Books Archives
September 25, 2007
Book review.
| Steve Talbott’s new book Devices of the Soul is, first, a careful and illuminating examination of technological society by a man conversant with its sources and mechanics; second, a calm, elegant but unrelenting polemic against the particular disorder and infirmity engendered by it; and third, a series of intimations toward the recovery of health. In all three guises, the book is a valuable contribution; in the last, it is most intriguing and provocative. The author is a man of unusual breadth of learning: he turned from organic farming to software programming and technical writing, and from that to online pamphleteering with an electronic newsletter called NetFuture. He was urging caution against the “widespread utopian expectations for the Internet” well before the Internet had hit its stride. In this book Talbott urges nothing less than a recovery of our humanity, which he perceives as threatened by our idol-worship of technology. [read more] |  |
December 5, 2007
Interview on Defending Life with Ignatius Press
| Ignatius Press just published an interview of me conducted by Carl Olson. The interview is about my new book, Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice (Cambridge University Press, 2007). You can find the interview here. |  |
December 18, 2007
The irony of Bob Dylan.
Mr. J. H. Kunstler, of the Peak Oil theory fame, reviewed Bob Dylan’s first volume of memoirs some time ago. Dylan fans (of whom I doubt this website has in abundance) will find in it some insight and interest, though I only link to it reluctantly — not least because of Kunstler’s penchant for profanity. If you don’t know or like Dylan, or are repelled by the deliberate if rare use of oaths or vulgarity in critical writing, the essay will probably just fatigue you: so I’ll offer just a couple points for your notice.
February 18, 2008
Christianity Today Review of Defending Life
In the February 2008 issue of Christianity Today, Douglas LeBlanc reviews my book, Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice (Cambridge University Press, 2007). You can read the review online here.