osamu-jinguji

[osamu-jinguji]

It's a game over. No one, no country on the earth cannot get any victories. The worst case, the end of the world, is coming for Humankind! Japan is not an except too. All people should make up their minds at once where to go ahead. There's no time to dawdle for us. The time came!

ゲームオーバーだ。地球上の誰も、どの国も勝利を掴めない。人類にとって最悪の事態、世界の終焉が迫っている！日本も例外ではない。国民は今、進むべき道を決断すべきだ。悠長に考えている暇はない。時が来たのだ！

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The world is heading towards certain destruction. History repeats itself many times. Everything has run into a deadlock. No one can stop it except God's providence, divine mechanism, natural disasters, and solar storms. The "desire for peace" of the people will never reach the ears of selfish dictators or masterminds working in the shadows.

So let me repeat this.

Comrades! Nameless warriors scattered around the world, warriors of the noble souls of the Land of the Rising Sun! The time has finally come to awaken. Fear no more. Inspire your spirit and show the world your solitary will! Raise your heads and with your eternal and strong will, pierce the heavens! Now, it's not just the heavens and the earth that are being turned upside down. Time is being reversed, and your curtain is rising!

The enemy's main camp, where the general is, began to shake from beneath your feet as the heavens and the earth split. With the sun on our side and pushing us forward, there is a "miracle" that can only come true in this special time. We will gather the power of wisdom that has been building up for over half a century, risk our lives, and with all our heart and soul, unleash the final divine light on the ugly, stagnant main camp!

Before, not-too-distant future, all of human become to be stones...

世界は、確実に「破滅」へと向かっている。歴史は何度も繰り返されるのだ。全ては「暗礁」に乗り上げた。もはや「神の経綸(神仕組み)」と「天変地異(太陽嵐)」以外、誰にも止める事は出来ない。���人の「平和への願い」など、私利私欲に塗れた独裁者や、影で暗躍する黒幕の耳には、決して届きはしない。

故に、繰り返し、告げよう。

同志よ！世界に散らばる、無名の戦士、日出る国の気高き魂の戦士たちよ！遂に、目覚める時が来た。もはや怯む事はない。心を奮い立たせ、その孤高の志を、世に示せ！顔を上げ、その永久不滅の強い思いと共に、天を衝け！今、ひっくり返るのは、何も、天地だけではない。時は反転し、君らの幕が上がる！

大将が居る敵の本陣は、天地の裂け目と共に、足元から揺らぎ始めた。太陽が味方し背中を押してくれる、今、この特別な時期だからこそ叶えられる「奇跡」がある。半世紀以上もの間、溜めに溜めた、其々の叡智の力を結集させ、命を賭し、全身全霊で、醜く澱み切った本陣めがけ、とどめの神光を解き放て！

直に、人類が皆、石になる前に......。

The countdown to global nuclear war, the worst short-cut road to human extinction, has begun owing by ourseleves, our decisions and our idiots! No one cannot stop it. All of humanity shares the same destiny! There are no longer winners. The only place we can all end up is hell.

人類滅亡への最悪の近道、世界核戦争へのカウントダウンが、私たち自身、私たちの決断、そして私たちの愚かさのせいで始まった！誰もこれを止めることはできない。��人類は同じ運命を辿る！もはや勝者は居ない。私たち皆が行き着く先は地獄だけだ。

What will humanity face first? A power outage around the world due to the largest solar storm in history, or a global nuclear war? Either way, we will all end up in the same hell, but if the process is different, the fate afterwards will also be different. Which will decide the fate of the new human race, nuclear winter or 3,000 years after the end of the ice age?

人類が先に直面するのは、果たして何方か？史上最大規模の太陽嵐による停電か、それとも、地球規模の核戦争勃発か。何れにせよ、我々が行く着く先は、同じ地獄だが、過程が異なれば、その後の運命も変わる。核の冬、或いは、氷河期を終えた三千年後、新生人類の命運を握っているのは、一体、どっちだ？

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Homo sapiens (wise man) is the scientific name given to this species by Carl von Linnaeus in 1758. The genus name Homo is the Latin masculine noun homō meaning "man", and the specific epithet sapiens is the present participle (masculine nominative) of the verb sapiō meaning "to taste", which by extension means "to be able to discern", and is an adjective meaning "sensible" or "wise". What exactly is wise?

Homo sapiens (賢い人)は、1758年にカール・フォン・リンネが付けた学名。属名のHomo は「ヒト」を意味するラテン語の男性名詞 homōで、種小名のsapiensは、sapiō 「味わう」、転じて「識別できる」を意味する動詞の現在分詞(男性主格)であり「分別のある」「賢い」を意味する形容詞。一体、何が賢い？

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Whatever the future circumstances and process, the outcome cannot be changed. The ultimate goal of human extinction is now clearly in sight. Who or what country will step on the minefield first and pull the trigger on destruction? I never expected it to be Israel (Netanyahu)... We who are still alive today will be the last descendants (generation) of humanity to commemorate. 今後の経緯・過程は何にせよ、結果は変えられない。人類滅亡、その最終ゴールがはっきりと見えてしまった。誰が、どの国が、真っ先に地雷原を踏み、滅亡の引き金を引くか、と思えば、まさか「イスラエル(ネタニアフ)」だったとは...。現在存命中の我々は、記念すべき!? “人類最後の子孫(世代)”となる。

If there are people who still believe in the "100-year life" at this point in time, I think that's extremely wonderful in itself. In a way, I would like to give them a big compliment (or is that a disaster?) that they are "natural national treasure-level optimists!" As for myself, I will cancel all my plans. I will cancel my insurance. I will cancel all subscriptions. I will cash out my savings, spread them out, and carry them under my arm.

現時点で未だ「人生100年時代」を信じている人が居たら、それはそれで極めて素晴らしい事だと思う。ある意味、それは「天然国宝級のおめでたき楽観主義者!?」という大賛辞(大惨事?)を送りたい。自分は、計画は全て中止。保険も解約。サブスクもキャンセル。預貯金は現金化、分散・小脇にして持ち運ぶ。

Surely everyone alive today has wished for the extinction of humanity at least once. Perhaps those thoughtless thoughts, or even actual words and actions, have become one large, unconscious mass of negativity that is beginning to cover the entire Earth. This is none other than the root cause of the crisis that is now upon us. The grudge of living spirits is the strongest demon.

今、生きている誰しもが、一度ならずも、人類滅亡を願った事があるのではないか。多分、その軽はずみな想い、或いは、実際の言動が、大きな一つの無意識における負の集合体となって、地球全体を覆い始めている。それ故の、今正に迫り来る危機の元凶に他ならない。生き霊の怨念こそ、最強の魔物である。

Even if we don't go as far as to bring about the extinction of the human race, we've all wished for death or wished for someone else to die at some point in our lives. In other words, it all depends on how we live our lives. However, despite this, no one realizes that it is the negative emotions we unconsciously harbor that shape our destiny. That's the problem.

人類絶滅とまではいかなくても、我々は皆、人生のどこかで死にたい、或いは誰かの死を願った事がある筈だ。つまり、全ては我々の生き方にかかっている。しかし、にも関わらず、私たちの運命を形作っているのは、無意識の内に抱くネガティブな感情である事に、誰も気づいていない。その事が問題なのだ。

Even if we finally realize this now, it is already too late. Milk spilled can't be put back into the pot. Our fate has been decided. All that remains is the suffering, pain, sadness, and grief we have never experienced before, which will become a chain of further negative emotions and despair, and we will begin to writhe on the ground, writhing against each other in the flames. It is truly hell.

