Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, & technology book reviews, plus social, political, & economic commentary
#bookreview The Cost of Free Shipping: Amazon in the Global Economy Jake Alimahomed-Wilson and Ellen Reese London, UK: Pluto Press, 2020 ISBN-13: 978-0-7453-4148-4 In an unironic collection of essays spanning globalization, labor movements, gender studies, and economics, Jake Alimahomed-Wilson and Ellen Reese have delivered a masterpiece of sociological text on the truth behind the curtain … Continue reading Paying Your Way to ‘Free’ Shipping
Variations of LaborStories & PoemsAlex Gallo-BrownChin Music Press On Twitter, Seattle poet Alex Gallo-Brown (@AlextheGB) modestly calls himself simply a “writer and labor organizer.” But he’s more than that. He has been hailed as “the poet of the service economy” by Valerie Trueblood, a contributing editor to The American Poetry Review. And Washington State Poet … Continue reading Wise words from ‘the poet of the service economy’
Staying Sane & Entertained While Forced to Hide from the Coronavirus Charles Dickens likely did not have a deadly global pandemic in mind when he wrote the “best of times, worst of times” opening for his novel, A Tale of Two Cities. He was contrasting life in profitable, peaceful London with grim life in revolution-torn … Continue reading Worst of Times, Best of Times
The Mob and the City The Hidden History of How the Mafia Captured New York C. Alexander Hortis (Prometheus Books, Kindle, hardcover) Forget The Godfather, its sequels and numerous other, famous “Mafia” movies. This excellent book cuts straight through the hype, fictions, and glamorizations to tell “the hidden history of how the street … Continue reading The Mob and the City: The Hidden History of How the Mafia Captured New York – #bookreview
End This Depression Now! Paul Krugman (Norton, hardback, list price $24.95; Kindle edition, list price $24.95) If you’d like to watch some ultra-right conservatives break out in hives, do a St. Vitus Dance or just spontaneously combust, ask them to read End This Depression Now! by Paul Krugman. Most of them won’t read it, of course. They … Continue reading Mitt Romney, Secret Keynesian? Read Paul Krugman’s ‘End This Depression Now!’ – #bookreview #in #economics #politics
Thinking, Fast and Slow By Daniel Kahneman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, hardback, list price $30.00; Kindle edition, list price $12.99) Some of us do, but most of us don’t, have an attention shortage. We know how to pay attention. Indeed, these days, we try to pay attention to too many things at once. For example: … Continue reading A best-seller for your thoughts: Thinking, Fast and Slow – #bookreview
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