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The Random Texan

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Dilletante * Raconteur

Books

  • The Vinyl Detective

    If you’re a fan of British TV sci-fi, you’ve probably seen several episodes of Dr Who written by Andrew Cartmel.  Now he’s gone full geek at right angles with a new mystery series, The Vinyl Detective.  Our unlikely hero is a jazz aficionado who ekes out a living buying and selling rare vinyl recordings, and Read more

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  • Time for some Doubleplus Ungood Badthink

    The Brat Pack of science fiction has concocted a cynical ploy to disturb the genre’s Purity of Essence; they’re giving away e-books. I wasn’t too sure about this until I read John Scalzi’s pithy recommendation. “This is bullshit” exactly sums up my opinion of his latest strawman social-justice snoozer Locked In.  So he’s become my Read more

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  • You Crosstalk too much

    I s-o-o-o wanted to enjoy Connie Willis’ latest book, Crosstalk, and I settled down in great anticipation to read her latest screwball comedy.  The characters and situations are familiar to Willis fans who liked To Say Nothing of the Dog, “Blue Moon”, or the underappreciated Bellwether.  There’s even one of Willis’ hilarious lists, this time Read more

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  • Glamour from the 20th Century

    Recently finished Virginia Postrel’s The Power of Glamour, and finally understood what all the fuss has been about. Although people often equate them, glamour is not the same as beauty, sylishness, luxury, celebrity, or sex appeal….Glamour is, rather, a form of nonverbal rhetoric, which moves and persuades not through words but through images, concepts, and Read more

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  • The Invention of Nature

    I’m neck deep in Andrea Wulf‘s biography of Alexander von Humboldt, and it’s absolutely riveting.  Von Humboldt was some kind of scientific maniac, who caught the interest of everyone from Goethe to Thomas Jefferson to Simon Bolivar.  Von Humboldt was arguably the first naturalist to think ecologically, as well as one of the earliest abolitionists.  Read more

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  • Rudolf Bauer, Who Knew?

    Before Klee, before Kandinsky, there was Rudolf Bauer, whose story is told here. Two-cushion bank shop tip from Sarah Hoyt (at Instapundit), who put me hip to Killer Nashvile. Read more

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  • Two-fourths of a good idea

    Uncle Sam wants kids to read more, so he blankets the web with ads like this: Which I think is pretty cool because (1)  I’ve been an Edgar Rice Burroughs junkie since junior high school; John Carter and Tarzan turned me into the voracious reader am I today, and (2) I can’t wait to see Read more

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  • Over-rated virtues

    It turns out that benevolence, like nice, is totally overrated.  I’m plumping for thrift and courage, myself. Update (10 August).  Silly me.  I forgot industry, a sure sign that I’ve been goofing off. Read more

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  • Learn MATLAB, cheap

    Cleve Moler, Chairman and Chief Scientist at the MathWorks, has published an online MATLAB texbook, Numerical Computing with MATLAB.  You can download the chapters as individual PDFs, for free. Tip from the MathWorks, via email. (I knew there was a reason to stay on that mailing list!) Read more

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  • Worrying about princesses is a “princess problem”

    Virginia Postrel explains why girls are still fascinated with being princesses. For all its Victorian stoicism and sense of duty, this princess dream shares the mixture of openness and elitism that gives princesses their contemporary appeal. Like the superhero, the princess has a special identity and destiny. She is more than an ordinary girl. But Read more

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