Darryl Cunningham

This is an excellent graphic bio of Ayn Rand, about whom I had a general knowledge but nothing deeper than that, and the effect her philosophy has had on the world, particularly economic and political systems. The author/artist points out several times the paradoxes present in The worldview of Rand and her disciples, and the havoc they have wreaked, particularly the e sonic crisis of 2008. I’ve consumed a lot of media about that event and its aftermath and big chunks of it remain oblique show more to me, but everything I read makes it a little clearer. This book goes on to describe the current state of politics, particularly in the US and UK, and how screwed we are as the world moves ever right-ward. It analyzes the differences between the right and left, characterizing the left as curious, empathetic and flexible (and diminishing), and the right as, well, everything opposite of those things. Self-serving, accusatory and fearful of change (and growing). While books like this give me insight into the world I’m living in, they also make me angry and afraid, and hopeless. I take heart that such complex stories can be told simply in a graphic format. show less

This book caught my eye on a recent trip to the bookstore, and I bought it on impulse. A non-fiction graphic "novel" about science denialism and various quackery? I mean, how could I resist?

Cunningham chose topics that are intentionally controversial. The kinds of things that cause comment wars in science blogs over and over again: The Moon Hoax, Homeopathy, Chiropractic, The MMR Vaccination Scandal, Evolution, Fracking, and Climate Change. Which is exactly how they appear in the table of show more comments, though there is also a final chapter on Science Denialism in general.

This was a fast read, visceral and concise. That makes the essays great nuggets for urging on a science-denying friend, but I sometimes wished for a little less brevity, particularly in the Moon Hoax chapter, But what I do particularly like about this book is that Cunningham does not try to set himself up as the ultimate authority on any of these issues. Rather, what he is promoting is the scientific method itself -- which, by its very nature is open to new conclusions should new evidence become available.

So, yes. There are a few chapters that I'm yearning to find a tactful way to force on some particular friends who jumped instantly to mind. If that process is successful, this book will have paid for itself in spades. Until then, I suppose it can find a happy enough spot on my shelves. show less

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Edelweiss.)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/smiteme/55090694078/in/dateposted/

As someone who's terminally online and follows the news pretty closely - especially since Trump 2.0 - much of what's in ELON MUSK: AMERICAN OLIGARCH didn't come as a surprise to me. Cunningham does good job of distilling Musk's childhood - including his gross family* - and rise to power into a few hundred illustrated pages. Sometimes I find text-heavy show more graphic novels to be a bit of a drag, but not so here.

By following Musk through his time at x.com/Paypal, then Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter, Cunningham identifies some unifying themes, e.g. Musk's habit of buying companies and then taking credit for the innovations of others; making grand promises that he rarely fulfills; breaking things (and sometimes ruining and/or ending lives) with his childish impetuousness; and letting long-held, petty grudges drive his actions. And yet, thanks to a combination of white male privilege (including apartheid emerald mine money) and corporate welfare, Musk has amassed a fortune large enough to buy American elections. (Well, not all of them: AMERICAN OLIGARCH might have went to print before the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, widely seen as a rebuke of billionaires mixing their money with our politics.)

While DOGE does get a cursory mention, I wish Cunningham had more thoroughly addressed what a complete an utter scam it was - how the "cuts" not only cost us money, but also (and very predictably) led to hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths globally, and were actually a pretext for stealing our data to both grow the surveillance state and overturn future elections.

Also, I'm a little bummed that this book wasn't a year later - then we'd have a final few pages about Musk's presence in the Epstein files, including an email sent on Christmas morning, 2012, asking if he has any ragers planned for the holidays: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OUKJb4W9tac

* Tbh, I think Maye Musk deserved more shade than she got. show less

Vladimir Putin at heart is a gangster who would have been at home as a character on The Sopranos according to this biography. It's a laundry list of all the murders, false flag operations, political corruption, theft, conspiracies and wars it seems likely that Putin has masterminded in his life from KGB agent to Russian dictator.

The book is a little dry -- caption heavy with static art that mostly consists of floating heads -- but the litany of harm this man has done to the world is still show more stomach turning. In a dark coincidence, this book was basically published just as Putin began his invasion of Ukraine, so that chapter is missing. show less