en-US Thu, 05 Jun 2025 15:42:23 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg ReadStatus9513205374 Thu, 05 Jun 2025 15:42:23 -0700 /review/show/7630914626 Jim is currently reading We Are Electric: Inside the 200-Year Hunt for Our Body's Bioelectric Code, and What the Future Holds by Sally Adee
]]> Review7625345551 Tue, 03 Jun 2025 15:15:27 -0700 /review/show/7625345551 Jim gave 3 stars to Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress―and How to Bring It Back (Hardcover) by Marc J. Dunkelman
bookshelves: skimmed
I’ll be honest, I read a few chapters and skipped to the end. I get the idea. Progressives need to cut the red tape if they want to show voters they can govern when given power. Sure, you can argue about conservative lies, tactics, corporate agenda, power grabs, billionaire dark money, media messaging dominance, right leaning social media, etc, but progressives had limited success in building stuff when in office.

One egregious example was how Obama couldn’t make any headway, in 8 years, on a massive electric grid project that had support from various corners, but ultimately failed.

We need to give voice, not veto power to various groups on large projects if we want to build for the future.

The how is harder. The reason the “Abundance� agenda is such a tough sell is that basically no one trusts anyone. Every project (housing, green energy, transportation) has a tradeoff & some folks might lose out. Instead we all remain stuck in a HOT MESS. Little progress. Voters turn to a guy promising them everything (lies of course). ]]> Review7569501540 Fri, 30 May 2025 16:00:38 -0700 /review/show/7569501540 Jim gave 4 stars to Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City (Paperback) by Andrea Elliott
Humanizes everyone in the family of 10. You can see they’re trying, and failing, and trying. And so is the system� trying and failing. They’re all just hanging on by a thread and struggling against circumstances, their own learned behaviors, patterns, and lack of stability. At times tragic and heartbreaking yet warm, loving, and human too. What is family? What would you endure for it? It’s messy. ]]> ReadStatus9433061609 Fri, 16 May 2025 16:08:22 -0700 /review/show/7043708308 Jim started reading Radical by Nature: The Revolutionary Life of Alfred Russel Wallace by James T. Costa
]]> ReadStatus9425396504 Wed, 14 May 2025 15:03:00 -0700 /review/show/7569501540 Jim is currently reading Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City by Andrea Elliott
]]> Review7561379746 Tue, 13 May 2025 14:55:20 -0700 /review/show/7561379746 Jim gave 3 stars to On the Move: The Overheating Earth and the Uprooting of America (Hardcover) by Abrahm Lustgarten
bookshelves: skimmed
People are still in denial about the climate risks we all face as individuals, families, cities, and a country. Even the author is torn about moving away from a fire zone. There are no perfect answers because the uncertainty is part of the problem. Managed retreat would be fine, but at some point no one will buy your property bc it’s uninsurable, or too risky. There are opportunities for communities with plentiful water, but it could become a haves vs have-not situation. And what happens to the poor and left behind? We already face a democratic backslide with a strong man lying he has the answers.

Urban, city, state, regional planners, get ready. You could be managing mass exoduses or mass incomings. ]]> Review7548368134 Tue, 13 May 2025 14:49:16 -0700 /review/show/7548368134 Jim gave 3 stars to The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource (Hardcover) by Christopher L. Hayes
Doesn’t cover much new ground, but we could all use a reminder we are what we give our attention to. We can choose to ignore and reclaim our lives from the billionaires, algorithms, and big mouths trying to demand we look at them. ]]> ReadStatus9413774063 Sun, 11 May 2025 16:31:02 -0700 /review/show/7561379746 Jim is currently reading On the Move: The Overheating Earth and the Uprooting of America by Abrahm Lustgarten
]]> ReadStatus9394840247 Tue, 06 May 2025 12:55:58 -0700 /review/show/7548368134 Jim is currently reading The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource by Christopher L. Hayes
]]> Review7513348143 Mon, 05 May 2025 16:05:59 -0700 /review/show/7513348143 Jim gave 4 stars to Hope Dies Last: Visionary People Across the World, Fighting to Find Us a Future (Hardcover) by Alan Weisman
A much needed book, filled with audacious stories of people fighting against the odds, tackling the most complex and insurmountable challenges for a better world. I hope it inspires others. ]]>