Knowledge Is Necessity

This is the time of the year for looking back, a la Time Magazine and CNN. Following is my personal (and highly idiosyncratic) view on how t...

We think in categories. But there are these problems. The first one being that when you think in categories you underestimate how different ...

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the place Not a thought was racing, not even a trace; The meds were all stashed, in the ...

Christopher Hitchens' passing last week generated considerable discussion on his militant atheism, which you can read all about in his ...

This is crazy. I just happened to be reading Christopher Hitchens’ recently released collection of essays, “Arguably,” when I found out he d...

As most of you who follow this blog know, at the beginning of this year I essentially blew up mcmanweb and started over. The site was in se...

Okay, I know what you’re thinking. But first let me recap: In six pieces, we have investigated evil, using Barbara Oakley’s 2007 “Evil Gen...

As I promised last week, a study on Hitler. My starting point was Nassir Ghaemi’s recent “A First-Rate Madness,” which raised the extraordi...

This is my fifth piece on Barbara Oakley’s eye-opening 2007 “Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed and My Sister Stole My Mot...

What does Mao Zedong have to do with that jerk brother or sister who wrecks everyone’s Thanksgiving? Funny you should ask. Barbara Oakley’s ...