Friends of African Village Libraries (I post regularly here)- Sumbrungu Community Library nighttime reading
- Résumé du livre Une grande mère criminelle
- Organisation d’une séance de discussion autour d’un livre à la bibliothèque de Dimikuy
- Librarians of Tuy monthly meeting January 2026, Burkina Faso
- Impressions sur la production de livres CMH au Burkina Faso
- Compte rendu de la première rencontre des gérants de la zone du Tuy
- Science fiction books for libraries in Burkina Faso and Ghana
- Animation d’une séance de lecture à la bibliothèque de Dimikuy
- Nyariga Community Library in Ghana, photos January 2026
- Visite à la bibliothèque de Béréba, Burkina Faso
Author Archives: mkevane
Reading Nov-Dec 2025 and Jan 2026
Charles Burns, Final Cut. Appreciate it. Leaves you with fleeting emotion. Cinema and meta pretty nice. Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart. Things really do go rather badly for Okonkwo. Javier Marias, Todas las Almas. Gave up 1/2 way through. Just … Continue reading
Posted in Book and film reviews
Leave a comment
AI as an existential threat – Kevane preliminary draft
Posted in AI
Comments Off on AI as an existential threat – Kevane preliminary draft
“What can it do?” A living list of computational problems that deep learning/AI/neural nets can or seems likely to “do” (at varying cost and efficacy)
Posted in AI
Tagged AI, artificial-intelligence, chatgpt, technology, writing
Comments Off on “What can it do?” A living list of computational problems that deep learning/AI/neural nets can or seems likely to “do” (at varying cost and efficacy)
Reading August-September 2025
For some reason in leading up to the start of teaching classes in Sept. I did a lot of skim-reading in the last two months rather than complete book. But worthwhile a usual to keep track. Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains … Continue reading
Posted in Book and film reviews
Comments Off on Reading August-September 2025
The typical popular sci-fi version of AI posing an existential risk?
Plenty of science-fiction stories and movies have as plot the defeat of a super-intelligent and autonomous AI that poses an existential threat to humans. In the usual backstory, the AI at some point developed goals that seemingly impelled the AI … Continue reading
Posted in AI
Tagged AI, artificial-intelligence, chatgpt, llm, technology
Comments Off on The typical popular sci-fi version of AI posing an existential risk?
AI productivity growth and “the economy”
I’m preparing for a course I am teaching, so am intending to start regularly writing on the blog as a way to livestream my thoughts. Hopefully, I will maintain momentum for a long while. My first thoughts, while reading Nordhaus’s … Continue reading
Posted in AI
Tagged History, philosophy, spirituality, writing
Comments Off on AI productivity growth and “the economy”
Books read July 2025
Henry James, Washington Square. I gave up about 2/3 way through. As usual with James, he just takes forever to advance the plot, and the long decriptions of character and motivations just make the reading tedious. Skimming to denouement, I … Continue reading
Posted in Book and film reviews
Comments Off on Books read July 2025
Contemporary folk and Americana
A friend, in conversation, revealed that they hadn’t listened to any folk (now more broadly as Americana) since the 1960s! They were intimately familiar with that Greenwich Village revival, but knew no artists since then. So I thought I’d make … Continue reading
Posted in Music
3 Comments
Books read May-June 2025
Mostly light reading these two months, with Vila-Matas in reserve occasionally. Adrian Tchaikovsky, Made Things. Throwaway fantasy short novel. The usual. Fine for kids. At this point he must be able to write stuff like this in 2-3 days? Benjamin … Continue reading
Posted in Book and film reviews
Comments Off on Books read May-June 2025
Some tariff basics?
Context Consider a country in South America, say Bolivia. The population is about 12 million, with about a third living in rural areas. GDP per capita in 2025 might be around $4,000 per capita. There is significant inequality, so cities … Continue reading
Posted in Development thinking, International trade issues, Teaching international trade
Tagged china, economics, Economy, politics, tariffs
Comments Off on Some tariff basics?
Books read March-April 2025
Posted in Book and film reviews
Comments Off on Books read March-April 2025
A stab at the scope of shared faculty governance at the school level in a university
I was thinking about what the scope is for collaborative governance in a school within a university. Often the institutions and norms of shared governance are weakest at the school level. University governance gets a lot of attention, and department … Continue reading
Posted in Governance
Comments Off on A stab at the scope of shared faculty governance at the school level in a university
School governance in a university setting
I have been thinking about the issue of school governance in the university setting. One way of engaging in the conversation is through introspection on relevant questions. Relevant for the school and academic departments. I thought I would start a … Continue reading
Posted in Governance
Tagged education, higher-education, news, politics, teaching
Comments Off on School governance in a university setting
Books read February 2025 (and tracking film, too)
Rachel Kushner, Creation Lake. Reminded me of Elizabeth Hand. A moody, philosophical novel, but on the whole meadering writing and for me not very inspiring. Eventually, I gave up about p. 270 with 100 pages left. At some point I … Continue reading
Posted in Book and film reviews
Comments Off on Books read February 2025 (and tracking film, too)
Books read in January 2025
Scott Alexander Howard, The Other Valley. Nicely done, sort of YA, regretful, and grim (like a woodcut!) time-travel story. Adrian Tchaikovsky, The Doors of Eden. Disappointing multi-earth multiverse story, a la Terry Pratchett. Some interesting evolution possibilities, but the plot … Continue reading
Posted in Book and film reviews
Comments Off on Books read in January 2025
Books read in December 2024
I only use this blog to keep track of my book reading. Guy Gavriel Kay, A Brightness Long Ago. Excellent fictionalized novel with the Palio in Siena! Georges Simenon, Le passager du “Polarlys”. I was unimpressed. Enjoyed the French. I … Continue reading
Posted in Book and film reviews
Comments Off on Books read in December 2024
Nocturno de Chile, by Roberto Bolaño
My second time to read Nocturno de Chile, by Roberto Bolaño. I really missed a lot in the first feverish read about two years ago! Highly recommend multiple reads.
Posted in Book and film reviews
Comments Off on Nocturno de Chile, by Roberto Bolaño
Shopgirl, by Steve Martin
Book club discussed Shopgirl, by Steve Martin. It’s a slight novella, later turned into a movie (book reads as a script, we thought, with stage directions and present-tense narrator). We mostly intensely disliked, and were disappointed. It came across as … Continue reading
Posted in Book and film reviews
Comments Off on Shopgirl, by Steve Martin
Smiley’s People, by John le Carré
I started to intensely dislike his prose style halfway through the novel, in the long scene with Connie (“Slowly her head came up, and he saw her face clear, and his voice quickened and gathered strength.”), and then just could … Continue reading
Posted in Book and film reviews
Comments Off on Smiley’s People, by John le Carré
Azúcar, by Nii Ayikwei Parkes
I read Azúcar, by Nii Ayikwei Parkes, a few months ago, but forgot to add to reviews. Enjoyable and light. Not as rich for me as Tail of the Blue Bird. I kept waiting for the novel to go deeper, … Continue reading
Posted in Book and film reviews
Comments Off on Azúcar, by Nii Ayikwei Parkes
Michael Kevane 