tjdickey
Columbus Metropolitan Library
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So Late in the DaySo Late in the Day, BookStories of Women and Men
by Keegan, ClaireBook - 2023Book, 2023
tjdickey's rating:
Added Mar 26, 2024
Quotations
- "When she woke, she felt the tail end of a dream - a feeling, like silk - disappearing."
How to Prevent DementiaHow to Prevent Dementia, BookUnderstanding and Managing Cognitive Decline
by Restak, RichardBook - 2023Book, 2023
tjdickey's rating:
Added Mar 25, 2024
Quotations
- "The lion's share of research has been devoted to one underlying belief: the plaques and tangles are the cause of the disease. Yet this entrenched belief has spawned little progress. Clinical trail after clinical trial (at least seventeen known trials) aimed at curing Alzheimer's by lowering amyloid has failed. As one expert phrased it, anti-amyloid drug development is 'grounded in a mountain of biological evidence so vast and diverse, that it seems unimpeachable. On the other hand, the track record of drug after drug, trial after trial, year after year is so long that it seems to have reached the point of sheer folly!' ... No drug has been developed that reduces amyloid and at the same time satisfactorily improves mental functioning in humans. Especially interesting, a few of the string of failed drugs had just about cleared the amyloid from the brain but still failed to bring about satisfying clinical improvement in cognition." (p.166- 167)"The lion's share of research has been devoted to one underlying belief: the plaques and tangles are the cause of the disease. Yet this entrenched belief has spawned little progress. Clinical trail after clinical trial (at least seventeen known…
- "Within a year of the discontinuation of Aduhelm, another drug, lecanemab, once again from Biogen and Eisai, was introduced. Showing only low-to-moderate benefit, the drug during clinical trials was associated with increases in brain swelling and brain bleeding when compared to patients on placebo. Putting the best face on it, the benefits were hardly overwhelming ... 'well below what is considered a clinically meaningful treatment effect.' So what was the rush to approve a drug with such a narrow window of effectiveness? ... It seems that once an idea becomes engrained in our brain, we have great difficulty replacing it or even modifying it." (p. 171)"Within a year of the discontinuation of Aduhelm, another drug, lecanemab, once again from Biogen and Eisai, was introduced. Showing only low-to-moderate benefit, the drug during clinical trials was associated with increases in brain swelling and…
- "Here is the final lifestyle modification: Don't spend time obsessing about whether you may come down with dementia sometime in the distant future. Instead, follow the current healthy lifestyle guidelines and enjoy your life. Life is to be lived and not constantly fretted about." (p. 192)"Here is the final lifestyle modification: Don't spend time obsessing about whether you may come down with dementia sometime in the distant future. Instead, follow the current healthy lifestyle guidelines and enjoy your life. Life is to be lived and…
tjdickey's rating:
Added Mar 19, 2024
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Building A Resilient LifeBuilding A Resilient Life, BookHow Adversity Awakens Strength, Hope, and Meaning
by Lyons, RebekahBook - 2023Book, 2023
tjdickey's rating:
Added Mar 18, 2024
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God Never Gives up on YouGod Never Gives up on You, BookWhat Jacob's Story Teaches Us About Grace, Mercy, and God's Relentless Love
by Lucado, MaxBook - 2023Book, 2023
tjdickey's rating:
Added Mar 11, 2024
Comment:
The biographical narrative is both detailed and comprehensive (and quite chilling).
The author does aim to be scrupulously fair, and quite often points out the parts of both sides' arguments which were based on false perceptions of the other, as well as the bad behavior of both East and West. He offers apologies at times for Putin in terms of Russian cultural norms (such as the two kinds of bribery common in all Russian politics and business, one an innocent payment of a "gift" in respect, and the other being extortion, if the amount is too much). He also is not afraid to bring out nuance in historical events, such as the beginning of the war in Georgia in which the Georgians fired the first shots (as told loudly in the Russian view), but did so by Putin's careful entrapment of them (leading to the Western focus on the Russian invasion that followed). The historical muddiness of Ukranian borders (begun by Stalin's replacement of the Crimeans and other Ukrainian residents with millions of re-settled Russians after WW2, and the final boundaries set by Kruschev as late as the 1950s) is another area of judicious correction, though it does not in the least absolve Putin from either the 2014 annexation or Crimea or the later full-on invasion of Ukraine.
