Sunday, July 2, 2017

Recent (2017) nonfiction I've enjoyed

I saw a review of this one somewhere:


This gives an extensive look not only at the government's use of these fringe subjects, but CSICOP and fellow travelers trying to debunk the whole subject. But the government has been using this stuff to get intelligence value it couldn't get any other way. So it does apparently work!

I mentioned this to a friend who suggested this one:


This is the story of a skeptical but open-minded psychologist who uses a map dowser to find a stolen object of her daughter, which prompts her to launch a years-long investigation of the subject. She also reports on the skeptics alliance and their opposition to such research. This section was the highlight of the book!

Another from Annie Jacobsen:


This give DARPA's background from its origin through the present day. Many know that DARPA is behind the Internet, but that's not its primary purpose: military technology. Jacobsen's final section on autonomous killer drones is especially good ... and scary!

Finally, another cautionary note, this from my favorite economist:


This one's pretty technical, but his point has always been that standard economic models don't capture the real economy. And his answer is, of course, no.

These four are well worth reading ... enjoy!

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