Elon Musk

Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson

Elon Musk grew up in South Africa, yet his roots their were fairly shallow, with ancestors in US, Canada and England. His father Erol was quite a character and divorced his mother when Elon was young. He initially lived with his mom, but later decided to live with his dad. He has since had a full falling out with his dad, especially after he had two children with a woman that was previously his stepdaughter. His father was also an accomplished engineer with many business endeavors. Musk had many interesting characters in his family history.

As a teenager, Musk went to America. He has since claimed Canadian and American citizenship. He went to school, was involved with computers and started his own software company. He went from that to others, including X.com (which merged with Paypal). SpaceX was his pet project to get people to Mars. Other parts like Starlink are part of that. He became involved with Tesla early on (with a messy discussion of who were the founders). He later founded OpenAI, though had a falling out with the leadership.

Musk has a mission of preserving humanity. Tesla would help stave off global warming with electric cars. SpaceX would bring people to Mars as insurance policy against a global catastrophe. AI efforts are meant to control AI so that it does not control us. He also feels it is important for talented people to reproduce to propagate humanity. Like Bill Gates he has self-diagnosed Aspergers. He works hard and expects every else to put in extra effort like him. He is not somebody known for work-life balance. He is willing to buck the trend. Everything done must have justification. Just because it was done before, does not mean it should keep being done. He has become the world's richest man and first trillionaire, yet has lived at times like a pauper.  At times he doesn't care how people feel about him, while at others he finds it extremely important.

Magisteria: The Entangled Histories of Science and Religion

Magisteria: The Entangled Histories of Science and Religion by Nick Spencer

Science and religion have been much more closely related than many would have us believe. Science had been historically the domain of church leaders. Historical attacks on science by religion were often exaggerated to display their point. Figures like Galileo were attacked or politic as much as actions. The condemnation for going against established orthodoxy would be just as it would be today. The core difference is that in the past church was seen as arbitrar of the truth and holder of the consensus. Today, "leading scientists" hold that same position. Religion has often been fairly fragmented. Even when Catholicism was the religion in Europe, most localities were fairly autonomous with the local authorities being most important. In the Islamic there was not even the equivalent of the pope. After the protestant reformation in Europe there were different religious practices with their own beliefs. The conflict was more often between scientists attached to one faith tradition vs. another than to scientists vs. religion.

Things pivoted over time. Religion at times would use science to explain religious teachings. Later religious teachings would be used to explain science. During the cold war, the USSR was atheist, so the US became extra religious in part to counter it. Even more recent science vs. religion actions such as the Scopes Monkey Trial were really much less about science vs. religion. That angle was primarily brought up in later dramatizations and interpretations.

Religion and science had have their conflicts, yet they have also worked together for advancement. The full separation can be problematic. They each have their expertise and together can help humanity.

Plunder: Private Equity's Plan to Pillage America

Plunder: Private Equity's Plan to Pillage America by Brendan Ballou

Private equity firms has been able to exploit legal loopholes in order to transfer wealth from society to themselves. Their playbook includes mechanisms that insulate themselves from responsibility and allow them to profit even if the companies they acquire eventually fail. Leveraged buyouts will use debt that the company takes on itself in order for private equity to buy the company. The company then pays the firm a fee for the privilege of being managed as well as regular dividends. This necessitates significant belt tightening and leaves companies heavily vulnerable. Financial engineering, such as selling the real estate and leasing it back further harms the company prospects, while also helping to enrich private equity.

This book focuses on the negative wealth extraction and financial engineering performed by private equity. Operational improvements and long-term focus are barely covered. The book talks about failures like Toys R US, without even mentioning successes like Dell. Many of the areas that private equity has infiltrated have additional structural headwinds. Private Equity firms swoop in and separate the assets into good and bad. They make money off the good, then discard the bad. Alas, "discarding" often involves hoisting it on to the government. This type of financial engineering ends up harming society as a whole. Making the businesses lean leaves little buffer for downturns and also hurts customer service. They can also take advantage of industries where there is a big disconnect between who pays. In prisons, governments like the chance to get kickbacks from criminals. In hospitals, there are many parties involved, limited transparency and few options. There are great chances to financial engineer and frew responsibilities for doing so. Public healthcare may be the only true fix for the private equity mess there.

In Ascension

In Ascension by Martin MacInnes

A marine biologist explores algae that survive deep under the ocean. She is later recruited to be part of a space mission where the algae will help them to survive. The ship eventually goes back in time, maybe even seeding life on earth. The tone of the novel reminds me of the movie Oblivion. The novel spends much of the time covering the biologist and her family. It goes back to the history of Rotterdam to explore her family origin as well as details in the relationship with her parents and sister. The algae could survive but needed to merge with others to grow to help populate the earth.

