Revenge of She – Punks by Vivien Goldman

She Punks

Paul R. Kan is back today, giving us a review of ‘Revenge of She – Punks‘ by Vivien Goldman. We want to thank Paul for his book reviews, travel reviews, interviews, and other articles he writes for us. (If you want to find more articles written by Paul R. Kan, check out the bottom of this article.)

Book Review – Revenge of the She Punks

Trying to define she-punk, Vivien Goldman tell us, is like “walk[ing] on a rope bridge slung between melting icebergs in high wind.” But taking us across this bridge is what Goldman, the author of Revenge of the She-Punks, does skillfully. In a book where each chapter begins with a playlist that includes artists as varied as The Slits, Delta-5, Blondie, Chrissie Hynde and Grace Jones, we can see why understanding she-punk is a dizzying, exhilarating and, at times, terrifying journey.

Revenge of She Punks

Goldman avoids defining she-punk as sharing common acoustic notes, rhythmic beats or lyrical styles. Instead, she interviewed band members of over forty she-punk groups from the chapters’ playlists to find common themes in their struggles as women and as artists. Challenges of identity, money, love and protest form the core of she-punk and the heart of the book. Female musicians living day-to-day on the margins, then expressing them in music are what the author sees as distinctly “she-punk.”

She-punk songs can “slap as well as stroke.” Acoustics mirror abuse; beats mimic beatings; lyrics echo lust. For example, “The Boiler.” a song by Rhoda Dakar with the Special AKA, recounts a woman’s perspective of her sexual assault. It’s a song that you “have to hear and fear for yourself.”

Bands like The Clash, The Sex Pistols and Green Day couldn’t write—much less perform—she- punk songs like “The Boiler.” Because these bands’ members are men, their experiences were and are different. As Margaret Atwood, author The Handmaid’s Tale, put it: “A woman’s greatest fear is being killed by a man. A man’s greatest fear is being laughed at by a woman.” She-punks show how a man having his greatest fear realized can turn into a woman’s greatest fear.

Fear can be sparked, but moderated, by satire, sarcasm and snark. She-punk songs can work on the lighter side and still make a point. Tribe 8’s “Check Out Your Babe” about lesbian band members stealing men’s girlfriends at the band’s concert was made as much for laughs as protest. When it’s dangerous to be gay in many communities, in the United States and in other countries,
a satirical song about sexual relations is still political.

Fighting against political inequality, sexism and racism is part of the ethos of she-punk musicians. For Goldman, “these women all have their frontlines—global, national or domestic—and use punk as their weapon. Barrier-busting is their default mode; had they not created their own channels, in most cases, they would never have been heard.” Bursting through society’s frontlines and being heard are the goals of punk music in general. But for she-punk, the lyrics to Tanya Stephens “Welcome to the Rebelution” are a rhythmic reminder of what going
backwards looks like for women:

Came to past in the days of glorifying everything wrong
That the standard for girls became a bra and a thong
Wholesome values like curling up with a good book and a bong
Went out the window along with making a good song

The book is neither a manifesto nor filled with a series of scoldings. The author’s agenda is the same as the artists who she writes about—let women express their lives in their own ways. Read this book even if you don’t know, or like, punk music. You’ll be able to connect with the themes. If you like music of any kind, poetry or social history, this book will resonate with you as well. Reading this book is like walking across a rope bridge between two melting icebergs in high wind—you definitely won’t be bored.

Paul R. Kan

Paul R. Kan is the author of Hawai’i Beer:  A History of Brewing in Paradise which was a North American Guild of Beer Writers’ award winner and a #1 new release on Amazon’s Books on Beer.  He has written for Good Beer Hunting and is Editor-at-Large at The Beer Thrillers.  Along with beer reviews, book reviews and interviews, he also writes about the interesting ways beer intersects with people and society.  His current book project is Red, White and Brew:  The Beers and Battles that Shaped America. He lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

ʻOi kau ka lā, e hana i ola honua (While the sun yet shines, do all you can).

