I always learn something from your writings on your substack! .
This was probably my favorite thing from your substack “ For the sake of your future growth and development as a spiritual being, God sent you here.”. Although to be honest, all of it was quite thought provoking!! These are crazy times politically. Is just hard to see where things are going. If there was coup the last election, which I believe that there was, it explains everything about what we are seeing today! I am hoping and praying I am wrong.
On another note, it’s been awhile since I’ve read The Hobbit series. I’ve forgotten most of it. I do remember loving it when I read it! Do you believe h that it would be a worthy undertaking to read it again?
Are there other books you would encourage your followers/family/friends to read to prepare us for what’s ahead?
May our Heavenly Father bless you and keep you. Thank you for being a light in a very dark place.
Thank you for your very kind words and for reading my stuff. Also thank you for the blessing. God bless you and your family. Amen.
With regard to the books of JRR Tolkien, yes, I would encourage you to re-read them and for others to read them as well. Tolkien was a good Christian and his novels discuss the war between good and evil in a powerful way.
CS Lewis is another Christian author whose works I recommend.
With regard to things we should expect in the near future, I recommend some of the "survivalist" fiction of the 1970s, such as Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's epic _Lucifer's Hammer_ and their somewhat wackier but also useful _Footfall_.
The novels of Eric Flint beginning with _1632_ are very good for preparing to "gear back" to early levels of technology without losing it all.
Cyborgs are more likely to be real in the near future than any sort of consciousness in a robot or computer network. Keith Laumer did some important work with his Bolo series, and David Weber followed up on the topic.
A more secular look at the war between good and evil is found in the Foundation novels of Isaac Asimov. He has some good books on general science and technology in his non-fiction works.
Paul Rosenberg has written a number of really important books. His book on electric install for contractors is highly regarded, as is his book on fibre optic install. He may be best known for his novel _A Lodging of Wayfaring Men_ about the actual nature of free market cryptography code warriors. You should also look for his Vera Verba site and his Freeman's Perspective essays.
To get a sense of where we have gotten, it would be useful to look at where we thought we were going. William Gibson wrote about it in his novel _Neuromancer_ and has followed up with sequels and novels set in unrelated lines. Neal Stephenson wrote about it in _Snow Crash_ and in its sequel _The Diamond Age or a young lady's illustrated primer_ and in _Cryptonomicon_ as well as _ReamDe_ and many other novels. I have ambivalent views of his _Seveneves_.
Much more optimistic futures are found in the "golden age" of science fiction (1935 to 1960 more or less) and "silver age" (1960-1975 more or less) novels of Heinlein, Asimov, Pohl, Poul Anderson, Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven, Keith Laumer, Joe Haldeman, L. Sprague de Camp, and others. I highly recommend Heinlein's juveniles such as _Have Spacesuit Will Travel_ and _Podkayne of Mars_ among over a dozen others. His adult audience novels cover the multiverse in _Glory Road_ and the search for longevity in _A Door Into Summer_ and does amazing things with _The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress_ and _Stranger in a Strange Land_.
More recent novelists who fought a delaying action on modernist and postmodernist garbage include L. Neil Smith, J. Neil Schulman, Victor Koman, Sam Konkin, and others.
People who write about economics that I like include Murray Rothbard, Per Bylund, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Ralph Raico, Guido Huelsmann, and others. Wendy McElroy is an excellent author of many books on individual liberty. I also like Mary Ruwart's books on healing our world.
Ayn Rand wrote a few long essays on the virtue of self interest (poorly titled in my view) and the importance of philosophy. Her fiction including _We the Living_ _Anthem_ and _The Fountainhead_ convey important ideas with reasonable effectiveness. You should read _Atlas Shrugged_ because she regarded it as her best work, struggled for days over some sentences and for weeks over some paragraphs, and because it is foundational to the liberty movement in America. If you get toward the end and begin reading John Galt's speech and it gets tiresome after a few pages (I recall it runs to about 59 or so pages but I don't have my copy at hand) you can skip it. It really is a sermon, and all the ideas Galt discusses are already evident from the rest of the book, but Rand was willing to hammer things home that she wasn't confident anyone would get.
You might like the books I've written, three of which are available in various ways, and none of which pay royalties for me. lol _Being Sovereign_ can sometimes be found at Lulu.com or at Amazon.com and _Being Libertarian_ is still at Lulu last I looked. _Space Scouts: a field manual parody_ is available in pdf at BadQuaker.com My novel _Freedom Decentral: Free the Slaves_ is not currently published.
You might like the books I've worked on. I am the editor and publisher of Courtney Smith's last book _Viewpoints of a Trader_ and I can recommend his first book on options trading still available from John Wyle & Sons. I'm also an editor and the publisher of Chris Boehr's book _The Free World Project_ which I would really like to get ready for sale this year. Said that about it last year.
Sir, I enjoyed your essay. As a child I was fortunate to be introduced to a healthy skepticism with a touch of cynicism. Now as the mostly respected patriarch with 15 grandchildren I search for ways to incorporate living skills thru direct communication & example. Do you know resources or avenues to teach to teach elocution, pose &!gesture to bright young people?