今になってようやくそれに気づいても、もう手遅れだ。こぼしたミルクは元には戻せない。私たちの運命は決まっている。残るのは、経験したことのない苦しみ、痛み、悲しみ、そして悲嘆だけ。それがさらなる負の感情��絶望の連鎖となり、私たちは炎の中で互いに身をよじり、地面の上で身悶えすることになる。まさに地獄だ。

Bob Dylan...Knockin' On Heaven's Door...Extended Mix... https://youtu.be/O9bIke1nM9o?si=YTNwI4mj_PelyJzU via @youtube

Lyrics:

"Ooh, ooh Ooh, ooh

Mama, take this badge off of me I can’t use it anymore It’s getting dark, too dark to see I feel I’m knockin' upon heaven’s door

Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven’s door Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven’s door Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven’s door Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door

Mama, put my guns in the ground I can’t shoot them anymore That long black cloud is coming down I feel I’m knockin' on heaven’s door

Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven’s door Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven’s door Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven’s door Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door

Ooh, ooh Ooh, ooh..."

It's Time We All Started Dancing Again...

Bob Dylan - Masters of War | 戦争の親玉 (日本語字幕ver) https://youtu.be/myN_pqp6QBw?si=LM9lvhOvRa26Fk5F via YouTube

Masters of War

Come, you masters of war You that build the big guns You that build the death planes You that build all the bombs

You that hide behind walls You that hide behind desks I just want you to know I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin' But build to destroy You play with my world Like it's your little toy

You put a gun in my hand And you hide from my eyes And you turn and run farther When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old You lie and deceive A world war can be won You want me to believe

But I see through your eyes And I see through your brain Like I see through the water That runs down my drain

You fasten all the triggers For the others to fire Then you sit back and watch While the death count gets higher

You hide in your mansion While the young peoples' blood Flows out of their bodies And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear That can ever be hurled Fear to bring children Into the world

For threatenin' my baby Unborn and unnamed You ain't worth the blood That runs in your veins

How much do I know To talk out of turn? You might say that I'm young You might say I'm unlearned

But there's one thing I know Though I'm younger than you That even Jesus would never Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question Is your money that good? Will it buy you forgiveness? Do you think that it could?

I think you will find When your death takes its toll All the money you made Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die And your death will come soon I'll follow your casket On a pale afternoon

I'll watch while you're lowered Down to your deathbed And I'll stand over your grave 'Til I'm sure that you're dead

[osamu-jinguji]

From Jun-2023, I will restart my activities of worldwide exhibitions again.

Here is my first participation in 2023 for overseas gallery as follows:

FotoNostrum Barcelona

Q3 Sideshows #1.  Jun-23 to Jul-5

https://www.fotonostrum.com/

Location:

Carrer de la Diputació 48

Barcelona, CAT 08015

Spain

Opening Days and Hours:

Wednesday to Thursdays: 11 am - 7 pm

Fridays and Saturdays: 11 am - 9 pm

Sundays 11 am - 7 pm

Mondays and Tuesdays: Closed 

#gallery #exhibition #photography #sideshows #FotoNostrum #Spain #Barcelona #worldwide

FotoNostrum Magazine

https://www.pinterest.jp/osamujinguji/fotonostrum-magazine/

FotoNostrum Barcelona

https://www.pinterest.jp/osamujinguji/fotonostrum-barcelona

[osamu-jinguji]

My favorite books in Apr-2023 - #11 Fascism: A Warning Hardcover – April 10, 2018 by Madeleine Albright (Author) #1 New York Times Bestseller A personal and urgent examination of Fascism in the twentieth century and how its legacy shapes today’s world, written by one of the most admired public servants in American history, the first woman to serve as U.S. secretary of state A Fascist, observed Madeleine Albright, “is someone who claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is utterly unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use violence and whatever other means are necessary to achieve the goals he or she might have.” The twentieth century was defined by the clash between democracy and Fascism, a struggle that created uncertainty about the survival of human freedom and left millions dead. Given the horrors of that experience, one might expect the world to reject the spiritual successors to Hitler and Mussolini should they arise in our era. Fascism: A Warning is drawn from Madeleine Albright's experiences as a child in war-torn Europe and her distinguished career as a diplomat to question that assumption. Fascism, as she shows, not only endured through the twentieth century but now presents a more virulent threat to peace and justice than at any time since the end of World War II. The momentum toward democracy that swept the world when the Berlin Wall fell has gone into reverse. The United States, which historically championed the free world, is led by a president who exacerbates division and heaps scorn on democratic institutions. In many countries, economic, technological, and cultural factors are weakening the political center and empowering the extremes of right and left. Contemporary leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un are employing many of the tactics used by Fascists in the 1920s and 30s. Fascism: A Warning is a book for our times that is relevant to all times. Written by someone who not only studied history but helped to shape it, this call to arms teaches us the lessons we must understand and the questions we must answer if we are to save ourselves from repeating the tragic errors of the past. Review “Fascism: A Warning is dedicated to victims of fascism, but also to “all who fight fascism in others and in themselves”. Mrs Albright has earned the right to that ambitious mission-statement. At a moment when the question “Is this how it begins?” haunts Western democracies, she writes with rare authority.... [Yet] if her learning is to be expected, her way with words is a happy surprise, as is her wisdom about human nature. Free of geopolitical jargon, her deceptively simple prose is sprinkled with shrewd observations about the emotions that underpin bad or wicked political decisions.” — Economist “Albright [has] serious credibility on the subject. She witnessed the evils of Fascism firsthand, as her book movingly chronicles. And she effectively makes the case: pay more attention to the signals, subtle and strong. A lot more.” — The New Yorker “Why, as Madeleine Albright asks early in her new book, ‘are we once again talking about fascism?’ Who better to address these questions than Albright, whose life was shaped by fascism and whose contribution to the cultivation of democracy as a stateswoman and private citizen is unparalleled? In Fascism: A Warning Albright (with Bill Woodward) draws on her personal history, government experience and conversations with Georgetown students to assess current dangers and how to deal with them.” — New York Times “Fascism [is] the work of a woman who knows authoritarianism when she sees it. And she sees the seeds of it not only in a slew of leaders hell bent on subverting democratic norms—Turkey’s Erdoğan, Venezuela’s Maduro, Hungary’s Orbán, and others—but also in Donald Trump, whom she calls in the book ‘the first antidemocratic president in modern U.S. history.’” — The Daily Beast “Besides providing an overview of the careers of Mussolini and Hitler, Albright looks at leaders such as Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez, Turkey’s Recep Erdogan, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.... Sage advice in perilous times.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Incisive… [Albright] offers cogent insights on worrisome political trends.” — Publishers Weekly “Albright outlines the warning signs of fascism and offers concrete actions for restoring America’s values and reputation. There is priceless wisdom on every page.” — Booklist (starred review) About the Author Madeleine Albright served as America’s sixty-fourth secretary of state from 1997 to 2001. Her distinguished career also in-cludes positions at the White House, on Capitol Hill, and as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. She is a resident of Washington D.C., and Virginia.

