Jane: Well, we’ve done it again: despite the many forces militating against us (our children, your job, an exciting variety of upper respiratory infections, that one time my library e-book expired halfway through writing my review and I had to pay for an actual copy), we’ve kept this wacky joint project going another year.
I hope you two (?) won't take this as parasocial mind control on my part, but I just wanted you to know that I am extraordinarily grateful for the work you do. It has enriched my life in meaningful ways for the two years I've been reading you, and I pray that G-d gives you the strength, time, and circumstances to keep doing what you're doing for many more years to come.
"Or I’ve read almost everything ever written by James C. Scott, but I now have one of the very deepest cuts (actually an adaptation of his dissertation I think) in my sights."
Spoiler: oppressed peasants resist their oppressors (their neighboring peasants, who oppress them by doing things like...not boozing away their rice harvest money, but investing it in renting additional rice paddies) by revolutionary means of resistance such as bitching, moaning and gossiping, which sometimes makes those oppressive kulaks feel a bit guilty.
I read this book back in 2022. At the time, I was hoping to figure out how to resist the Israeli state's oppression, manifested in things like holding 93% of the land and releasing it in drips and drabs to ensure real estate prices and rents stay sky-high, maximizing tax revenue, forcing its population into schools which teach nothing but group ass whippings, a Permit Raj, mass enforcement of vaccine and masking mandates, and of course constant anarchotyranny vis a vis the Arab sector, manifested in pervasive crime and terrorism, and the occasional pogrom. Imagine my disappointment-I mean, it would be difficult to increase the volume of bitching and moaning in this country.
Fortunately, the state dialectically anarchotyrannied itself into a corner on October 7th, which resulted in mass land expropriations by my fellow settlers and of course our little People's War down in Gaza and here in the West Bank. No thanks to shitlib Scott!
Seeing Like A State and Against The Grain were aight, though.
The one I heard about North Korea recently is priceless;
Fake official economy (nothing) by day, real underground economy by night including growing food anywhere but state farms, and whatever underground craft home industry is possible.
With an enormous and murderous but terrified themselves security-regime apparatus the regime is “stable.” With enough committed bureaucrats facing death and ruin of the family, Communism does work.
The keys are having no real outside enemies and internally a large enough bureaucracy that faces death if they relent.
Bureaucracy
+Geography
=success.
I don’t think that’s an option for Israel though. Such Neighbors!
Or Venezuela -
same formula, unlucky geography. Also ~never rob our oil~ er … democracy. Yeah.
(Please don't like this comment)* John, I'm with you on audience capture. It seems like such an insidious force. Which is only made worse by the ubiquitous like buttons everywhere. (Bring back the dislike button, or is that just as bad?) I applauded Scott when he choose to have no like buttons on ACX. And yet I've also heard (read) him say how much he responds to posts that have a lot of likes. "Dude", I'm thinking, "beware of audience capture." I dislike it when people give me a compliment, and yet I also get that little ping of dopamine (or whatever it is) every time I see someone has liked some comment I've made. I also wonder if it's partly a male vs female thing. I feel perfectly comfortable complementing the women I work with on their clothes or new hair cut. (They always are appreciative.) This is perhaps a backhanded way of recommending a favorite book of the year. (not necessarily written this year, but read by me this year.) "T: The story of Testosterone the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us" by Carole Hooven. I read this a few months ago, and I still find myself thinking about it. And I can't help but wonder what life is like on 'the other side' where my body isn't getting a hit of T every few hours. I know this sounds a little crazy, (and it's very unlikely to happen) but I dream of taking some hormone blocker for a few weeks, (months?) and seeing what life is like on the other side. Who knows maybe I'll like it.
Oh and maybe you can do a post on the miracle of the eucharist. That should turn a lot of people off. :^)
*I feel like I should start all my comments this way.
I‘m not sure that turning the audience off is so much an effect of the topic chosen, as in „even esoteric math didn‘t do it, but now, finally, religious belief achieved some success, the eucharist would work further wonders“. The Briefly-Noted post in October argued against a strawman position, to go by the comments, with regard to the date the gospels were written; and the Douthat review in April claimed, among other things, that the Darwinian revolution did not affect the respectability of religious belief. Couldn‘t you do comparable things in reviews of other topics?