Thank you for your question. One of the more amusing resources in this respect is the film "My Fair Lady" which offers a number of lessons in elocution, some of them quite poetic. Other musicals such as "Mary Poppins" and "The Sound of Music" were helpful to me, though I should point out that I am not good at singing. Enthusiastic, yes, but not able to stay in one key.
Similarly there are many music videos that show singers and dancers striking poses. We used to use the word "vamping" for some of that stuff. Then again we used to call certain kinds of stage play "burlesque" and that's gone out of style.
Pose and gesture are actually a part of ballet. Much of jazz dancing and "modern dance" amounts to really dramatic poses. It helps to develop rhythm. So if you want young persons to learn pose and gesture, you might see what local dance studios are like. I don't encourage you blindly send children to dance teachers, though, as there is a lot of criminal behaviour amongst teachers these days.
There are speech coaches and elocution coaches in many places. A speech therapist might have a good sense of who in your area would be competent in these areas. Speech therapists have a lot of tools for teaching elocution because it can be difficult for victims of stroke and traumatic brain injury.
In New York when I lived in Harlem, there were a lot of drama teachers, speech coaches, and elocution coaches associated with Broadway theatre and with the drama classes at various universities. In Los Angeles you would find many of these folk around the Hollywood areas. Of course, with the advent of Internet video services, you can get in touch with such persons all over the world, without having to move to NYC or Hollywood, and I don't currently endorse moving into big cities. Moving away from them would be wise imo
My drama teacher in 7th, 8th, and 9th grade and my debate coach in 10th, 11th, and 12th grades were key to my ability to look at the audiences, speak clearly, and do a little dance on stage. I'm hopeful this reply is helpful in some measures.
I fell into these things because of the private Christian school required by my parents.
This included one act plays, acapella, musicals, small folk band, Debate, & athletics. Of course, excellence in real education, history, math, English, Bible were required. School was 0750 to 1550 w/ athletics after “school”. Oh yes private violin & voice lessons after school as well, with 30-45 min daily practice. We were poor in wealth but rich in spirit. I did not realize
I always learn something from your writings on your substack! .
This was probably my favorite thing from your substack “ For the sake of your future growth and development as a spiritual being, God sent you here.”. Although to be honest, all of it was quite thought provoking!! These are crazy times politically. Is just hard to see where things are going. If there was coup the last election, which I believe that there was, it explains everything about what we are seeing today! I am hoping and praying I am wrong.
On another note, it’s been awhile since I’ve read The Hobbit series. I’ve forgotten most of it. I do remember loving it when I read it! Do you believe h that it would be a worthy undertaking to read it again?
Are there other books you would encourage your followers/family/friends to read to prepare us for what’s ahead?
May our Heavenly Father bless you and keep you. Thank you for being a light in a very dark place.
Thank you for your very kind words and for reading my stuff. Also thank you for the blessing. God bless you and your family. Amen.
With regard to the books of JRR Tolkien, yes, I would encourage you to re-read them and for others to read them as well. Tolkien was a good Christian and his novels discuss the war between good and evil in a powerful way.
CS Lewis is another Christian author whose works I recommend.
With regard to things we should expect in the near future, I recommend some of the "survivalist" fiction of the 1970s, such as Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's epic _Lucifer's Hammer_ and their somewhat wackier but also useful _Footfall_.
The novels of Eric Flint beginning with _1632_ are very good for preparing to "gear back" to early levels of technology without losing it all.
Cyborgs are more likely to be real in the near future than any sort of consciousness in a robot or computer network. Keith Laumer did some important work with his Bolo series, and David Weber followed up on the topic.
A more secular look at the war between good and evil is found in the Foundation novels of Isaac Asimov. He has some good books on general science and technology in his non-fiction works.
Paul Rosenberg has written a number of really important books. His book on electric install for contractors is highly regarded, as is his book on fibre optic install. He may be best known for his novel _A Lodging of Wayfaring Men_ about the actual nature of free market cryptography code warriors. You should also look for his Vera Verba site and his Freeman's Perspective essays.
To get a sense of where we have gotten, it would be useful to look at where we thought we were going. William Gibson wrote about it in his novel _Neuromancer_ and has followed up with sequels and novels set in unrelated lines. Neal Stephenson wrote about it in _Snow Crash_ and in its sequel _The Diamond Age or a young lady's illustrated primer_ and in _Cryptonomicon_ as well as _ReamDe_ and many other novels. I have ambivalent views of his _Seveneves_.
Much more optimistic futures are found in the "golden age" of science fiction (1935 to 1960 more or less) and "silver age" (1960-1975 more or less) novels of Heinlein, Asimov, Pohl, Poul Anderson, Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven, Keith Laumer, Joe Haldeman, L. Sprague de Camp, and others. I highly recommend Heinlein's juveniles such as _Have Spacesuit Will Travel_ and _Podkayne of Mars_ among over a dozen others. His adult audience novels cover the multiverse in _Glory Road_ and the search for longevity in _A Door Into Summer_ and does amazing things with _The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress_ and _Stranger in a Strange Land_.