Paul R. Kan Articles

The following are articles that Paul R. Kan has written here for The Beer Thrillers:

• Book Review: Beer and Society: How We Make Beer and Beer Makes Us (Eli Revelle Yano Wilson and Asa B. Stone)
• Book Review: A Woman’s Place is in the Brewhouse – A Forgotten History of Alewives, Brewsters, Witches, and CEOs (Tara Nurin)
• From Central PA to the Pacific: A Beer Lover’s Hawaiian Journey An Interview with Alexander B. Gates
• Book Review: The Greatest Beer Run Ever (John Chick Donohue and J.T. Molloy)
• Twofer Brewfer Brewery Reviews: Gearhouse Brewing Co. and Liquid Art Brewing
• Tapping into Heritage and Hope on Maui
• Book Review: Brewed in Japan (Jeffrey Alexander)
• Three Questions and a Pint: with Josh Dourte
• Three Questions and a Pint: with Noah Reighard
• Visiting Four Breweries in Phoenix: Getting to Visit Tombstone Brewing Company, Wren House Brewing, PHX Beer Co, and OHSO Brewery and Distillery
• Book Review: Revenge of She-Punks (Vivien Goldman)

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

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We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

• MAPS OF BREWERIES

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

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The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

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If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

(Thank you for reading. The opinions, thoughts, and expressions of each article posted on The Beer Thrillers represents the author of the content and only themselves. It does not express the opinions, beliefs, or ideas held by The Beer Thrillers or any company in which the author themselves work for. Each piece of written content is written by the creator(s) listed in the authorial section on each article unless otherwise noted. Their opinions, comments, and words on screen do not represent any company in which they work for and / or are affiliated with or any non – profits that they contribute to. Thank you.)

I Drink for a Reason by David Cross

David Cross

David Cross in 2007 (photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

David Cross’s career is a tapestry of diverse comedic and dramatic endeavors, underscored by his sharp wit and distinctive voice. He first gained widespread attention in the 1990s with the HBO sketch comedy series Mr. Show with Bob and David, which he co-created and starred in alongside Bob Odenkirk. The show, known for its inventive and often surreal humor, became a cult favorite and established Cross as a significant figure in the comedy world. Mr. Show was lauded for its clever writing and ambitious sketches, earning critical acclaim and a devoted fan base that appreciated its subversive take on societal norms and pop culture.

Following the success of Mr. Show, Cross’s career continued to flourish with a mix of television, film, and stand-up comedy. Perhaps one of his most iconic roles is that of Tobias Fünke on the critically acclaimed sitcom Arrested Development. As the perpetually clueless, aspiring actor and “never-nude,” Cross delivered a performance that was both hilarious and endearing, further cementing his status as a versatile and talented comedian. His portrayal of Tobias became a standout in a show known for its ensemble cast, showcasing his ability to blend absurdity with a touch of humanity.

In addition to his work on television, Cross has also made a mark in the world of stand-up comedy and film. His stand-up specials, such as The Pride is Back and David Cross: Making America Great Again, are characterized by his fearless approach to controversial topics and his incisive social and political commentary. On the big screen, Cross has appeared in a variety of roles, from voice work in animated films like Kung Fu Panda to live-action comedies such as Alvin and the Chipmunks. Despite the broad range of projects he has undertaken, Cross remains consistent in his commitment to challenging the status quo and pushing the boundaries of comedy, making him a significant and enduring figure in contemporary entertainment.

The following about David Cross comes from his Wikipedia page: David Cross:

David Cross (born April 4, 1964)^[1] is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and director. Cross is best known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series Mr. Show with Bob and David (1995–1998), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox/Netflix sitcom Arrested Development (2003–2006, 2013–2019). He has been described as “ one of the defining figures of cult Gen X comedy”.^[2]

Cross created, wrote, executive produced, and starred in The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret (2010–2016); developed and had a prominent role in Freak Show (2006); appeared on Modern Family (2011–2012); and portrayed Ian Hawke in three of the live-action/animated films Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007), Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009), and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011). Cross has also done voice work for the sitcom Oliver Beene (2003–2004), and has had lead voice-over roles in Curious George (2006), Battle for Terra (2007), the Kung Fu Panda film franchise (2008–2016), Megamind (2010), and Next Gen (2018).

