Read in WV Reviews
Monday, March 31, 2025
Blame Texas, and Maybe the South!
Friday, March 28, 2025
What are you playing?
Monday, March 24, 2025
Why all the questions?
Friday, February 28, 2025
Racism and Science
Keon West breaks the book into four parts. Part I deals with how do we know that racism is real and what evidence does science have on this topic with chapters discussing definitions of terms, how science comes to a consensus on a topic, and how pervasive racism might be and its relationship to power. Part II looks at unconscious bias, outright deception/lying, and games people play on themselves to hide their own racism. Part III gets down into the weeds to examine the complexities of racism - how it is not all black and white, but rather very nuanced. Part IV provides various approaches to dealing with racism scientifically. Some of these approaches include colour-blind approach, diversity initiatives, and what really does work. West finishes the book with a call-out to other related issues of bias beyond race - i.e. gender, class, status, and a multitude of other issues that all interplay with racism.
So, if you are interested in learning what science has on this topic, The Science of Racism will be a great place to start. Keon West documents his points and provides plenty of references for the reader to explore. A recommended read for anyone interested in racism.
Friday, January 24, 2025
Actual science or fictional science?
Friday, January 17, 2025
Is Math a language?
Ben Orlin lays out his premise in the introduction and then dives the reader into it. He discusses the syntax of Algebra, looking at numbers and treating numbers as nouns in that syntax. After he has gone through symbols, equations, graphs, errors, and rules, he takes a break and provides a phrase book - A Local's Guide to Mathematical Vocabulary. Orlin then drags the reader into the actions of mathematics - what he calls the Verbs. Verbs for Orlin include the standards - addition, subtraction, multiplication, division plus squaring/cubing, exponents, logic and proofs, infinity and a host of others. Orlin finishes off the book with famous names and mathematical folklore followed by citations and where a reader could learn more.
If the reader is looking at a different approach to mathematics, Ben Orlin's Math for English Majors will aid in that quest.He accompanies the text with bad drawings (he has written another book called Math with Bad Drawings) to illustrate his points. Give it a try and maybe you will retain more math knowledge then when you started!