[osamu-jinguji]

My favorite books in Apr-2023 - #10 Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win – January 25, 2022 by Peter Schweizer (Author) #1 New York Times Bestseller Peter Schweizer says that, in a quarter-century as an investigative journalist, this is the scariest investigation he has ever conducted. That the Chinese government seeks to infiltrate American institutions is hardly surprising. What is wholly new, however, are the number of American elites who are eager to help the Chinese dictatorship in its quest for global hegemony. Presidential families, Silicon Valley gurus, Wall Street high rollers, Ivy League universities, even professional athletes—all willing to sacrifice American strength and security on the altar of personal enrichment. In Red-Handed, six-time New York Times bestselling investigator Peter Schweizer presents his most alarming findings to date by revealing the secret deals wealthy Americans have cut to help China build its military, technological, and economic might. Equally as astonishing, many of these elites quietly believe the Chinese dictatorial regime is superior to American democracy. Schweizer and his team of forensic investigators spent over a year scouring a massive trove of global corporate records and legal filings to expose the hidden transactions China’s enablers hoped would never see the light of day. And as Schweizer’s past bombshells like Profiles in Corruption, Secret Empires, and Clinton Cash all made clear, there are bad actors on both ends of the political spectrum. Exhaustively researched, crisply told, and chilling, Red-Handed will expose the nexus of power between the Chinese government and the American elites who do its bidding. Peter Schweizer Peter Schweizer is the author of, among other books, “Clinton Cash,” “Extortion,” “Throw Them All Out,” and “Architects of Ruin.” He has been featured throughout the media, including on “60 Minutes” and in the “New York Times.” He is the cofounder and president of the Government Accountability Institute, a team of investigative researchers and journalists committed to exposing crony capitalism, misuse of taxpayer monies, and other governmental corruption or malfeasance. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida. 

[osamu-jinguji]

My favorite books in Apr-2023 - #9 Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States Hardcover – April 9, 2021 by Alex Wellerstein (Author) The first full history of US nuclear secrecy, from its origins in the late 1930s to our post–Cold War present. The American atomic bomb was born in secrecy. From the moment scientists first conceived of its possibility to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and beyond, there were efforts to control the spread of nuclear information and the newly discovered scientific facts that made such powerful weapons possible. The totalizing scientific secrecy that the atomic bomb appeared to demand was new, unusual, and very nearly unprecedented. It was foreign to American science and American democracy—and potentially incompatible with both. From the beginning, this secrecy was controversial, and it was always contested. The atomic bomb was not merely the application of science to war, but the result of decades of investment in scientific education, infrastructure, and global collaboration. If secrecy became the norm, how would science survive? Drawing on troves of declassified files, including records released by the government for the first time through the author’s efforts, Restricted Data traces the complex evolution of the US nuclear secrecy regime from the first whisper of the atomic bomb through the mounting tensions of the Cold War and into the early twenty-first century. A compelling history of powerful ideas at war, it tells a story that feels distinctly American: rich, sprawling, and built on the conflict between high-minded idealism and ugly, fearful power. Editorial Reviews Review "It's a stunning achievement: a historical exercise that documents not just all the things we cannot know but all the things we only thought we couldn't know, and which Wellerstein's dogged research has dug out." ― London Review of Books "In Restricted Data, Wellerstein has drafted one of the finest blueprints of our national security apparatus by focusing on nuclear weapons, its deepest cogs and wheels. He reveals the wiles, machinations, and ruses of physicists who first kept the secrets of the nucleus. He uncovers the prevarications, leaks, and conspiracies of the officers and bureaucrats who held those physicists to account. He has found a peephole into a stadium where the most important games are played. . . . Wellerstein asks brilliant questions that reach to the heart of what secrecy and science and security mean. . . . Wellerstein takes the reader down the long path to understand what nuclear secrecy meant, guiding the reader through the subject's many tangles." ― Los Angeles Review of Books "Groundbreaking. . . . The best writers make the familiar seem foreign, challenging assumptions about a state of affairs we take for granted. It might seem obvious that building the most powerful weapon in the world, a device that could end human civilization, requires extreme secrecy. Yet Wellerstein peels back the layers of the nuclear onion to reveal a rich debate about what should be kept secret and why. . . . Wellerstein's book is compelling and frightening as it confronts the reader with the confounding questions that scientists and government officials faced when trying to decide what information should be withheld." ― Nature "Secrecy was a defining aspect of the creation of the atomic bomb and, 75 years later, nuclear secrecy remains a feature of American democracy. In Restricted Data, Alex Wellerstein examines the health of democracy in the face of big science, big government, and big weapons." ― Science "Wellerstein draws on a voluminous body of documentary research. . . . One of the great ironies of Restricted Data is that none of this research involved information that is currently secret. Though Wellerstein is clearly well versed in the art of filing Freedom of Information Act requests, he has no security clearance and professes not to want one. That a book of such calibre and depth can nevertheless be written is a testament both to Wellerstein's scholarship and to one of the book's central contentions: knowledge, once created, is very hard to keep secret." ― Physics World "Based on interviews and years of tireless spadework in government archives, the present book showcases [Wellerstein's] talents as a researcher and a skillful writer of narrative and analysis. One of Restricted Data's many strengths is its reconstruction of the work of those inside the state who debated, designed, and performed the day-to-day bureaucratic practices of secrecy. The effect is one of demystification." ― Physics Today "Restricted Data informs the present as much as the past. . . . The history of US nuclear secrecy is messy and fraught—all of which makes for delicious, if at times disturbing, reading." ― Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists “Fascinating, truly fascinating, and readable, and I do mean readable.” ― Ploughshares Fund, Press the Button podcast "One might suppose that nuclear secrecy is merely incidental to the larger history of nuclear weapons, but Wellerstein demonstrates that the subject is rich and dynamic and consequential enough to merit a history of its own. . . . Wellerstein is not just an accomplished historian who has done his archival homework, he is also a lively storyteller. And he leavens his narrative with surprising observations and insights. . . . [He] does an outstanding job of explaining how we got where we are today, and his analysis will help inform where we might realistically hope to go in the future. Restricted Data is bound to be the definitive work on the history of nuclear secrecy." ― Federation of American Scientists "The scope of Wellerstein's thought-provoking book spans the scientific origins of the atomic bomb in the late 1930s all the way through the early 21st century. Each chapter chronicles a key shift in how the US approach to nuclear secrecy gradually evolved over the ensuing decades—and how it still shapes our thinking about nuclear weapons and secrecy today." ― Ars Technica "An impressive and innovative monograph. . . . Restricted Data is not just a detailed chronicle of the ongoing secrecy versus anti-secrecy debate, but a profound, well researched and fluently written reflection on American social history since the Second World War, with multiple lessons to be learned." ― Engineering & Technology "An extremely detailed study." ― Inference: International Review of Science "A coherent and convincing account of the evolving ambitions and control of systems of information concerning nuclear knowledge in diverse political and social arenas, based on an impressive, wide-range corpus of primary and secondary sources, as is demonstrated by the abundance and finesse of the endnotes and bibliography. . . . The book provides meaningful insights for STS scholars, especially around the questions of the relationship of science and technology with military and national defence, laws and rights, and power and governance." ― Metascience “We cannot understand our present political circumstances without knowing the origins and development of the US state secrecy apparatus. It has—for the most part—been a redacted chapter in American history books, a deficiency that historian Alex Wellerstein has boldly and capably set out to remedy in Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States.” ― Science for the People "I’ve long believed that wrongful secrecy about our nuclear policies has endangered the survival of civilization. In Restricted Data, Wellerstein shows us how the dawn of the American atomic age ushered in a new era of state secrecy that became permanently embedded in US governance and culture. It’s a haunting look at the hidden mechanics of America’s top-secret nuclear program, and it asks vital questions about what happens when government secrecy becomes routine—and what it means for a global public left in the dark. My answer: catastrophic risk. It’s a monumental work." -- Daniel Ellsberg, author of The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner "How much do you know about nuclear weapons? How much don't you know? In this sweeping, insightful, and utterly original history, Wellerstein recasts the nuclear age as a fundamental struggle about controlling knowledge. He convincingly shows how everything about these weapons was, from even before their existence, tied up with a system of secrecy that has since expanded far beyond the atomic domain. Essential reading." -- Michael D. Gordin, author of Red Cloud at Dawn: Truman, Stalin, and the Birth of the Atomic Monopoly "Official secrecy is the ultimate form of government regulation, and Restricted Data explores the management of secrets about weapons that can literally destroy the world. As Wellerstein demonstrates, for the past eighty years the demands of the military have often conflicted with the needs of a democratic society. Wellerstein is one of the great nuclear historians of our time. This book is fascinating, essential reading not only for what it tells us about the origins and workings of America’s national security state but also for what it reveals about the nuclear dilemma we still face today: freedom or the illusion of safety." -- Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation and Command and Control "Wellerstein's imaginative and perceptive retelling of the history of America’s nuclear weapons will revolutionize conventional thinking and scholarship. Understanding how nuclear secrecy was often used to keep the American public ignorant—rather than America’s adversaries—goes a long way toward explaining a Cold War arsenal of thirty-one thousand nuclear weapons that made no strategic sense. Restricted Data should be read by every concerned citizen, and President Biden should make it required reading for his national security team." -- Martin J. Sherwin, author of Gambling with Armageddon: Nuclear Roulette from Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis "This book tackles a big and important subject—nuclear secrecy—and illuminates its history with a wealth of new detail. Wellerstein provides a long, sweeping overview of secrecy in the nuclear age, tracking its evolution from the pre-World War II discovery of fission to the present. He surveys a vital topic through the mastery of difficult archival sources and assembles a coherent, compelling narrative." -- Peter Westwick, author of Stealth: The Secret Contest to Invent Invisible Aircraft "It is difficult to do justice to the richness, capaciousness, and elegance of Wellerstein’s analysis in a short review... But by the tale’s end, in an exceptionally thoughtful and enlightening conclusion, not only does the reader fully understand how nuclear secrecy can be historicized and periodized—one also grasps that 'there has never been a simple, singular thing called nuclear secrecy.' And this is the best possible book you could read about it." ― Isis About the author Alex Wellerstein Alex Wellerstein is a historian of science and nuclear technology. He is a professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, where he is the Director of Science and Technology Studies in the College of Arts and Letters. His first book, Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States (University of Chicago Press, 2021), is the first attempt at a comprehensive history of how nuclear weapons ushered in a new period of governmental and scientific secrecy in the USA. His writings on the history of nuclear weapons have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Magazine, Harper’s Magazine, and the Washington Post, among other venues, and his online nuclear weapon effects simulator, the NUKEMAP, has been used by over 25 million people globally. He can be followed on Twitter as @wellerstein.

Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States https://youtu.be/Ey5n9PS3ybE via YouTube Washington History Seminar@washingtonhistoryseminar2510 The American atomic bomb was born in secrecy. From the moment scientists first conceived of its possibility to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and beyond, there were efforts to control the spread of nuclear information and the newly discovered scientific facts that made such powerful weapons possible. The totalizing scientific secrecy that the atomic bomb appeared to demand was new, unusual, and very nearly unprecedented. It was foreign to American science and American democracy—and potentially incompatible with both. From the beginning, this secrecy was controversial, and it was always contested. The atomic bomb was not merely the application of science to war, but the result of decades of investment in scientific education, infrastructure, and global collaboration. If secrecy became the norm, how would science survive? Drawing on troves of declassified files, including records released by the government for the first time through Wellerstein’s efforts, Restricted Data traces the complex evolution of the US nuclear secrecy regime from the first whisper of the atomic bomb through the mounting tensions of the Cold War and into the early twenty-first century. Alex Wellerstein is a historian of science and nuclear technology. He is a professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, where he is the Director of Science and Technology Studies in the College of Arts and Letters. His first book, Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States (University of Chicago Press, 2021), is the first attempt at a comprehensive history of how nuclear weapons ushered in a new period of governmental and scientific secrecy in the USA. His writings on the history of nuclear weapons have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Magazine, Harper’s Magazine, and the Washington Post, among other venues, and his online nuclear weapon effects simulator, the NUKEMAP, has been used by over 25 million people globally. The Washington History Seminar is co-chaired by Eric Arnesen (George Washington University and the National History Center) and Christian Ostermann (Woodrow Wilson Center) and is organized jointly by the National History Center of the American Historical Association and the Woodrow Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program. It meets weekly during the academic year. The seminar thanks its anonymous individual donors and institutional partners (the George Washington University History Department and the Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest) for their continued support.

Bulletin Virtual Program—Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy https://youtu.be/I3OttUdrkJE via YouTube Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists@BulletinAtomic In this July 21 Bulletin virtual program, Alex Wellerstein, professor and nuclear historian at Stevens Institute of Technology, talked with Lynn Eden, senior research scholar emeritus at Stanford University, about Wellerstein’s recent book, Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States. If secrecy and science form the bedrock of the Atomic Age, what does this mean for a path forward? Learn more about Bulletin public programs at thebulletin.org/events. The Bulletin provides the public with the information needed to reduce nuclear risk, climate change, and disruptive technologies. At our core, the Bulletin is a nonprofit, media organization, posting free articles on its website and publishing a premium digital magazine. But we are much more. The Bulletin’s website, iconic Doomsday Clock, and regular events help advance actionable ideas at a time when technology is outpacing our ability to control it. The Bulletin focuses on three main areas: nuclear risk, climate change, and disruptive technologies. What connects these topics is a driving belief that because humans created them, we can control them.

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My favorite books in Apr-2023 - #8 Ukraine and the Art of Strategy Hardcover – February 5, 2019 by Lawrence Freedman (Author) The Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014, subsequent war in Eastern Ukraine and economic sanctions imposed by the West, transformed European politics. These events marked a dramatic shift away from the optimism of the post-Cold War era. The conflict did not escalate to the levels originally feared but nor was either side able to bring it to a definitive conclusion. Ukraine suffered a loss of territory but was not forced into changing its policies away from the Westward course adopted as a result of the EuroMaidan uprising of February 2014. President Putin was left supporting a separatist enclave as Russia's economy suffered significant damage. In Ukraine and the Art of Strategy, Lawrence Freedman-author of the landmark Strategy: A History-provides an account of the origins and course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict through the lens of strategy. Freedman describes the development of President Putin's anxieties that former Soviet countries were being drawn towards the European Union, the effective pressure he put on President Yanokvych of Ukraine during 2013 to turn away from the EU and the resulting 'EuroMaidan Revolution' which led to Yanukovych fleeing. He explores the reluctance of Putin to use Russian forces to do more that consolidate the insurgency in Eastern Ukraine, the failure of the Minsk peace process and the limits of the international response. Putin's strategic-making is kept in view at all times, including his use of 'information warfare' and attempts to influence the American election. In contrast to those who see the Russian leader as a master operator who catches out the West with bold moves Freedman sees him as impulsive and so forced to improvise when his gambles fail. Freedman's application of his strategic perspective to this supremely important conflict challenges our understanding of some of its key features and the idea that Vladimir Putin is unmatched as a strategic mastermind. About the Author Lawrence Freedman is Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King's College London. He joined King's in 1982 as Professor of War Studies and was Vice-Principal of the College until 2013. He was Official Historian of the Falklands Campaign and a member of the Official Inquiry into the UK's participation in the Iraq War. He was knighted in 2004. His most recent books are Strategy: A History (2013) and The Future of War: A History (2017).