In 1993, he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series for his work on The Ben Stiller Show. For Mr. Show with Bob and David, he gained three Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and for Arrested Development, Cross was nominated for a Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Television Series, and, along with his cast, for three Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. For his stand-up specials, he was nominated for several Grammy Awards.

Wikipedia – David Cross

Book Review: I Drink For a Reason

The GoodReads blurb:

After a decade spent in isolation in the Ugandan jungles thinking about stuff, David Cross has written his first book. Known for roles on the small screen such as “never-nude” Tobias Funke on Arrested Development and the role of “David” in Mr. Show With Bob And David, as well as a hugely successful stand-up routine full of sharp-tongued rants and rages, Cross has carved out his place in American comedy. Whether deflating the pomposity of religious figures, calling out the pathetic symbiosis of pseudo-celebrity and its leaching fandom, or merely pushing the buttons of the way-too-easily offended P.C. left or the caustic, double-standard of the callous (but funnier) right, Cross has something to say about everyone, including his own ridiculous self.

Now, for the first time, Cross is weaving his media mockery, celebrity denunciation, religious commentary and sheer madness into book form, revealing the true story behind his almost existential distaste of Jim Belushi (“The Belush”), disclosing the up-to-now unpublished minutes to a meeting of Fox television network executives, and offering up a brutally grotesque run-in with Bill O’Reilly. And as if this wasn’t enough for your laughing pleasure in these troubled times, some of the pieces splinter off with additional material being created online in exclusive video and animated web content created solely for the book-a historical first (presumably)!

With a mix of personal essays, satirical fiction posing as truth, advice for rich people, information from America’s least favorite Rabbi and a top-ten list of top-ten lists, I DRINK FOR A REASON is as unique as the comedian himself, and cannot be missed.

GoodReads – I Drink For a Reason

David Cross’s I Drink For a Reason is a compelling amalgamation of sharp wit, irreverent humor, and biting social commentary. As a seasoned comedian and actor known for his work on Mr. Show and Arrested Development, Cross brings his distinctive voice to the page, offering a collection of essays, anecdotes, and rants that both entertain and provoke thought.

The book’s structure is delightfully chaotic, with each chapter serving as a standalone piece, allowing readers to dip in and out at their leisure. This format mirrors Cross’s stand-up style, where tangents and digressions often lead to some of the most insightful and hilarious moments. From lampooning Hollywood absurdities to critiquing religious fanaticism, Cross navigates a wide array of topics with a deft hand and a sharp tongue.

One of the standout features of I Drink For a Reason is Cross’s unapologetic and often self-deprecating honesty. He doesn’t shy away from sharing personal anecdotes that reveal his own vulnerabilities and flaws. This candidness, combined with his acerbic humor, creates a sense of intimacy with the reader, as if you’re sharing a late-night conversation with a particularly funny and insightful friend.

However, the book isn’t without its flaws. At times, Cross’s relentless sarcasm can feel overwhelming, and some of the jokes may fall flat or come across as too abrasive. Additionally, readers who are not already fans of Cross’s comedic style might find his humor polarizing or even off-putting. Despite these minor drawbacks, the book’s strengths far outweigh its weaknesses.

Cross’s ability to weave humor with incisive social critique is one of his greatest talents. In essays like “Why I Hate Vegans” and “An Open Letter to Larry the Cable Guy,” he dissects cultural phenomena with precision, offering perspectives that are both humorous and thought-provoking. His commentary on the absurdities of modern life, particularly in the realms of entertainment and politics, is both timely and timeless.

In conclusion, I Drink For a Reason is a must-read for fans of David Cross and those who appreciate comedy that challenges the status quo. It’s a book that invites readers to laugh, think, and perhaps see the world from a slightly skewed, yet refreshingly honest, perspective. While it may not be everyone’s cup of tea—or rather, everyone’s preferred drink—those who enjoy Cross’s brand of humor will find it a thoroughly enjoyable and engaging read.

