Talking about the generations
I've been listening to The Fourth Turning is Here (2023), an audiobook by Neil Howe, who co-wrote the bestselling book Generations (1991) with William Strauss. The pair wrote a few other books together but Generations is the most well-known. In it they described their theory of recurring generational cycles in American and Western history.
Fear and Coasting
Wow, is there anything less clickbait-y than existential dread? This one is probably just for me, but here we go... I've been reading Cintra Wilson's substack, Cintra Wilson Feels Your Pain, after recently rediscovering her for the third time in my life.
Annie Jacobsen: The Devil is in the Details
One of my favorite authors is Annie Jacobsen. For anyone who doesn't know her work, she's an American investigative journalist and author as well as a 2016 Pulitzer Prize finalist and television writer. She was recently interviewed by Joe Rogan about her latest book, Nuclear War: A Scenario. She was previously interviewed on his show in 2019 about her other books, and she has also appeared on the Lex Fridman podcast as well as many others.
Politics and propaganda
I've gone through a couple of extreme phases of caring and not caring about politics and the state of the world. I was raised by idealistic hippies, one of whom fled the United States during the Vietnam war to protest the draft and as a result I was born in Canada but raised partially in the United States.
The Mind and the Brain
I'm absolutely fascinated by how the human brain works, and many of the books I own are some variation on this theme, from Malcolm Gladwell to V.S. Ramachandran, Oliver Sacks, Jill Bolte Taylor and a myriad of other doctors, historians, scientists and popular science writers.
An ode to certain '80s excesses
Continuing my book shelf tour, this week brings us to the first shelf containing graphic novels. There are several such books on my shelves, mostly X-Men or related titles, like the excellent Elektra Assassin, about which I still harbor dark fantasies that one day some brave filmmaker will take up the challenge of bringing this cult classic to the big screen (or streaming, I’m fine either way).
I heart New York
Continuing the tour of my bookshelves, we’ve reached the grey shelf, and one of the standouts for me here is a huge, gorgeous coffee table book called New York: Portrait of a City by Reuel Golden, which chronicles the history of NYC from its very beginnings to just after September 11, 2001. The photos are nothing short of incredible, and when Rodger brought it home for me over a decade ago, it made me fall even more deeply in love with the city that at that point, I had never seen in person.
Books, part 2: the Power of Personality
Although most of the books I read these days are audiobooks, certain types of information are just better consumed visually; obviously graphic novels and art books, but also astrology. My collection of astrology books dates back to the first one I ever bought at the age of 12, which was Linda Goodman's Love Signs.
Book tour, part 1: Nostalgia
Anyone who knows me, or listens to the Starzology podcast, knows I read a lot of books. These days, it's mostly audiobooks from the library (shout out the Libby app!) so I can listen to them while I'm doing other things... skating, biking, shopping, working out or trying to fall asleep.
So you think you're special...
I just started reading Jean M. Twenge's book Generations and it's bringing back a flood of associations and memories from my Generation X childhood. This might be one of my most disjointed and naval-gazing (yet lighthearted) posts to date, but as we'll see, that's pretty appropriate, given the topic at hand...
Badass Goddesses: the book
I recently embarked on a journey of self-publishing, much of which I owe to my friend and fellow podcaster Alison Price at Starzology, who encouraged me and recommended a platform (Kindle Direct self-publishing).