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My favorite books in Apr-2023 - #7 Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West Hardcover – Illustrated, June 23, 2020 by Catherine Belton (Author) A New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller | A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice Named a best book of the year by The Economist | Financial Times | New Statesman | The Telegraph "[Putin's People] will surely now become the definitive account of the rise of Putin and Putinism." ―Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic "This riveting, immaculately researched book is arguably the best single volume written about Putin, the people around him and perhaps even about contemporary Russia itself in the past three decades." ―Peter Frankopan, Financial Times Interference in American elections. The sponsorship of extremist politics in Europe. War in Ukraine. In recent years, Vladimir Putin’s Russia has waged a concerted campaign to expand its influence and undermine Western institutions. But how and why did all this come about, and who has orchestrated it? In Putin’s People, the investigative journalist and former Moscow correspondent Catherine Belton reveals the untold story of how Vladimir Putin and the small group of KGB men surrounding him rose to power and looted their country. Delving deep into the workings of Putin’s Kremlin, Belton accesses key inside players to reveal how Putin replaced the freewheeling tycoons of the Yeltsin era with a new generation of loyal oligarchs, who in turn subverted Russia’s economy and legal system and extended the Kremlin's reach into the United States and Europe. The result is a chilling and revelatory exposé of the KGB’s revanche―a story that begins in the murk of the Soviet collapse, when networks of operatives were able to siphon billions of dollars out of state enterprises and move their spoils into the West. Putin and his allies subsequently completed the agenda, reasserting Russian power while taking control of the economy for themselves, suppressing independent voices, and launching covert influence operations abroad. Ranging from Moscow and London to Switzerland and Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach―and assembling a colorful cast of characters to match―Putin’s People is the definitive account of how hopes for the new Russia went astray, with stark consequences for its inhabitants and, increasingly, the world. About the Author Catherine Belton reports on Russia for The Washington Post. She worked from 2007 to 2013 as the Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times, and in 2016 as the newspaper’s legal correspondent. She has previously reported on Russia for The Moscow Times and BusinessWeek and served as an investigative correspondent for Reuters. In 2009, she was short-listed for the British Press Awards’ Business and Finance Journalist of the Year prize. She lives in London.

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My favorite books in Apr-2023 - #6 Understanding Socialism – November 20, 2019 by Richard D. Wolff (Author) A blend of history, analysis, and theory, "Understanding Socialism" is an honest and approachable text that knocks down false narratives, confronts failures and challenges of various socialist experiments throughout history, and offers a path to a new socialism based on workplace democracy. "Richard Wolff's book is the best accessible and reliable treatment we have of what socialism is, was, and should be.” - Cornel West “In the same accessible style that has made his programs and lectures such a hit, he explains his subject in a way that's not only smart, but makes the rest of us feel smart. It's actionable intelligence for the every person.” - Laura Flanders “Lucid, brilliant and uncompromising in his dissection of the capitalist system he also provides a sane and just socialist alternative to capitalist exploitation, one we must all fight to achieve.” - Chris Hedges Richard Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a Visiting Professor at the New School University in New York. Wolff’s recent work has concentrated on analyzing the causes and alternative solutions to the global economic crisis. His groundbreaking book Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism inspired the creation of Democracy at Work, a nonprofit organization dedicated to showing how and why to make democratic workplaces real. Wolff is also the author of Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism and Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It. He hosts the weekly hour-long radio program "Economic Update," which is syndicated on public radio stations nationwide, and he writes regularly for The Guardian and Truthout.org. Wolff appears frequently on television and radio to discuss his work, with recent guest spots including "Real Time with Bill Maher," "Moyers & Company," "Charlie Rose," "Up with Chris Hayes," and "Democracy Now!." He is also a frequent lecturer at colleges and universities across the country.

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My favorite books in Apr-2023 - #5 The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy: New, Updated and Completely Revised by Lawrence Freedman (Author), Jeffrey Michaels (Author) “The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy quickly established itself as a classic when it first appeared in 1981. This edition makes it even better, incorporating as it does new material about the Cold War and up-dating to include subsequent developments. Filled with insights and penetrating analysis, this volume is truly indispensable.” ―Robert Jervis, Author of How Statesmen Think "Freedman and Michaels have written a thorough and thought-provoking guide to nuclear strategy. The authors analyze the causes of both wise and unwise strategic decisions in the past and thereby shine a bright light on dilemmas we face in our common nuclear future." ―Scott Sagan, Stanford University, USA “With its comprehensive coverage, clear and direct language, and judicious summaries of a vast literature, this new and wholly revised edition of The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy will be essential reading for any student of nuclear history, strategic studies, or contemporary international relations.” ―Matthew Jones, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK “Sir Lawrence Freedman’s The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy has been the first port of call for three generations of academics and policy-makers wanting to familiarize themselves with the subject matter. The success of this book could have led Professor Freedman to satisfy himself with regular updates or afterwords. But the tireless author is now gracing us with an entirely revised edition of his masterpiece nearly forty years after its initial publication, taking into account findings from archives and declassified documents. At the same time, The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy remains true to its original purpose and spirit: an easy to read manual, light with footnotes, focusing on policy rather than on theory, and thus the best possible introduction to an arcane subject. In an era when nuclear strategy issues seem to be becoming relevant again, its historical scope and breadth will make its reading or re-reading even more useful – if only because knowing about the absurdity of the Cold war arms race is a prerequisite if one does not want to repeat its mistakes.” ―Bruno Tertrais, Deputy Director, Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique, France “This updated and improved edition of the classic text on the evolution of nuclear strategy is a must read for anyone attempting to understand the nuclear predicament and where it is heading. Impressive in every respect!” ―T.V. Paul, James McGill Professor of International Relations, McGill University, Canada, and the author of The Traditon of Non-Use of Nuclear Weapons “After the end of the Cold War, we hoped for a world in which nuclear weapons would have ‘low salience’, or might even disappear into virtual, non-assembled arsenals. Alas, they are coming to the fore again. With changes in political context and technology, it is thus pressing that ‘the Bible’ on the Evolution of Nuclear Strategy should be updated. Lawrence Freedman’s great classic has been admirably updated with the help of Jeff Michaels. The work, just as its previous editions, thus remains the definitive and authoritative point of reference on nuclear strategy in the twenty-first century.” ―Beatrice Heuser, Chair of International Relations, University of Glasgow, Scotland First published in 1981, Lawrence Freedman's The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy was immediately acclaimed as the standard work on the history of attempts to cope militarily and politically with the terrible destructive power of nuclear weapons. It has now been completely rewritten, drawing on a wide range of new research, and updated to take account of the period following the end of the cold war, and covering all nuclear powers.

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My favorite books in Apr-2023 - #4 Strategy: A History 1st Edition by Sir Lawrence Freedman (Author) Selected as a Financial Times Best Book of 2013 In Strategy: A History, Sir Lawrence Freedman, one of the world's leading authorities on war and international politics, captures the vast history of strategic thinking, in a consistently engaging and insightful account of how strategy came to pervade every aspect of our lives. The range of Freedman's narrative is extraordinary, moving from the surprisingly advanced strategy practiced in primate groups, to the opposing strategies of Achilles and Odysseus in The Iliad, the strategic advice of Sun Tzu and Machiavelli, the great military innovations of Baron Henri de Jomini and Carl von Clausewitz, the grounding of revolutionary strategy in class struggles by Marx, the insights into corporate strategy found in Peter Drucker and Alfred Sloan, and the contributions of the leading social scientists working on strategy today. The core issue at the heart of strategy, the author notes, is whether it is possible to manipulate and shape our environment rather than simply become the victim of forces beyond one's control. Time and again, Freedman demonstrates that the inherent unpredictability of this environment-subject to chance events, the efforts of opponents, the missteps of friends-provides strategy with its challenge and its drama. Armies or corporations or nations rarely move from one predictable state of affairs to another, but instead feel their way through a series of states, each one not quite what was anticipated, requiring a reappraisal of the original strategy, including its ultimate objective. Thus the picture of strategy that emerges in this book is one that is fluid and flexible, governed by the starting point, not the end point. A brilliant overview of the most prominent strategic theories in history, from David's use of deception against Goliath, to the modern use of game theory in economics, this masterful volume sums up a lifetime of reflection on strategy. About the Author Lawrence Freedman has been Professor of War Studies at King's College London since 1982, and Vice-Principal since 2003. Elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1995 and awarded the CBE in 1996, he was appointed Official Historian of the Falklands Campaign in 1997. He was awarded the KCMG in 2003. In June 2009 he was appointed to serve as a member of the official inquiry into Britain and the 2003 Iraq War. Professor Freedman has written extensively on nuclear strategy and the cold war, as well as commentating regularly on contemporary security issues. His most recent book, A Choice of Enemies: America Confronts the Middle East, won the 2009 Lionel Gelber Prize and Duke of Westminster Medal for Military Literature.