My GoodReads Rating: ***
My LibraryThing Rating: ***1/2
Global Average GoodReads Rating: 3.34 (as of 5.29.24)

Other Book Reviews

• Book Review: The Greatest Beer Run Ever (John Chick Donohue and J.T. Molloy)

• Book Review: Subpar Parks: America’s Most Extraordinary National Parks and Their Least Impressed Visitors (Amber Share)

• Book Review: Courage is Calling (Ryan Holiday)

• Book Review: The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity (Carlo M. Cipolla)

• Book Review: Brewed in Japan (Jeffrey Alexander)

• Book Review: The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life (Armand M. Nicholi Jr.)

• Book Review: Family Reins (Billy Busch)

• Book Review: The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World (Riley Black)

• Book Review: The Wit and Humor of Oscar Wilde (Oscar Wilde)

• Book Review: Create Dangerously (Albert Camus)
• Book Review: The Road (Cormac McCarthy)
• Book Review: The Donnie Darko Book (Richard Kelly)
• Book Review: How to Rule the World: A Handbook for the Aspiring Dictator (André de Guillaume)
• Book Review: Here is New York (E.B. White)
• Book Review: Uncle John’s Beer Topia

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

• MAPS OF BREWERIES

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

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You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

(Thank you for reading. The opinions, thoughts, and expressions of each article posted on The Beer Thrillers represents the author of the content and only themselves. It does not express the opinions, beliefs, or ideas held by The Beer Thrillers or any company in which the author themselves work for. Each piece of written content is written by the creator(s) listed in the authorial section on each article unless otherwise noted. Their opinions, comments, and words on screen do not represent any company in which they work for and / or are affiliated with or any non – profits that they contribute to. Thank you.)

The Homebrewer’s Garden: How to Easily Grow, Prepare, and Use Your Own Hops, Malts, Brewing Herbs by Joe Fisher and Dennis Fisher

Homebrewing

Homebrewing is a fascinating and rewarding hobby that allows beer enthusiasts to create their own unique brews from the comfort of their homes. The process involves combining basic ingredients—malted grains, hops, yeast, and water—in specific ways to produce a wide variety of beer styles. Homebrewing offers an incredible amount of creative freedom, as brewers can experiment with different ingredients and techniques to craft beers that match their personal tastes and preferences. This DIY approach not only deepens one’s appreciation for the art and science of brewing but also provides a sense of accomplishment with each successful batch.

The journey of homebrewing typically begins with selecting a recipe and gathering the necessary equipment and ingredients. Beginner brewers often start with extract brewing, which uses malt extract to simplify the process. This method requires less equipment and shorter brew times, making it accessible for newcomers. As brewers gain experience and confidence, many transition to all-grain brewing, which involves mashing malted grains to extract fermentable sugars. All-grain brewing offers greater control over the beer’s flavor and body, allowing for more nuanced and complex brews. Essential equipment for homebrewing includes a large kettle, fermenter, airlock, thermometer, hydrometer, and bottling supplies.

The brewing process itself is a blend of science and art. It begins with mashing, where crushed grains are soaked in hot water to convert starches into sugars. The resulting liquid, called wort, is then boiled, and hops are added at various stages to impart bitterness, flavor, and aroma. After boiling, the wort is rapidly cooled and transferred to a fermenter, where yeast is added to begin fermentation. During this stage, which can last from a few days to several weeks, the yeast consumes the sugars in the wort, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide. Monitoring and maintaining proper fermentation temperatures is crucial for ensuring the desired characteristics of the final beer.

After fermentation, the beer is typically conditioned for a period to develop its flavors and carbonation. This can be done in bottles or kegs, with the addition of a small amount of sugar or pressurized CO2 to create carbonation. Patience is key during this phase, as conditioning can take several weeks, but the wait is usually well worth it. Once conditioning is complete, the beer is ready to be enjoyed. Homebrewers often take pride in sharing their creations with friends and family, and the feedback received can be invaluable for refining future batches.

One of the most exciting aspects of homebrewing is the community that comes with it. Homebrewers are a passionate and supportive group, often eager to share tips, recipes, and experiences. Many cities have homebrew clubs where members can exchange knowledge and sample each other’s beers. Online forums and social media groups also provide a wealth of information and camaraderie. Whether brewing solo or with a group, homebrewing is a hobby that fosters creativity, learning, and a deeper appreciation for the craft of beer making. It’s a journey filled with experimentation, occasional challenges, and the ultimate reward of enjoying a beer that’s truly your own.