Putin the man is seen through his upbringing and early career in the former KGB, and the huge influence on his worldview of the "catastrophic" disintegration of the Soviet Union, but also through his earlier experience in government during the tumultuous period of Soviet breakup and privatization.
The story divulges fascinating details especially of Putin's early terms in office, as he clamps down on the media and journalists, on regional autonomy (think the Russian treatment of Georgia and Ukraine, not to mention the Second Chechen War that he inherited), and taking on oligarchs as well as political enemies throughout his life with ruthless calculation. The descent into greater and greater totalitarianism in Putin's 3rd and 4th terms of office alone are worth the read.The biographical narrative is both detailed and comprehensive (and quite chilling).
The author does aim to be scrupulously fair, and quite often points out the parts of both sides' arguments which were based on false perceptions of the other, as…
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Quotations
- "In retrospect, what is surprising is not that Russia's relations with America finished up as a train wreck, but that it took so long to happen." (p. 428)
- "John McCain let rip with one of his trademark one-liners: 'I looked into Mr Putin's eyes and I saw three letters, a K, a G, and a B.'" (p. 370)
- "'The people I knew [in the East German secret police] were decent people,' Putin insisted. 'They were my friends and I will not renounce them.' Some Stasi officer, he admitted, had "probably' maltreated people, but he 'personally did not see it'. It was the same reasoning that led him to minimize the horrors committed by the NKVD under Stalin." (p.118)"'The people I knew [in the East German secret police] were decent people,' Putin insisted. 'They were my friends and I will not renounce them.' Some Stasi officer, he admitted, had "probably' maltreated people, but he 'personally did not see it'.…
tjdickey's rating:
Added Mar 11, 2024
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A mystery which feels part fairytale, part farce, part melodrama; Wes Anderson cuts (though without Anderson's clarity of vision).
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tjdickey's rating:
Added Mar 06, 2024
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tjdickey's rating:
Added Mar 05, 2024
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Narrative asides into topics such as internet romance scams, and persons living with dementia, add spice to the usual tone of the octogenarian sleuths.
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tjdickey's rating:
Added Mar 05, 2024
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Strange and endearing stories...
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The Tea Girl of Hummingbird LaneThe Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, BookA Novel
by See, LisaBook - 2017Book, 2017
tjdickey's rating:
Added Mar 02, 2024
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A sweeping exploration of human relationships and society - what is binding and what is liberating? Mothers and daughters, men and women, teachers and students, love and marriage, culture and traditions, wealth and progress, spirits and ancestors, race and ethnic minorities, home and adoption, all are bound up in a whirling tale of China on the cusp of "modernity..."A sweeping exploration of human relationships and society - what is binding and what is liberating? Mothers and daughters, men and women, teachers and students, love and marriage, culture and traditions, wealth and progress, spirits and ancestors,…
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tjdickey's rating:
Added Feb 26, 2024
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Grann brings a strong narrative voice to the often-conflicting accounts of the catastrophe that was the sinking of the Age of Sail British warship, and the contentious (and murderous!) aftermath among the castaways struggling to survive.