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My favorite books in Apr-2023 - #3 Toxic: A History of Nerve Agents, from Nazi Germany to Putin's Russia – March 1, 2021 by Dan Kaszeta (Author) Nerve agents are the world's deadliest means of chemical warfare. Nazi Germany developed the first military-grade nerve agents and massive industry for their manufacture--yet, strangely, the Third Reich never used them. At the end of the Second World War, the Allies were stunned to discover this advanced and extensive programme. The Soviets and Western powers embarked on a new arms race, amassing huge chemical arsenals. From their Nazi invention to the 2018 Novichok attack in Britain, Dan Kaszeta uncovers nerve agents' gradual spread across the world, despite international arms control efforts. They've been deployed in the Iran-Iraq War, by terrorists in Japan, in the Syrian Civil War, and by assassins in Malaysia and Salisbury--always with bitter consequences. Toxic recounts the grisly history of these weapons of mass destruction: a deadly suite of invisible, odourless killers. Dan Kaszeta I have 30 years experience in CBRN response, security, and antiterrorism. I live and work in London, in the United Kingdom. I currently am the owner and managing director of Strongpoint Security Ltd. I write for numerous publications and am a contributor to the open source intelligence website Bellingcat. I started out as a Chemical Officer in the United States Army, and served a total of 16 years as a military reservist, first in the US Army Reserve and then in the Maryland Army National Guard, reaching the rank of Captain. I was one of the founding members of one of the first Civil Support Teams. Of course, a military reservist needs to maintain a civilian career as well, and I was very fortunate that I was able to apply my military CBRN skills in civilian life. I served for 12 years in the White House in Washington DC, from 1996 to 2008, in two different jobs spanning two very different Presidential administrations. I spent six years as a Defense Department civil servant detailed to the White House Military Office, where I worked as CBRN advisor and emergency plans program manager. 2002 brought a transfer to the Technical Security Division of the US Secret Service, where I was assigned to CBRN countermeasures and the HAMMER team as well as traditional technical security and protective missions. At various points in this career I have been trained and qualified as a military CBRN defense specialist (honor graduate at the US Army Chemical School), a fully trained Hazardous Materials Technician, a licensed Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), a Secret Service advance coordinator, an antiterrorist search adviser, and many other qualifications in the defense and security fields. I moved to the UK in 2008 and worked for Smiths Detection for several years as a business manager for the CBRN detection market in Europe before leaving to start Strongpoint. I have a B.A. degree in Political Science from Texas Christian University and an M.A. in International Affairs from George Washington University in Washington DC. I am the recipient of several awards and decorations, and have published a number of professional papers. At various points in this career I have been trained and qualified as a military CBRN defense specialist (honor graduate at the US Army Chemical School), a fully trained Hazardous Materials Technician, a licensed Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), a Secret Service advance coordinator, an antiterrorist search adviser, and many other qualifications in the defense and security fields. I moved to the UK in 2008 and worked for Smiths Detection for several years as a business manager for the CBRN detection market in Europe before leaving to start Strongpoint. I have a B.A. degree in Political Science from Texas Christian University and an M.A. in International Affairs from George Washington University in Washington DC. I am the recipient of several awards and decorations, and have published a number of professional papers.

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My favorite books in Apr-2023 - #2 The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History – January 1, 1995 by Howard K. Bloom (Author) The Lucifer Principle is a revolutionary work that explores the intricate relationships between genetics, human behavior, and culture to put forth the thesis that "evil" is a by-product of nature's strategies for creation and that it is woven into our most basic biological fabric. In a sweeping narrative that moves lucidly among sophisticated scientific disciplines and covers the entire span of the earth's, as well as mankind's, history, Howard Bloom challenges some of our most popular scientific assumptions. Drawing on evidence from studies of the most primitive organisms to those on ants, apes, and humankind, the author makes a persuasive case that it is the group, or "superorganism," rather than the lone individual that really matters in the evolutionary struggle. But, Bloom asserts, the prominence of society and culture does not necessarily mitigate against our most violent, aggressive instincts. In fact, under the right circumstances the mentality of the group will only amplify our most primitive and deadly urges. In Bloom's most daring contention he draws an analogy between the biological material whose primordial multiplication began life on earth and the ideas, or "memes," that define, give cohesion to, and justify human superorganisms. Some of the most familiar memes are utopian in nature - Christianity or Marxism; nonetheless, these are fueled by the biological impulse to climb to the top of the hierarchy. With the meme's insatiable hunger to enlarge itself, we have a precise prescription for war. Biology is not destiny; but human culture is not always the buffer to our more primitive instincts we would like to think it is. In these complex threads of thought lies the Lucifer Principle, and only through understanding its mandates will we be able to avoid the nuclear crusades that await us in the twenty-first century. Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly The "Lucifer Principle" is freelance journalist Bloom's theory that evil-which manifests in violence, destructiveness and war-is woven into our biological fabric. A corollary is that evil is a by-product of nature's strategy to move the world to greater heights of organization and power as national or religious groups follow ideologies that trigger lofty ideals as well as base cruelty. In an ambitious, often provocative study, Bloom applies the ideas of sociobiology, ethology and the "killer ape" school of anthropology to the broad canvas of history, with examples ranging from Oliver Cromwell's reputed pleasure in killing and raping to Mao Tse-tung's bloody Cultural Revolution, India's caste system and Islamic fundamentalist expansion. Bloom says Americans suffer "perceptual shutdown" that blinds them to the United States' downward slide in the pecking order of nations. His use of concepts like pecking order, memes (self-replicating clusters of ideas), the "neural net" or group mind of the social "superorganism" seem more like metaphors than explanatory tools. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Pop-culture Renaissance man Bloom-former PR agent for the likes of Prince, writer for Omni magazine, and so on-seeks to explain why civilizations rise and fall, why nations go to war, and why violence and aggression don't disappear with the ascendancy of culture. Big task. The "Lucifer Principle" is based on the metaphors of the "meme" (ideas that arise across cultures and epochs) and "the pecking order" (from chickens to nations, and all in between). This sort of slippery extrapolation is at once cleverly neat and maddeningly suspicious, and the pitfalls of trying to unite animal biology, genetics, cultural history, anthropology, and philosophy are apparent in that sundry causes and effects are all lumped together as equals: rats in a cage do this, "primitive" cultures do that, Sumerians did a third thing, so therefore we do this. The 800 footnotes are symptomatic: sources range from the Information Please Almanac to a textbook on surgical nursing and a sprinkling of audiobooks. This book falls somewhere between Paul Kennedy's Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (LJ 12/87) and John Naisbitt's Megatrends (LJ 10/1/82). For general audiences. Mark L. Shelton, Worcester, Mass. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. 

