Thomas E. Woods

My mother asked me to read this book, in return for her having read The Chalice and the Blade. I really wish I could have had an opportunity to discuss it with her.
It was interesting to see how involved the Church was in the fundamental pillars of civilization, but I don't agree with some of his statements, such as that pagan societies had no science. Overall I found his tone rather smug, which was irritating; he was quick to dismiss achievements of societies other than the Catholic as simply precursors of the "real" achievements of the Catholic Church.
In all, it would have been a fun debate, with me defending pagan achievements and Mom defending Catholic ones, until we reached some kind of middle ground.… (altro)

In this book, historian and podcaster Dr. Woods collects a selection of updates about COVID from his daily newsletter. This lets you see the contemporary claims from the mainstream press and public health sources and how, even then, their claims didn't track reality.

Time and time again, you see that differences in mandatory mitigation strategies (masks, avoiding large gatherings, etc.) didn't result in meaningful differences in outcomes. Every time the restrictions were lifted and so called "super spreader" events occurred, the press predicted mass death. Weeks later, when that spike in hospitalizations and deaths didn't manifest, the press was focused on the next super spreader concern and never circled back to see if their predictions were right.

This book is chock full of charts showing regional outcomes tracked each other closely, even when one county (or state) had wildly different policies than its neighbor.

For those of us that have forgotten just how bad things were, this book is a must have.… (altro)

Odkedy sa písané cirkevné dejiny stali obeťou predpojatých filtrov protestantskej, osvietenskej, nacistickej, komunistickej i liberálnej historiografie, zrodila sa čierna legenda o Cirkvi. Niekedy dokonca vyvoláva dojem, že je ňou vedomie ľudí infikované definitívne a nezvratne. Lenže zápas o pravdu vo vedomí človeka začína z generácie na generáciu vždy odznova, od začiatku. Do toho zápasu vstupuje aj táto kniha, ktorá sa konečne vymaňuje z katolíckeho komplexu pseudokajúcej menejcennoti a s posvätným sebavedomím rekapituluje všetko to dobré, vznešené a ušľachtilé, čo Boh prostredníctvom Cirkvi ponúkol európskej civilizácii.… (altro)