- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
- A People's History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story by Diana Butler Bass
- The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome by Susan Wise Bauer
- The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade by Susan Wise Bauer
- Heavy Metal Music In Britain by Gerd Bayer
- The Slow Professor: Challenging the Culture of Speed in the Academy by Maggie Berg
- The Smart Girl's Guide to Privacy: Practical Tips for Staying Safe Online by Violet Blue
- Monsieur Pain by Roberto Bolano
- Nazi Literature In The Americas by Roberto Bolano
- The Unknown University by Roberto Bolano
- The Secret History of Science Fiction by T.C. Boyle
- The Sorcerer's Daughter: The Defenders of Shannara by Terry Brooks
- Letters, 1941-1985 by Italo Calvino
- Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History Of The Hip-Hop Generation by Jeff Chang
- Lion's Pride: The Turbulent History of New Japan Pro Wrestling by Chris Charlton
- X-Men: Days Of Future Past by Chris Claremont
- Disgrace: A Novel by J.M. Coetzee
- Panther In The Hive by Olivia A. Cole
- Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous by Gabriella Coleman
- The Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in U.S. History and How We Can Fight Back by Alan Collinge
- Secret Identity Crisis: Comic Books and the Unmasking of Cold War America by Matthew J. Costello
- Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica by Kevin Courrier
- Unfortunately, It Was Paradise: Selected Poems by Mahmoud Darwish
- Star Trek Archives: The Best Of Peter David
- Women In Class Struggle by Marlene Dixon
- Mystery Science Storybook: Bedtime Tales Based on the Worst Movies Ever by Sugar Ray Dodge
- The Life Engineered by JF Dubeau
- Husker Du: The Story Of The Noise-Pop Pioneers Who Launched Modern Rock by Andrew Earles
- On Literature by Umberto Eco
- Selected Essays, Poems, and Other Writings by George Eliot
- Picture Windows: How The Suburbs Happened by Elizabeth Ewen
- False Choices: The Faux Feminism Of Hilary Rodham Clinton by Liza Featherstone
- Welcome To Night Vale: A Novel by Joseph Fink
- The Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime by Michael Fournier
- Nirvana's In Utero by Gillian Gaar
- Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? by Neil Gaiman
- The Game of Our Lives: The English Premier League and the Making of Modern Britain by David Goldblatt
- Imagine: Living In A Socialist USA by Frances Goldin
- Anxiety: A Short History by Allan V. Horwitz
- Queen Of Chaos: The Misadventures Of Hillary Clinton by Diana Johnstone
- The Walking Dead Volume One by Robert Kirkman
- The Walking Dead Volume Two by Robert Kirkman
- Capitalism: A Short History by Jurgen Kocka
- Flu: The Story Of The Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused It by Gina Kolata
- State & Revolution by Vladimir Lenin
- Daredevil: Born Again by Frank Miller
- Milton and the Post-Secular Present: Ethics, Politics, Terrorism by Feisal Mohamed
- All Star Superman by Grant Morrison
- Alice Munro's Best: Selected Stories by Alice Munro
- Batman & Green Arrow: The Poison Tomorrow by Dennis O'Neil
- The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized, History by John Ortved
- Game Boy World: 1989: A History of Nintendo Game Boy, Volume One by Jeremy Parish
- The Apology by Plato
- The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin by Corey Rubin
- Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance by Goerge Saliba
- The Assasination Complex: Inside The Government's Secret Drone Warface Program by Jeremy Scahill
- Batgirl 2012 Annual by Gail Simone
- Lumberjanes Volume One by Noelle Stevenson
- Lumberjanes Volume Two by Noelle Stevenson
- The ABCs Of Socialism by Bhaskar Sunkara
- The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia by Patrick Thorpe
- The People: The Rise and Fall of the Working Class, 1910-2010 by Selina Todd
- The Monsters Of Education Technology by Audrey Watters
- Lumberjanes Volume Three by Shannon Watters
- Lumberjanes Volume Four by Shannon Watters
- Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber
- Race Matters by Cornell West
- Crisis On Infinite Earths by Marv Wolfman
- A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft
Worth Reading Recently
- Serena Williams and the fear of black dominant athletes.
- The Web We Have To Save.
- Ellen Pao on Reddit and internet trolls.
- Barrett Brown is now writing from prison for First Look.
- Audrey Watters on the web we need to give to students.
- The New Republic on Shirley Jackson.
- Adeline Koh on getting started in activist digital humanities.
- Is it time to kill The Killing Joke?
- Megan Condis on Gamergate.
- If Julian of Norwich were your professor.
Worth Reading Recently
- Bob Braun asks why it is okay to defame teachers.
- Poly Styrene, Punk Prophet & Science Fiction Priestess.
- Mass Effect, Personal Identity, and Genocide.
- Audrey Watters on the history of The Learning Channel.
- Cory Doctorow's You Are Not A Digital Native: Privacy In The Age Of The Internet.
- Bob Mackey on Captain N: The Game Master.
- Emily Nussbaum on Inside Amy Schumer.
- Matt Reed on extra credit. JUST. SAY. NO.
- Jill Walker-Rettberg on wondering if the world can change.
- Roger Ebert on Do The Right Thing.
Why I Do Not Allow Comments Anymore
Just a note to clarify why comments are closed on my weblog.
A few reasons come to mind. First, as Audrey Watters notes, aggressive and hateful comments are a pain to deal with. I have had some published on previous versions of this weblog, but many I chose not to allow. I have little patience for that nonsense. I have considered turning comments off on Signifying Nothing too because of this (always anonymous too...real "punk" of you to cowardly not use your name).
Second, and more importantly, is the no stop barrage of spam. Any modern CMS should have good filters either built in or available via a plugin, but I cannot be bothered.
Third, I resent how much scripting is involved with comments. I run No Script and always have a real problem trying to get comments to show up if I chose to view them. No thanks.
Finally, this weblog has shifted to being more about statements and/or announcements than discussion. Discussion can be found in email or on Twitter. I just don't think blogs are right for that anymore.
Replacing Google Reader With Newsblur
With the coming demise of Google Reader, I have spent some time recently trying to find a good replacement for the RSS reader. Despite all of these idiotic proclamations that RSS is dead and apps like Youtube and Instagram not even offering easy access to it anymore, which is beyond frustrating, I am still an ardent user of RSS.
My usage of RSS has evolved over the years; previous to the past few years, I used RSS for almost all of my online reading. With the mainstream popularity of Twitter, I have been able to move a lot of my day to day reading to tweets. Apps like Flipboard let me read more frequently updating websites at my own leisure. These days my usage of RSS is for infrequently updates websites and for tracking various things, like certain Tumblr users I want to make sure I all their content.
After trying out a number of RSS readers including Net Vibes and even going back to the old Bloglines, which still exists, I have settled on Newsblur for my RSS reader. Newsblur is a modern app that works on the desktop, phone, and tablet. It syncs nicely and is constantly updating and getting better in both performance and appearance. Hoping that Newsblur will stick around, I even put down the $24 for a yearly premium account.
Cory Doctorow is also moving to Newsblur, which I take as a really good sign about its promise. Audrey Watters also has some good thoughts and goes through a long run down of various RSS readers.