Growing Hops

Growing hops is a rewarding endeavor for homebrewers looking to infuse their beer with fresh, homegrown ingredients. Hops are the flowers of the hop plant (Humulus lupulus), and they play a crucial role in brewing by adding bitterness, flavor, and aroma to beer. The first step in growing hops is selecting the right variety based on your climate and the flavor profile you desire. Popular varieties like Cascade, Centennial, and Chinook are favored by many brewers for their versatility and distinctive characteristics. Hops require a sunny location with well-drained soil, and they thrive in temperate climates with long days during the growing season.

Once you’ve chosen your hop varieties, the next step is planting. Hops are typically grown from rhizomes, which are root cuttings taken from mature plants. Plant the rhizomes in early spring, about 4-6 inches deep, and space them about 3 feet apart to give each plant plenty of room to grow. As hops are vigorous climbers, it’s essential to provide a sturdy trellis or support system for the bines (the stems of the hop plant) to climb. Regular watering, especially during dry periods, and mulching around the base of the plants can help retain moisture and keep the roots cool.

Caring for hops involves regular maintenance to ensure healthy growth and a bountiful harvest. Hops can grow up to 20 feet in a single season, so training the bines to climb the trellis is crucial. Pruning the lower leaves and shoots encourages airflow and reduces the risk of disease. Hops are susceptible to pests such as aphids and spider mites, as well as diseases like powdery mildew. Regular inspection and prompt treatment with appropriate organic or chemical controls can help manage these issues. By late summer, the hop cones will begin to ripen, and you’ll know they are ready to harvest when they feel dry and papery, and the lupulin glands inside the cones are a vibrant yellow. After harvesting, the hops should be dried and stored properly to preserve their qualities for brewing.

Book Review: The Homebrewer’s Garden: How to Easily Grow, Prepare, and Use Your Own Hops, Malts, Brewing Herbs by Joe Fisher and Dennis Fisher

GoodReads Blurb:

Grow a beer garden! Enhance the flavor, aroma, and personality of your homebrew by cultivating your own hops, herbs, and malt grains. With expert advice on choosing and maintaining the best plants for your needs, Joe Fisher and Dennis Fisher show you how to turn a small patch of backyard, or even a few window boxes, into a renewable brewing supply store. Discover the satisfaction that comes from brewing tasty beers using fresh homegrown ingredients.

GoodReads – The Homebrewer’s Garden

The Homebrewer’s Garden by Joe Fisher and Dennis Fisher is an essential guide for any homebrewer looking to elevate their craft by cultivating their own ingredients. This comprehensive manual covers the entire process of growing, preparing, and utilizing hops, malts, and brewing herbs, making it a valuable resource for both novice and experienced brewers who wish to take a hands-on approach to their beer-making.

One of the book’s greatest strengths is its detailed and practical advice on gardening techniques tailored specifically for brewing ingredients. The Fishers draw from their extensive experience to provide step-by-step instructions on planting, nurturing, and harvesting hops and other plants. They also include information on soil preparation, pest management, and seasonal care, ensuring that readers have all the tools they need to successfully grow high-quality ingredients. The authors’ passion for homebrewing and gardening shines through, making the text engaging and accessible.

Beyond gardening, The Homebrewer’s Garden delves into the preparation and use of these homegrown ingredients in brewing. The book offers a wealth of recipes and brewing tips, demonstrating how to incorporate fresh hops, malted grains, and herbs into a variety of beer styles. The inclusion of unique brewing herbs like yarrow, juniper, and coriander adds an exciting dimension for brewers looking to experiment with flavors and create distinctive brews. This holistic approach, from garden to glass, empowers homebrewers to craft beers that are truly their own, imbued with the flavors and aromas of their own gardens.

In conclusion, The Homebrewer’s Garden is an invaluable resource that combines practical gardening advice with creative brewing techniques. Joe and Dennis Fisher have crafted a guide that is not only informative but also inspiring, encouraging homebrewers to explore the full potential of their craft. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refine your brewing process with homegrown ingredients, this book is a must-have addition to your brewing library.

