father is missing. He rushes back to China to see him. The novel combines his search with flashbacks to his earlier life. In this trip back he finds out more about his father and family and helps to reconcile his family relationship. He discovers that his father and brother likely had dyslexia which made learning difficult. This coupled with the cultural revolution made his father disdain learning. (His grandfather was an academic, which made life difficult during the cultural revolution.)  Yitian tries to hunt down his dad, and later learns that his  dad has alzheimer's and wandered off. Yitian enlists the help of an old friend and learns what became of her life in the process. Through flashbacks, we learn of the test and the experience that led him to enter the university in China and the impact it had on his family. His brother also died via meningitis liked contracted from their visit to the city. Other details of his life are gradually unfolded. In the end he appears to reconcile with his family and the small village life as he discovers that his wife is finally pregnant back in California. In hunting down his dad, Yitian finds that his dad had been trying to purchase history books to help reconcile with his son, completing the family reconciliation. Yitian's life is very different from that of a villager, yet there are still common bonds. While the novel is set in China at the precipice of great change, the feelings of belonging and being separate can be easily applied anywhere.

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?

William Blake vs the World

William Blake vs the World by John Higgs

For some reason, I had thought Blake was American. He was not. He was very British. He was "unschooled" by his mother long before that was a thing. He became involved in writing and engraving using his unique style. He did not fit well in many categories. He claimed to be Christian, but his religion did not fall in line with church teachings. He had his own prophesies and mythology in is poetry. He was adopted by the romance poets, but didn't quite fit in with them. He was just his own thing. The book explores his life and work in detail, though it is not quite a biography or literary analysis.  

The Inmate

The Inmate by Freida McFadden

This story is told from the present, with a corresponding narrative of the past. A young adult with a 10-year-old son is returning to her childhood home to live in her parent's house and work as a nurse in a nearby prison. She had got pregnant by her boyfriend when she was in high school. Later her boyfriend was convicted of murder for killing her friends and trying to kill her. This boyfriend is staying at the prison. She gets to know him and also reaquants with another childhood friend who is now an assistant principal. There are a number of twists and turns with some false imprisonment, additional murders and then the true murderer coming in place. She learns that it would have paid to actually listen to people instead of thinking she knows what is right. There were also some extreme messed up families in that small town. (Maybe even some incest?)

The World the Plague Made: The Black Death and the Rise of Europe

The World the Plague Made: The Black Death and the Rise of Europe by James Belich

Europe went through the black death in the middle ages, severely reducing its population. Then it popped back bigger than ever and launched empires that controlled most of the world. This book starts by looking at the plague. There are evolving explanations for how it occurred and spread. Bubonic plague has gone in and out of favor. There does seem to a connection with rat populations. The black death did strike areas at different times and different mortality. It appears it also struck other parts of the world, such as Asia.

However, the plague itself is only the first part of this book. How did the activities of the various populations react to it? How did it change their behaviors and history? What was the next phase in history after the plague. Europe was even more fragmented than it is now. Economic activity and the associated trading were starting to boom. Some places, like Geneo were heavily involved in financial and mercenary activity. Europe was eager to spread its wings throughout the world. How much did the plague contribute to all these activities? The book paints a very broad picture that is perhaps a little too expansive.

Beyond the Burn Line

Beyond the Burn Line by Paul McAuley

In a far future post-apocylptic world. there is a quest for understanding of the past. There was a bear civilization and a human civilization. Something caused them to stop. A scholar is trying to find answers. What happened? Was there something from afar that destroyed the civilization?  The novel felt like it had some interesting points to explore, but the premise was just a bit too remote to make them well.

The Big Worry Day

The Big Worry Day by K.A. Reynolds and Chloe Dominique

A girl worries that her dog is worrying about all sorts of things. This is likely her way of expressing her own worries and concerns. It tries a bit too hard to have a message.

Stakes and Bones: Seattle Slayers Series #1

Stakes and Bones: Seattle Slayers Series #1 by Ken Bebelle and Julia Vee

Roxy goes from Boston to Seattle. She wants to follow in the steps of her father who was a Seattle slayer who fought against various paranormal baddies. There are Seattle landmarks mention and other Seattle bits to keep it well placed. Writing had a lot of fast paced action that didn't seem to stick in my brain.

Bricks and Murder: Seattle Slayers, Book 2

Bricks and Murder: Seattle Slayers, Book 2 by Ken Bebelle and Julia Vee

Roxy is a member of the Seattle Slayers and is trying to earn money and get a cure to send back to her mother. There is a lot of action and references to some post-apocalyptic Seattle landmarks. Writing is better than standard fantasy genre, but still hard to get into.

A Throne of Shadows: Prophecy of the Forgotten Fae, Book 1

A Throne of Shadows: Prophecy of the Forgotten Fae, Book 1 by Tessonja Odette

A princess doesn't like her suitors. She has a "competition" where she demands unicorn parts as part of a quest. Unicorns are supposedly extinct, but later some characters see some. Various groups are at odds with each other. There is some competition and some romance. It ends in a big battle with conflicting relationships. The universe seems similar to other romantasy books. Is there any originality in this genre?

Engineering in Plain Sight: An Illustrated Field Guide to the Constructed Environment

Engineering in Plain Sight: An Illustrated Field Guide to the Constructed Environment by Grady Hillhouse

We see complex engineering everywhere, but rarely pay attention to it. This well-illustrated book covers much of what is available in "plain sight", as well as the hidden parts that are enabled. There are chapters on roadways, electricity, telecommunication, water and even general construction. It is concise and provides just enough detail to allow an understanding of what you are seeing. The illustrations even include a bit of subtle humor.