Rollins's Review, October 21
I don’t know Gillian Fallon Cousins, but I look forward to reading more from her. This post really speaks to me. Maybe it’ll speak to you, too.
Harrison Koehli continues to knock it out of the park. (I’ll be taking him up on his offer to have me on the pod when I catch my breath—watch this space.)
Anyone who’s at all interested in the mind-body connection, high-level self-improvement, or (presumably) developing psychic powers a la Professor Xavier might want to take a gander at Scott Alexander’s latest. There isn’t another book like the one he’s reviewed, and there probably isn’t anyone who could have parsed it for the layman better than Scott did. I got a lot out of this.
There’s a lot of smart people on Substack, but Jason Pargin is wise. His John Dies at The End series is one of my favorites, and anyone who’s majoring in philosophy in college should read every single thing he ever wrote as “David Wong” for Cracked.com instead. It would result in less psychopathy, less maladjusted assholes making special cases of themselves, and probably a lot more people getting not only the help they need, but the right kind of help. His understanding of social dynamics is as good or better than mine, and I don’t say that about many people.
Back in the day, I used to try and cheer up incels on Reddit. It never worked. I felt and feel incredibly bad for those sad sacks, who are almost never as ugly as they think they are (they’re generally just depressed and autistic AF) and apparently don’t merit the kind of fear and loathing they get. I know this because Jesse Singal has done an interview worth reading with Naama Kates, who’s some kind of incel whisperer. I don’t generally listen to podcasts, but I’ll be listening to hers.
I read Holly Math Nerd. You should also read Holly Math Nerd. Especially if, as in the case of her latest, you enjoy becoming progressively more enraged at roughly the speed at which you onboard words you read on a screen. Holy fucking shit.
Brian “Cactus Chu” Chau is so fucking smart it annoys me. He comes at a lot of the things I think about already from a perspective that makes me go “Goddamnit, why didn’t I think of it that way?” Better still (or “more annoying still,” if you’re me), his framing of the things he writes about always subtly and perfectly reinforces his points. Everything he writes is A+ quality, every fucking time.
So aggravating.
That’s all for this week. Regular posts resume next week.
So much stuff. SO MUCH FUCKING GREAT STUFF. Between you & Doc Hammer I’m paralysed by choices. Not sure whether to hate you or thank you 🤷♂️