Los Angeles Review of Books

COMING HOME

Why Would You Want To Be German?

1 digg Los Angeles Review of Books Human Nature Politics World 8h

Of the half-million Jews who lived in Germany in 1933, 350,000 had managed to escape by 1941, many of them to the United States, Palestine, Great Britain, Central and South America and to Shanghai in Japanese occupied China. Why would thousands of their children or grandchildren now move back to Germany?

NEW NEW HUMANISM

The Philosophy Of Creative Writing

6 diggs Los Angeles Review of Books Books Philosophy 1w

Every year, 20,000 aspiring writers applying to MFA programs at colleges and universities across the United States. What exactly do they seek to learn?

ALL IS NOT FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR

Love In The Age Of Data

7 diggs Los Angeles Review of Books Technology Relationships Artificial Intelligence Internet Long Reads 23 Jan

The logic of matching users only with those just like themselves might be something shared between dating algorithms and extreme right-wing rhetoric.

HOPEFULLY ONLY TEMPORARY

The Death Of Job Stability

8 diggs Los Angeles Review of Books Work Economics Money Long Reads Politics 2 Jan

There is nothing more American than the temp worker.

WHO'S PAYING FOR ATTENTION?

The Fight For Our Eyeballs

10 diggs Los Angeles Review of Books Media Internet Technology Business Long Reads 25 Sep 2018

Our fear that the advertising machines of Big Tech might be "hijacked" by bad political actors distracts us from the fact that these tools are already dangerous when used exactly as intended: to shape our inner life at the whim of advertisers and corporations.

FIGHTING A PARKING LOT

The People In The Trees

5 diggs Los Angeles Review of Books Personal Essay Human Nature Nature Long Reads 16 Aug 2018

As the years since then have passed, as the seas have risen and life has begun to cook, as the enemies of the trees have come to be more clearly defined, this has only become more true, and of it I have only become more convinced.

JE SUIS LA JEUNE FILLE

The Useless French Language And Why We Learn It

8 diggs Los Angeles Review of Books Language 2 Aug 2018

The ambitions of French-learners, seemingly more often than those of other language-learners, go beyond mere communication.

IDW? IDC

The 'Intellectual Dark Web' Is Nothing New

11 diggs Los Angeles Review of Books Politics Internet Media Long Reads 18 Jul 2018

It would take a short memory, however, not to notice that these sorts of polemics over political correctness are anything but novel: they have been around for at least 30 years, ever since a strikingly similar set of media debates centered around college campuses took off in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

GENERATING SOME BUZZ

A Love Letter To Wild Bees

10 diggs Los Angeles Review of Books Animals Nature Science Long Reads 19 Jun 2018

Although wild bees are ecologically critical, funding to study them has been dwarfed by honeybee research dollars for the obvious reason: honeybees’ perceived agricultural value.

JESUS PERIOD PIECE

Religion Goes To The Movies

7 diggs Los Angeles Review of Books Movies Beliefs Long Reads Culture 25 May 2018

Given the history of suspicion between religion and film, it is welcome to see this field not only gaining recognition but also offering new ways of thinking through the meaning and role of religion in contemporary cultural and political debates.

A SYMPHONY OF DETERRENCE

Bach At The Burger King

6 diggs Los Angeles Review of Books Criminal Justice Music Studies Curious Long Reads 17 May 2018

Police units across the planet now deploy the string quartet as the latest addition to their crime-fighting arsenal, recruiting Officer Johann Sebastian as the newest member of the force.

HE LOVES DOGS

The Madness To Wes Anderson’s Method

4 diggs Los Angeles Review of Books Entertainment Movies Culture Long Reads 9 May 2018

"Isle of Dogs" is a movie about finding: finding a dog, finding your friends and family, finding your purpose and your identity. So it is slightly difficult to integrate it into the Anderson oeuvre.

ROBBING PETER TO PAY LOGAN PAUL

How YouTube Blew It

17 diggs Los Angeles Review of Books Internet Business Culture Entertainment Long Reads 21 Jan 2018

In our tech driven world, companies like Apple, Facebook, Alphabet (formerly Google), and Amazon have a lock on tech development, but they consistently fail to develop culture in ways that are innovative and sustainable.

INFANTILE OR INSIGHTFUL?

David Lynch: Return Of The Naïve Genius

5 diggs Los Angeles Review of Books Movies Culture Entertainment Long Reads 25 Oct 2017

Reading any interview with Lynch since the release of "Eraserhead" leaves open the question of whether the director performs his innocent remoteness.

DID VIDEO KILL THE RADIO STAR?

Why TV Isn't Trying To Kill The Movies

8 diggs Los Angeles Review of Books Media Movies TV 18 Sep 2016

Why must we assume that media are murderers? Disagreements aside, why do we need to constantly repackage our broad-scale critiques of art in the form of cage-match battles to the death?

'CATS ARE COLONIZERS'

The Case Against Cats

27 diggs Los Angeles Review of Books Books Animals 11 Sep 2016

Cats have contributed to species decline and habitat reduction in dozens of cases. Because they’re so cute and beloved, we have little conception of — and little incentive to find out — how much damage cats are doing to our environment.

WITH THE HELP OF ROBOT FRIENDS

How 'Mystery Science Theater 3000' Helped One Man Keep His Sanity

14 diggs Los Angeles Review of Books TV Culture Entertainment Human Nature Long Reads Personal Essay 13 Jan 2016

I felt that if I ever stopped watching, if I ever lost this rock I was clinging to, I was done. Maybe I’d just drift off and not wake up.

A GREAT AMERICAN WHALE?

Lou Reed And The End Times

9 diggs Los Angeles Review of Books Culture Long Reads Music 4 Nov 2015

Who cares about Lou? Who cares about biographies? Lou Reed was an asshole, and he had a number of dogs, one of which was named Seymour and others of which were not.