“Since the Egyptian scribe Ahmes put pen to papyrus some time around 1550BC to explain how to calculate the slope of a pyramid, we’ve had over three millennia of maths literature. So within some level of statistical confidence: here are a subset of the best ever maths books.”
You've heard all about the 'brilliant men' of ancient myth, but what about the scheming and scandalous women who were so often lost in their shadow? Bad Girls of Ancient Greece contains profiles of wayward wives, mad mothers, scandalous sisters and damsels, that quite frankly, caused others A LOT of stress in the ancient world.
@hoare_spitall@bibliolater@bookstodon i find them greatly dissimilar, unless he was molesting teenagers he brought along for the ride? No?
Didn't think so, or YOU would've spoken up, or at least refused to go along with it silently, and certainly not defending him when the truth came to light
@whatzaname@bibliolater@bookstodon
I'm not defending anybody, not even me. But I am aware that sometimes prima facie situations appear to be other than they are, and I have also learned to wait until all the pieces of the jigsaw are on the board before deciding what the picture shows.
I found the perfect read to start #pridemonth ! Queer Cheer is a self help book answering any question you could have about LGBT+. It helps navigate various topics linked to relationships, self-care, school or the community in general. I really love this book ! It is full of affirmative affirmations and testimonies.
Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder by Richard Dawkins, 2020
With the wit, insight, and spellbinding prose that have made him a bestselling author, Dawkins takes up the most important and compelling topics in modern science, from astronomy and genetics to language and virtual reality, combining them in a landmark statement of the human appetite for wonder.
Today in Writing History May 22, 1927: Author Peter Matthiessen was born. Matthiessen was an environmental activist and a CIA officer who wrote short stories, novels and nonfiction. He’s the only writer to have won the National Book award in both nonfiction, for The Snow Leopard (1979), and in fiction, for Shadow Country (2008). His story Travelin’ Man was made into the film The Young One (1960) by Luis Bunuel. Perhaps his most famous book was, In the Spirit of Crazy Horse (1983), which tells the story of Leonard Peltier and the FBI’s war on the American Indian Movement. Peltier is still in prison (over 43 years so far) for a crime he most likely did not commit. The former governor of South Dakota, Bill Janklow, and David Price, an FBI agent who was at the Wounded Knee assault, both sued Viking Press for libel because of statements in the book. Both lawsuits threatened to undermine free speech and further stifle indigenous rights activism. Fortunately, both lawsuits were dismissed.
Today in Labor History May 20, 1911: Anarchist Magonistas published a proclamation calling for the peasants to take collective possession of the land in Baja California. They had already defeated government forces there. Members of the IWW traveled south to help them. During their short revolution, they encouraged the people to take collective possession of the lands. They also supported the creation of cooperatives and opposed the establishment of any new government. Ricardo Flores Magon organized the rebellion from Los Angeles, where he lived. In addition to Tijuana, they also took the cities of Ensenada and Mexicali. However, in the end, the forces of Madero suppressed the uprising. LAPD arrested Magon and his brother Enrique. As a result, both spend nearly two years in prison. Many of the IWW members who fought in the rebellion, later participated in the San Diego free speech fight. Lowell Blaisdell writes about it in his now hard to find book, “The Desert Revolution,” (1962). Read my article on the San Diego Free Speech fight here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2022/02/01/today-in-labor-history-february-1/
So, you read my article on the SD free speech fight, too? Cool.
Lots of other heavy SD history, too. The minutemen, a white supremacist group, threatened Angels Davis when she was a student at UCSD. And activists later attacked the Fallbrook home of White Asian Resistance leader Tom Metzger. I think that was in the late 80s or early 90s.
@MikeDunnAuthor@bookstadon yeah, i know a lot more about the white supremacists and other fascists because we still are fighting with them. One of the local muncipalities, Santee, is still known by everyone as Klantee for a reason, ugh. If you ever want to share more about that stuff or have suggestions of books, i am here for it! 😁
The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think by Jennifer Ackerman, 2020
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Genius of Birds, a radical investigation into the bird way of being, and the recent scientific research that it dramatically shifting our understanding of birds — how they live and how they think.
Celts: The History and Legacy of One of the Oldest Cultures in Europe by Martin J. Dougherty, 2024
Before the Vikings, before the Anglo-Saxons, before the Roman Empire, the Celts dominated central and western Europe. Today we might think of the Celts only inhabiting parts of the far west of Europe – Ireland, Great Britain, France and Spain – but these were the extremities in which their culture lasted longest.
@appassionato@bookstodon In fact, the object on the front page of the book was found in Denmark, and probably made somewhere in Ukraine, two millennia ago.
It is the Gundestrup kettle, in the National Museum in Copenhagen.
The End of Everything by Victor Davis Hanson, 2024
“In The End of Everything, Hanson tells compelling and harrowing stories of how civilizations perished. He helps us consider contemporary affairs in light of that history, think about the unthinkable, and recognize the urgency of trying to prevent our own demise.” — H. R. McMaster, author of Battlegrounds
@skatercat@appassionato Accurate, though. At the end of every empire, it was the end of life as everybody at the time was used to, and presumed to continue indefinitely. It's amusing how certain religions keep prepared for "end times" when we've already had several.
The Art of Cyber Warfare: Strategic and Tactical Approaches for Attack and Defense in the Digital Age by Peter Kestner, 2024
Explores the strategic and tactical approaches for offense and defense in the digital age. Drawing on historical conflicts from Sun Tzu to Carl von Clausewitz, the author illustrates that, despite changed conditions such as time, location, means, and resources it is possible to learn from past actions and reactions.
The winners of the 2024 Pulitzer Prizes have been announced. The New York Times took three: One for its coverage of the war in Gaza and others in the Features and Investigative categories. The Washington Post tied with wins in Commentary, Editorial Writing and National Reporting. The Fiction Pulitzer went to West Virginia writer Jayne Anne Phillips for her novel, "Night Watch," while the Nonfiction prize went to "A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy," by Nathan Thrall, which tells the story of a Palestinian father living under Israeli occupation of the West Bank. Here's the full list from NPR. This Poynter.org story has links to all the winning pieces of journalism.
If you're in Vegas for the Punk Rock and Bowling festival this Memorial Day weekend, be sure to stop by Avantpop Books, Sunday, May 26, noon. I'll be reading from my working-class historical novel, "Anywhere But Schuylkill." Billy Bragg will be headlining, with his book, "Roots, Rockers and Radicals."
Today in Labor History April 30 1945: Eva Braun and Adolph Hitler committed suicide, in Berlin, after being married for less than 40 hours. Many Nazis were tried, convicted and executed. And literally thousands were secreted into the U.S., given false identities, and put to work as spies, intelligence officers, informants, and rocket scientists in the Cold War. Some of them had even been high-ranking Nazi Party officials, secret police chiefs, and heads of concentration camps. In fact, during the first few years after WWII ended, it was easier to get into the U.S. as a Nazi than it was as a Jewish concentration camp survivor. There were policy makers in Washington who said the Jews shouldn’t be let in because they’re “lazy” and “self-entitled.” For more on this sordid history, read “The Nazis Next Door
How America Became a Safe Haven for Hitler's Men,” By Eric Lichtblau.
Losing Eden Why Our Minds Need the Wild by Lucy Jones, 2020
Today many of us live indoor lives, disconnected from the natural world as never before. And yet nature remains deeply ingrained in our language, culture and consciousness. For centuries, we have acted on an intuitive sense that we need communion with the wild to feel well.