BWA

Best book on Mental Health I’ve ever read…

Revisado: 07-08-24

Chock full of wisdom that can only grow out the authors own struggles with mental illness, particularly OCD and Anxiety, but also depression, neuroticism, and other sub-clinical forms of mental and emotional unwellness. I highly recommend this book to anyone struggling or to anyone who would just like to start taking their mental and emotional fitness seriously.

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A profound exploration of Death and the Cosmos

Revisado: 05-22-24

Part autobiography, part philosophical adventure, this book is both deeply human and intellectually fascinating. Regardless of your personal beliefs about life and death, you’ll find Junger’s reflections worthwhile and engaging. I lost my father a couple years back and those parts of the book brought me to tears. The religio-scientifico-philosophical analysis at the end of the book was genuinely unique and awe-inspiring, If also challenging and slightly unnerving. Overall it’s a perfect balance of the personal and the abstract, and is both intellectually stimulating as well as emotionally moving.

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Liberal in its ultimate naïveté, but Dispatches were Good

Revisado: 01-14-22

This book centered a centrist liberal perspective, was borderline pollyana in its belief in “American Spirit”, and lacked any real class analysis. The total corporate takeover of the US state is a central part of our societies problems, from which many other flow freely, and yet the economic basis of the current myriad American crises was glossed over entirely. Inequality and corporate control of both political parties needs to be the centerpiece of any such analysis imho.

Having said that, the possible trajectories for the country it presents are very realistic - if not downright likely - and the pictures it paints are vivid. It’s absolutely worth reading if only to think through the implications of where this society is going in a detailed way. The performance in the audio version is really good as well.

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Sophisticated Climate Denialism

Revisado: 09-09-21

I came in to this book with a decently open mind, and perhaps even a perverse emotional desire to alleviate some of my mounting climate anxiety. I assume good faith on behalf of the author, and appreciate a robust argument from any ideological opponent.

Ultimately though, I feel it serves the purpose of muddying the water, arming denialists with pedantic arguments most laypeople aren’t equipped to refute, and to dangerously present a scientifically fringe position as if it’s somehow more scientifically astute than the position of the vast majority of actual climate scientists who support the scientific consensus that climate change is occurring, is virtually entirely human-caused, and it’s consequences are already - and will increasingly - be felt in the form of ecological disaster, extreme weather, political destabilization, mass migrations, and the loss of biodiversity.

A cynical reader might conclude, given his deep relationships with the fossil fuel industry, that this book is the product of conscious deceit dressed up in the garb of scientific skepticism. I’ll put that aside and charitably assume that isn’t true. Even still, while it makes a few good points (on hurricanes for example), and presents some worthwhile arguments, the overall trajectory of this work serves to undermine climate science, serve the interests of those who are comfortable with - and even profit off - the status quo, and muddy the water around what needs to be done to stave off the absolute worst of climate chaos.

Ultimately, If you have a solid background in the science already, the. this book is worthwhile as the most robust and sophisticated climate denialism/downplay argument against which to sharpen your opposition. If your new to the science, do not start here as this represents a truly fringe position among climate scientists specifically and the scientific community more broadly.

Great narration though.

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Essential Reading for understanding the Far Right

Revisado: 08-18-21

As someone firmly on the Marxist left, I found this book a fascinating and intellectually rigorous dive into the philosophers and core ideas of the fascist right. I also found the robust defense of Christianity against fascist critiques at the end to be well argued and insightful.

Regardless of where you happen to be on the political spectrum, this book will increase your understanding and broaden your perspective.

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An essential lecture for understanding climate

Revisado: 07-27-21

This is a really important course in Earth’s climate system and how human activity is contributing to warming. Highly recommend this to anyone interested in the hard science that underpins our understanding of climate change.

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Deeply inspiring and encouraging

Revisado: 12-01-20

This has been an essential work for me to engage with on my long, windy, and humble path toward awakening. The truths evoked in this text often brought me to tears of relief, of acknowledgment, of heartbreak, and of love.

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A deep dive into the awakening process

Revisado: 10-15-20

A truly beautiful and mind-bending set of lessons on the process of awakening. It’s very accessible while still be profoundly deep. Just don’t get attached to the finger pointing at the moon.

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