Patrick Collison on Historical Novels

Patrick Collison read 10 historical novels and jots down his thoughts. He makes some good points and I'm adding Middlemarch to my reading list based upon his recommendation.

I think he does undersell the ability for historical novels to really help you understand the history of the period you're reading about. For example my understanding of American history was greatly enhanced though reading of Gore Vidal's Burr or Lincoln. Same is true of Leon Uris's book Trinity which gave me great understanding of both Irish history and my Irish roots.

The more I think on it - many of the books I greatly enjoyed such as Patrick O'Brien's Master and Commander, James Elroy's American Tabloid, or even Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October were historical novels at their core.

Reading certainly does you you harm and reading historical novels may actually do you some real good.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- What's the problem with Gen Z?

- Fauci admits that "6-foot" rule was completely made up. Follow the science my ass!

- Don't sleep on the German farmers protest. And don't sleep on the corporate media's refusal to cover the story.

- Mozilla: cars are the worst new products you can but when it comes to privacy and security.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"It is by logic that we prove, but by intuition that we discover." - Henri Poincare

"Teach thy tongue to say I do not know, and thou shalt progress." - Mainonides

"As a US business (and tech) community I think we should be significantly clearer about our horror at, and opposition to, the atrocities being committed by the Chinese government against its own people." - Patrick Collison 

"In your prayers substitute 'protect us from evil' with 'protect us from those who improve things for a salary.'" - Nassim Taleb

"Eloquence is logic on fire." - Lyman Beecher

"I, and I alone, am responsible for everything I think and feel." - Naval Ravikant

"Even a Marxist thinks that you first have to get the capitalists to do things before you can redistribute stuff." - Peter Thiel

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- American business has to step up to challenge China's behavior. Good for Patrick Collison, the CEO of Stripe, "As a US business (and tech) community I think we should be significantly clearer about our horror at, and opposition to, the atrocities being committed by the Chinese government against its own people."

- I'm a bad person for laughing at this.

- John Boorman's awesome Lee Marvin story.

- How the magnetosphere shields Earth. Now picture that the axis (wobble) is changing or picture that the Earth's magnetic north pole is changing. Do you think those things could possibly effect the Earth's weather? Now consider both of those things are actually currently happening.

- According to science, if you are middle-aged or older, you should have a few drinks a week to keep your brain sharp. 

- Interesting - has Atlantis been found off the coast of Cuba?

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Jupiter and Venus are responsible for climate change! (At least partly.)

- Now this is climate change I approve of!

- I want this car!

- Agreed 100% - we really should change it to "liberty of thought and discussion" instead of "free speech"

- I want this house!

- Good advice on reading books. From the Farnam Street conversation with Patrick Collison

- Good news for Rick and Morty fans.