More recent novelists who fought a delaying action on modernist and postmodernist garbage include L. Neil Smith, J. Neil Schulman, Victor Koman, Sam Konkin, and others.
People who write about economics that I like include Murray Rothbard, Per Bylund, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Ralph Raico, Guido Huelsmann, and others. Wendy McElroy is an excellent author of many books on individual liberty. I also like Mary Ruwart's books on healing our world.
Ayn Rand wrote a few long essays on the virtue of self interest (poorly titled in my view) and the importance of philosophy. Her fiction including _We the Living_ _Anthem_ and _The Fountainhead_ convey important ideas with reasonable effectiveness. You should read _Atlas Shrugged_ because she regarded it as her best work, struggled for days over some sentences and for weeks over some paragraphs, and because it is foundational to the liberty movement in America. If you get toward the end and begin reading John Galt's speech and it gets tiresome after a few pages (I recall it runs to about 59 or so pages but I don't have my copy at hand) you can skip it. It really is a sermon, and all the ideas Galt discusses are already evident from the rest of the book, but Rand was willing to hammer things home that she wasn't confident anyone would get.
You might like the books I've written, three of which are available in various ways, and none of which pay royalties for me. lol _Being Sovereign_ can sometimes be found at Lulu.com or at Amazon.com and _Being Libertarian_ is still at Lulu last I looked. _Space Scouts: a field manual parody_ is available in pdf at BadQuaker.com My novel _Freedom Decentral: Free the Slaves_ is not currently published.
You might like the books I've worked on. I am the editor and publisher of Courtney Smith's last book _Viewpoints of a Trader_ and I can recommend his first book on options trading still available from John Wyle & Sons. I'm also an editor and the publisher of Chris Boehr's book _The Free World Project_ which I would really like to get ready for sale this year. Said that about it last year.
Funny but a lot of us wrote essays on the evil ones today. Stellar, as usual. ❤️
Lies lies lies be nice if they rode in on a different horse
Sir, I enjoyed your essay. As a child I was fortunate to be introduced to a healthy skepticism with a touch of cynicism. Now as the mostly respected patriarch with 15 grandchildren I search for ways to incorporate living skills thru direct communication & example. Do you know resources or avenues to teach to teach elocution, pose &!gesture to bright young people?
Thank you for your question. One of the more amusing resources in this respect is the film "My Fair Lady" which offers a number of lessons in elocution, some of them quite poetic. Other musicals such as "Mary Poppins" and "The Sound of Music" were helpful to me, though I should point out that I am not good at singing. Enthusiastic, yes, but not able to stay in one key.
Similarly there are many music videos that show singers and dancers striking poses. We used to use the word "vamping" for some of that stuff. Then again we used to call certain kinds of stage play "burlesque" and that's gone out of style.
Pose and gesture are actually a part of ballet. Much of jazz dancing and "modern dance" amounts to really dramatic poses. It helps to develop rhythm. So if you want young persons to learn pose and gesture, you might see what local dance studios are like. I don't encourage you blindly send children to dance teachers, though, as there is a lot of criminal behaviour amongst teachers these days.
There are speech coaches and elocution coaches in many places. A speech therapist might have a good sense of who in your area would be competent in these areas. Speech therapists have a lot of tools for teaching elocution because it can be difficult for victims of stroke and traumatic brain injury.
In New York when I lived in Harlem, there were a lot of drama teachers, speech coaches, and elocution coaches associated with Broadway theatre and with the drama classes at various universities. In Los Angeles you would find many of these folk around the Hollywood areas. Of course, with the advent of Internet video services, you can get in touch with such persons all over the world, without having to move to NYC or Hollywood, and I don't currently endorse moving into big cities. Moving away from them would be wise imo
My drama teacher in 7th, 8th, and 9th grade and my debate coach in 10th, 11th, and 12th grades were key to my ability to look at the audiences, speak clearly, and do a little dance on stage. I'm hopeful this reply is helpful in some measures.
I fell into these things because of the private Christian school required by my parents.
This included one act plays, acapella, musicals, small folk band, Debate, & athletics. Of course, excellence in real education, history, math, English, Bible were required. School was 0750 to 1550 w/ athletics after “school”. Oh yes private violin & voice lessons after school as well, with 30-45 min daily practice. We were poor in wealth but rich in spirit. I did not realize
Realize the richness/rigorous nature of my childhood until I was in my in my forties.
You have put my thoughts to words. Thank you for an excellent article Jim. 🙏
You're welcome. Thank you for your kind words and for reading my stuff.
This is just awesome, Jim.
And a perfect John Ronald Reuel Tolkien ending.
Thank you!
Thank you.
"I’ve written that phrase “it’s worse than you know” a great deal in the years since 1991."
Because, unfortunately, it's true.
https://michael796.substack.com/p/evidence-the-media-is-a-lot-worse