My GoodReads Rating: ***
My LibraryThing Rating: ***1/2
Global Average GoodReads Rating: 3.75 (as of 4.30.24)

Homebrewing Recipes

We are circling back to include more homebrew articles. We have gotten some requests for recipes, so we have decided to write them up and post them here. Be sure to check for other Homebrew articles and recipes as well!

• Brewing a Traditional Lithuanian Farmhouse Beer – Keptinis (Karl Larson)

• Nebula Nectar Hazy IPA (Homebrew Recipe)

• Titan’s Tribute Barleywine (Homebrew Recipe)

• Mad Elf Inspired Clone (Homebrew Recipe)

• Dark Souls Schwarzbier (Homebrew Recipe)

• Quadruple Hopocalypse – Quad IPA (Homebrew Recipe)

Homebrewing Articles

• The Ultimate Guide to Homebrewing: Tips, Tricks, and Best Practices for 2024

Other Book Reviews

• Book Review: The Greatest Beer Run Ever (John Chick Donohue and J.T. Molloy)

• Book Review: Subpar Parks: America’s Most Extraordinary National Parks and Their Least Impressed Visitors (Amber Share)

• Book Review: Courage is Calling (Ryan Holiday)

• Book Review: The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity (Carlo M. Cipolla)

• Book Review: Brewed in Japan (Jeffrey Alexander)

• Book Review: The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life (Armand M. Nicholi Jr.)

• Book Review: Family Reins (Billy Busch)

• Book Review: The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World (Riley Black)

• Book Review: The Wit and Humor of Oscar Wilde (Oscar Wilde)

• Book Review: Create Dangerously (Albert Camus)
• Book Review: The Road (Cormac McCarthy)
• Book Review: The Donnie Darko Book (Richard Kelly)
• Book Review: How to Rule the World: A Handbook for the Aspiring Dictator (André de Guillaume)
• Book Review: Here is New York (E.B. White)
• Book Review: Uncle John’s Beer Topia
• Book Review: I Drink For a Reason (David Cross)

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

• MAPS OF BREWERIES

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

(Thank you for reading. The opinions, thoughts, and expressions of each article posted on The Beer Thrillers represents the author of the content and only themselves. It does not express the opinions, beliefs, or ideas held by The Beer Thrillers or any company in which the author themselves work for. Each piece of written content is written by the creator(s) listed in the authorial section on each article unless otherwise noted. Their opinions, comments, and words on screen do not represent any company in which they work for and / or are affiliated with or any non – profits that they contribute to. Thank you.)

Here is New York by E.B. White

E.B. White

White on the beach with his dachshund Minnie (photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

The following comes via Wikipedia:

Elwyn Brooks White (July 11, 1899 – October 1, 1985)^[1] was an American writer. He was the author of several highly popular books for children, including Stuart Little (1945), Charlotte’s Web (1952), and The Trumpet of the Swan (1970).

In a 2012 survey of School Library Journal readers, Charlotte’s Web was ranked first in their poll of the top one hundred children’s novels.^[2] White also was a contributing editor to The New Yorker magazine and co-author of The Elements of Style, an English language style guide.

Wikipedia – E.B. White

After graduating from Cornell, White went to work for the United Press, later United Press International, and the American Legion News Service in 1921 and 1922. From September 1922 to June 1923, he was a cub reporter for The Seattle Times. On one occasion, when White was stuck writing a story, a Times editor said, “Just say the words.”^[15]

White was fired from the Times and later wrote for the rival Seattle Post-Intelligencer before a stint in Alaska on a fireboat.^[16] He then worked for almost two years with the Frank Seaman advertising agency as a production assistant and copywriter^[17] before returning to New York City in 1924.

In 1925, after The New Yorker was founded, White began submitting manuscripts to the magazine. Katharine Angell, the literary editor, recommended to editor-in-chief and founder Harold Ross that White be hired as a staff writer. However, it took months to convince White to attend a meeting at the office and additional weeks to convince him to work on the premises. He eventually agreed to work in the office on Thursdays.^[18]

White published his first article for The New Yorker in 1925, then joined the staff in 1927, and continued to write for the magazine for nearly six decades. Best recognized for his essays and unsigned “Notes and Comment” pieces, he gradually became the magazine’s most important contributor. From the beginning to the end of his career at The New Yorker, he frequently provided what the magazine calls “Newsbreaks”, which were short, witty comments on oddly worded printed items from many sources, under various categories, such as “Block That Metaphor.” He also was a columnist for Harper’s Magazine from 1938 to 1943.