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In the Heart of the SeaIn the Heart of the Sea, BookThe Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
by Philbrick, NathanielBook - 2015Book, 2015
tjdickey's rating:
Added Feb 26, 2024
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Bohjalian's flawed but strong female lead faces her own demons, as well as the demons of the American War in Vietnam and the creeping and bewildering influence of urbanization, disease, smuggling, mental illness, medical research - the pitter patter of tiny rat-feet in the walls and beneath the trash-piles of modern urban society. A red lotus can be a sacred bloom of memorial, or a napalm blossom, or a resurrection, perhaps all at once.Bohjalian's flawed but strong female lead faces her own demons, as well as the demons of the American War in Vietnam and the creeping and bewildering influence of urbanization, disease, smuggling, mental illness, medical research - the pitter patter…
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tjdickey's rating:
Added Feb 26, 2024
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Filterworld delves deeply into how algorithmic "feeds" have come to dominate our digital lives, and their insidious and de-humanizing influence on art and culture, always pressing for the most generic and most flaccid cultural expressions in music, art, fashion, writing. The point here is not to ignore the very real polarization of political filter bubbles, but rather to see through the mindless promotion of transient and forgettable micro-fads, and bland and insipid clickbait "culture," and to champion a return to deeply human curation of "content."Filterworld delves deeply into how algorithmic "feeds" have come to dominate our digital lives, and their insidious and de-humanizing influence on art and culture, always pressing for the most generic and most flaccid cultural expressions in music,…
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Quotations
- "In place of human gatekeepers and curators of culture, the editors and DJs, we now have a set of algorithmic gatekeepers. While this shift has lowered many cultural barriers to entry, since anyone can make their work public online, it has also resulted in a kind of tyranny of real0time data. Attention becomes the only metric by which culture is judged, and what gets attention is dictated by equations derived by Silicon Valley engineers. The outcome of such algorithmic gatekeeping is the pervasive flattening that has been happening across culture. By flatness I mean homogenization but also a reduction into simplicity: the least ambiguous, least disruptive, and perhaps least meaningful pieces of culture are promoted the most." p. 9"In place of human gatekeepers and curators of culture, the editors and DJs, we now have a set of algorithmic gatekeepers. While this shift has lowered many cultural barriers to entry, since anyone can make their work public online, it has also…
- "Popularity contests are a perennial feature of culture. ... The bestseller label, for instance, might encourage a shopper to give a book a second glance or flip to the first page. Artists have always had be marketers of a sort, evolving public personas that served as calling cards for their work, as Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol did. The difference today is that in Filterworld, the metrics - the number of likes, the pre-existing attention - tend to speak louder than the piece of culture itself. Not only do they act as a measure of success, but they create success, because they dictate what is recommended to and seen by audiences in the first place." p. 132 [see BookTok!] "Popularity contests are a perennial feature of culture. ... The bestseller label, for instance, might encourage a shopper to give a book a second glance or flip to the first page. Artists have always had be marketers of a sort, evolving public…
- A joke written on Twitter by a Google engineer named Chet Haase in 2017 pinpoints the problem: "A machine learning algorithm walks into a bar. The bartender asks, 'What'll you have?' The algorithm says, 'What's everyone else having?'" p. 46
- "Should the human fashion editor tell you what to like or should it be the algorithmic machine, in the form of the Amazon bookstore, Spotify feed, or Netflix home page? That is the central dilemma of culture in Filterworld. The former option is mercurial and driven by elite gatekeepers, a powerful group build up over a century of modern cultural industries, riddled with their own blind spots and biases including those of gender and race. Yet the human flaws may become even more dramatic in an algorithmic ecosystem when the actions of mass audiences dictate what can easily be seen. Racism, sexism, and other forms of bias are a de facto part of that equation." p. 55"Should the human fashion editor tell you what to like or should it be the algorithmic machine, in the form of the Amazon bookstore, Spotify feed, or Netflix home page? That is the central dilemma of culture in Filterworld. The former option is…
