Monthly Archives: June, 2016

The Apple Grower: A Guide for the Organic Orchardist (Michael Phillips)

“The Apple Grower” is an excellent book, but not one for the casual apple grower. That doesn’t mean that another, simpler book would be...

Hypatia of Alexandria (Maria Dzielska)

In today’s popular culture, Hypatia, the woman philosopher/mathematician of the Fifth Century A.D., is a caricature with little or no grounding in reality. For...

The Small-Scale Poultry Flock (Harvey Ussery)

This may be the best “how to” book I have ever read, at least for manual work. Yes, I haven’t even started raising chickens...

Keeping Chickens with Ashley English (Ashley English)

I read this book because my wife and I have decided to keep chickens.  My wife is driving the project, but I figured I...

A Year In Provence (Peter Mayle)

“A Year In Provence” is the meringue of books. It is cloyingly sweet, airily light, and totally insubstantial. I have no idea if it...

Liberal Fascism (Jonah Goldberg)

“Liberal Fascism” is really a history book, not the book of political analysis I expected it to be. I didn’t love this book (written...

Colloquy: Why Vote For Trump, and What Do Conservatives Want?

Hi Charles, I've been pondering the Republican debacle that is Donald Trump and would love your view.  I'm wondering what alternatives a Republican with...

The Fractured Republic: Renewing America’s Social Contract in the Age of Individualism (Yuval Levin)

“The Fractured Republic” is a fantastically original book. It is very optimistic, yet clear-eyed, which is a rare combination. Most optimistic books about modern...

The Three-Body Problem (Cixin Liu)

“The Three-Body Problem” is a science fiction novel, of the “hard” subgenre, that has received a great deal of attention. Much of that attention...