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My favorite books in Apr-2023 - #1 Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century – August 1, 2001 by Howard Bloom (Author) HOWARD BLOOM, author of the critically acclaimed book The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History, is a Visiting Scholar at New York University. He is a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, the National Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Society, the Academy of Political Science, and the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, as well as the founder of the International Paleopsychology Project. He has been written up in every edition of Who's Who in Science and Engineering since the publication's inception. "As someone who has spent forty years in psychology with a long-standing interest in evolution, I'll just assimilate Howard Bloom's accomplishment and my amazement." —DAVID SMILLIE, Visiting Professor of Zoology, Duke University In this extraordinary follow-up to the critically acclaimed The Lucifer Principle, Howard Bloom—one of today's preeminent thinkers—offers us a bold rewrite of the evolutionary saga. He shows how plants and animals (including humans) have evolved together as components of a worldwide learning machine. He describes the network of life on Earth as one that is, in fact, a "complex adaptive system," a global brain in which each of us plays a sometimes conscious, sometimes unknowing role, and he reveals that the World Wide Web is just the latest step in the development of this brain. These are theories as important as they are radical. Informed by twenty years of interdisciplinary research, Bloom takes us on a spellbinding journey back to the big bang to let us see how its fires forged primordial sociality. As he brings us back via surprising routes, we see how our earliest bacterial ancestors built multitrillion-member research and development teams a full 3.5 billion years ago. We watch him unravel the previously unrecognized strands of interconnectedness woven by crowds of trilobites, hunting packs of dinosaurs, feathered flying lizards gathered in flocks, troops of baboons making communal decisions, and adventurous tribes of protohumans spreading across continents but still linked by primitive forms of information networking. We soon find ourselves reconsidering our place in the world. Along the way, Bloom offers us exhilarating insights into the strange tricks of body and mind that have organized a variety of life forms: spiny lobsters, which, during the Paleozoic age, participated in communal marching rituals; and bees, which, during the age of dinosaurs, conducted collective brainwork. This fascinating tour continues on to the sometimes brutal subculture wars that have spurred the growth of human civilization since the Stone Age. Bloom shows us how culture shapes our infant brains, immersing us in a matrix of truth and mass delusion that we think of as reality. Global Brain is more than just a brilliantly original contribution to the ongoing debate on the inner workings of evolution. It is a "grand vision," says the eminent evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson, a work that transforms our very view of who we are and why. Amazon.com Review When did big-picture optimism become cool again? While not blind to potential problems and glitches, Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind From the Big Bang to the 21st Century confidently asserts that our networked culture is not only inevitable but essential for our species' survival and eventual migration into space. Author Howard Bloom, believed by many to be R. Buckminster Fuller's intellectual heir, takes the reader on a dizzying tour of the universe, from its original subatomic particle network to the unimaginable data-processing power of intergalactic communication. His writing is smart and snappy, moving with equal poise through depictions of frenzied bacteria passing along information packets in the form of DNA and nomadic African tribespeople putting their heads together to find water for the next year. The reader is swept up in Bloom's vision of the power of mass minds and, before long, can't help seeing the similarities between ecosystems, street gangs, and the Internet. Were Bloom not so learned and well-respected--more than a third of his book is devoted to notes and references, and luminaries from Lynn Margulis to Richard Metzger have lined up behind him--it would be tempting to dismiss him as a crank. His enthusiasm, the grand scale of his thinking, and his transcendence of traditional academic disciplines can be daunting, but the new outlook yielded to the persistent is simultaneously exciting and humbling. Bloom takes the old-school, sci-fi dystopian vision of group thinking and turns it around--Global Brain predicts that our future's going to be less like the Borg and more like a great party. --Rob Lightner --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. From Publishers Weekly Bloom's debut, The Lucifer Principle (1997), sought the biological basis for human evil. Now Bloom is after even bigger game. While cyber-thinkers claim the Internet is bringing us toward some sort of worldwide mind, Bloom believes we've had one all along. Drawing on information theory, debates within evolutionary biology, and research psychology (among other disciplines), Bloom understands the development of life on Earth as a series of achievements in collective information processing. He stands up for "group selection" (a minority view among evolutionists) and traces cooperation among organismsAand competition between groupsAthroughout the history of evolution. "Creative webs" of early microorganisms teamed up to go after food sources: modern colonies of E. coli bacteria seem to program themselves for useful, nonrandom mutations. Octopi "teach" one another to avoid aversive stimuli. Ancient Sparta killed its weakest infants; Athens educated them. Each of these is a social learning system. And each such system relies on several functions. "Conformity enforcers" keep most group members doing the same things; "diversity generators" seek out new things; "resource shifters" help the system alter itself to favor new things that work. In Bloom's model, bowling leagues, bacteria, bees, Belgium and brains all behave in similar ways. Lots of real science and some historyAmuch of it fascinating, some of it quite obscureAgo into Bloom's ambitious, amply footnoted, often plausible arguments. He writes a sometimes bombastic prose ("A neutron is a particle filled with need"); worse yet, he can fail to distinguish among accepted facts, scientifically testable hypotheses and literary metaphors. His style may guarantee him an amateur readership, but he's not a crank. Subtract the hype, and Bloom's concept of collective information processing may startle skeptical readers with its explanatory power. (Aug.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. 

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My favorite books in Mar-2023 - #8 Who is Charlie?: Xenophobia and the New Middle Class by Emmanuel Todd (Author) In the wake of the attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris on 7 January 2015, millions took to the streets to demonstrate their revulsion, expressing a desire to reaffirm the ideals of the French Republic: liberté, égalité, fraternité. But who were the millions of demonstrators who were suddenly united under the single cry of ‘Je suis Charlie’? In this probing new book, Emmanuel Todd investigates the cartography and sociology of the three to four million who marched in Paris and across France and draws some unsettling conclusions. For while they claimed to support liberal, republican values, the real middle classes who marched on that day of indignant protest also had a quite different programme in mind, one that was far removed from their proclaimed ideal. Their deep values were in fact more reminiscent of the most depressing aspects of France’s national history: conservatism, selfishness, domination and inequality. By identifying the anthropological, religious, economic and political forces that brought France to the edge of the abyss, Todd reveals the real dangers posed to all western societies when the interests of privileged middle classes work against marginalised and immigrant groups. Should we really continue to mistreat young people, force the children of immigrants to live on the outskirts of our cities, consign the poorer classes to the remoter parts of the country, demonise Islam, and allow the growth of an ever more menacing anti-Semitism? While asking uncomfortable questions and offering no easy solutions, Todd points to the difficult and uncertain path that might lead to an accommodation with Islam rather than a deepening and divisive confrontation. Editorial Reviews Review "Todd's highly contrarian analysis of the Charlie movement and his strident tone have drawn widespread criticism. But the very boldness of his claims, backed up by hard data, commands attention. No student of the marches can ignore this deeply unconventional book." Times Literary Supplement "The value of Todd's book lies in the persuasive counter-narrative that debunks the Manichean interpretation of events that has thus far prevailed in media and political circles." Times Higher Education "The book offers a deeply reflective analysis of the Charlie Hebdo affair in Paris, and uses it brilliantly to explore and criticise the inner tensions and selective historical amnesia of French society that are taken to be responsible for its current Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. It shows with great insight and wisdom how to deal with these disturbing trends." Bhikhu Parekh, House of Lords "Who Is Charlie? stands out from all that has been written on the two massacres that took place in Paris in January 2015. It is an impressive analysis and a gripping read - I couldn't put it down once I started reading it. Emmanuel Todd's concern is not merely to trace the cause of these crimes but to reflect on them as a way of understanding the structural contradictions of contemporary France - a nation that continually invokes its Jacobin legacy (liberty, equality, fraternity) and yet allows that legacy to be undermined. This book is a brilliantly argued polemic and essential reading for understanding Islamophobia as a symptom of neo-Republican France in crisis." Talal Asad, CUNY Graduate Center "Who is Charlie? is an important little book, timely and pertinent, and not just for what it says about France. In all Western societies it is the middle classes who enjoy what globalization has created and it is the middle classes who would keep the dispossessed excluded by means of wage inequality and control of education. At the same time, no longer buttressed by the metaphysics of religion, an anxiety haunts the vacuum of the hollow culture that has replaced Catholicism and Protestantism. Charlie seeks a scapegoat, needs one, and the kind of hysteria that gripped France after the events of 7th January is capable of manifesting itself in countries outside of France." Irish Left Review "Perceptive and chilling" London Review of Books About the Author Emmanuel Todd is an historian and sociologist at the National Institute of Demographic Studies (INED), Paris.