The Bee Sting: A Novel

The Bee Sting: A Novel by Paul Murray

A "small town elite" Irish family is having money problems. They ran the car business in town and were among the wealthy. However, the business is doing poorly and everyone's life is falling apart in different ways. The father, Dickie, never really had his heart in cars. It was his father's business and his brother was supposed to take it over. However, the brother in a car accident, and Dickie ended up coming back from University to marry his brother's girlfriend and run the business. The daughter, Cass,  is ready to go off to college, but is struggling with family's less wealthy state and is not doing well. The son ponders running away and selling videogames. Eventually grandpa comes back and he thinks that will help things. Alas, it is never quite so simple. The book goes on for a long time and explores the history and disfunction the family. Both the daughter and Dickie have environmental concerns. Dickie decides to build a giant bunker with a friend to help survive the apocalypse. Dickie also had a tryst with a former employee who recorded the encounter and is trying to blackmail him. There is plenty going on - perhaps too much. I could almost care for the characters.

Big Fiction: How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry and American Literature

Big Fiction: How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry and American Literature by Dan Sinykin

Publishing houses have consolidated over the years. This has led to the general "corporatization" seen in other fields. This has lead to a bifurcation of publishing where the "award winner" list is very different from the "best seller" list. The consolidation came about gradually. Initially book stores would carry a selection of books that were available. They would order direct from publishers and receive books when they came. There were many publishers concentrated in New York, as well as many other smaller regional publishers. Some innovations such as "mass market" paperbacks brought books to grocery stores and other venues. Wholesalers entered the picture, allowing booksellers to rapidly obtain any book. Then mall bookstores such as Waldenbooks and B. Dalton further emphasized the "popular" books. Borders and Barnes and Noble took it up a notch with superstores. Amazon came to dominate the mail order side of retail. The publishers also consolidated with some being part of giant conglomerates. Genre publishing focussed on certain niches like romance or Science Fiction. Some authors, like Danielle Steel have built up a strong brand in genres. (Interesting, Stephen King found that when he published books under a pseudonym, they did not sell well.)

Thing continue to evolve. Self-publishing has taken over the low end of the market, almost wiping out mass market books. The government has also been acting to prevent further consolidation on the publishing side.

The subtitle attempts to be more alarming than the content is. There are some interesting explorations of the lives of some key players such as Steel and publishing houses. However, the general flow seems like that of standard industrial consolidation.

Romantic Comedy: A Novel

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

The title sums it up very well. The book is a well done romantic comedy. The book is told from the point of view of Sally Milz, a writer for a Saturday Night Live type show. Noah Brewster is a famous musician who is guest hosting on the show. There is some secret chemistry between Noah and Sally, though she cannot see how a famous star will be interested in her. They go through the beat-around-the-bush idiocy before they finally fall for each other. We also learn of Sally's backstory which includes a marriage to a college sweetheart and a falling away when she moved to New York to work on the show. Noah is portrayed as almost perfect. He is rich, famous, loving and caring. He sets them up in a private jet to rush and care for a sick relative. He even gets mistaken for a nurse with his help. It is all feel-good escapisim.

The MANIAC

The MANIAC by Benjamin Labatut

Is this fact or fiction? In the world of AI, does it even matter? This is a novel about the history of AI that is mostly based on fact. The author started with a bunch of facts, then embellished the detailed of how they happened. There are many internal details that read like a tell-all documentary. There is a great deal of artistic license taking in these part, most of the purpose of making John von Neumann look bad. 

The book spends the bulk of the time in a middle section on the life of von Neumann. The start is short bit about a friend of Einstein. The end covers modern AI, including alphaGo and the Go player that it defeated. (The AI did lose one round when the human played a move that it didn't crasp, causing it to fall into a loop of bad moves.) 

The book has a gothic feel, implying that AI may be the dark abyss that we are falling into. Did von Neumann make a deal with the devil to set us on this path?

Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II

Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II by Evan Thomas

The United States had an atomic bomb. Japan was still fighting. Should the bomb be used to end the war? This book explores the decision made by American and Japanese to end the war. There was a delicate balance made to help allow the Emperor to end the war without losing power. Did the bombing save lives? Maybe? But situations also changed. Fire bombing or an invasion may have been worse for both sides. Dealing with Japanese culture and an unwillingness to surrender was a huge challenge to navigate when ending the war. The Russian involvement was also forthcoming. This book brings in the "bigwigs", but the big focus is on the underlings that are steering policy. It provides a different view of what led to world-altering decisions.

