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What are you reading?

The End of Everything by Katie Mack

The Ends of the World by Peter Brannen

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
 
As usual, I'm reading too many books, but the one I'm really enjoying is "2000 Years of Disbelief Famous People with the Courage to Doubt" by James A. Haught. Because it's not on my kindle, I'm reading it very slowly, as it's hard for me to hold a dead tree book and read small print.

It's an interesting book about how so many people were tortured, executed, or had to leave their country for either being atheists, agnostics or having the wrong religious beliefs. For example, if Catholicism was the dominate belief, being a Protestant might cause you great harm. There are lots of good quotes in the book regarding how these people felt about religion.

Sadly, we stil see this type of thing in the world today, especially in Muslim countries.
 
Mind the Science: Saving Your Mental Health from the Wellness Industry

Highly recommended.
 
Red Harvest, by Dashiell Hammett. This was the novel that created the prototype for the "hard-boiled private detective" that shows up in his other books, including The Maltese Falcon. I found it interesting that by page 10, I was hearing the voice of Humphrey Bogart narrating the story from the detective's perspective.
 

Iceland approved the 4-day workweek in 2019: nearly 6 years later, all the predictions made have come true.​


Icelandic reports show that productivity has remained stable, and even increased in some sectors. One of the keys to this success lies in improving the mental health of workers, a crucial aspect highlighted by Generation Z. The reduction in stress, combined with a better work-life balance, has had a significant positive impact on employee well-being.
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So Very Small: How Humans Discovered the Microcosmos, Defeated Germs- And May Still Lose the War Against Infectious Disease
 
James Brown said:

Iceland approved the 4-day workweek in 2019: nearly 6 years later, all the predictions made have come true.​


Icelandic reports show that productivity has remained stable, and even increased in some sectors. One of the keys to this success lies in improving the mental health of workers, a crucial aspect highlighted by Generation Z. The reduction in stress, combined with a better work-life balance, has had a significant positive impact on employee well-being.
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I have a 4-day workweek already and can confirm it is pretty nice.
 
Finished the latest Amos Walker book - City Walls. I think Loren Estleman is getting Walkered out.

About 1/3 through Christopher Clark’s A Revolutionary Spring which is a history of Europe from 1820 to 1850 when there was a pan-European movement towards more political representation.
 
I'm in the middle of Tim Bowden's biography of Neil Davis.

As well as being an insight into Davis, for good and ill, it is an enthralling examination of the Vietnam war from a human point of view.

It answers some questions I had at the time, being 5-16 during the years of the Australian involvement, and resurrects some questions I may never resolve.

Like: Is there no logical inconsistency in saying "Buddhist general"?
 

Financial Incentives and Public Safety: The Role of Blood Plasma Donation Centers in Crime Reduction​


Abstract​

The United States is one of the few OECD countries to pay individuals to donate blood plasma and is the most generous in terms of remuneration. The opening of a local blood plasma center represents a positive, prospective income shock for would-be donors. Using detailed data on the location of blood plasma centers in the US and two complementary difference-indifferences research designs, we study the impact of these centers on crime outcomes. Our findings indicate that the opening of a plasma center in a city leads to a 12% drop in the crime rate, an effect driven primarily by property and drug-related offenses. A within-city design confirms these findings, highlighting large crime drops in neighborhoods close to a newly opened plasma center. The crime-reducing effects of plasma donation income are particularly pronounced in less affluent areas, underscoring the financial channel as the primary mechanism behind these results. This study further posits that the perceived severity of plasma center sanctions against substance use, combined with the financial channel, significantly contributes to the observed decline in drug possession incidents.
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The Care and Use of Japanese Woodworking Tools
Thought I'd read this before ordering anything so I know my Ryoba from my Dozuki. And who couldn't stand to learn a little more about sharpening chisels?
 
TV and credit cards said:
The Care and Use of Japanese Woodworking Tools
Thought I'd read this before ordering anything so I know my Ryoba from my Dozuki. And who couldn't stand to learn a little more about sharpening chisels?
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I have a Japanese Saw I bought at Harbor Freight a few years ago (I know, I know...stop laughing!). I love it, and use it all the time. Probably paid about $15 - $20 for it. I recall looking at the prices of authentic REAL Japanese Saws a few years back and they were in the many hundreds of $! I'm sure you could make a really nice dovetail joint with it, but its too rich for my blood.
 
thebeave said:
TV and credit cards said:
The Care and Use of Japanese Woodworking Tools
Thought I'd read this before ordering anything so I know my Ryoba from my Dozuki. And who couldn't stand to learn a little more about sharpening chisels?
Click to expand...
I have a Japanese Saw I bought at Harbor Freight a few years ago (I know, I know...stop laughing!). I love it, and use it all the time. Probably paid about $15 - $20 for it. I recall looking at the prices of authentic REAL Japanese Saws a few years back and they were in the many hundreds of $! I'm sure you could make a really nice dovetail joint with it, but its too rich for my blood.
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I have a very small Ryoba (rip cut on one side, cross cut on the other I bought to cut down a few dowels.
Hida Tool has some reasonably priced saws online. About $50. Near as I can find, the brand names are respectable.
The block planes and chisels at Hida are another matter. $$$

I’m watching this old Japanese carpenter, Shoyan on YouTube. He does in one day what would take me a month on Sundays to do.
 
spikepipsqueak said:
I'm in the middle of Tim Bowden's biography of Neil Davis.

As well as being an insight into Davis, for good and ill, it is an enthralling examination of the Vietnam war from a human point of view.

It answers some questions I had at the time, being 5-16 during the years of the Australian involvement, and resurrects some questions I may never resolve.

Like: Is there no logical inconsistency in saying "Buddhist general"?
Click to expand...
That's a similar situation to a book I was reading on the Cambodian genocide. The author became a Buddhist monk, yet at one point said he would have beaten some kids if they were his children (this was after he had become a monk). How does that work? 🤔
 
Derail. A friend was travelling on a river barge in Thailand? some years ago. It capsized and my friend, who was an excellent swimmer, saved a small child. The parents made no attempt to do so and I have wondered for many, many years if that illustrated the acceptance values of Buddhism or the despair and practical nature of poverty.

Like you, I've run across references to actual violent behaviour from Buddhists and have to just go "I don't understand."

I've been reading THIGMOO, one of the books I reread regularly, and Northanger Abbey and the biography of Janet Holmes a Court. The first half of that turns out to be a biography of Robert Holmes a Court.

Also the last 2 books of Stieg Larsson's trilogy. I have a theory on what gave him his heart attack.
 
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