Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf

We write about books.

[Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf @PsmithBooks]

@LeahLibresco It’s been on the list for a while.

[Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf @PsmithBooks]

>YOU ARE ON SUBSTACK. YOU SEE A BOOK REVIEW BY JOHN PSMITH. YOU SEE A TROLL POST BY RICHARD HANANIA. YOU SEE A BOOK REVIEW BY SCOTT ALEXANDER. WHAT DO YOU DO?

open last post

>I’M SORRY I DON’T UNDERSTAND THAT.

click scott alexander post

>I’M SORRY I DON’T KNOW THE VERB: ‘CLICK’

read

>‘READ’ WHAT?

read scott alexander

>YOU CANNOT READ A ‘SCOTT ALEXANDER’

read book review

>YOU SETTLE IN TO READ A BOOK REVIEW BY JOHN PSMITH. THE REVIEW IS NINE THOUSAND WORDS LONG. YOU BEGIN MAKING A CUP OF TEA TO KE^C

stop

>EP YOU GOING FOR THE LONG NIGHT AHEAD. THE REVIEW BEGINS WITH A WILD AN^C

cancel

>D UNJUSTIFIED ASSERTION. IT MAKES SEVERAL SWEEPING GENERALIZATIONS. IT BARELY TALKS ABOUT THE BOOK, BUT USES IT AS AN EXCU^C

exit

>SE TO TALK ABOUT SOMETHING SEEMINGLY UNRELATED. SOON YOUR CANDLE BURNS DOWN. IT GROWS DARK. YOU ARE EATEN BY A GRUE. THIS IS THE END OF YOUR JOURNEY. YOU HAVE SUFFERED A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH.

>TRY AGAIN? (YES/NO/QUIT)

https://t.co/UJGjpci0E9

[Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf @PsmithBooks]

This isn’t the worst book I’ve ever read. But it’s the worst book I’ve ever finished.

https://t.co/ud9kEiwuoJ

[Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf @PsmithBooks]

Bad news: it turns out we’ve been reading philosophy wrong for hundreds of years. https://t.co/7xQDueZE3U

[Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf @PsmithBooks]

Come for the navel-gazing, stay for the look at what’s next (further navel-gazing). https://t.co/8vRfsJFGgC

[Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf @PsmithBooks]

Lots of people want to opt out of particular technologies, whether it’s giving smartphones to our kids or using embryo selection to choose them. Do the Amish have anything to teach us about doing it? https://t.co/Md8Ft84TNB

[Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf @PsmithBooks]

Have you ever wondered how options trading is like neopaganism? Then this book review is for you! (It’s also for you if you haven’t.)

[Gabriel Rossman @g_h_rossman]

Me at @PsmithBooks on how the "16th century witches were practicing a pre-Christian religion" is wrong, but 1) the theory conjured neo-paganism into being and 2) people have ascribed wildly different meanings to the theory.
https://t.co/IYScmBem7b

[Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf @PsmithBooks]

The memes that turn the wheels of history: https://t.co/2QSHkYdzvn

[Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf @PsmithBooks]

Just one more sweeping transdisciplinary exploration of global history. C’mon, bro, I won’t ever talk about the Hajnal Line again. Just let me have one more study of an under-appreciated causal factor for the differing trajectories of human societies. https://t.co/eC8UHg4TIN

[Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf @PsmithBooks]

https://t.co/rGR36FHqT8

[Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf @PsmithBooks]

These and many other spectacular anecdotes in today’s guest review! (Link in replies.)

[Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf @PsmithBooks]

https://t.co/m1Q1kmOphQ

[Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf @PsmithBooks]

Three short takes this week: how do you write about process knowledge, how do you tackle hard math, and how do you know if the Gospels are reliable sources?

[Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf @PsmithBooks]

@imperialauditor There’s a better description somewhere of his dinner parties, but this was the one I was able to find in thirty seconds of googling.

[Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf @PsmithBooks]

@imperialauditor Upper-middle class intellectuals of the 1960s and 70s, like him and his friends. https://t.co/oq35bQJUP1

[Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf @PsmithBooks]

https://t.co/NMZX8D5oRx

[Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf @PsmithBooks]

Paul Fussell’s classic guide to the American class system, reconsidered, updated, and discussed.

[Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf @PsmithBooks]

https://t.co/FBtydV5RRr

[Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf @PsmithBooks]

There are people who say “you can just do things,” and then there are Venetian teenagers who stow away on an ocean-going vessel heading who-knows-where and wind up producing both the most entertaining and the most reliable history of the Mughal Empire at its zenith.

[Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf @PsmithBooks]

https://t.co/30TD9OXIgV

[Mr. and Mrs. Psmith's Bookshelf @PsmithBooks]

Ideas have consequences — even (especially?) in the grocery aisle.