We need to institute Omertà norms regarding LLMs. Use them as much as you want, prompt-engineer them to spit out the entire review if you want, but don’t talk about them, don’t ask, don’t tell
I think the second link in your Cahokia Jazz mention was mistakenly copied from the first link. Instead of linking to something you'd written, it's the same Amazon link.
I was generally aware of the differences between a tutor, a fellow, and a professor, and which of these counts as a don, but I'm not sure I could've actually defined the terms properly. The thing I really hadn't wrapped my mind around was how thoroughly the whole thing was organized around exams, and that when students said they're "reading" X they really were...reading! Essays for your tutor, or attendance at lectures, were basically optional, and you were just expected to read through and become knowledgeable about everything on the syllabus for your degree. The fights about "what should they learn" became fights about "what should we put on the syllabus" on a university level.
I stopped believing you were real when you said you have multiple small children, read 84 books, and iron shirts. Whatever sort of human you are, it's not any kind I'm familiar with. My current working theory is that you are alien intelligence working through books in an attempt to understand humanity before visiting the planet. You use substack to get feedback on your theories.
This whole dual persona riff now has me wanting to go reread Julian Jaynes. Fantastic work by "both" of you and a particular inspiration to the rest of us parents. Happy 2026.
The reviews here are so good that I go back and reread them occasionally. I can count the number of other book reviews I have intentionally re-read on the fingers of a single head. Look forward to 2026!
I just discovered this Substack a few months ago, but already it's one that I enjoy the most. I'm pretty sure that you're the kind of people (person?) that I'd really enjoy hanging out with (which is a pretty select group). Lots of shared interests and worldviews. Most importantly, your reviews have reminded me that I do enjoy reading nonfiction books now and then. That's something I've gotten out of the habit of doing, and I really should get back into. I hope you (both?) have a wonderful New Year, and I look forward to more reviews.
Tangential to this post but related topics came up a couple times, especially the book you mentioned on dependency - by devaluing caretaking and associated dependencies, we also do a disservice to men who want to take on these tasks, and I wish there was more discussion of that. Men are perfectly capable of taking care of children; and perhaps fewer men want to do these things than women do, but the ones who do want to should be allowed to. Running around outside with toddlers is certainly a more active, engaging activity than office work is for a certain type of person - and a lot of those people are men. I just wish we could equally value careers & home work, and let people self-sort into the path they want. That means maternity leave and pumping rooms so women CAN work - and acceptance of fathers who want to be with their kids.
(Re: the tweet: For such an energetic type of person, full time work while caretaking is sometimes possible - my husband stayed home full time during the day and worked full time as a paramedic at night with our first kid, though when the second one came he started working less. Probably some women could also do this, but you have to be a specific type of super energetic person. It's also good for our kids that he's the one staying home - when I take care of them we spend hours reading. When he takes care of them, they... you know... actually get dressed and leave the house.)
(And to your point that maternity leave isn't enough, yeah, it's never going to fully level the playing field, but removing a few rocks makes it easier for the women who want to walk uphill anyway. I know a famous female lawyer who started her career 30 years ago in the days when she had to hide in the bathroom to pump, when no one else in her office was a mother. She had 4 kids anyway while working 60- and 80-hour weeks. She frequently talks about how much better things are for women now.)
I would love to read a deep dive into your religious views. I’ve read some Chesterton and I am fascinated by the Orthodox faith but growing up in an agnostic household I haven’t been able to find a foothold in Christianity. Your brief forays into faith have been very helpful and it would be great to understand more about it. Thanks to all Psmiths!
I don't want to hawk my own work, but I have a series of reviews on the Pete the Cat series of which I'm rather proud. The sexual analysis of Pete's day at the beach might be my favorite, because my husband says it completely ruined the book for him. (Well good. They're awful books and should be ruined for everyone.)
Anyway. My point is, there's a lot of hidden depth to be plumbed (or invented) in even the dumbest of children's books.
I hope you two (?) won't take this as parasocial mind control on my part, but I just wanted you to know that I am extraordinarily grateful for the work you do. It has enriched my life in meaningful ways for the two years I've been reading you, and I pray that G-d gives you the strength, time, and circumstances to keep doing what you're doing for many more years to come.
