All Consuming : Luca Masters

Consumed "The Phantom Tollbooth"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Luca Masters) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:56:10 GMT

The Phantom Tollbooth

by Norton Juster

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Artemis Fowl: Lost Colony, The (new cover)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Luca Masters) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:31:13 GMT

Artemis Fowl: Lost Colony, The (new cover)

by Eoin Colfer

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Outliers"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Luca Masters) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:23:58 GMT

Outliers

by Malcolm Gladwell

WORTH IT!

Consumed "InterWorld"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Luca Masters) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:28:02 GMT

InterWorld

by Neil Gaiman

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Mary Poppins (Disney Gold Classic Collection)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Luca Masters) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:53:21 GMT

Mary Poppins (Disney Gold Classic Collection)

by Robert Stevenson

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (P.S.)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Luca Masters) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:30:37 GMT

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (P.S.)

by Steven D. Levitt

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Zero"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Luca Masters) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:07:46 GMT

Zero

by Charles Seife

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Twentieth Century Discovery"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Luca Masters) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 18:18:54 GMT

Twentieth Century Discovery

by Isaac Asimov

WORTH IT!

Consumed "The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Luca Masters) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 22:32:31 GMT

The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns

by John Henderson

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Wag the Dog (New Line Platinum Series)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Luca Masters) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 22:32:25 GMT

Wag the Dog (New Line Platinum Series)

by Barry Levinson

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Goodnight Bush: A Parody"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Luca Masters) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:23:43 GMT

Goodnight Bush: A Parody

by Gan Golan

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Hands on a Hard Body"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Luca Masters) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:14:18 GMT

Hands on a Hard Body

by S.R. Bindler

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Riddick Trilogy (Pitch Black/ The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury/ The Chronicles of Riddick)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Luca Masters) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 01:26:05 GMT

Riddick Trilogy (Pitch Black/ The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury/ The Chronicles of Riddick)

by David Twohy

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Underworld - Evolution (Widescreen Special Edition)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Luca Masters) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 01:26:02 GMT

Underworld - Evolution (Widescreen Special Edition)

by Len Wiseman

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Edward Scissorhands"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Luca Masters) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 22:24:01 GMT

Edward Scissorhands

by Tim Burton

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Mamma Mia!"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Luca Masters) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 22:22:47 GMT

Mamma Mia!

by Phyllida Lloyd

WORTH IT!

Consumed "The Firm"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Luca Masters) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:08:12 GMT

The Firm

by Sydney Pollack

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Splash"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Luca Masters) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:07:47 GMT

Splash

by Ron Howard

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Miracle at St Anna (Widescreen Edition)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Luca Masters) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:06:52 GMT

Miracle at St Anna (Widescreen Edition)

by .

WORTH IT!

Consumed "The Complete Peanuts 1953-1954"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Luca Masters) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:11:24 GMT

The Complete Peanuts 1953-1954

by Charles M. Schulz

WORTH IT!

A review of "The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Luca Masters) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 19:09:29 GMT

The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things

by Barry Glassner

Among other things, Glassner informs us that we shouldn’t be worried about violent crime Violent crime is (as of 1999) going down and has never been a huge problem. He provides plenty of statistics (with citations) to demonstrate this very convincingly (along with numerous other points.

But several times throughout the book, he stops talking about how violence isn’t a significant problem to briefly(?) rant about how violent crime involving guns is a HUGE problem. A sane person will recognise that gun violence is a subset of violence, and therefore the problem of gun violence CANNOT be a bigger problem than the problem of violence in general. Glassner, however, is not sane when it comes to the issue of guns.

Glassner writes intelligently and coherently for the most part, but as soon as the subject of guns comes up, he begins contradicting himself. He chastises People magazine for saying that gun violence is rare, here paragraphs after he himself insisted that violence is not a huge problem.

He writes from a very liberal perspective, but he does so rationally, and as a very rational, very liberal reader, it doesn’t bother me. Except when he starts ranting about guns. It doesn’t matter how much I favour gun control—his arguments on the subject at flat-out self-contradictory and the very scare mongering he spends the entire book arguing against. His out-of-place rants break the intelligent flow of the book in several spots. (I know I’m harping on this myself, but it really drove me to distraction numerous times.)

For the most part, however, this is an excellent book. It’s certainly a very left-wing perspective, but better left than right.