Renee Diresta

Stanford Internet Observatory, Mozilla Fellow alum. Interested in how narratives spread online. Prev: quant finance, VC, startups. Many opinions about SF.

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Book Recommendations:

RD

Recommended by Renee Diresta

@tar_xvzf Who isn’t?! Great book. (from X)

Pride and Prejudice (Penguin Classics) book cover

by Jane Austen, Vivien Jones·You?

Austen's most popular novel, the unforgettable story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy Few have failed to be charmed by the witty and independent spirit of Elizabeth Bennet in Austen’s beloved classic Pride and Prejudice. When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited; he is indifferent to her good looks and lively mind. When she later discovers that Darcy has involved himself in the troubled relationship between his friend Bingley and her beloved sister Jane, she is determined to dislike him more than ever. In the sparkling comedy of manners that follows, Jane Austen shows us the folly of judging by first impressions and superbly evokes the friendships, gossip and snobberies of provincial middle-class life. This Penguin Classics edition, based on Austen's first edition, contains the original Penguin Classics introduction by Tony Tanner and an updated introduction and notes by Viven Jones. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

RD

Recommended by Renee Diresta

@AlanLevinovitz this is my favorite fiction book. it's incredible writing. the opening is excellent. i also really like Faust. (from X)

The Master and Margarita: 50th-Anniversary Edition (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) book cover

by Mikhail Bulgakov, Christopher Conn Askew, Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky, Boris Fishman·You?

A 50th-anniversary Deluxe Edition of the incomparable 20th-century masterpiece of satire and fantasy, in a newly revised version of the acclaimed Pevear and Volokhonsky translation Nothing in the whole of literature compares with The Master and Margarita. One spring afternoon, the Devil, trailing fire and chaos in his wake, weaves himself out of the shadows and into Moscow. Mikhail Bulgakov’s fantastical, funny, and devastating satire of Soviet life combines two distinct yet interwoven parts, one set in contemporary Moscow, the other in ancient Jerusalem, each brimming with historical, imaginary, frightful, and wonderful characters. Written during the darkest days of Stalin’s reign, and finally published in 1966 and 1967, The Master and Margarita became a literary phenomenon, signaling artistic and spiritual freedom for Russians everywhere. This newly revised translation, by the award-winning team of Pevear and Volokhonsky, is made from the complete and unabridged Russian text. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

RD

Recommended by Renee Diresta

@GZuckerman Your book looks fantastic and I’m looking forward to reading it. I’m kind of fascinated by Amazon categorization. What did you/the publisher categorize as, if you don’t mind me asking? (from X)

"An inspiring and informative page-turner." –Walter Isaacson Longlisted for the FT/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award The authoritative account of the race to produce the vaccines that are saving us all, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Man Who Solved the Market Few were ready when a mysterious respiratory illness emerged in Wuhan, China in January 2020. Politicians, government officials, business leaders, and public-health professionals were unprepared for the most devastating pandemic in a century. Many of the world’s biggest drug and vaccine makers were slow to react or couldn’t muster an effective response. It was up to a small group of unlikely and untested scientists and executives to save civilization. A French businessman dismissed by many as a fabulist. A Turkish immigrant with little virus experience. A quirky Midwesterner obsessed with insect cells. A Boston scientist employing questionable techniques. A British scientist despised by his peers. Far from the limelight, each had spent years developing innovative vaccine approaches. Their work was met with skepticism and scorn. By 2020, these individuals had little proof of progress. Yet they and their colleagues wanted to be the ones to stop the virus holding the world hostage. They scrambled to turn their life’s work into life-saving vaccines in a matter of months, each gunning to make the big breakthrough—and to beat each other for the glory that a vaccine guaranteed. A #1 New York Times bestselling author and award-winning Wall Street Journal investigative journalist lauded for his “bravura storytelling” (Gary Shteyngart) and “first-rate” reporting (The New York Times), Zuckerman takes us inside the top-secret laboratories, corporate clashes, and high-stakes government negotiations that led to effective shots. Deeply reported and endlessly gripping, this is a dazzling, blow-by-blow chronicle of the most consequential scientific breakthrough of our time. It’s a story of courage, genius, and heroism. It’s also a tale of heated rivalries, unbridled ambitions, crippling insecurities, and unexpected drama. A Shot to Save the World is the story of how science saved the world.

RD

Recommended by Renee Diresta

The Plandemic situation is interesting - it's actually a BOOK *about* the documentary that is #1 in documentary movies. Also note the categorization into Politics & Government. The goal is to get lift by using whatever categories & keywords are possible. It's just marketing. https://t.co/asy93XlmRb (from X)

