What I've Been Reading, June 2017

2017 Harvest of Willow Withies
and the basket I wove last year.

Links

These links appear in the order I read them, rather than any more refined sort of organization. You may find some of the best ones are near the bottom—it varies from month to month.

• The Geel question, by Mike Jay, Aeon
  For centuries, a little Belgian town has treated the mentally ill. Why are its medieval methods so successful?
• 1971, by David Casey, Articulating the Future
  The early 1970's was a whirlwind era that would forever change both America and the world.
• The Zombification of Canada, by Brian Romanchuk, Bond Economics.
  A series of policy errors has trapped the Canadian economy in a near-zombie status. Household debt levels are high, leading to a fragile system. The only benign way of reducing this fragility is to induce high wage inflation, which is precluded by the unthinking attachment to the inflation target. There is no reason to expect the system to collapse on any particular forecast horizon; rather the economy can muddle along in a low-growth path.
• It’s time to bust the myth: Most Trump voters were not working class, by Nicholas Carnes and Noam Lupu, Washington Post
• The Ultimate Survival Gear List, by Elise Xavier, More Than Just Survival
  
• The Oldest Human Fossils Ever Discovered Have Stories to Tell, by Alan Burdick, The New Yorker
• 10 ways to have a better conversation, by Celeste Headlee, TEDx on YouTube
• A global energy assessment, by Michael Jefferson.
  
• State Corporate Tax Receipts Just Crashed The Most Since The Recession , by Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge
  
• Time to be afraid - preparing for the next big solar storm, by John Kemp, Reuters
• The future is mixed-race, by Scott Solomon, Aeon
  And so is the past. Migration and mingling are essential to human success in the past, the present and into the future
• Faith, by Beth Singler, Aeon
  The most avid believers in artificial intelligence are aggressively secular – yet their language is eerily religious. Why?
  Despite the fact that the article clearly describes "the religion of progress", the author seems to be unaware of the concept, or of its failings. Or that it is quite possible to be an atheist without worshipping progress.
• Scientists stunned by Antarctic rainfall and a melt area bigger than Texas, by Chris Mooney, The Washington Post
  
• John Michael Greer – Beyond Collapse: The Future of Civilization, John Michael Greer with Greg Moffitt, on Legalize Freedom.
  JMG discusses the retirement of his popular blog The Archdruid Report, his latest venture Ecosophia, and the future of our civilization.
• Greenie Techno-Cornucopianism, by RE, at the Doomstead Diner
  Be sure to read the comments—some good discussion.
• I moved my kids out of America. It was the best parenting decision I've ever made, by Wendy DeChambeau, The Week
• Global inequality much worse than previously thought, say economists, by Ben Chapman, The Independent
  Official estimates of inequality only take into account the money that the tax man sees.
• What Really Happens After Societal Collapse, by Rebecca Onion, Slate
  Apocalyptic visions tell us it’ll be every man for himself, but some historians suggest The Walking Dead has it all wrong. Irv agrees.
• Study: Tesla car battery production releases as much CO2 as 8 years of driving on petrol, by Tallbloke, Tallblokes Talkshop
  Not the best translation from Swedish, but the message is clear.
• Positive Freedom, book review by Martin Jay, The Nation.
  Axel Honneth’s new book seeks to give renewed meaning and power to the socialist ideal.
• This Union Ironworker Has a Plan to Beat Paul Ryan, by John Nichols, The Nation
  A construction worker takes on the speaker of the House—and sparks fly.
  Like so much else that is wrong with the system these days, this sort of thing is just a symptom. And while it should be fixed, that won't solve the underlying problems.
• Meet the chef who’s debunking detox, diets and wellness, by Tim Lewis, The Guardian
• The Angry Chef, by Anthony Warner
  Exposing lies, pretensions and stupidity in the world of food.

Books

Fiction

• Seven Surrenders, by Ada Palmer
  Second in a series I started reading last month.
• Dies The Fire, by S. M. Stirling.
  Definitely not the way I expect collapse to go, but darn good fiction.
• The Protectors War, by S. M. Stirling
  

Non-Fiction

I am part way through several non-fiction books, but didn't finish any of them this month. Still, there are lots of books on my shelf that I'd love to share with you. Here are a few of them.

• Depletion and Abundance, Life on the New Home Front, by Sharon Astyk.
  One woman's solutions to finding abundance for your family while coming to terms with peak oil, climate change and hard times.
• A Nation of Farmers, Defeating the Food Crisis on American Soil, by Sharon Astyk.
  How city farmers, backyard chicken enthusiasts, victory gardeners, small family farms, kids in edible school yards, cooks in their kitchens and passionate eaters everywhere can overthrown destructive industrial agriculture, and give us hope for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in a changing world.
• Independence Days, by Sharon Astyk.
  A guide to sustainable food storage and preservation.
• Making Home, by Sharon Astyk.
  Adapting our homes and our lives to settle in place.

Amazon.com says this about Sharon Astyk: "is a former academic who is a writer, subsistence farmer, parent, activist and prolific blogger. She farms in upstate New York with her husband and four children, raises livestock, and grows and preserves vegetables."

This is actually a little out of date. A few years ago she and her husband became involved in fostering and eventually adopted several of the children they'd been fostering. This has left very little time for writing. And now they are in the process of moving from their farm in rural New York to a city in Connecticut.

Both of Sharon's blogs can still be accessed on line: Casuabon's Book and The Chatelaine's Keys, and I would say there is a lot of material there worth reading.