In 1949, White published Here Is New York, a short book based on an article he had been commissioned to write for Holiday. Editor Ted Patrick approached White about writing the essay, telling him it would be fun. “Writing is never ‘fun'”, White replied.^[19] That article reflects the writer’s appreciation of a city that provides its residents with both “the gift of loneliness and the gift of privacy.” It concludes with a dark note touching on the forces that could destroy the city that he loved. This prescient “love letter” to the city was re-published in 1999 on his centennial with an introduction by his stepson, Roger Angell.

In 1959, White edited and updated The Elements of Style. This handbook of grammatical and stylistic guidance for writers of American English was first written and published in 1918 by William Strunk Jr., one of White’s professors at Cornell. White’s reworking of the book was extremely well received, and later editions followed in 1972, 1979, and 1999. Maira Kalman illustrated an edition in 2005. That same year, Nico Muhly, a New York City composer, premiered a short opera based on the book. The volume is a standard tool for students and writers and remains required reading in many composition classes. The complete history of The Elements of Style is detailed in Mark Garvey’s Stylized: A Slightly Obsessive History of Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style.

Wikipedia – E.B. White (Career)

GoodReads Blurb

The back of the book blurb cover reads:

Perceptive, funny, and nostalgic, E.B. White’s stroll around Manhattan remains the quintessential love letter to the city, written by one of America’s foremost literary figures. The New York Times has named Here is New York one of the ten best books ever written about the metropolis, and The New Yorker calls it “the wittiest essay, and one of the most perceptive, ever done on the city.

Here is New York (GoodReads)

Book Review

Fart Proudly: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School (writings by Benjamin Franklin)

Fart Proudly

How can you pass up a book titled “Fart Proudly” when browsing through a library book sale? I don’t think I could have spent 50 cents any better than picking this up. I would be doing myself, and all around me a disservice if I didn’t purchase it.

Thats one of the best things about these library booksales (and I love going to them, I go regularly to the Hershey Public Library Book Sale, the Hummelstown one at William H. and Marion C. Alexander Library, as well as the Middletown Public Library Book Sale, the Elizabethtown Public Library Book Sale, the Palmyra Library Book Sale, and others); you can find books like this. Books that you had no idea even existed let alone knew that you needed or wanted. And their just a quarter, or fifty scents, or at most two dollars.

Benjamin Franklin

From Wikipedia:

Benjamin Franklin FRSFRSAFRSE (January 17, 1706 [O.S. January 6, 1705]^{[Note 1]} – April 17, 1790) was an American polymath, a leading writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher.^[1] Among the most influential intellectuals of his time, Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States; a drafter and signer of the Declaration of Independence; and the first postmaster general.^[2]

Franklin became a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies, publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette at age 23.^[3] He became wealthy publishing this and Poor Richard’s Almanack, which he wrote under the pseudonym “Richard Saunders”.^[4] After 1767, he was associated with the Pennsylvania Chronicle, a newspaper known for its revolutionary sentiments and criticisms of the policies of the British Parliament and the Crown.^[5]

He pioneered and was the first president of the Academy and College of Philadelphia, which opened in 1751 and later became the University of Pennsylvania. He organized and was the first secretary of the American Philosophical Society and was elected its president in 1769. He was appointed deputy postmaster-general for the British colonies in 1753,^[6] which enabled him to set up the first national communications network.

He was active in community affairs and colonial and state politics, as well as national and international affairs. Franklin became a hero in America when, as an agent in London for several colonies, he spearheaded the repeal of the unpopular Stamp Act by the British Parliament. An accomplished diplomat, he was widely admired as the first U.S. ambassador to France and was a major figure in the development of positive Franco–American relations. His efforts proved vital for the American Revolution in securing French aid.

