Durocher’s Ancient Ethnostate

The Ancient Ethnostate: Biopolitical Thought in Classical Greece by Guillaume Durocher (Kindle Direct Publishing Edition 2021, currently only available as paperback via Amazon) examines ancient Greek authors, from Homer to Aristotle, regarding their ethics and customs concerning biological and cultural relationships: whether families and clans, city-states with their colonies, or the entire Greek nation. Highly … Continue reading “Durocher’s Ancient Ethnostate”

Luttwak’s Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace

Some years ago I reviewed Edward N. Luttwak’s The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire and its Byzantine Empire sequel. In-between these two books, Luttwak published a theoretical rather than purely historical work entitled Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 1987; revised and enlarged edition 2001). Here … Continue reading “Luttwak’s Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace”

Biagioli’s Galileo, Courtier

Mario Biagioli’s Galileo, Courtier (University of Chicago Press 1993, paperback 1994, ISBN 0–226–04560–9) examines the major stations of Galileo Galilei’s career in the context of the contemporary courtly society, and especially its patronage system. Clocking in at over 500 pages in the German translation I read (an accidental bookstore discovery), the writing is somewhat long-winded … Continue reading “Biagioli’s Galileo, Courtier”

Programmer’s Guide to Theory

The Programmer’s Guide to Theory by Mike James (IO Press 2019, ISBN 978-1-871-9624-37) is intended for programmers who haven’t studied computer science but are planning to, or are simply interested in the ideas taught there. Mike James is an editor and frequent contributor at I Programmer who has a PhD in computer science. I cannot … Continue reading “Programmer’s Guide to Theory”

The Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire: A Thousand Years of Europe’s History by Peter H. Wilson (Penguin Books 2017, ISBN 978-0-141-04747-8) is an astonishing thousand-page tome of which about 300 pages are devoted to maps, color plates, family trees, chronology, glossary, and an enormous index. I’m not aware of anyone doubting the thoroughness or scholarly quality of … Continue reading “The Holy Roman Empire”

The Rats of Nationalism

Brandon Adamson has recently published a new book, The Rats of Nationalism, concerning the Internet (mostly really Twitter) presence of alternative right movements in America. Everyone who sees the title is bound to be confused. It’s not about calling nationalists “rats” in a derogatory sense, nor really about nationalists ratting out on each other, though … Continue reading “The Rats of Nationalism”

Core Java 11 for Java 11

Core Java, Volume I: Fundamentals — Cay S. Horstmann, Pearson Education 2018 (11th ed. for Java SE 11), ISBN 978-0-13-516630-7 Core Java, Volume II: Advanced Features — Cay S. Horstmann, Pearson Education 2018 2016 (11th ed. for Java SE 11), ISBN 978-0-13-516631-4 These two 900-page tomes originated as Sun’s official guide to the Java platform … Continue reading “Core Java 11 for Java 11”

Skytrain to Nowhere

Brandon Adamson’s Skytrain to Nowhere is an 80-page book of what he calls “free-form poetry.” If that term usually causes you to run very fast in the opposite direction, don’t worry. To be sure the writing is carefully crafted in poetry style, but never overwrought or incomprehensible. Indeed most poems would pass as (very) short … Continue reading “Skytrain to Nowhere”

Algorithms for Computer Games

Algorithms and Networking for Computer Games — Jouni Smed & Harri Hakonen, Wiley 2017 (2nd ed.), ISBN 978-1-119-25976-3 As the title indicates this book comprises two major parts, with about 220 pages presenting a broad variety of general algorithms, and another 70 pages on architecture and algorithms for networked games. The first part covers just … Continue reading “Algorithms for Computer Games”

CSS Guide & JavaFX Examples

CSS: The Definitive Guide — Eric A. Meyer & Estelle Weyl, O’Reilly 2017 (4th ed.), ISBN 978-1-449-39319-9 The long expected update to a classic last revised in 2006, this massive tome is certainly definitive in size and detail. More than a thousand pages cover every esoteric wrinkle of CSS anyone might possibly want to know … Continue reading “CSS Guide & JavaFX Examples”