Sincerely, "two different voices inside the head of one schizophrenic" is a very touching description of love.
It's Biblical - "the two shall become one" is literally true in both physical and mental aspects.
"Or I’ve read almost everything ever written by James C. Scott, but I now have one of the very deepest cuts (actually an adaptation of his dissertation I think) in my sights."
Spoiler: oppressed peasants resist their oppressors (their neighboring peasants, who oppress them by doing things like...not boozing away their rice harvest money, but investing it in renting additional rice paddies) by revolutionary means of resistance such as bitching, moaning and gossiping, which sometimes makes those oppressive kulaks feel a bit guilty.
I read this book back in 2022. At the time, I was hoping to figure out how to resist the Israeli state's oppression, manifested in things like holding 93% of the land and releasing it in drips and drabs to ensure real estate prices and rents stay sky-high, maximizing tax revenue, forcing its population into schools which teach nothing but group ass whippings, a Permit Raj, mass enforcement of vaccine and masking mandates, and of course constant anarchotyranny vis a vis the Arab sector, manifested in pervasive crime and terrorism, and the occasional pogrom. Imagine my disappointment-I mean, it would be difficult to increase the volume of bitching and moaning in this country.
Fortunately, the state dialectically anarchotyrannied itself into a corner on October 7th, which resulted in mass land expropriations by my fellow settlers and of course our little People's War down in Gaza and here in the West Bank. No thanks to shitlib Scott!
Seeing Like A State and Against The Grain were aight, though.
The one I heard about North Korea recently is priceless;
Fake official economy (nothing) by day, real underground economy by night including growing food anywhere but state farms, and whatever underground craft home industry is possible.
With an enormous and murderous but terrified themselves security-regime apparatus the regime is “stable.” With enough committed bureaucrats facing death and ruin of the family, Communism does work.
The keys are having no real outside enemies and internally a large enough bureaucracy that faces death if they relent.
Bureaucracy
+Geography
=success.
I don’t think that’s an option for Israel though. Such Neighbors!
Or Venezuela -
same formula, unlucky geography. Also ~never rob our oil~ er … democracy. Yeah.
Yeah! Democracy! Yay!
🦅🇺🇸
Just ask Saddam.
How does one grow food secretly?
(Please don't like this comment)* John, I'm with you on audience capture. It seems like such an insidious force. Which is only made worse by the ubiquitous like buttons everywhere. (Bring back the dislike button, or is that just as bad?) I applauded Scott when he choose to have no like buttons on ACX. And yet I've also heard (read) him say how much he responds to posts that have a lot of likes. "Dude", I'm thinking, "beware of audience capture." I dislike it when people give me a compliment, and yet I also get that little ping of dopamine (or whatever it is) every time I see someone has liked some comment I've made. I also wonder if it's partly a male vs female thing. I feel perfectly comfortable complementing the women I work with on their clothes or new hair cut. (They always are appreciative.) This is perhaps a backhanded way of recommending a favorite book of the year. (not necessarily written this year, but read by me this year.) "T: The story of Testosterone the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us" by Carole Hooven. I read this a few months ago, and I still find myself thinking about it. And I can't help but wonder what life is like on 'the other side' where my body isn't getting a hit of T every few hours. I know this sounds a little crazy, (and it's very unlikely to happen) but I dream of taking some hormone blocker for a few weeks, (months?) and seeing what life is like on the other side. Who knows maybe I'll like it.
Oh and maybe you can do a post on the miracle of the eucharist. That should turn a lot of people off. :^)
*I feel like I should start all my comments this way.
I‘m not sure that turning the audience off is so much an effect of the topic chosen, as in „even esoteric math didn‘t do it, but now, finally, religious belief achieved some success, the eucharist would work further wonders“. The Briefly-Noted post in October argued against a strawman position, to go by the comments, with regard to the date the gospels were written; and the Douthat review in April claimed, among other things, that the Darwinian revolution did not affect the respectability of religious belief. Couldn‘t you do comparable things in reviews of other topics?
I won’t entertain your misdirection, I know that you are a loving couple with the same intellectual tastes and there’s no hiding it.
