“By the end of 2020, Newsweek reported that videos of people burning Harry Potter books were spreading like wildfire across TikTok. Historically, Harry Potter has been burned by right-wing fundamentalists who accuse J. K. Rowling of promoting witchcraft.” (p. 2)

“When Toni Morrison, the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, gave the Tanner Lectures at the Univserity of Michigan in 1988, she placed William Shakespeare, Henry James, and Herman Melville on the list of authors she could never live without.” (p. 47)

“Ray Bradbury’s 1953 masterpiece [Fahrenheit 451] was itself silently rewritten by his publisher, without his knowledge, because it, too, offended some readers. His publisher was ‘fearful of contaminating the young.’ For six years, the censored edition was the only paperback edition in print.” (p. 84)

Adam Szetela’s That Book is Dangerous! explores the pressures exerted by groups on publishers to “modify” or simply not publish books that “offend” them. Szetela’s cites a dozen examples of books dropped by publishers because of social media hostility. And, we’re all too familiar with groups that attack books in school libraries that they claim are pornography or ideological.

I learned that most publishers today employ “sensitivity” readers to advise them on which books might generate negative reaction on TikTok or other social media platforms. Publishers are willing to go to great lengths to satisfy those “sensitive” readers–and to avoid confrontations. The result, of course, is censorship, thought-policing, and blatant editing of themes, characters, and situations that might be “provocative.”

Publishers are under intense pressure and scrutiny by groups threatening boycotts, public exhibitions like book burnings, and social media trashing. I knew publishers faced a lot a problems but That Book is Dangerous! shows in detail just how bad the situation is for authors, publishers…and readers today. Plus, if William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Henry James, and Herman Melville are considered “Dangerous” by these wacky groups, we are in deep shit. GRADE: A

Adam Szetela earned his Ph.D. in English from the Department of Literatures at Cornell University. Before that, he was a visiting fellow in the Department of History at Harvard University. He writes for The Washington Post, The Guardian, Newsweek, and other publications.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Welcome to the Sensitivity Era — 1
1 The Ideas of the Sensitivity Era — 9
2 The Behavior of the Sensitivity Era — 65
3 The Political Economy of the Sensitivity Era — 123
4 The Future of the Sensitivity Era — 169

ACKNOWLEGEMENTS — 197

NOTES — 206

INDEX — 259

The 98th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, will be broadcast on ABC. Sadly, Diane and I have seen NONE of the nominees for Best Picture–a first.

BEST PICTURE:

The Secret Agent

Bugonia

Marty Supreme

Train Dreams

F1

Sinners

Frankenstein

Hamnet

One Battle After Another

Sentimental Value

Diane and I used to watch the entire Oscar ceremony from start to finish. Most years, we had seen ALL the nominees for Best Picture. Those days are gone and the motion picture industry is in deep trouble. Are you going to watch the Oscars this year? The Oscar broadcast moves from ABC to YouTube in 2029.

As you have figured out, I am a Star Trek fan. The first season of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy just aired its finale and I wanted more Star Trek content. Star Trek: Lower Decks is an animated series but it’s aimed at true hardcore Star Trek fans. Plenty of Easter Eggs and inside jokes. I delayed watching this series because I thought it might be targeting much younger audiences, but I was wrong. The series has the Star Trek vibe and even some snarky humor. I certainly should have embraced this sooner! GRADE: Incomplete but trending towards a B+

I’ve read a couple dozen books by Loren D. Estleman–both mysteries and Westerns–and enjoyed them all. Steve Lewis’s blog post about a down on his luck private eye, Ralph Poteet (you can read Steve’s post here), triggered my searching for Estleman’s Peeper and the two anthologies with Ralph Poteet stories in my cavernous basement.

Peeper is a 1989 loopy detective novel, featuring an overweight Detroit PI named Ralph Poteet who has a drinking problem (among other personal problems). When the hooker in the apartment above his calls Ralph in the middle of the night and offers him a $100 to help her, Ralph reluctantly agrees (since he’s broke).

Ralph finds a monsignor dead in the hooker’s bed. That leads to Ralph getting entangled in a conspiracy involving church corruption, Vatican politics, and murder. The hooker gets caught in an explosion as someone bombs her apartment. She survives, but is gravely injured.

Estleman uses Peeper to satirize the detective genre as the reader follows Ralph as he gets sucked into blackmail attempts and assassination attempts which leads to a conspiracy that reaches both Washington D.C. and the Vatican. 

