Westernesse rated A pattern language: 5 stars

A pattern language by Christopher Alexander
Alexander and his co-authors present us with over two hundred (roughly 250) "patterns" that they believe must be present in …
Downtrodden romanticist. Tired contrarian. Addict of consumerism.
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Alexander and his co-authors present us with over two hundred (roughly 250) "patterns" that they believe must be present in …
The idea of a Manual for Creating Atheists intrigued me.
Peter Boghossian explicitly places himself in the tradition of the so-called Four Horsemen of New Atheism. This movement has achieved a reputation of mean-spiritedness and abrasiveness which may be an impediment to proper evangelizing. At some level, Boghossian understands this, as he leaves his rather condescending remarks about religious people out of the actual sample conversations.
Now, the true meat of this book is the suggestion to use Socratic questioning to undermine the foundations of the other party's faith. This certainly seems like a valid and useful technique. Success might be somewhat limited as Boghossian only seems to consider a very narrow set of possibilities of why people believe. There is another case that I have found to be very common, and it is in fact one that Boghossian only treats as a by-product of his street epistemology. It is …
The idea of a Manual for Creating Atheists intrigued me.
Peter Boghossian explicitly places himself in the tradition of the so-called Four Horsemen of New Atheism. This movement has achieved a reputation of mean-spiritedness and abrasiveness which may be an impediment to proper evangelizing. At some level, Boghossian understands this, as he leaves his rather condescending remarks about religious people out of the actual sample conversations.
Now, the true meat of this book is the suggestion to use Socratic questioning to undermine the foundations of the other party's faith. This certainly seems like a valid and useful technique. Success might be somewhat limited as Boghossian only seems to consider a very narrow set of possibilities of why people believe. There is another case that I have found to be very common, and it is in fact one that Boghossian only treats as a by-product of his street epistemology. It is the situation in which the theist, finding their belief attacked, clings even more strongly to their faith in an effort to smother their growing doubt. Boghossian sees this as an acceptable result, as the doubt will eventually lead them to abandon their faith. I am personally not so sure of that. The aspiring street epistemologist might want to consider other cases. Primarily, Horseman Daniel Dennett's notion of belief in belief seemed to be noticeably absent.
The book would be merely an imperfect execution of an interesting idea, if not for some very bizarre rants about the alleged decline of liberalism. Diversity, inclusion and respect for difference are described as parasitic ideologies. Feminism is singled out. It is entirely out of place in this book. Combined with the author's continued involvement with the white supremacist Stefan Molyneux, I find myself somewhat doubting Boghossian's self-identification as humanist.
An unexpected offer threatens the bond between Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi as the two …
Claudia Gray has consistently written some of the best Star Wars novels I have read so far. This is no exception.
I'm really glad to finally see this time period being explored in the new canon. The main focus of the book is the bond between Qui-Gon Jinn and his padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi, which means it provides a good foundation for the Phantom Menace.
I've been following the work of George Holt and Andrew Gould for years now. I desired to know more about them and their work than just the blurbs on their websites. This book did not disappoint at all on that front, and I even discovered many more interesting people along the way. On top of that, I got a fascinating overview of Charleston's fascinating (and sometimes problematic) history, with a particular focus on its architecture.
It's of course not just a book about Charleston. It's also a book of the whys and hows of traditional architecture as well the struggles of the New Urbanist movement and amateur architects.
The Hobbit party (2014)
More thoughtful than I had anticipated, but most of the book still stretches the writings of Tolkien very thinly over the usual drivel espoused by the Acton Institute.
A much-needed bridge between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. The Resistance starts to regroup and old friends from other Star Wars novels join the fight.
Luke Skywalker takes on a high-stakes espionage operation to rescue a brilliant alien cryptographer sympathetic …
While it was nice to see Luke experimenting with the Force, the whole book felt a bit odd and the first-person narrative didn't help.
Когда Джин Эрсо было восемь лет, ее мать убили, а отца заставили работать на военную …
The time spent with Saw Gerrera is pretty engaging, but afterwards the book seems to lose momentum. The remaining plot is pretty episodic.
When Padmé Naberrie, "Queen Amidala" of Naboo, steps down from her position, she is asked …
While I would have preferred to see Claudia Gray handle the character of Padmé, Johnston still delivered a fairly competent character study. It neatly ties in with Princess of Alderaan. The actual plot is perhaps a tad too dull.
Another great Star Wars novel by Claudia Gray. It's not as essential as Bloodline, or as broad in scope as Lost Stars, but it's still a great coming of age story.
This book was recommended to me as “Romeo & Juliet in space” and I was rather hesitant to read it. I shouldn't have been. Like Gray's other book Bloodline, this was probably one of the best Star Wars books I have read so far.
It turns out that the world, for all its imperfections, is in a much better state than we might think. …
Seemed like a decent, if slightly sensationalized, overview of the early space race.
I gained a new appreciation for statistics, even though I was skeptical of some the conclusions the authors reached. This skepticism seems to be validated, looking at other reviews.
Even if not all conclusions are justified, they still are interesting and thought-provoking angles. My way of viewing the world, alas, has not been redefined.
A fun ride with some interesting concepts. True, there's plenty of cringe-worthy stuff, but fortunately it's spaced out enough to not be too bothersome.