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My favorite books in Mar-2023 - #7 How Europe Underdeveloped Africa – November 27, 2018 by Walter Rodney (Author), Angela Davis (Introduction) The classic work of political, economic, and historical analysis, powerfully introduced by Angela Davis In his short life, the Guyanese intellectual Walter Rodney emerged as one of the leading thinkers and activists of the anticolonial revolution, leading movements in North America, South America, the African continent, and the Caribbean. In each locale, Rodney found himself a lightning rod for working class Black Power. His deportation catalyzed 20th century Jamaica's most significant rebellion, the 1968 Rodney riots, and his scholarship trained a generation how to think politics at an international scale. In 1980, shortly after founding of the Working People's Alliance in Guyana, the 38-year-old Rodney would be assassinated. In his magnum opus, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Rodney incisively argues that grasping "the great divergence" between the west and the rest can only be explained as the exploitation of the latter by the former. This meticulously researched analysis of the abiding repercussions of European colonialism on the continent of Africa has not only informed decades of scholarship and activism, it remains an indispensable study for grasping global inequality today. Editorial Reviews Review “Rodney’s analysis remains as relevant as it was when first published—a call to arms in the class struggle for racial equality.” —Los Angeles Review of Books “A masterpiece.” —Andy Higginbottom, Redline “Appearing in 1972, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa was a genuine tour de force. It fused, as had never been done in a single volume before, African history in the global sense and underdevelopment theory, Marxism and black nationalism, intellectual passion and political commitment. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa instantly joined a select pan-Africanist canon that would be read at least as much outside as within the academy, an exclusive category that included the two texts that had greatly influenced Rodney’s intellectual development, notably James’s Black Jacobins and Williams’s Capitalism & Slavery, along with Black Reconstruction, W. E. B. Dubois’s magisterial work on the struggle for democracy in the United States during the post-Civil War, post-slavery era. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, however, differed from the above-mentioned works, which were written long after the events they charted occurred. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, by contrast, was more urgent and immediate, having been produced in the heat of battle, which is to say amid the ongoing struggle of Africans against capitalist and neocolonialist underdevelopment. His purpose in writing the book, Rodney explained in the Preface, was ‘to try and reach Africans who wish to explore further the nature of their exploitation, rather than to satisfy the ‘standards’ set by our oppressors and their spokesmen in the academic world.” —Michael West, Groundings About the Author Walter Rodney was an internationally renowned historian of colonialism and a leader of Black Power and Pan-African movements across the diaspora, most notably the Guyanese Working People's Alliance. His life and work brought together struggles for independence on the African continent with the strivings of the black working classes of North America and the Caribbean basin. On June the 13th, 1980, Rodney was assassinated, most likely by the then-president of Guyana. He was 38 years old.

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My favorite books in Mar-2023 - #5 The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race – March 9, 2021 by Walter Isaacson (Author) A Best Book of 2021 by Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Time, and The Washington Post The bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs returns with a “compelling” (The Washington Post) account of how Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and have healthier babies. When Jennifer Doudna was in sixth grade, she came home one day to find that her dad had left a paperback titled The Double Helix on her bed. She put it aside, thinking it was one of those detective tales she loved. When she read it on a rainy Saturday, she discovered she was right, in a way. As she sped through the pages, she became enthralled by the intense drama behind the competition to discover the code of life. Even though her high school counselor told her girls didn’t become scientists, she decided she would. Driven by a passion to understand how nature works and to turn discoveries into inventions, she would help to make what the book’s author, James Watson, told her was the most important biological advance since his codiscovery of the structure of DNA. She and her collaborators turned a curiosity of nature into an invention that will transform the human race: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA. Known as CRISPR, it opened a brave new world of medical miracles and moral questions. The development of CRISPR and the race to create vaccines for coronavirus will hasten our transition to the next great innovation revolution. The past half-century has been a digital age, based on the microchip, computer, and internet. Now we are entering a life-science revolution. Children who study digital coding will be joined by those who study genetic code. Should we use our new evolution-hacking powers to make us less susceptible to viruses? What a wonderful boon that would be! And what about preventing depression? Hmmm…Should we allow parents, if they can afford it, to enhance the height or muscles or IQ of their kids? After helping to discover CRISPR, Doudna became a leader in wrestling with these moral issues and, with her collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier, won the Nobel Prize in 2020. Her story is an “enthralling detective story” (Oprah Daily) that involves the most profound wonders of nature, from the origins of life to the future of our species. Walter Isaacson Walter Isaacson, University Professor of History at Tulane, has been CEO of the Aspen Institute, chairman of CNN, and editor of Time magazine. He is the author of Leonardo da Vinci; Steve Jobs; Einstein: His Life and Universe; Benjamin Franklin: An American Life; and Kissinger: A Biography. He is also the coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made

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My favorite books in Mar-2023 - #4 This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race – February 9, 2021 by Nicole Perlroth (Author) THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Winner of the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award * Bronze Medal, Arthur Ross Book Award (Council on Foreign Relations) “Part John le Carré and more parts Michael Crichton . . . spellbinding.” The New Yorker "Written in the hot, propulsive prose of a spy thriller" (The New York Times), the untold story of the cyberweapons market―the most secretive, government-backed market on earth―and a terrifying first look at a new kind of global warfare. Zero day: a software bug that allows a hacker to break into your devices and move around undetected. One of the most coveted tools in a spy's arsenal, a zero day has the power to silently spy on your iPhone, dismantle the safety controls at a chemical plant, alter an election, and shut down the electric grid (just ask Ukraine). For decades, under cover of classification levels and non-disclosure agreements, the United States government became the world’s dominant hoarder of zero days. U.S. government agents paid top dollar―first thousands, and later millions of dollars― to hackers willing to sell their lock-picking code and their silence. Then the United States lost control of its hoard and the market. Now those zero days are in the hands of hostile nations and mercenaries who do not care if your vote goes missing, your clean water is contaminated, or our nuclear plants melt down. Filled with spies, hackers, arms dealers, and a few unsung heroes, written like a thriller and a reference, This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends is an astonishing feat of journalism. Based on years of reporting and hundreds of interviews, The New York Times reporter Nicole Perlroth lifts the curtain on a market in shadow, revealing the urgent threat faced by us all if we cannot bring the global cyber arms race to heel. About the Author Nicole Perlroth is an award-winning cybersecurity journalist for The New York Times, where her work has been optioned for both film and television. She is a regular lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a graduate of Princeton University and Stanford University. She lives with her family in the Bay Area, but increasingly prefers life off the grid in their cabin in the woods.