Ralph Poteet shows up in short story form in two anthologies. The first is An Eye For Justice: The Third Private Eye Writers of America Anthology Edited by Robert J. Randisi (1988)–you can read my review here). “State of Grace” is basically the first couple chapters of Peeper.

The final Ralph Poteet story shows up in Flesh & Blood: Guilty As Sin Edited by Max Allan Collins and Jeff Gelb (2003). “A Hatful of Ralph,” where Ralph Poteet, as a result of his many problems, is reduced to playing Santa in a department store where he’s supposed to find out who is stealing plenty of items. Of course, on top of the thefts, there’s a murder to spice things up.

If you’re in the mood for some sardonic private eye stories with a noirish twist–a change of pace from traditional P.I fiction–I recommend Loren D. Estleman’s Ralph Poteet series. GRADE: B

Some rock critics describe Early Rock ‘n Roll as Pre-Beatles and Post-Beatles. But, back in 1963, the British Invasion started with a number of groups that dominated the radio airwaves. Gerry & The Pacemakers, Freddie & The Dreamers, Peter & Gordon, Chad & Jeremy, The Seekers and many more groups rode on the coat-tails of The Beatles to success in America.

I’m especially fond of The Spencer Davis Group. When I hear “Gimme Some Lovin'” I just have to get up and dance!

Sadly, this compilation CD doesn’t include my favorite British Group, The Rolling Stones. No Who either. But listening to this CD took me back to the Sixties and the new music from overseas. Are you a fan of the British Invasion? Do you have a favorite singer or group? GRADE: B+

TRACKLIST:

My favorite story in An Eye For Justice (1988) is “Black in the Snow”–a Dan Fortune mystery–by “Michael Collins” (aka, Dennis Lyons, John Crowe, Mark Sadler, William Arden). A woman and her dog are found dead and Dan Fortune is hired to investigate. I’ve read several Dan Fortune novels and this excellent short story is just as good.

I also enjoyed Arthur Lyons’ “Dead Copy” featuring Jacob Asch who investigates the death of a friend when the widow insists his friend was murdered. Bill Pronzini’s “Incident in a Neighborhood Bar” puts the “Nameless” private eye in danger as the Bar is held up by a gun-toting young man.

There are plenty of “Name” mystery writers in this anthology and the quality level is high. GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• 1 · Introduction · Richard S. Prather · in
• 7 · Candala [Dr. Robert Frederickson (Mongo)] · George C. Chesbro · ss
• 25 · Marble Mildred [Nate Heller] · Max Allan Collins · nv
• 53 · Black in the Snow [Dan Fortune] · Michael Collins · ss
• 67 · The Judas Target [Joe Hannibal] · Wayne D. Dundee · nv
• 89 · State of Grace [Ralph Poteet] · Loren D. Estleman · ss
• 99 · Non Sung Smoke [Kinsey Millhone] · Sue Grafton · ss
• 115 · Left for Dead [Ben Perkins] · Rob Kantner · ss
• 133 · DDS10752 Libra · John Lutz & Josh Pachter · ss
• 143 · Dead Copy · Arthur Lyons · ss
• 157 · Incident in a Neighborhood Tavern [Nameless Private Eye] · Bill Pronzini · ss
• 165 · The Vanishing Virgin [Nick Delvecchio] · Robert J. Randisi · ss
• 183 · The Safest Place in the World [Cody] · James M. Reasoner · nv
• 205 · Hollywood Guns [Lucas Hallam] · L. J. Washburn · ss

Just a heads-up to fans of Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta, the forensic pathologist. AMAZON PRIME Video will be dropping the first episode of this series on Wednesday, March 11, 2026. Nicole Kidman will star as Scarpetta in this 8 episode series. A second season has already been given the Green Light. Are you a fan of Kay Scarpetta?

“Everything about online sports betting seems like a recipe for getting people to overdo it: the mere seconds it takes to deposit money from a bank, PayPal, or Venmo account, or even a credit card in some states; the vast menu of games and props available for betting at all hours; the incessant ads; the daily emails becoming customers with promotions whenever they take a break from gambling.” (p. 239)

“An estimated $1.76 billion was legally wagered on Super Bowl LX in 2026, setting a new record for the event according to the American Gaming Association. This amount represents a significant increase over the $1.25 billion bet in 2024, driven by legal betting availability in 38 states plus Washington D.C.”

