Новости за 08.07.2016

Abner Mikva’s most famous story goes something like this: in the midst of his years as a law student at the University of Chicago, Mikva went to a local Democratic ward office to volunteer his services for the likes of Adlai Stevenson and Paul Douglas. The ward committeeman asked Mikva who he was sent by. And when Mikva replied that he’d simply come on his own volition, the man sneered, “We don’t want nobody nobody sent.”

The killings this week of African Americans Alton Sterling and Philando Castile by police have sparked soul-searching and protests across the nation. Thousands have rallied against police violence and racism towards blacks. In Poland, President Obama took the time after midnight to deliver a sobering speech on the racial disparities in America’s criminal justice system. Both liberals and conservatives have called for reform.

I am utterly smitten with these funny, thoughtful, and gorgeously published graphic bios from NoBrow Press about Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, and Albert Einstein. Written by Belgian psychoanalyst Corinne Maier, illustrated by Parisian cartoonist Anne Simon, the books are thoughtful and surprisingly funny, packing a ton of life into 60 short pages apiece.

Most educated people hold radically incompatible views about humankind and nature. They believe that the brain is a mechanism governed by the laws of physics, and that not long from now brain scientists will give a complete account of human consciousness. They also believe that machines will be able to think and that everyone will have meaningful conversations with robots, not just the nerds who ask rude questions of Siri. They believe, in short, that we are the objects of deterministic physical systems akin to machines themselves... Читать дальше...

This past July 4 did not merely mark our troubled country’s birthday. It also marked 50th anniversary of the publication of the hot-pink-edged “Valley of the Dolls.” Jacqueline Susann’s first novel, a shocking tale of fame, friendship, fucking, and pharmaceuticals, was the fastest-selling novel in history: It sold over 31 million copies in 30 languages. The book’s 1966 publication was followed by two more juicy novels,“The Love Machine” and“Once Is Not Enough”; in 1973, Susann became the first... Читать дальше...