Liminal Worlds

Interview with author Tio Stib who discusses the challenges of working as a blind writer and his new book Taxi School.

Review of the novel They Know Not What They Do, by Jussi Valtoen. This is a thought-provoking novel, originally published in Finnish, that deals with issues such as animal rights, futuristic technology, and the fragility of modern relationships.

The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America by Daniel Boorstein is a classic of cultural criticism first published in 1961. It's still fascinating today as Boorstein identifies trends that set the stage for the modern world with its reality TV, social media and obsession with celebrity.

Wild, Wild Country is the Netflix documentary about the Osho commune/cult of the 1980s that tore apart a rural part of Oregon. This is an in-depth look at a controversial movement that brings up lots of issues such as what happens when people with radically different beliefs live close to one another.

This is a short review of the book Nomadland: Surviving America in the 21st Century, by Jessica Bruder, a look at the emerging nomadic workforce used by companies such as Amazon. These are mostly older adults who live in vans and recreational vehicles while working at temporary jobs around the country. This book highlights a lifestyle that's free and hopeful on the one hand and difficult and tragic on the other. As more and more people are being forced out of conventional employment and compelled to work into their 60s and beyond, the kind of nomads depicted in this book will only become more numerous.