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Pretty wokey but worthwhile

Revisado: 09-16-24

This is one of the better contemporary books on BPD, especially in its relationship to other Cluster B disorders like NPD. Compelling clinical vignettes and good, thorough history of the concept of BPD. Like most work in this field though, it is thoroughly infused with the language and assumptions of what some would call Cultural Marxism and Critical Theory (various lenses of privilege, capitalism is bad, lived experience, and all the rest). Personally, that’s an annoying turn off, but I still found it worthwhile.

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Truly Exceptional

Revisado: 07-13-24

Naval officer here. This book was recommended to me by a colleague. To be candid, I did not expect to learn very much that I did not already know, but that wasn't the case at all. This is a phenomenally well-researched, well-reported and nuanced story that I cannot recommend highly enough.

One minor quibble: There were a few minor factual errors that I found puzzling. E.g., 'Challenger' was not the first Space Shuttle, and the year mentioned in the discussion of the 'Glomar Explorer' was the time Pinochet came to power, not when he was 'ousted.' Those errors do not diminish from the overall worthiness of this book.

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The academic left has a legitimacy problem

Revisado: 03-09-24

This is a good book. It's probably worth your time. Solid research, interesting insights, helpful personal perspective on a grim and scary phenomenon.

I'm no MAGA sympathizer. As soon as I heard the usual, reflexive, turgid, postmodern leftist gobbledygook about "equity" and "power structures" and "Latinx" and "BIPOC" people, I knew this just had to be written by someone who dwells in the stifling monoculture of contemporary American higher education. And it was. I would say that because this book is predicated on that neo-Maoist worldview, it can safely be disregarded by people who think critically and are engaged with the real world. On the other hand, that impulse to tune out stereotypical voices we disagree with is a huge part of why the country is where it is. So, engage with Onishi's ideas and draw your own conclusions.

For me, at least, the real takeaway from this book is that higher ed has galloped into terminal decline and is begging to be "disrupted and dismantled" on an epic scale. The strangest part of this phenomenon is that academics themselves can't see what's obviously coming.

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This book is a gem, but…

Revisado: 01-16-24

What a good, well-researched work on a fascinating topic that does not usually lend itself well to rigorous scholarship! Seriously. My background is in Slavic languages & literature, and I expected this book to be background noise while I did the dishes. It was anything but that. It’s done quite well.

The narration is… iffy. It’s not terrible. His cadence and inflection are good. His pronunciation of French and German words are great. But his pronunciation of the many Russian words and names is grating and amateurish. It’s fine that he’s not a Russian speaker, but he botches basic words that every educated English-speaker knows how to pronounce (e.g., “Caucasus” — as in the mountain range). Those mistakes are weird and take away from the credibility of the book, even if the narrator isn’t the author.

Still worthwhile, in my opinion.

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Postcolonial intersectional astrophysics

Revisado: 09-02-23

I wanted to like this book.

Cards on the table: I'm a Harvard graduate (the author is a Harvard professor) who doesn't want to admit that the University has been decimated by hard-left, Maoist, postmodern doctrine that makes everything about race, gender, and insatiable deconstruction of anything and everything. In other words: the ultimate Maoist war of each against all in the furtherance of some sort of liberation from the human condition and objective reality. This doctrine says that absolutely everything –– the hard sciences like astrophysics most especially included –– must contain some kind of frequent, noisy takedown of disfavored identity groups like White, Christian, men. This volume checks those necessary wickets and is therefore a Good and Worthy thing for consideration by contemporary, Very Serious academics.

Loeb could probably get away with this (and I probably wouldn't have returned the book) were his science just a bit better. His ideas about Oumuamua seem tailor-made to appeal to the respectable, 'I want to believe', late X-Files set –– and for cable TV bookers. Pair that with the Michel Foucault-inflicted academic balderdash, and it quickly becomes tiresome and silly.

Take a look at Paul Davies' 'The Eerie Silence' instead.

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esto le resultó útil a 11 personas

Execeptional

Revisado: 06-03-23

This is a very good book. Heed not fragile, fashionable language about trigger warnings and so forth. This is a book for people interested in getting past fragility and taboos to find real wisdom. I deal with suicidality every day in my work, and this is the first book I’ve read in a very long time that really moves the ball forward. The writing is first-rate; can’t recommend highly enough.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Smart, original insight. Great narration.

Revisado: 02-19-23

Very worthwhile listen. Case studies with insights that are not of the usual ‘repackage the DSM’ variety. Learned a lot. The narration was especially good.

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Invaluable content; audio needs remix

Revisado: 06-25-22

I would like nothing more than to give this book five stars in every category, without reservation. Its thesis is dead-on correct, and the research is exceptional. I could not agree more with what Helen Joyce book has to say in ‘Trans.’

That said, the audio mix is *very* off. It sounds like a first, rough pass or something. Amateurish at best. Helen’s voice gets lost under all the lip smack and whatever weird filters the intern applied to the track. So, so unfortunate. I hope they fix; this book needs to circulate far and wide. Before that happens, the audio needs to be professionally mixed.

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Exceptionally well written

Revisado: 03-09-22

Part of me felt guilty for listening to a potentially sensationalistic book about something morbid and awful. It’s not sensationalistic at all; it’s obviously well researched, written, and edited. Couldn’t stop listening. My only real complaint is that the narrator regularly mispronounces random, ordinary words that a professional voice actor — or any native English speaker, for that matter — should be able to read aloud easily (‘deserts’ for ‘desserts’, ‘moral’ for ‘morale’, etc). The narrator isn’t bad, but that issue was like nails on a chalkboard for me. It’s quite odd. Worth a credit though.

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Possibly decent narrative; amateurish narration

Revisado: 12-03-21

Full disclosure: I didn’t get very far. I’m a pilot. I care a lot about this issue, and I was really looking forward to this book. The narrator is ok, I guess, but his obvious lack of familiarity with the subject matter is distracting. Part of the problem is editorial: this topic is dramatic enough without having to hit readers over their heads with the profundity of it all. Maybe it’s poor direction. Who knows. It’s a perfectly fine primer for a lay audience who knows nothing about aviation, Reaganomics, or the well-trodden reporting of the problems with this airframe… If there is something new in this book, I’m going to hold out for a paper copy in my stocking before doing a deeper dive.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona