Category Archives: Book Review

Una Épica Sobre La Venezuela Chavista – Mi Novela Sobre #Venezuela

Posted on May 5, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

Ya que Venezuela esta otra ves en las noticias, un pueblo que aun despues de 25 años niega su esclavitud, les recomiendo mi novela. Sobre unos presos politicos; unos estudiantes luchadores – y un tirano. Dos novelas en una; la … Continue reading →

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The Democratization of Crappy Stuff

Posted on April 21, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

So, fun fact, Amazon blocked this book review from their site. Then they sent me a nasty email with a ‘warning’ not to do it again. Now, I’m not a polemicist, it’s not really my style. So, I re-read this … Continue reading →

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Geography Matters

Posted on April 19, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

Geography matters. That’s pretty much the whole point of Robert D. Kaplan’s book “The Revenge of Geography”. Not in a deterministic way — there’s still room for human action (agency he calls it); we still define the future. But the … Continue reading →

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The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Posted on April 14, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

We love our dogs because they were never expelled from paradise, like we were. They are our only true lasting final link to perfection and to our role as was imagined by the creator (only people who have owned a … Continue reading →

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Review of — “A Brief History of Central America”

Posted on March 9, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

Not a lot has changed in Central America over the last thirty years, since Hector Perez-Brignoli wrote this concise review of the history of the isthmus. The book is a helpful primer, taking the reader from the days of the … Continue reading →

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The Lexus and the Olive Tree

Posted on February 25, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

An olive tree lives between 500 and 1500 years. A Lexus loses 30% of its value as soon as you drive it off the lot and will be traded in, in 6.8 years. There is the problem with Tom Friedman’s … Continue reading →

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Beirut to Jerusalem

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

A guy approached me at the gym the other day, pointing down to my copy of “Beirut to Jerusalem” by Thomas Friedman and asked me “Been meaning to read that. Does it hold up?” What he meant was does it … Continue reading →

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I Sit in the Darkness and Say the Law

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

When you google “Island of Dr. Moreau” the first half dozen entries are about the 1996 Val Kilmer movie. A brilliant movie, from back 25 years ago when movies were better because they worried about plot and then filled the … Continue reading →

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Poems and Short Stories by Joel D. Hirst (me)

Posted on January 31, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

Back a few hundred years ago, or maybe even in the early 1900s poetry was considered the apex of literary work. Most early writers strove to be poets. Garcia Marquez and Neruda and Yeghishe Charents. Then came the literary boom … Continue reading →

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The Penalty of Existence

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

I often think of a conversation I had early on in my time in the field. I was talking to a peasant, in a village somewhere in the third world. A morning greeting really, “Hi there, Juan, how are you … Continue reading →

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