Category: review
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Quarterly review: FY15Q3
Each quarter I do a quick roundup of the book and film reviews that I do on Goodreads and Letterboxd. These reviews are too short and too off-the-cuff to be included with the more in depth reviews I do on this site. Below are the highlights of the quarter. Books Currently at 37 of 50…
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A slim crisis — a review of Disruptive Power
Disruptive Power: The Crisis of the State in the Digital Age by Taylor Owen From the book: Coupled with the power that is derived by the state’s increasing sophistication in this space — whether through automation, biometrics, or the new forms of social control and the violence they enable — there is reason to question…
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Quarterly review: FY15Q2
Each quarter I do a quick roundup of the book and film reviews that I do on Goodreads and Letterboxd. These reviews are too short and too off-the-cuff to be included with the more in depth reviews I do on this site. Below are the highlights of the quarter. Books I am still a couple…
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China’s Inconvenient Truth
Photo: Residential buildings in Wuhan, Hubei Province. Darley Shen/Reuters. In late February, Under the Dome, a documentary by former television news anchor and investigative journalist Chai Jing, was released criticizing China’s environmental record. Her quiet, understated approach is charismatic. Armed with statistics, footage and interviews from a number of impressive sources, she flexed her investigative…
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Quarterly review: FY15Q1
Each quarter I do a quick roundup of the book and film reviews that I do on Goodreads and Letterboxd. These reviews are too short and too off-the-cuff to be included with the more in depth reviews I do on this site. Below are the highlights of the quarter. Books I am keeping 4 books…
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What is data doing to our species? — A review of Kitten Clone
My review in the Literary Review of Canada is finally released. It is behind a paywall now, but will open up in about a month or so. Or you could pick it up at your local magazine purveyor and support Canadian publishing! The piece is mostly about “industrial innovation” and the wonderful (and forgotten?) legacy…
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An overly positive contribution — A review of How We Got to Now
How We Got to Now: The History and Power of Great Ideas by Steven Johnson I have mixed feelings about this book. I am a big fan of Steven Johnson, and my familiarity of his work might be why I didn’t love this book. In How We Got to Now Johnson explores the scaffolding of…
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“The means of information”
Cory Doctorow’s new book Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free is ostensibly a guide for creators on how to approach the Internet, and does so in an extremely informative, yet conversational manner. Furthermore it is concise, making it very accessible. When people ask me why I care so much about copyright and DRM, I will…
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The best of 2014
I logged 40 films and read 57 books in the year 2014. That is really 50 books when you remove the graphic novels, essays and lecture series. Considering my GoodReads Challenge this year was 45 books, I did well. Next year I am setting it to 50. Why not? I did two reviews for the…
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Quarterly review: FY14Q4
[Each quarter I do a quick roundup of the book and film reviews on Goodreads and Letterboxd. These reviews are too short and off-the-cuff to be included with the more indepth reviews I do on this site.] Books The first book I completed this quarter was Douglas Coupland’s new Kitten Clone: The History of the…