With Both Hands

Sign in Subscribe

Benjamin Espen

The Long View 2007-09-07: Catholic Reformation; The Bottom Billion; Fortress Switzerland; Malingering Dinosaurs

Damian Thompson has had an interesting career. He has written on conspiracy theories, the Latin Mass, and apocalyptic beliefs. I don’t recall this blog post specifically, but I do remember reading Counterknowledge [Amazon link] in 2008. Catholic Reformation; The Bottom Billion; Fortress Switzerland; Malingering Dinosaurs I spoke to Damian

The Long View 2007-09-05: Eureka; Babyboomski; Chambers Initiative; The Deal to Save Iraq

Demography is always more mysterious, and the data messier, than the models that get used often imply. In this post, John looks at early signs that Russian demographics were exiting the death spiral state of more deaths than births in 2007. The absolute difference wouldn’t cross zero for another

The Long View 2007-08-30: Anarchy! Orthography! Liturgy!

A bit of a return to current events commentary here. An item of interest is the response of the Patriarch of Moscow commenting on the motu proprio of Benedict XVI allowing greater freedom to celebrate the Latin mass. If you think the Second Vatican Council roiled Catholicism, you should see

The Coming of the Terrans by Leigh Brackett Book Review

This rather dark collection of short stories by Leigh Brackett, all set on the dying but not yet dead Mars, pre-Mariner and pre-Viking, starts off a bit slow, but finishes strong. The culture clash between the scientifically-minded and vigorous Earthmen and the proud and impoverished Martians is explored in five

Ghost Riders in the Sky by Timothy Zahn Book Review

Classic Zahn, in novella form. Much like his Hugo-winning “Cascade Point”, the central plot device is a topologically inspired method of faster-than-light travel. Add in a world-weary navigator trapped in a contract that is slowly grinding him down, a bit of mystery, and a dash of political intrigue, and you’

The Long View: In the Wake of the Plague

There is a lot of chaos and recrimination now that lots of prominent forecasts of COVID-19 have been publicly revised. However, you shouldn’t fret too much if people can’t get the impact of a major infectious disease correct in the moment; it is entirely possible to screw it

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling Book Review

Normally, I’m not much interested in writing reviews of books I don’t like. I figure I’m just not the intended audience, and since there are so many good books of so many types in the world, I can just move on. In this case, I’m going