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Book Review: Madness And Civilization
Scott Alexander reviews Foucault's 'Madness and Civilization', examining its controversial historical analysis of societal attitudes towards mental illness.
41 min read 6,224 words
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2,008 essaysSSC
Book Review: Manufacturing Consent
Scott reviews 'Manufacturing Consent' by Chomsky and Herman, analyzing its arguments about media bias and US foreign policy atrocities.
55 min read 8,497 words
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Book Review: Mastering The Core Teachings Of The Buddha
Scott Alexander reviews 'Mastering The Core Teachings Of The Buddha', a practical guide to Buddhist meditation that details the stages of insight and debunks common myths about enlightenment.
30 min read 4,534 words
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Book Review: Mount Misery
Scott reviews 'Mount Misery' by Samuel Shem, a critique of psychiatric practices that emphasizes the importance of human connection in treatment.
32 min read 4,820 words
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Book Review: My Brother Ron
Scott reviews a book arguing against deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill, agreeing with many of its claims but ultimately disagreeing with its conclusion.
50 min read 7,612 words
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Book Review: On The Road
Scott Alexander critically reviews 'On the Road' by Jack Kerouac, highlighting its problematic glorification of irresponsible behavior and flawed philosophy.
25 min read 3,819 words
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Book Review: Origin Of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind
Scott reviews Julian Jaynes' controversial theory that ancient people lacked consciousness and instead heard hallucinated voices of gods, critiquing some aspects while finding value in the idea of theory of mind as culturally constructed.
43 min read 6,641 words
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Book Review: PiHKaL
Scott Alexander reviews PiHKAL by Alexander and Ann Shulgin, exploring the book's blend of autobiography, chemistry, and psychedelic experiences.
46 min read 7,054 words
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Book Review: Raise A Genius!
The post reviews Laszlo Polgar's book on raising genius children, discussing his educational philosophy and methods, while noting that his success likely comes from early specialization, focus, and one-on-one instruction.
33 min read 4,969 words
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Book Review: Red Plenty
Scott reviews 'Red Plenty', a book about Soviet economic planning, discussing its initial promise, challenges, and ultimate failure.
28 min read 4,221 words
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Book Review: Reframing Superintelligence
Scott reviews 'Reframing Superintelligence' by Eric Drexler, which proposes future AI as specialized services rather than general agents, contrasting with Nick Bostrom's scenarios.
16 min read 2,371 words
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Book Review Review: Little Soldiers
Scott Alexander reviews a book about Chinese education, comparing it to criticisms of US schools and examining evidence for discipline-focused vs. creativity-focused approaches to education.
24 min read 3,627 words
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Book Review: Secular Cycles
Scott Alexander reviews 'Secular Cycles', which proposes pre-industrial civilizations follow ~300 year cycles of growth and decline, examining the evidence and potential implications.
33 min read 4,997 words
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Book Review: Seeing Like A State
Scott Alexander reviews 'Seeing Like A State', examining how state efforts to standardize and control societies often backfire by ignoring local knowledge.
74 min read 11,326 words
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Book Review: Singer on Marx
Scott Alexander reviews Singer's book on Marx, finding Marx's ideas deeply flawed, particularly his refusal to plan for communist governance and his belief in infinitely malleable human nature.
21 min read 3,159 words
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Book Review: Superforecasting
Scott Alexander reviews 'Superforecasting' by Philip Tetlock, discussing the traits of highly accurate predictors and the book's validation of rationalist techniques.
14 min read 2,156 words
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Book Review: Surfing Uncertainty
Scott Alexander reviews 'Surfing Uncertainty' by Andy Clark, exploring the predictive processing model of brain function and its wide-ranging explanatory power.
43 min read 6,598 words
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Book Review: The Art Of The Deal
Scott Alexander reviews Trump's 'The Art of the Deal', finding it mostly autobiographical with little useful business advice, and revealing Trump's deal-focused worldview.
25 min read 3,811 words
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Book Review: The Black Swan
Scott reviews 'The Black Swan' by Nassim Taleb, examining its key concepts and Taleb's unique perspective on probability and risk.
37 min read 5,615 words
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Book Review: The Body Keeps The Score
Scott Alexander reviews 'The Body Keeps The Score', a book on PTSD, praising its historical context but criticizing its outdated science and uncritical embrace of alternative therapies.
25 min read 3,754 words
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Book Review: The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
Scott Alexander reviews 'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test', examining Ken Kesey's LSD-fueled counterculture movement and its lasting impact.
30 min read 4,602 words
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Book Review: The Hungry Brain
Scott reviews 'The Hungry Brain' by Stephan Guyenet, exploring the neuroscience of eating behavior and obesity, presenting a model focused on brain regulation of body weight.
46 min read 7,076 words
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Book Review: The Machinery Of Freedom
Scott reviews 'The Machinery of Freedom' by David Friedman, discussing libertarian ideas and anarcho-capitalist proposals while expressing both interest and skepticism.
35 min read 5,343 words
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Book Review: The Mind Illuminated
Scott Alexander reviews 'The Mind Illuminated', a Buddhist meditation guide by Culadasa, praising its clarity while questioning some of its optimistic claims about meditation progress and risks.
37 min read 5,608 words
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Book Review: The Perfect Health Diet
Scott Alexander reviews 'The Perfect Health Diet', praising its science-based approach but criticizing its tendency to ignore contrary evidence and present controversial claims as settled science.
19 min read 2,814 words