- "Facebook, over the 2010s, was like a tiny detective tracing your steps around the Internet, noting down everything you looked at and licked on, every term you searched, and every other person to whom you were connected. It didn't just track you on Facebook itself; without asking for particularly explicit permission, it followed you onto other websites too, with the help of tracking cookies and Like buttons. Its goal was to collect enough data so that it could serve you personalized recommendations and precisely targeted ads on its platform, selling your attention to advertisers who were seeking, say, anyone between the ages of forty and fifty who lived in Minnesota and had shown an interest in buying gardening equipment. Most apps functioned in the same way, creating an all-encompassing net of digital surveillance. Everywhere you went, your trail was picked up by some entity of another, slowly accreting into detailed profiles that the businesses could use to their benefit." p. 212"Facebook, over the 2010s, was like a tiny detective tracing your steps around the Internet, noting down everything you looked at and licked on, every term you searched, and every other person to whom you were connected. It didn't just track you on…
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An Ugly TruthAn Ugly Truth, BookInside Facebook's Battle for Domination
by Frenkel, SheeraBook - 2021Book, 2021Don't Be EvilDon't Be Evil, BookHow Big Tech Betrayed Its Founding Principles--and All of Us
by Foroohar, RanaBook - 2019Book, 2019
Added Feb 16, 2024
Comment:
Lahiri's talk is charming and wittily reflective on how we see the physical nature of books in their covers, from classic Gorey or Woolf images, to traditional branding of series, to the difficulties of reflecting national or ethnic or linguistic character, and even all the way to the loss of physical embodiment in an age of streaming content.Lahiri's talk is charming and wittily reflective on how we see the physical nature of books in their covers, from classic Gorey or Woolf images, to traditional branding of series, to the difficulties of reflecting national or ethnic or linguistic…
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Chronicles of A Liquid SocietyChronicles of A Liquid Society, Book
by Eco, UmbertoBook - 2017Book, 2017
tjdickey's rating:
Added Feb 15, 2024
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A world of AI and advanced gene editing magnifies the lonely human heart, but also provides fertile ground for Ishiguro, a Nobel laureate in literature, to ask questions about the persistence of faith, hope, and love - all through the eyes and voice of an unforgettable narrator.A world of AI and advanced gene editing magnifies the lonely human heart, but also provides fertile ground for Ishiguro, a Nobel laureate in literature, to ask questions about the persistence of faith, hope, and love - all through the eyes and voice…
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The Curse of Pietro HoudiniThe Curse of Pietro Houdini, BookA Novel
by Miller, Derek B.Book - 2024Book, 2024
tjdickey's rating:
Added Feb 12, 2024
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A WW2 story full of the fog and blood and confusion, and small acts of desperate humanity - set against the backdrop of the battle of Monte Cassino, with plenty of questioning and coming-of-age, and performing theater and art and gender and dissembling life itself.A WW2 story full of the fog and blood and confusion, and small acts of desperate humanity - set against the backdrop of the battle of Monte Cassino, with plenty of questioning and coming-of-age, and performing theater and art and gender and…
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Quotations
- "On the eighth of September we hard the strangest announcement on the radio. We heard that Italy was surrendering to the Allies. But Badoglio then says 'la guerra continua' - the war continues. What does that mean? How do you surrender and keep fighting? Whose side were we on? This was so Italian even we Italians couldn't understand it.""On the eighth of September we hard the strangest announcement on the radio. We heard that Italy was surrendering to the Allies. But Badoglio then says 'la guerra continua' - the war continues. What does that mean? How do you surrender and keep…
- "It was only when looking a man or woman in the eye that one could sense the depth of honesty being shared. In this, Massimo learned that trust was the bedrock of survival."
- "There is a kind of comedy that lies buried deep in the heart of us. A kind of comedy that stirs only when we have been so removed from this earth that we can see it all as a whole. It is there, from this divine view of our circumstance, that we find a place where tears and laughter have never been parted." "There is a kind of comedy that lies buried deep in the heart of us. A kind of comedy that stirs only when we have been so removed from this earth that we can see it all as a whole. It is there, from this divine view of our circumstance, that we…
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tjdickey's rating:
Added Feb 12, 2024
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Jones has a quirky little tale of horror - and what a great unhinged teenager voice!
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A Face in the CrowdA Face in the Crowd, BookThe Longest December
Book - 2023Book, 2023
Lost in Trans NationLost in Trans Nation, BookA Child Psychiatrist's Guide Out of the Madness
by Grossman, MiriamBook - 2023Book, 2023
tjdickey's rating:
Added Feb 09, 2024
Comment:
Two of the most compelling parts of Dr. Grossman's text are the number of gender-sympathetic voices she cites (including medical professionals in the gender-care community and parents who are LGBTQ-friendly but still concerned), and her uncompromising analysis of the scientific evidence: what scientifically reliable results exist, and where our knowledge does not exist.Two of the most compelling parts of Dr. Grossman's text are the number of gender-sympathetic voices she cites (including medical professionals in the gender-care community and parents who are LGBTQ-friendly but still concerned), and her…
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Irreversible DamageIrreversible Damage, BookThe Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters
by Shrier, AbigailBook - 2020Book, 2020
tjdickey's rating:
Added Feb 06, 2024
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The tiny, fragile innocence of a child's eyes
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tjdickey's rating:
Added Feb 06, 2024
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Eggers just won a Newberry Award for this fable, told with the most imaginative language and running at the speed of an exuberant otherworldly dog; his canine protagonist speaks with brio, and wit, and love.
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- "To be alive is to go forth. So we went forth."
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tjdickey's rating:
Added Feb 05, 2024
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Grace and diamantine clarity of perception.
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- "And then the nights came on and the frosts took hold again, and blades of cold slid under doors and cut the knees off those who still knelt to say the rosary."
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Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper ClubSaturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club, BookA Novel
by Stradal, J. RyanBook - 2023Book, 2023
tjdickey's rating:
Added Feb 05, 2024
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As always, Stradahl serves up a platter of humanity: dreams both shattered and fulfilled, acts of human spite and human kindness, mothers and daughters (and granddaughters), the way that relationships morph and season and resonate over generations. The staff are good Midwestern names like Florence Jean Stenerud but diverse in background and sexuality and outlook, and as always, the story revolves around food and family business.As always, Stradahl serves up a platter of humanity: dreams both shattered and fulfilled, acts of human spite and human kindness, mothers and daughters (and granddaughters), the way that relationships morph and season and resonate over generations.…
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The Lager Queen of MinnesotaThe Lager Queen of Minnesota, Book
by Stradal, J. RyanBook - 2019Book, 2019
tjdickey's rating:
Added Feb 05, 2024
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The author, the poet and daughter of Sylvia Plath and Tom Hughes, gifts us a hilarious and poignant memoir of life in a Welsh countryside fixer-upper house, seeing the first cracks in her marriage (to someone only called "The Ex" throughout the book), and trying to find hope in life by rehabilitating an abandoned and wounded magpie - one of the most loveable, enraging, and mischievous birds imaginable.The author, the poet and daughter of Sylvia Plath and Tom Hughes, gifts us a hilarious and poignant memoir of life in a Welsh countryside fixer-upper house, seeing the first cracks in her marriage (to someone only called "The Ex" throughout the…
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The RavenmasterThe Ravenmaster, BookMy Life With the Ravens at the Tower of London
by Skaife, ChristopherBook - 2018Book, 2018The Hawk's WayThe Hawk's Way, BookEncounters With Fierce Beauty
by Montgomery, SyBook - 2022Book, 2022
tjdickey's rating:
Added Feb 05, 2024
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A fine new entry into the clerical cozy mystery genre, and a rare C of E protagonist: Canon Daniel, a highly literate, somewhat fussy man whose life is laced with the liturgy.
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Murder on the Christmas ExpressMurder on the Christmas Express, Book
by Benedict, AlexandraBook - 2023Book, 2023
tjdickey's rating:
Added Jan 30, 2024
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The homage to Christie (and others) is deliberate and pleasant, though the story falls a little flat with characters selected from reality TV and TikTok influencers trying to fill Dame Agatha's deep sense for humanity. Hugely serious issues of violence against women are brought forth in the final pages, but many characters seem a bit cardboard-ish before this denouement.The homage to Christie (and others) is deliberate and pleasant, though the story falls a little flat with characters selected from reality TV and TikTok influencers trying to fill Dame Agatha's deep sense for humanity. Hugely serious issues of…
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