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Metahistory

The Power of Setting

Nathan, the Pulp Archivist, has an awesome blog up at Castalia House Why Settings Matter. He uses the tiki bar as an example of a bit of fiction that seemed so real that it perpetuated itself into reality. You should go read it, as Nathan along with JD Cowan is

Linkfest 2021-12-03: The Burden of Proof

The Harvard Crimson: Burden of Proof This math course sounds kind of awesome. One of my few regrets is that I didn’t go further in mathematics. I wouldn’t have had enough preparation for this course as a undergrad, but I find it fascinating all the same. BasedCon: A

Linkfest 2021-08-06: Twilight of Democracy

The Long View: The Twilight of Democracy John J. Reilly’s 1997 review of Patrick E. Kennon’s The Twilight of Democracy is a fascinating read twenty four years later. Some version of Kennon’s point of view is still hugely important in how the United States is run, and

The Long View 2008-06-04: Toward the Courts of the Crimson Kings

At a request from a reader, I re-published ahead of schedule this review of S. M. Stirling’s In the Courts of the Crimson Kings a little less than a year ago, but I like it enough to re-publish it now when it comes around again. Here are a couple

Linkfest 2020-11-20: Metahistorical Models

Peak Oil Never Went Away Peak Oil is something I’ve often had cause to discuss on With Both Hands. It is of the class of theories that John J. Reilly loved, metahistorical theories using simplified assumptions like Henry Adam’s energy predictions, Moore’s Law, Eroom’s Law, and

Space Viking by H. Beam Piper Book Review

You couldn’t get any more on the nose with the title Space Viking [Amazon link] than this book, which despite it’s space opera trappings, is a re-imagining of 9th or 10th century Europe, when intrepid men like Rollo secured their domains by wits and force of arms, while

The Long View 2008-06-04: Toward the Courts of the Crimson Kings

This review of In the Courts of the Crimson Kings [Amazon link] is a great excuse for John J. Reilly to indulge in his hobby of metahistory, the way that cultures have a tendency to follow cyclical patterns of development over centuries. The book is fun, and John’s digressions