The New York Times Book Review — July 16, 2023

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THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW – JULY 16, 2023: This week, Jeff Goodell’s “The Heat Will Kill You First,” feels particularly apt. “This is a propulsive book, one to be raced through; the planet is burning,” writes our critic Jennifer Szalai. But maybe you don’t want to think more than you already do about impending doom. We’ve got you covered: The issue brims with diversions — a charming novel about a reality TV show set on Mars,  fiction about complicated families and a slew of good memoirs, including ones from a senior intelligence officialthe war reporter Jane Ferguson and the actor Elliot Page.

Extreme Heat Is Here to Stay. Why Are We Not More Afraid?

This illustration depicts a large, bright purple iris, its petals on fire. Behind the flaming flower, we see a bright yellow, desert-like landsape, with low orange mesas and, above them, a sky that shifts from yellow to bright red — as if the sky itself is on fire.

In “The Heat Will Kill You First,” Jeff Goodell documents the lethal effects of rising temperatures and argues that we need to take hot weather a lot more seriously.

What Does It Even Mean to Be Real?

In Deborah Willis’s novel “Girlfriend on Mars,” a young woman enters a reality-TV contest to leave the planet, and her marijuana-farming boyfriend, behind.

GIRLFRIEND ON MARS, by Deborah Willis


Sometimes, a girlfriend needs space. Sometimes, she goes to space. That’s the — OK, obvious — premise of “Girlfriend on Mars,” a novel by the Canadian writer Deborah Willis, who knows what we’ve wished for from books all along, which is that they were TV instead.

360° Aerial Views: The ‘Red Roofs Of Montenegro’

AirPano VR Films (July 14, 2023) – Montenegro is a Balkan country with rugged mountains, medieval villages and a narrow strip of beaches along its Adriatic coastline. The Bay of Kotor, resembling a fjord, is dotted with coastal churches and fortified towns such as Kotor and Herceg Novi.

There are many Venetian stone buildings in Montenegro. Their pretty red roofs stand out against the forests, mountains, and bright blue sea. Clay tiles have been used by roofers for centuries. They are practical and can last a hundred years! And they are the subject of our walk through Montenegro today – a symbol of serene and warm southern towns.

Durmitor National Park, home to bears and wolves, encompasses limestone peaks, glacial lakes and 1,300m-deep Tara River Canyon. 

Italian Villas: A Tour Of A Chianti Estate In Tuscany

Romolini – Christie’s Real Estate (July 14, 2023) – This restored hamlet is located in the Chianti hills, in an outstanding and very panoramic position in the heart of the Tuscan countryside. Finely restored by the current owners, the property is a real gem that embodies all the typical characteristics of Tuscan rustic buildings.

Most of the buildings have already been restored and include, at the moment, 17 beautiful bedrooms and elegant living areas. By completing the renovation of the other farmhouses one could reach a grand total of 26 bedrooms. The property’s 15.3 hectares of land are home to a beautiful Italian garden and olive grove.

Travel Preview: Outside Magazine – July/Aug 2023

Outside Magazine July/August 2023 cover

Outside Magazine (July/August 2023) – The Power of Awe – Time outside can feel like an escape, but your mindset matters; A hilarious trek to an unforgettable Jungle Wedding; Nick Offerman’s Grand Kabuki Adventure, and more…

Time Outside Can Feel Like an Escape. But Your Mindset Matters.

Landscape view of a runner on a grassy hill

There are both healthy and harmful ways to get away from it all, psychologists point out

13 Lesser-Known Public Lands Adventures to Plan Now

Ediza Lake

It’s becoming harder to find a slice of nature all to yourself. But there are plenty of secluded sweet spots around the country if you know where to look. From national monuments and lakeshores to forests and scenic waterways, here are some stunning, uncrowded wildlands that are definitely worth exploring.

Architecture: The ‘Desert Palisades’ In Palm Springs

The Local Project (July 14, 2023) – Floating above the landscape is the best modernist home. Desert Palisades by Woods + Dangaran is a family home that was built from a goal to introduce a more international style of modernism to the desert.

Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction to the Best Modernist Home 01:06 – Creating A Family Refuge and Paying Homage to the Mountains 01:39 – The Approach of the Home 02:04 – Ensuring the Home is Timeless and Fitting 02:34 – A Climate Focused Material Palette 03:50 – The Tonal Nature of the Home 04:33 – A Fine Curation of the Details 05:28 – Taking A Backseat to the Surroundings

Though focused on creating a desert oasis home in which the family could escape to and decompress, the architects have also paid homage to the mountain and enabled the owners to experience its form completely. In line with the basin of the San Jacinto Mountain, the home encompasses views across Palm Springs and the surrounding rocky landscape that further encourages the owners to not only appreciate it but to connect with it.

