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The Sands of Mars Book Review

Arthur C. Clarke
This story was written in 1951, and it hasn't aged terribly well. There's the fascination with atomic science; the casting of Mars colonists as brave and intrepid pioneers; the rationality and cleverness of it all. When (spoiler alert) they discover Martians, the main character makes quick work of handing it over for scientific experimentation. They soon put the new species to work to benefit the colonial society. There's a naïve optimism running throughout this book that shares none of the darkness or doubt of Clarke's more famous work, *2001: A Space Odyssey*.

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The Disposessed Book Review

Ursula K. LeGuin
This story shines in its realistic, warts-and-all portrayal of a society founded on the principles of “mutual aid” — basically non-authoritarian communism. The stoic, socially outcast intellectual as protagonist felt a little two-dimensional. But Le Guin’s dramatic prose, the way she twists a common feeling into something sublime, makes you want to keep reading.

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Long live the blogroll

Buy local, eat local, ... read local? In today’s digital media landscape, there are a few giant tech companies that control most of what we read. Their algorithms are tailored to feed us the most sensational, cringeworthy, funny, viral stuff. They dredge up the popular posts from the slurry of …

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Debriefing the 2018 Ontario Election

In the 2018 provincial election, the Green Party of Ontario's goal was to get our leader elected. Mike Schreiner handily won his seat in Guelph, earning 45% of the vote -- more than double the votes of his closest rival. It's a historic moment for Greens in Ontario, and we should be proud of that …

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