Books
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Ethical Reading
“This paperback edition, and no other, has been published with my consent and co-operation. Those who approve of courtesy (at least) to living authors will purchase it and no other.” —J. R. R. Tolkien Hello, my name is The Random Texan, and I am a junk literature addict. I am here to confess my addiction Read more
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The Anti-Frequentist Baby
It’s possible to educate Bayesian statisticians from infancy. Eric-Jan Wagenmakers, of JASP fame, shows us how with his new book, Bayesian Thinking for Toddlers. Read more
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Raised by wolves
Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett is back, reinstated, in C. J. Box’s latest thriller This one’s a breakneck thriller; a week of non-stop action that catches up Joe and nearly everyone around him. C. J. Box is one of the few best-selling authors who is skeptical about overreach by the Federal authorities. In a conversation Read more
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The War Against Big Brother
Today I begin a series of posts of observations and comments about what I call cyber fascism, the harnessing of ubiquitous information technology to impose political, commercial, and social control over much of the developed and developing world. My first real inkling of the enormity of our situation came as I prepared material for a Read more
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Larry the Barbarian
Over at Monster Hunter Nation, Larry Correia puts us hip to a delightful and creative approach to F&SF book covers: incorporating the author as a cover character. This one of L.C. and wife rocks it: If you’re not tuned into Larry’s worldview, you can get the 2-minute summary by clicking to the adjacent blog entry Read more
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His Last Bow
The late Michael Crichton was a colossus among popular novelists, and spun off movies as quick as I make wisecracks: The Andromeda Strain, Congo, Jurassic Park, etc. He was also an insightful social commentator, with observations like his Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect. Turns out he left a literary lagniappe in his papers, the historical western novel Read more
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Mrs Sherlock Holmes
Was the nickname given lawyer-detective Grace Humiston when she became prominent in New York’s 1917 Ruth Cruger murder case. The fascinating story is told in Brad Ricca’s biography Mrs Sherlock Holmes, which is as gripping and surprising as any great detective novel. In an interesting episode, the wife of suspected murderer Alfredo Cocchi is being Read more
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Go read Sarah Hoyt
Chatty stuff about writing indie SciFi, with snarky political and cultural commentary. Oh, and a great geeky sense of humor: Update: Francis turner says that cat complains too much Read more
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Seven Pillars
Wisdom hath built her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars. –Proverbs 9:1 I just finished Stephen Stigler’s The Seven Pillars of Statistical Wisdom, and I’m daunted–and embarrassed that I waited so long to read it. Stigler gives us a structure and taxonomy to statistical thinking* that gives us the “big picture” of statistics. Read more
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Deus ex Machina, on steroids
…is the tagline I’d use to describe Stephen Baxter and Alastair Reynolds’ The Medusa Chronicles, the startling sequel to Arthur C. Clarke’s short story “A Meeting with Medusa.” Baxter and Reynolds are up to their usual tricks of piling wonder atop wonder in their usual over-the-top scenarios, while cleverly maintaining Clarke’s style and tone, AND Read more
The Random Texan 