The Origins of Woke: Civil Rights Law, Corporate America, and the Triumph of Identity Politics

The Origins of Woke: Civil Rights Law, Corporate America, and the Triumph of Identity Politics by Richard Hanania

The origins of woke is a case study in unintended consequences. What started out as civil rights legislation to end Jim Crow segregation in the south ended up encompassing many more "rights" and "identities". Many groups exist only because of the regulations. The many groups lumped together in "Hispanic" have little in common other than the Spanish language. (And even that can be very different.) However, they are combined together into the "Hispanic" classification. New identities have sprung up. Many more people have disabilities. Trial lawyers have become some of the greatest beneficiaries. Should they win against companies, they can collect fees. If they lose, the company cannot collect legal fees. Thus, companies are often willing to settle even somewhat frivolous cases.

Title IX is a bizarre case of unintended consequences on top of others. Original protection for women was added to civil rights legislation an attempt to scuttle it. It stayed. Then later through judicial fiat, equity of roster spots was required in college sports. It did not matter if women wanted to compete or not. (In fact, cheerleading was declared not a sport, despite it being something that women wanted.) A strict equality was enforced and many men's sports were dropped. Interestingly, this was applied to sports, yet not academic or arts programs. (Perhaps they were prescient in guessing how sports would dominate society.)

Judges are not the only ones to expand the definition. There are many executive orders that apply to policies for government contractors. There are no quotas, but many things that might as well be quotas. It is expected that people match their local population that can be even worse than quotas. There is a lot of "good intentions" in much of the policies. However, it has resulted in a whole "human resources" industry that is now dependent on the existing policies. There has been an industry built up around the policies making them difficult to take away without sound heartless. Yet the policies provide more difficult than benefit. The solution is hard to find.

Self-Made: Creating Our Identities from Da Vinci to the Kardashians

Self-Made: Creating Our Identities from Da Vinci to the Kardashians by Tara Isabella Burton

People have been famous for being famous. "Social identity" is something carefully crafted to appeal to the others. Why do we care? Alas, I'm not sure. The book spends a while talking about "dandys" and people that have some particular public persona. People do seem to care a lot about about the Kardashians, so there is a market there somewhere, just not for me.

Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World

Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World by Henry Grabar

It depressing to read about how car parking space took over our cities. Parking sucked livelihood out of cities. Those that sought to play the "suburban" game ended up most bombed out. Most communities adopted very precise parking standards that had no basis in reality. They were pretty much pulled out of thin air and propagated. The end result was massing overproduction of parking that needlessly drives up the price of all real estate. The cost of parking that a car occupies is greater than the cost of of the car. The solution is tough. People get upset when the "free" parking is taken away. However, cost is the best way to regulate supply and demand. Typically when people complain about "no parking" there is plenty of parking available nearby, though it may be more costly or restricted to other users. Parking requirements have become one of the last remaining venues for bigots to fight housing. When parking requirements are fully removed, the market does not demand as much parking. Is there any hope for a future of American cities built for people rather than cars?

The Unworthy: A Novel

The Unworthy: A Novel by Agustina Bazterrica, translated by Sarah Moses 

The novel gradually unfolds a post-apocalyptic pseudo-religious convent. The women aspire for various positions there and must adhere to strict rules in the process. We learn of the background of the narrator and the rules of the strict rules of the "convent". The world has fallen apart with places like Great Britain under water. The narrator lost most everything, including her pet. Later, she has a romantic relationship with another woman. After an upper-level woman dies, the narrator learns more negative secrets of the society. The story is short, with a dark, pessimistic view of the future world.

Misbelief: What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things

Misbelief: What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things by Dan Ariely

During Covid, Dan Ariely got attacked by those opposed to Covid policy. He had given some satirical discussion about healthcare that were taken out of context and used as bait. His "half beard" made him recognizable and subject to ridicule by those that did not like current Covid policy. Many of these people would latch on to "conspiracy theories" and could not be convinced otherwise. Ariely attempted to find out what drove people to believe irrational things.

There seemed to be a pattern to "misbelief." People would start with some objection. They may feel wronged or didn't like how things were happening. Then they would go online and after a few searches they would find some sites that seemed to support their position. Then they would dig deeper. Other sources would provide deeper validation. These would often start with some degree of credibility, but be missing certain features of respectability. (It may be something that looks like a medical organization, but is actually just a propaganda group.) Then people find their community. Others support their belief and provide the support they need. The community members often have an outward portrayal of intellectual humility, but inwardly are not willing to change their own mind, but they want others to change their mind. They see others that change their mind or even align with the enemy as outcasts. That makes them unwilling to change their own minds even if they realize they may be mistaken.