USA Today Bestseller The incredible true story of the most banned documentary in history. Researching the controversy arising after the release of the viral phenomenon known as Plandemic, the most seen and censored documentary in history, an investigative journalist sets out to disprove and debunk claims made throughout the film. Instead, the journalist opens a Pandora’s box to witness firsthand an underworld of corruption, lies, and the darkest of unsolved mysteries. The result? A fascinating behind-the-scenes account about the making of Plandemic and Plandemic: Indoctornation; an exposé of the truth behind the origins of COVID-19; an alarming examination of individuals, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci and Bill Gates, and organizations like the CDC, NIH, WHO, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, among others, driving the global vaccination agenda; and a look at the tech giant and mainstream media forces doing their utmost to silence and suppress the veracity of these findings. Investigative filmmaker Mikki Willis focuses his unflinching lens on two key subjects: virologist Dr. Judy Mikovits, who speaks frankly about the machinations for control and profit corrupting individuals and institutions tasked with overseeing public health; and Dr. David E. Martin, whose research and shocking data corroborate allegations of conflicts of interest. The US media and fact checkers condemned the two documentaries as “dangerous conspiracy theory.” Today, the two-part bombshell is being hailed globally for warning the world of the crimes against humanity that are just now being uncovered. From the death of his brother and mother due to bad medicine, to his awakening at Ground Zero on 9/11, Mikki Willis describes in detail the incredible life experiences that led him to risk his career and safety to create the Plandemic series.

RD

Recommended by Renee Diresta

@mims There’s a really great book called “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds” from the late 1800s that goes into a bunch of case studies. Tulip mania but also witch hunts. Human psychology remains the same, the speed and scale have changed. (from X)

RD

Recommended by Renee Diresta

Not only is it on the Best Seller list - and has been for days because so much of her YT activity for 3 wks building up to the #Plandemic video was hawking the book -but it’s #1 in “Science and Math” & a few serious health categories bc Amazon still can’t be bothered to fix that. https://t.co/V8IKHoXomH (from X)

Plague of Corruption: Restoring Faith in the Promise of Science (Children’s Health Defense) book cover

by Judy Mikovits, Kent Heckenlively, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.·You?

#1 on Amazon Charts, New York Times Bestseller, USA Today Bestseller—Over 100,000 Copies in Print! “Kent Heckenlively and Judy Mikovits are the new dynamic duo fighting corruption in science.” —Ben Garrison, America’s #1 political satirist Dr. Judy Mikovits is a modern-day Rosalind Franklin, a brilliant researcher shaking up the old boys’ club of science with her groundbreaking discoveries. And like many women who have trespassed into the world of men, she uncovered decades-old secrets that many would prefer to stay buried. From her doctoral thesis, which changed the treatment of HIV-AIDS, saving the lives of millions, including basketball great Magic Johnson, to her spectacular discovery of a new family of human retroviruses, and her latest research which points to a new golden age of health, Dr. Mikovits has always been on the leading edge of science. With the brilliant wit one might expect if Erin Brockovich had a doctorate in molecular biology, Dr. Mikovits has seen the best and worst of science. When she was part of the research community that turned HIV-AIDS from a fatal disease into a manageable one, she saw science at its best. But when her investigations questioned whether the use of animal tissue in medical research were unleashing devastating plagues of chronic diseases, such as autism and chronic fatigue syndrome, she saw science at its worst. If her suspicions are correct, we are looking at a complete realignment of scientific practices, including how we study and treat human disease. Recounting her nearly four decades in science, including her collaboration of more than thirty-five years with Dr. Frank Ruscetti, one of the founders of the field of human retrovirology, this is a behind the scenes look at the issues and egos which will determine the future health of humanity.

RD

Recommended by Renee Diresta

@MichaelSmithLL @antoniogm That book is great (from X)

New York Times Bestseller • Finalist for the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction • A New York Times Notable Book • Bloomberg Best Book of 2018 • One of Bill Gates’s Top Five Books of All Time “Their distinctive contribution to the higher-education debate is to meet safetyism on its own, psychological turf . . . Lukianoff and Haidt tell us that safetyism undermines the freedom of inquiry and speech that are indispensable to universities.” —Jonathan Marks, Commentary “The remedies the book outlines should be considered on college campuses, among parents of current and future students, and by anyone longing for a more sane society.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Something has been going wrong on many college campuses in the last few years. Speakers are shouted down. Students and professors say they are walking on eggshells and are afraid to speak honestly. Rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide are rising—on campus as well as nationally. How did this happen? First Amendment expert Greg Lukianoff and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation, show how the new problems on campus have their origins in three terrible ideas that have become increasingly woven into American childhood and education: What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker; always trust your feelings; and life is a battle between good people and evil people. These three Great Untruths contradict basic psychological principles about well-being and ancient wisdom from many cultures.  Embracing these untruths—and the resulting culture of safetyism—interferes with young people’s social, emotional, and intellectual development. It makes it harder for them to become autonomous adults who are able to navigate the bumpy road of life. Lukianoff and Haidt investigate the many social trends that have intersected to promote the spread of these untruths. They explore changes in childhood such as the rise of fearful parenting, the decline of unsupervised, child-directed play, and the new world of social media that has engulfed teenagers in the last decade. They examine changes on campus, including the corporatization of universities and the emergence of new ideas about identity and justice. They situate the conflicts on campus within the context of America’s rapidly rising political polarization and dysfunction. This is a book for anyone who is confused by what is happening on college campuses today, or has children, or is concerned about the growing inability of Americans to live, work, and cooperate across party lines.