We need to institute Omertà norms regarding LLMs. Use them as much as you want, prompt-engineer them to spit out the entire review if you want, but don’t talk about them, don’t ask, don’t tell
I think the second link in your Cahokia Jazz mention was mistakenly copied from the first link. Instead of linking to something you'd written, it's the same Amazon link.
Was a great year! Thanks for allowing me to contribute in my little way.
Jane, any chance you could elaborate on the parts you didn't know you didn't know re: pre-Internet Oxbridge?
I was generally aware of the differences between a tutor, a fellow, and a professor, and which of these counts as a don, but I'm not sure I could've actually defined the terms properly. The thing I really hadn't wrapped my mind around was how thoroughly the whole thing was organized around exams, and that when students said they're "reading" X they really were...reading! Essays for your tutor, or attendance at lectures, were basically optional, and you were just expected to read through and become knowledgeable about everything on the syllabus for your degree. The fights about "what should they learn" became fights about "what should we put on the syllabus" on a university level.
I stopped believing you were real when you said you have multiple small children, read 84 books, and iron shirts. Whatever sort of human you are, it's not any kind I'm familiar with. My current working theory is that you are alien intelligence working through books in an attempt to understand humanity before visiting the planet. You use substack to get feedback on your theories.
This is the best website I found in my adult life. Thank you, truly appreciate it ❤️
This whole dual persona riff now has me wanting to go reread Julian Jaynes. Fantastic work by "both" of you and a particular inspiration to the rest of us parents. Happy 2026.
The reviews here are so good that I go back and reread them occasionally. I can count the number of other book reviews I have intentionally re-read on the fingers of a single head. Look forward to 2026!
I just discovered this Substack a few months ago, but already it's one that I enjoy the most. I'm pretty sure that you're the kind of people (person?) that I'd really enjoy hanging out with (which is a pretty select group). Lots of shared interests and worldviews. Most importantly, your reviews have reminded me that I do enjoy reading nonfiction books now and then. That's something I've gotten out of the habit of doing, and I really should get back into. I hope you (both?) have a wonderful New Year, and I look forward to more reviews.
Wonderful year, I love your substack!
Tangential to this post but related topics came up a couple times, especially the book you mentioned on dependency - by devaluing caretaking and associated dependencies, we also do a disservice to men who want to take on these tasks, and I wish there was more discussion of that. Men are perfectly capable of taking care of children; and perhaps fewer men want to do these things than women do, but the ones who do want to should be allowed to. Running around outside with toddlers is certainly a more active, engaging activity than office work is for a certain type of person - and a lot of those people are men. I just wish we could equally value careers & home work, and let people self-sort into the path they want. That means maternity leave and pumping rooms so women CAN work - and acceptance of fathers who want to be with their kids.
(Re: the tweet: For such an energetic type of person, full time work while caretaking is sometimes possible - my husband stayed home full time during the day and worked full time as a paramedic at night with our first kid, though when the second one came he started working less. Probably some women could also do this, but you have to be a specific type of super energetic person. It's also good for our kids that he's the one staying home - when I take care of them we spend hours reading. When he takes care of them, they... you know... actually get dressed and leave the house.)
(And to your point that maternity leave isn't enough, yeah, it's never going to fully level the playing field, but removing a few rocks makes it easier for the women who want to walk uphill anyway. I know a famous female lawyer who started her career 30 years ago in the days when she had to hide in the bathroom to pump, when no one else in her office was a mother. She had 4 kids anyway while working 60- and 80-hour weeks. She frequently talks about how much better things are for women now.)
I would love to read a deep dive into your religious views. I’ve read some Chesterton and I am fascinated by the Orthodox faith but growing up in an agnostic household I haven’t been able to find a foothold in Christianity. Your brief forays into faith have been very helpful and it would be great to understand more about it. Thanks to all Psmiths!
I don't want to hawk my own work, but I have a series of reviews on the Pete the Cat series of which I'm rather proud. The sexual analysis of Pete's day at the beach might be my favorite, because my husband says it completely ruined the book for him. (Well good. They're awful books and should be ruined for everyone.)
Anyway. My point is, there's a lot of hidden depth to be plumbed (or invented) in even the dumbest of children's books.