21 Lessons for the 21st Century…book review

21 Lessons for the 21st Century…book review

the unknowable future begins tomorrow…

 

Book review:

21 Lessons for the 21st Century

 

by Yuval Noah Harari, PhD (b1976)

New York: Spiegel & Grau, imprint of Random House, 2018

372 pages

 

Harari considers many of the questions that are plaguing 21st century liberal democracies, and the other folks, too.

Perhaps the predominant takeaway of 21 Lessons is that things are changing rapidly, and the unknowable future will be on us during our lifetimes.

If we do not try to deal more effectively and more urgently with the frightful challenges of burgeoning infotech and biotech, and the inescapable constraint of manmade climate change, and our own social, economic, and political shortcomings, we’ll unavoidably learn that we have no one to blame but ourselves.

 

Harari is a deep thinker, a provocative intellect, and a blunt writer who calls you to risk learning more truth.

*   *   *   *   *   *

Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.

 

Book review: American Colonies

So many and so much

    came before the Pilgrims

by Alan Taylor

click here

As with another eye: Poems of exactitude with 55 free verse and haiku poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”

*   *   *   *   *   *

How do you lose power?…Thomas Hutchinson quote

How do you lose power?…Thomas Hutchinson quote

seldom…never…you pick it

 

 

“Power, once acquired,

     is seldom voluntarily parted with.”

 

Thomas Hutchinson (1711-1780)

Loyalist Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (1769-1774)

 

Make no mistake: Hutchinson was talking about the growing political power of the Sons of Liberty, not his own stake in the royal chain of command.

*   *   *   *   *   *

Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.

 

How the Irish Became White (book review)

just another slice of American history by Noel Ignatiev

click here

Writing Rainbows: Poems for Grown-Ups with 59 free verse and haiku poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”

*   *   *   *   *   *

“…she fills my horizons…”…”moto perpetuo,” my poem

“…she fills my horizons…”…”moto perpetuo,” my poem

‘round and ‘round she goes…

 

 

moto perpetuo

 

Surrounded.

By a baby.

She is in motion,

she is energy, all energies.

Does she move fast enough to fill all the space?

It seems true…

 

I follow her, she scampers on and around,

she fills my horizons,

I am surrounded…

…and I surrender, she has taken me alive.

Life is good.

 

December 12, 2012

’round and ’round…

*   *   *   *   *   *

My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.

Poets talk about poetry

…it’s a red hot bucket of love…

click here

Seeing far: Selected poems with 47 free verse and haiku poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”

 

Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.

*   *   *   *   *   *

The Other Madisons: The Lost History of a President’s Black Family…book review

The Other Madisons: The Lost History of a President’s Black Family…book review

who believes President Madison didn’t do it?…

 

 

Book review:

The Other Madisons: The Lost History of a President’s Black Family

 

by Bettye Kearse

Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020

253 pages

 

Bettye Kearse has written her convincingly detailed book about her family tradition that President James Madison is her relative, six generations back.

Her belief is that Madison fathered a son (Jim, a slave) with Coreen, a black slave cook in his household, and that James and Jim are in the long line of Kearse family grandfathers.

There is no objective proof of the Madison connection, but it’s way too easy to believe that this slave-owning president did what so many other white men did with so many of their slave women in the early 19th century.

I wonder how many “black” Americans have white ancestors?

I wonder how many “white” Americans have black ancestors?

*   *   *   *   *   *

Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.

 

“Many waters cannot quench love.”

Love will rise to meet you…

(what you hear is poetry)

Book review: St. Ives

by Robert Louis Stevenson

click here

My first name was rain: A dreamery of poems with 53 free verse and haiku poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”

*   *   *   *   *   *

“…a strange road and we’re learning…”…”Wonder,” my poem

“…a strange road and we’re learning…”…”Wonder,” my poem

no victory, but only ending…

 

 

Wonder

 

We’re on a strange road,

there is no straight ahead

   on this strange road,

there are turnings

   we have never seen,

we’re not in a race

   but there is a finish line,

we’re doing it together,

one leg each in the sack,

no turning back,

no victory

   but only ending,

this is a way

   we’ve always imagined

      but never known,

this is a strange road

   and we’re learning

      as we go along,

we take new steps

   and wonder as we wander along…

 

December 18, 2021

*   *   *   *   *   *

My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.

 

Book review:

American Scripture:

Making the Declaration of Independence

…basically, this is trash talk to King George

by Pauline Maier

click here

Seeing far: Selected poems with 47 free verse and haiku poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”

 

Your candid comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.

*   *   *   *   *   *

Pin It on Pinterest