Scan barcode
A review by paladinjane
Virtue Signaling and Other Heresies by John Scalzi, Nate Taylor
4.0
Full disclosure: I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
This is another volume of selected essays originally published on Scalzi's blog Whatever. Specifically, these are essays from the last 5 years in which he discusses politics and various socially and culturally significant events, plus a few other essays reflecting on family and friends. I happen to largely agree with Scalzi on political and social issues, so I found this book highly enjoyable and entertaining. If you don't like the political and social views he regularly expresses on his blog and on Twitter, then you won't enjoy this, a book in which he does nothing but express those views.
I found this volume to be generally cathartic and highly relevant. In the midst of so much chaos and vitriol in the news and on social media, it's nice to read a bunch of sane essays.
I did dislike the organization of this book. The essays are presented in alphabetical order, which was slightly disorienting when I would have expected them to be either grouped by topic or presented in chronological order. My disorientation stems from the fact that the commentaries on the 2016 election are effectively out of order. At the same time, I completely understand Scalzi's choice not to organize by topic, because yes, the Trump section would have been a pretty depressing slog.
This is another volume of selected essays originally published on Scalzi's blog Whatever. Specifically, these are essays from the last 5 years in which he discusses politics and various socially and culturally significant events, plus a few other essays reflecting on family and friends. I happen to largely agree with Scalzi on political and social issues, so I found this book highly enjoyable and entertaining. If you don't like the political and social views he regularly expresses on his blog and on Twitter, then you won't enjoy this, a book in which he does nothing but express those views.
I found this volume to be generally cathartic and highly relevant. In the midst of so much chaos and vitriol in the news and on social media, it's nice to read a bunch of sane essays.
I did dislike the organization of this book. The essays are presented in alphabetical order, which was slightly disorienting when I would have expected them to be either grouped by topic or presented in chronological order. My disorientation stems from the fact that the commentaries on the 2016 election are effectively out of order. At the same time, I completely understand Scalzi's choice not to organize by topic, because yes, the Trump section would have been a pretty depressing slog.