All Reviews
Reviews are listed in reverse chronological order, with the most recent review appearing first in the list.
The Essential Doug Holder
Doug Holder, founder of the Ibbetson Street Press of Somerville, MA, is a well-known and well-loved figure on the New England literary landscape. His recent publication: The Essential Doug Holder: New & Selected Works begins with a long introduction (not
Breath
In this book, author James Nestor takes a deep dive into the seemingly simple subject of breath. He creates a compelling argument for the old adage “breath is life.” In his Introduction, Nestor calls pioneers in the study of breathing “pulmonauts.” Mem
The Ethics of Hooking Up
The transition from the dating script to the hooking up one has been well researched by social scientists. But the case is quite different with respect to philosophers. To my knowledge, Rocha’s The Ethics of Hooking Up is the only book length philosophica
Oxford Studies in Agency and Responsibility Volume 6
The sixth volume of the Oxford Studies in Agency and Responsibility draws together a variety of interesting and engaging papers dealing with a broad scope of relevant topics within the current philosophical literature on agency and responsibility. This co
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Introducing Nietzsche
This is one of a series of useful texts on various philosophical topics. These illustrated works are a real joy to read and to look at! The illustrations are a great addition to some, at times, difficult discussions of complex philosophical problems – and
Why We’re Wrong About Nearly Everything
“Everything you know is wrong,” proclaimed Firesign Theatre in 1974. Firesign always lived on the edge between surrealism and scathing accuracy. Duffy now seems to push their proclamation a bit toward the accuracy side, insofar as his revelations show hum
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Animal Wife
Animal Wife’s, fifteen stories take place in worlds of fantasy, mystery, chance, contradictions and danger—a world where, “happiness has sharp edges.” Women of various ages and stages, from childhood to adulthood, experience the real and the idyllic inher
The Oxford Handbook of Phenomenological Psychopathology
The Oxford Handbook of Phenomenological Psychopathology has two main audiences: the first one would be the experts who could benefit from a first approach to phenomenology, such as practitioners, teachers, psychologists, and psychiatrists. For them, I wou
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Transhumanism as a New Social Movement
In his engaging book, James MacFarlane details the emergence of Technological Human Enhancement Advocacy (THEA) and provides a detailed ethnographic account of this phenomenon. Specifically, he aims to outline how transhumanism, as a specific offshoot of
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The Genius of Yoga
Authors Alan Finger and Peter Ferko are teacher and student. Finger comes from the lineage of his father, Mani Finger, and many others, such as Swami Venkatesananda. Ferko trained under Finger and eventually became a yoga and meditation teacher in his o
Adult Life
In other words, the book is one that non-philosophers will benefit from reading – it requires no special philosophical training to understand the journey – much like life itself. The book is informed by Merleau-Ponty, Henri Bergson, and Martin Heidegger,
The Epistemic Innocence of Irrational Beliefs
Some of your beliefs are irrational. That is not such a terrible thing. In this excellent book, Bortolotti explains the usefulness of irrational beliefs. For example, being delusional is being an irrational state of mind, Bortolotti does not deny that the
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Sex Matters
Curiously titled “Sex Matters,” McGregor’s book gets grouped on Amazon with books about sexuality like “Living an Orgasmic Life”. But it is actually about sexism in medical research and practice, overlapping strongly with Doing Harm from 2018, by Maya Dus
The Professional Yoga Teacher’s Handbook
Author Sage Rountree is well-known in the field of yoga for athletes, with several prior books and other media specific to that subject. In The Professional Yoga Teacher’s Handbook: The Ultimate Guide for Current and Aspiring Teachers, Rountree calls upo
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The Moves That Matter
Chess has always hinted to the intellect of the players. Most individuals consider those who play chess to be brilliant, even though the game has slowly lost its popularity within most societies of the Western World. Jonathan Rowson, Ph.D., illustrates th
Privilege
Privilege is a morality tale for college students. In particular, for women, minorities, and the working class. There are three main characters, all young women associated with prestigious Carter University. Two are students, Annie and Bea. Annie, whose s
Of One-eyed and Toothless Miscreants
The book entitled Of One-eyed and Toothless Miscreants: Making the Punishment Fit the Crime? is a treat for those who are interested in the administration of justice. Michael Tonry has edited a collection of well-developed commentaries from a variety of s
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The End of Gender
Soh’s book is a mixed bag, then. It is didactic in places, but it also sets out a good deal of scientific information. Her claims about the scientific superiority of sexology are a bit hard to swallow, given the track record of the field, but it is still
Expertise
What I can say with some confidence is that Watson’s new book Expertise: A Philosophical Introduction (Bloomsbury Academic 2020) demonstrates a high level of understanding of and performance in the cross-disciplinary study of expertise, worthy of some deg
Camgirl
Isa Mazzei recounts her experience as a sex worker for the cam industry. She is from Colorado, and that’s where she worked from. Her family was a reasonably well off since her parents had professional jobs. Family life was not particularly happy, with her
Children and Mental Health Talk
Children and Mental Health Talk is an interesting read, even if the reader is not very familiar with conversation analysis. It takes some time to get used to the transcription of the recorded conversations, but the analysis of the conversations is fascina
The Lost Girls of Devon
The Lost Girls of Devon is the story of 4 generations of women, of good and bad mothers, and the vulnerability of girls. The central character is Zoe Fairchild, who lives in New Mexico with her teenage daughter, Isabel. Zoe is called back to England by he
Yoga Myths
Author Judith Hanson Lasater is recognized as one of the country’s most respected educators in the field of yoga. She was trained in the Iyengar Yoga style, and she holds degrees in both physical therapy and East-West psychology. She is arguably the for
Good Chemistry
Psychiatrist Julie Holland’s Good Chemistry could equally be called In Praise of Psychedelics. She argues that when used in accordance with the evidence, drugs such as MDNA, cannabis, LSD and psilocybin can be psychologically helpful for people with many
The End of Morality
The End of Morality is a book which, presupposing belief in objective norms and values involves normal agents in massive error (hence the position: error theory), discusses the what’s next problem; put basically, this problem comes to deciding on the righ