The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Reading Samizdat

  One of my habits — perhaps not a good habit, but valuable to my career as a journalist — is studying the radical fringe. This is part of what I learned from Hunter S. Thompson‘s career. If you want to know where society is heading in the future, pay attention to what is being […]

New Must-Read Book: ‘Cult City’

Daniel J. Flynn and his new book, ‘Cult City.’ Daniel J. Flynn is one of my favorite authors. His 2008 book, A Conservative History of the American Left, is a classic, and now he’s published an important new history, Cult City: Jim Jones, Harvey Milk, and 10 Days That Shook San Francisco: I toiled over my […]

Bonus Black Hole Book Post (It Has Rivets)

— by Wombat-socho Oh, the embarrassment. An author sends me a review copy of his most excellent hard-SF technothriller, and I completely forget to do the review in yesterday’s book post. Well, I promised him a review before the end of the month, which is now here, so you get a bonus book post! Michael […]

The Back To School Labor Day Book Post

— compiled by Wombat-socho Actually, I’m not going back to school – the spring semester at UNLV went badly, and summer was worse, so I’m punting the fall semester and concentrating on tax & insurance stuff in preparation for the upcoming tax season. Also, reading some good books so I can pass along recommendations to […]

Summer Reading List

— by Wombat-socho Good heavens, it’s been almost six months since I sat down and bashed out a book post. I’ll try to be a little more regular about it, maybe step it up to quarterly from semi-annual. We’ll see how it goes.For those of you who have forgotten how these posts work, here’s the […]

‘Gender,’ Nature and Sexual Economics

Cynthia Yockey has repeatedly urged me to write a book of advice to young men which, in the imaginary alternative universe where I’d actually write that book, I would call The Pleasure of Her Company. This title reflects my criticism of the self-defeating attitude one sometimes encounters in the so-called “Manosphere,” where scoring is given […]

Ursula LeGuin, RIP

— compiled by Wombat-socho Not going to lie: I didn’t care much for Ursula LeGuin’s writing. Had to read The Left Hand of Darkness in college, and it was okay, but “The Word For World Is Forest” was crap, and “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” was vile. After that, none of what she […]

A Tattoo-Covered, Mentally Ill Ex-Stripper Whose Real Name Is Chelsea Van Valkenburg Publishes Dishonest Book

  Today is the official publication date of a dishonest book by the woman who caused #GamerGate, whose story I explained last year: “Zoe Quinn” was Patient Zero of the #GamerGate controversy. A tattoo-covered, mentally ill ex-stripper whose real name is Chelsea Van Valkenburg, Quinn was the creator of a tediously dull game called “Depression […]

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