Category Archives: Uncategorized

Tupy M and Pooley G. Superabundance. Cato Institute, 2022. NF; 6/23. The title of the first chapter of this well organized book poses a loaded question: “Are we in the midst of progress, or are we facing the Apocalypse?”  What, … Continue reading →

Geary, Karl. Juno Loves Legs. Catapult, New York, 2023. F; 4/23. It seems to me there are a lot of fiction authors in Ireland these days but I guess that’s nothing new. Somehow this one in this bildungs/endurance story really … Continue reading →

Barzun, Jacques. From Dawn to Decadence. Harper, New York, 2000. NF; 4/23. It’s not easy to characterize the scope of this book. At least it’s one very bright and enormously informed person’s commentary on 500 years of cultural history. But … Continue reading →

Bair, Deidre. Parisian Lives: Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir, and Me: A Memoir. Talese/Doubleday, New York. 2019. Autobiography, 2/23. I came to read this through a bit of a strange quest. A friend had recommended Bair’s Beckett. You can have … Continue reading →

February 2023 This place looks like another increment of the groundhog of great eating nosing its way out into the Coast Sunshine. It’s no Michelin star candidate but easily the kind of place you might go in a Vancouver neighbourhood … Continue reading →

Cassidy, John. How Markets Fail. Penguin New York, 2009. NF; 12/22. As I mentioned in my review of Lanchester’s I.O.U.: Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay I not only can’t do simple arithmetic, I also despair of … Continue reading →

Miller, Chris. Chip War. Scribner New York, 2022. NF; 12/22. Don’t let the awkward title fool you. This is about the geopolitical effect of semiconductors, not competition between McDonald’s and Burger King. I read nonfiction among stories and novels either … Continue reading →

Silver, Marisa. Mary Coin. Penguin Random House (Blue Rider), 2013. F; 10/13. I ran across this author reading her powerful short story Tiny Meaningless Things in the New Yorker (October 24, 2022). Silver has published collections of short stories but … Continue reading →

December 2022 This superficially classy French place is a large venue on a corner in South Soho near Canal Street. There are lots of tables in a covered and heated outdoor patio along the sidewalk which we see in lots … Continue reading →

December 2022 We were only at this place for a short time because of wanting to get in line for a fabulous jazz concert a couple of blocks away at the Blue Note. But it’s a true to life old … Continue reading →