2023 Reading Challenge: Laudato Si'

So, wow, I just love it that the Pope weighed in on climate change, and I can understand now why so many American bishops hate his guts. The latter chapters in this Encyclical Letter are a scathing critique of capitalism and consumerism. Some of this stuff was so on point. I will never agree with the Catholic Church on everything, but I think this little letter is a masterpiece. Getting conservative Catholics to recognized that the climate crisis is real and human caused is no small feat. I only regret that I had not read it sooner.

2023 Reading Challenge: Ann Patchett's What Now?

Okay so this is technically cheating because this is a short essay rather than an actual book. But Patchett and her publisher cheated by publishing this as a book in the first place. It’s a graduation day speech, and it’s not a bad one, but it should not really be a book. I guess it is something to buy for your college grad when you can’t think of anything else.

2023 Reading Challenge: On Hope by Pope Francis

“Hope is the ability to go beyond human reasoning, wisdom, and prudence of the world, beyond what is normally considered common sense, to believe in the impossible. Hope opens new horizons, making us capable of dreaming what is not even imaginable. This hope invites us to enter the darkness of an uncertain future and to walk through and into the light. It is beautiful, the virtue of hope; it gives us great strength to walk in life.”

Everyday Utopia to be featured on Science Podcast →

In 1999, historian Londa Schiebinger summed up two decades of feminist analyses of science by asking Has Feminism Changed Science? (1). The answer was “yes, but…” there was still work to do. Indeed, the study of sex and gender continues to affect scientific thought, and in 2023, Science will explore some of these influences in a limited podcast series. The team behind the series—host Angela Saini; Science books and culture editor, Valerie Thompson; Science podcast producer, Sarah Crespi; and myself—found a wealth of new work to consider. The series, announced today to coincide with Science’s special issue on human reproduction, will begin on 25 May 2023 and continue monthly thereafter for 6 months. During each broadcast, an author will discuss their distinctive take on the relationships—past, present, and future—between sex, gender, and science.