The book focuses on the fringe misbelievers. However, the same symptoms are present throughout society. Even in science, the orthodoxy may be insular and not intellectually humble enough to accept changes. Most conspiracy theories start with at least some grain of truth. When mainstream thought accepts falsehoods as a way of getting its point across it opens up the conflict. During the outset of Covid, government officials initially said masks were not useful and that schools should stay open. Later officials pivoted, despite the science not changing. Officials knew that masks helped slow the spread, but used falsehoods to preserve the supply. They also knew it was best to keep schools open due to past pandemic experience. However, they ended up closing them in the name of stopping the spread more due to emotional appeals. "Science" was used to back up what were primarily political decision. Science against the orthodoxy was discredited. This forced many "underground" and did more to harm outcomes. (If the government had lied about lockdowns, why trust them regarding vaccines?) Today, we often see any extreme weather event blamed on climate change even if there is not justification. Is this attempt of public persuasion just enabling climate change denial?

Sweetpea

Sweetpea by C.J. Skuse

The lead character works a tedious journalism job by day. She survived a horrendous crime in her youth and had some training for survival by her father. She makes a regular "hit list" of people that have wronged her or others in various ways (from pedophiles to people taking too long in the checkout line.) She becomes the casual serial killer. Easly in the book she castrates a drunk that was coming onto her and pushes him to the river, only to return back as if nothing happens. She gets involved in other crimes. She later frames someone else for the crimes. The book has light, vulgar tone with plenty of dark humor. 

Playlist for the Apocalypse: Poems

Playlist for the Apocalypse: Poems by Rita Dove

I had my firephone read this book to me. It may have been better to read the poems in print. There were some that dealt with watergate and slave politics. Also other bits of random poems. They went in one ear and out the other.

There Were Giants in the Land: Episodes in the Life of W. Cleon Skousen

There Were Giants in the Land: Episodes in the Life of W. Cleon Skousen by W. Cleon Skousen, Jo Ann Skousen and Mark Skousen

W. Clean Skousen's family members assembled an autobiography from his journals. Skousen was born in Canada, then served a church mission in Europe and then came to live in the USA. He spent time working for J Edgar Hoover in the FBI. He was later a university professor and a police chief before focussing on his National Center for Constitutional Studies. The organization advocated a conservative focus on the study of the constitution and it's religious basis. In addition to the political writings, he also wrote parenting works and a "thousand years" series of books on the Old Testament. He was very devoted to his organization and his brand of conservative principles. However, he had trouble with others that differed in the way to run things. His anti-communist beliefs were perfect for the cold war mentality and seemed to reach the mainstream peak during the Reagan era. After the end of the cold war, his relevance appeared to wane.

The Lumumba Plot: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination

The Lumumba Plot: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination by Stuart A. Reid

Democratic Republic of the Congo had a rough start. The region was originally the Belgian King's private realm. It covered an area including many different ethnic groups. White Belgians helped build up the economy with western industrialization. However, the natives were for the most part left out. Only low-level service jobs were open to them. Eventually Belgium was encouraged to turn over power. Alas, things didn't go rail. Many people expected the benefits of the "good life" that the Belgians had without putting forth the effort. There were different people competing for power. Eventually voters selected a prime minister. Alas, things went downhill. The military revolted against their low pay and Belgian leadership. The leader also got caught in cold war machinations and internal conflict. The prime minister and president both relieved each other of their office. The CIA was concerned that the prime minister may be a Soviet tool and plotted his assassination. Eventually he was killed in a plausibly deniable way. A UN plane with the secretary general also crashed around the same time (most likely due to natural causes, but rumoured to have other factors involved.) A new strongman leader was installed and the country stagnated.

The book paints a compelling narrative. However, some of the key names sound similar, make it difficult to keep track of who is who. There is extensive coverage of the UN and the challenge of keeping legitimacy with many competing forces. The CIA plot doesn't come until the end.

Fourth Wing: Empyrean, Book 1

Fourth Wing: Empyrean, Book 1 by Rebecca Yarros

Sex. Violence. Dragons. Blah.

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter: A Cosmere Novel

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter: A Cosmere Novel by Brandon Sanderson

There is a nightmare painter and a girl from another world. They discover what things are like on this world. One world is more "magical" while the one they are visiting is technology based. They discover some of the odd things like fashion in the tech world. It is an interesting fish out of water story. Then some of the Cosmere and shards parts get brought in. There is also discovery that the lead never made it to the school he wanted it. Book feels like it goes o a bit too long.