I am pretty much addicted to physical. But would definitely do kindle if I was with you. Europe was just as friendly and i could actually get psylocibin and mescaline instead of mushrooms and cacti. It annoys me no end that I can get fentanyl/heroin or opioids on any street corner but impossible to find psychedlics, even MDMA.
davew On Tue, Nov 12, 2024, at 11:28 AM, Gary Schiltz wrote: > Catching up on old threads here. Hey David, these days do you mainly > read physical books, or do you e-read? Living in a Spanish-speaking > country, options for physical books in English here are severely > limited. Despite dislike for feeding the behemoth Bezos, Karen and I > are grateful to be able to buy Kindle books. > > Possibly of interest to Dave, I have it on fairly good authority that > most "natural" hallucinogenic substances are legal here. Psilocybin > and ayahuasca are readily available, and there are actual resorts that > specialize in this. It's not my cup of tea, but just a FYI. > > On Thu, Nov 7, 2024 at 10:54 AM Prof David West <profw...@fastmail.fm> wrote: >> >> several people made comments about people not reading much and glen >> mentioned he has read maybe 2 books this year. This triggered me, a lifelong >> addicted bibliophile. >> >> I started reading (comic books with Donald Duck in Mathemagic Land and >> heroes like Lex Luthor) a couple of hears before starting school. I maxed >> out my Weekly Reader Book Club order every week during grade school. Weekly >> trips to neighborhood book store for 20-25 cent paperbacks (mostly science >> fiction, but a hell of a lot of non-fiction popular science books as well). >> A simple mention in a TV show, Outer Limits, prompted a library trip to >> check out and read Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, My freshman year at >> Macalester required buying and reading over forty books—mostly monographs, >> not textbooks. I have read just over 10,000 books in my lifetime (a >> significant percentage being fiction—mysteries and science fiction). Until >> the past decade, I had subscribed to at least two local papers and one >> national paper. Before they descended to junk, read Newsweek and Time every >> week and subscribed to at least six-seven different periodicals (a lot of >> them computer journals). When I encountered a mention of Graeber, I bought >> and read one, then all, of his books (Dawn of Everything is, IMO, a really >> important book with insights that could inform much of the socio-political >> discussion on this list). Whenever anyone on this list mentions a book, I am >> on Amazon with seconds ordering it. When I attended FRIAM at St. John's, I >> visited the bookstore's new books table and always left with 3-8 books; >> every week. >> >> When speaking at professional conferences I always ask how many people have >> read 1-2 computer books this year. and most of the audience raises their >> hand. How many have read one book other than a computer book this year—less >> than half the audience. How many a fiction book—four or five people. >> >> Alan Kay once said, "If you do not read for pleasure, you cannot read for >> purpose." An exaggeration perhaps, but a valid observation. >> >> My last three or four years teaching, I was not allowed to mandate any books >> for any class. I could recommend one text book. >> >> The year i spent teaching high school in Las Vegas, NV; not one student, >> outside of 'honors/AP' courses had read even one book in their entire 4-year >> high school career. >> >> Books are not the only medium of course, but I am deeply suspicious of the >> value of much of what is consumed from on-line and mass media sources. >> >> I would attribute any descent into authoritarianism, any demise of social >> order, and any succumbing to existential threats on humanity to nothing more >> than the massive ignorance of the vast majority of people who do not read. >> >> davew >> >> >> On Thu, Nov 7, 2024, at 8:29 AM, glen wrote: >> > I would guess the majority of those who voted for Harris also don't >> > read. Or, maybe it's better to say they don't read the same way we used >> > to read: https://www.the-hinternet.com/p/the-future-of-reading >> > >> > I'll admit that I rarely read books anymore. I think I've read 2 this >> > year. The overwhelming majority of my reading is journal, magazine, and >> > news articles. And I spend a LOT of time listening to podcasts and >> > video essays. Granted, my only social media is Mastodon. Though I do >> > try to post to Instagram sporadically. I just have no idea why serious >> > people still use eX-Twitter. I mean, WTF? >> > >> > All this stuff plays an important role in "how democracies die". And my >> > guess is we'll learn less from the deep thinking book writers or >> > essayists and more from attempts at network analysis across media like >> > TikTok, Telegram, Signal, Discord, & SimpleX. There was this (good) >> > article on Graeber in the Guardian: >> > https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/nov/07/david-graeber-optimistic-anarchist-rebecca-solnit. >> > And despite it tweaking my old philia, it just reads so empty to me >> > now. A stroll through .5TB of leaked chat logs is much more exciting >> > these days >> > (https://ddosecrets.com/article/paramilitary-election-interference). >> > >> > On 11/7/24 02:16, Sarbajit Roy wrote: >> >> "> ..,The people who voted for him probably do not read Paxton, Arendt or >> >> Levitsky and Ziblat ..." >> >> The people who voted for him don't read... >> >> >> >> We have a similar problem in India, the great semi-literate masses have >> >> been handed cheap smartp[hiones with cheap data plans so they are >> >> connected 24x7 to the Matrix. >> >> >> >> On Wed, Nov 6, 2024 at 2:04 PM Jochen Fromm <j...@cas-group.net >> >> <mailto:j...@cas-group.net>> wrote: >> >> >> >> I woke up today and saw the horrific news on TV that Trump has won >> >> again. It is incredibly bad on many levels. It is bad for the >> >> environment. The world will not be able to stop global warming without >> >> the U.S. It is bad for Ukraine as well. To me it feels like the end of >> >> civilization and democracy. The people who voted for him probably do not >> >> read Paxton, Arendt or Levitsky and Ziblatt. Or do not care. >> >> >> >> https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/562246/how-democracies-die-by-steven-levitsky-and-daniel-ziblatt/ >> >> >> >> <https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/562246/how-democracies-die-by-steven-levitsky-and-daniel-ziblatt/> >> >> >> >> I was wondering how this is possible. If we define populism as an >> >> ideology that presents "the people" as a morally good force and contrasts >> >> them against "the elite", who are portrayed as corrupt and self-serving >> >> then this could be a reason why Trump is so successful. He is good at >> >> populism because he is corrupt and self-serving himself, and uses >> >> projection to accuse others. >> >> >> >> >> >> https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/308163/what-is-populism-by-muller-jan-werner/9780141987378 >> >> >> >> <https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/308163/what-is-populism-by-muller-jan-werner/9780141987378> >> >> >> >> >> >> What do you think? Why have people voted for him although they know >> >> what kind of person he his? Are we doomed now? >> >> >> > >> > >> > -- >> > ꙮ Mɥǝu ǝlǝdɥɐuʇs ɟᴉƃɥʇ' ʇɥǝ ƃɹɐss snɟɟǝɹs˙ ꙮ >> > >> > .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. >> > / ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. >> > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom >> > https://bit.ly/virtualfriam >> > to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >> > archives: 5/2017 thru present >> > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ >> > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >> .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / >> ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom >> https://bit.ly/virtualfriam >> to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >> archives: 5/2017 thru present >> https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ >> 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ > > .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. > / ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > https://bit.ly/virtualfriam > to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: 5/2017 thru present > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. 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