Approaching the desert oasis home as if it is a beacon on the hillside, the house tour unfolds in a natural procession, guiding viewers past the pool area and then into the pavilions that showcase the home’s sweeping views. Recognising the presence that the structure holds, Woods + Dangaran worked with a responsibility to make sure the best modernist home feels timeless and fits into the desert landscape. From its base, the architecture of the house is made up of a concrete masonry unit, while the support walls and ends of the pavilion are created with burnished CMU blocks that appear to come from the soil.

Preview: New York Times Magazine – July 16, 2023

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THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (July 16, 2023) – In this week’s cover story, Greta Gerwig takes us deep inside her vision for the “Barbie” movie. Plus, the former World Cup-winner with the hardest job in soccer, the war for semiconductor chips and Robert Downey Jr. on his post-Marvel career.

Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ Dream Job

Mattel wanted a summer blockbuster to kick off its new wave of brand-extension movies. She wanted it to be a work of art.

The moment Greta Gerwig knew for certain that she could make a movie about Barbie, the most famous and controversial doll in history, she was thinking about death. She had been reading about Ruth Handler, the brash Jewish businesswoman who created the doll — and who, decades later, had two mastectomies. Handler birthed this toy with its infamous breasts, the figurine who became an enduring avatar of plastic perfection, while being stuck, like all of us, in a fragile and failing human body. 

‘An Act of War’: Inside America’s Silicon Blockade Against China

The Nvidia H100 Tensor Core GPU is used for large-scale A.I., high-performance computing and data-analytics workloads.
The Nvidia H100 Tensor Core GPU is used for large-scale A.I., high-performance computing and data-analytics workloads.Credit… Photo illustration by Grant Cornett for The New York Times

The Biden administration thinks it can preserve America’s technological primacy by cutting China off from advanced computer chips. Could the plan backfire?

Last October, the United States Bureau of Industry and Security issued a document that — underneath its 139 pages of dense bureaucratic jargon and minute technical detail — amounted to a declaration of economic war on China. The magnitude of the act was made all the more remarkable by the relative obscurity of its source. One of 13 bureaus within the Department of Commerce, the smallest federal department by funding, B.I.S. is tiny: Its budget for 2022 was just over $140 million, about one-eighth the cost of a single Patriot air-defense missile battery. 

#FIFAWWC #BarbieTheMovie

Interviews: ‘Under The Eye Of Power’ Author Colin Dickey – ‘Panic & Paranoia’

The American Scholar (July 14, 2023): In his new book, ‘Under the Eye of Power’, Colin Dickey asks, “What if paranoia, particularly a paranoia of secret, subversive societies, is not just peripheral to the functioning of democracy, but at its very heart?”

Under the Eye of Power by Colin Dickey: 9780593299456 |  PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

The litany of contemporary conspiracy theories runs long: Pizzagate, QAnon, chemtrails, “jet fuel can’t melt steel beams,” “birds aren’t real.”

Some of these are funny—the rumor that Avril Lavigne and/or Paul McCartney have been replaced by doppelgängers—and some have deadly consequences, like the mass murders motivated by replacement theory or the Chronicles of the Elders of Zion.

We might like to think this is a recent phenomenon, but the first American president to espouse a conspiracy theory was actually George Washington, a freemason who believed that the Illuminati caused the French Revolution.

Travel: A Tour Of Karlovy Vary In The Czech Republic

LADmob Films (July 14, 2023) – Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad) is a spa town in the west Bohemia region of the Czech Republic. Its numerous thermal springs have made it a popular resort since the 19th century.

The riverside spa district is home to several colonnades with columned walkways. The modern Hot Spring Colonnade houses the Pramen Vřídlo geyser, which spouts up to 12 meters high.

News: Ukraine F-16 Fighter Jet Training, Guatemala Election Interference

The Globalist Podcast, Friday, July 14, 2023: Russia analyst Stephen Dalziel on the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets in Romania.

Plus: international concern over threats to the electoral process in Guatemala, aviation news and Andrew Mueller’s weekly round-up.

The New York Times – Friday, July 14, 2023

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F.D.A. Approves First U.S. Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pill

The birth control medication Opill in its box, which is light green with blue, purple, pink and white markings.

The move could significantly expand access to contraception. The pill is expected to be available in early 2024

Prosecutors Ask Witnesses Whether Trump Acknowledged He Lost 2020 Race

Jared Kushner, former President Donald J. Trump’s son-in-law, is among people close to Mr. Trump who have been questioned by prosecutors in recent weeks.

Jared Kushner was questioned before a federal grand jury as prosecutors appeared to be trying to establish if the former president knew his efforts to stay in power were built on a lie.

This Agency Was Created With a Terrorism Focus. Now It Also Has to Care for Migrants

Customs and Border Protection was set up after 9/11 amid the fight against terrorism. Its responsibilities have ballooned with the influx of asylum-seeking migrants crossing the southern border.

Actors Join Writers on Strike, Bringing Hollywood to a Standstill

The dual walkouts pit more than 170,000 workers against old-line studios like Disney and Sony, as well as tech juggernauts like Netflix and Amazon.