TOR is the dark internet, where identity thieves, drug dealers and arms sellers hang out, safely hidden. It is home to Wikileaks and Silk Road. You can purchase anything from a billion stolen e-mail accounts

(The Danger Within Us, Jeanne Lenzer, December 2017) License to kill Stephen King must be envious. Nothing he has written is nearly as frightening or as suspenseful as what the medical-industrial complex

(The Spinning Magnet, Alanna Mitchell, January 2018) The Ultimate lose-Lose Proposition With all the talk of climate change, the sixth extinction, the collision of galaxies and the death of the sun, Alanna

(Real Quanta, Martin Van Calmthout, January 2018) One of the great things about quantum physics is that no one fully understands it, and if you think you do, it’s proof that you don’t. This had led to

(Our Native Bees, Paige Embry, January 2018) Bee lovers are set for life. There are so many native varieties and we know so very little about them, that anyone interested can devote a lifetime to learning,

(The Shame Nation, Sue Scheff, October 2017) Shame Nation is a self-help book. The first half is a collection of miserable and dispiriting stories of people hunted, haunted and sometimes destroyed by online

(When The Senate Worked For Us, Michael Pertschuk, Sept 2017) Spot the difference In the 1960s, Capitol Hill hired idealistic young men and women who wanted to learn and make a difference. They had mentors

(The Bad Food Bible, Dr. Aaron Carroll, November 2017) There are two points to The Bad Food Bible. Medical studies should not be used to make food decisions, and you should go ahead and eat whatever you

(Eye See You, Angelo Madrigale, December 2017) There is a kind of magnetizing cognitive dissonance in the art of Oliver Hibert. His colors are striking and psychedelic, but they complement skulls, melting

(The Ghost of Gaudi, Torres/Iglesias, Sept 2017) Every so often, a graphic novel or comic crosses my screen that I cannot resist. Anything this unusual, that also promotes the great Antoni Gaudi, fills

(Basic Income, Guy Standing, August 2017) A treasury of clear thinking There is too much loose talk about a universal guaranteed income. A lot of it comes from ill-informed sources. The faulty exposition

(Secrecy World, Jake Bernstein, Nov 2017) The world of secret offshore companies is outrageous. The rich and corrupt, seeking to hide assets and income from taxes, set up shell companies, foundations and

(The Responsibility of Intellectuals, Noam Chomsky, Nov 2017) The premise of this 50 year old essay is simply that “It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and expose lies”. In it,

(Why Dinosaurs Matter, Kenneth Lacovara, Sept 2017) Kenneth Lacovara is a storyteller. In Why Dinosaurs Matter, he has woven together the importance of dinosaurs in the census of species, as well as stringing

For thousands of years, the objective in war was to get the enemy’s flag – and destroy it. Capture the flag, and it's all over. Even today, winning a war means the enemy’s flag is history. Germany and

(The Water Will Come, Jeff Goodell, Oct 2017) The USA, it seems, is the last bastion of climate change deniers. There is the whole rest of the world, and there are Fox News viewers. In North Carolina,

(Under My Thumb, Jones/Davies, October 2017) Under My Thumb is surprising. I expected an intense feminist screed attacking the whole music industry. But instead it is a thoughtful, personal and extraordinarily

(Big Mind, Geoff Mulgan, Nov 2017) We are, as ever, at a cross roads. We have the choice to combine forces for the greater good, or leave all the potential just sitting there, and proceed as usual, learning

(I Can't Breathe, Matt Taibbi, Oct 2017) Eric Garner died for nothing. He had been harassed by police for years. They went to extraordinary lengths to taunt him and keep him in the criminal justice system.

(Black Tudors, Miranda Kaufmann, Nov 2017) Well beyond being a nation of shopkeepers, the British are a nation of event recorders. There are registers, court records and all kinds of documents official