With March Madness just around the corner, more people–especially young men–will be betting on college basketball games. Billions of dollars will be wagered. If you have a cell phone, you have a casino in your pocket.

Danny Funt shows how the betting boom at FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, and other gambling sites depends on the troubling methods that are being used to bleed gamblers dry. Everybody Loses (2026) is the first major investigation into America’s sports gambling industry. Funt quotes sportsbook executives who admit to misleading customers, with one admitting they’re “selling that you can win, but you can’t.”

The U.S. Supreme Court approved legalized sports gambling nationwide on May 14, 2018, by ruling in Murphy v. NCAA that the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) was unconstitutional. This 6-3 decision struck down the federal ban, allowing individual states to legalize and regulate sports betting. This unleashed a torrent of states approving legalized sports gambling…for the tax revenue it would produce. My state, New York, as of late 2025 data, has generated over $1 billion in tax revenue from online sports betting, continuing its position as a national leader in gambling tax collections. 

Everybody Loses explains why sports gambling is suddenly everywhere–and why the odds are so great that the problems it’s creating will soon spiral out of control with gambling addiction, cheating, and increased bankruptcies. Many people’s lives will be devastated by legalized gambling. GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction — 1

1. Original sin — 11

2. A silver bullet — 37

3. Let the games begin — 69

4. The media go all in — 97

5. Winners not welcome — 123

6. Very important people — 157

7. Confidence game — 181

8. The action never stops — 199

9. Foul play — 215

10. We have a problem — 239

11. The house doesn’t always win — 271

12. Gambling on the future — 271

Acknowledgements — 295

Index — 297

We could all use more Joy and Fulfillment. Daniel Coyle, a guy I would term a “Happiness Consultant,” claims his methods will produce better lives for those who follow them.

Using Real World examples, Coyle illustrates his process to building meaning. Here are my favorite true stories from Flourish (2026):

• The 33 trapped miners in Chile and their survival through collective leadership.
• A small town in Vermont that produced 11 Olympians over 40 years.
• Zingerman’s Deli in Michigan, which grew into a $70 million “family-like” business.
• A grassroots organization in a Kenyan settlement that successfully guides students to the Ivy League

If you’d like a quick read that shows how to make your Life better, this is it! GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

PROLOGUE — xi

PART 1. MAKING MEANING: HOW TO CONNECT DEEPLY

1. The Singers –3
2. How Awakening Cues Work — 25
3. The Meaning Builders — 49
4. The Recipe: A Business Story — 71
5. Music Lessons: A Love Story — 83

PART 2. BUILDING COMMUNITY: HOW TO THRIVE TOGETHER

6. All at Once: The Power of Group Flow — 101

7. The Rule of the Beautiful Mess — 109

8. The Rule of Surprise — 127

9. Tilting the River: A Leadership Story –147

10. Montessori Ball: A Teamwork Story — 155

Epilogue: Yellow Doors — 173

Acknowledgements — 179

Index — 181

I watched 2 of the 8 episodes of Young Sherlock on Amazon Prime Video that started on 4 March 2026. The series is an adaptation of Andrew Lane‘s Young Sherlock Holmes book series, itself a pastiche of Arthur Conan Doyle’s original Sherlock Holmes stories. Guy Ritchie directed the series, and Hero Fiennes Tiffin stars as 19-year-old Sherlock Holmes.

“As a 19-year-old at Oxford University, Sherlock Holmes is not yet the master detective he grows up to be. He is raw and unfiltered, and he lacks discipline. A murder at Oxford puts Holmes’s freedom at risk, and he sets out to solve his first murder mystery that leads him to a global-level conspiracy.”

I like the cast of Young Sherlock: Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Sherlock Holmes

Dónal Finn as James Moriarty, Sherlock’s new friend and future enemy

Zine Tseng as Princess Gulun Shou’an / Xiao Wei, a young Chinese princess, scholar and martial artist with plenty of secrets

Joseph Fiennes as Silas Holmes, Sherlock and Mycroft’s adventurous father

Natascha McElhone as Cordelia Holmes, Sherlock and Mycroft’s artistic mother who suffers grief from the death of her daughter

Max Irons as Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s older brother who tries to keep Sherlock out of prison

Colin Firth as Sir Bucephalus Hodge, an wealth industrialist who has some dastardly plans

I can’t wait to watch all 8 episodes! Purists might object to some of the liberties Guy Ritchie takes with young Sherlock, but I’m entertained! GRADE: Incomplete, but trending towards a B+