From 1785 to 1788, he served as President of Pennsylvania. At some points in his life, he owned slaves and ran “for sale” ads for slaves in his newspaper, but by the late 1750s, he began arguing against slavery, became an active abolitionist, and promoted the education and integration of African Americans into U.S. society.

As a scientist, his studies of electricity made him a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics. He also charted and named the Gulf Stream current. His numerous important inventions include the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove.^[7] He founded many civic organizations, including the Library Company, Philadelphia‘s first fire department,^[8] and the University of Pennsylvania.^[9] Franklin earned the title of “The First American” for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity. Foundational in defining the American ethos, Franklin has been called “the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become”.^[10]

His life and legacy of scientific and political achievement, and his status as one of America’s most influential Founding Fathers, have seen Franklin honored for more than two centuries after his death on the $100 bill and in the names of warships, many towns and counties, educational institutions, and corporations, as well as in numerous cultural references and a portrait in the Oval Office. His more than 30,000 letters and documents have been collected in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.

Benjamin Franklin – Wikipedia

Fart Proudly: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School GoodReads Blurb

Before we get into the book review, lets dive into the back of the book’s blurb, as per GoodReads:

A mention of flatulence might conjure up images of bratty high school boys or lowbrow comics. But one of the most eloquent—and least expected—commentators on the subject is Benjamin Franklin. The writings in Fart Proudly reveal the rogue who lived peaceably within the philosopher and statesman. Included are “The Letter to a Royal Academy”; “On Choosing a Mistress”; “Rules on Making Oneself Disagreeable”; and other jibes. Franklin’s irrepressible wit found an outlet in perpetrating hoaxes, attacking marriage and other sacred cows, and skewering the English Parliament. Reminding us of the humorous, irreverent side of this American icon, these essays endure as both hilarious satire and a timely reminder of the importance of a free press.

Fart Proudly: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School – GoodReads

Book Review: Fart Proudly: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School

“Fart Proudly: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School” is a compilation that presents a different side of one of America’s founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin. Edited by Carl Japikse, this collection brings together some of Franklin’s more humorous and lesser-known writings, showcasing his wit, irreverence, and intellectual playfulness.

This book serves as a reminder that Franklin was not just a statesman, scientist, and philosopher but also a master of satire and humor. The title itself, “Fart Proudly,” refers to an actual essay written by Franklin that satirically suggests scientific research into making flatulence smell pleasant. This essay, alongside others in the collection, highlights Franklin’s ability to use humor to provoke thought on societal norms and scientific inquiry.

The compilation includes a variety of pieces, such as essays, letters, and hoaxes, many of which might surprise readers familiar only with Franklin’s more formal and well-known public writings. For example, his witty letter to the Royal Academy of Brussels, where he mockingly proposes that research should be conducted to diminish the offensive smell of human flatulence, is both an exercise in satire and an ingenious critique of the sometimes absurd pursuits of scientific societies.

Japikse does a commendable job in curating these texts, not only by selecting content that illustrates Franklin’s playful side but also by providing context that helps modern readers understand the 18th-century references and humor. This contextual information is crucial, as it allows readers to appreciate the cleverness and impact of Franklin’s words during his time.

“Fart Proudly” also reveals Franklin’s progressive thoughts on personal freedoms and societal improvements. Even through his humorous writings, he challenged social norms, criticized political structures, and advocated for intellectual freedom and improvement of the human condition. His sharp wit was not merely for entertainment but often served a larger purpose, encouraging his readers to think critically and skeptically about the world around them.

Overall, “Fart Proudly” is not just an anthology of forgotten writings but a delightful glimpse into the playful and cunning mind of Benjamin Franklin. It’s an engaging read for anyone interested in American history, literature, or political satire. The book serves as a potent reminder of the power of humor in communication and the timeless quality of Franklin’s intellect and wit. This collection is recommended for readers who enjoy a mix of history, humor, and unconventional perspectives from one of America’s most influential figures.

My GoodReads Rating: ***
My LibraryThing Rating: ***1/2
Global Average GoodReads Rating: 3.79 (as of 2.14.24)

Other Book Reviews

• Book Review: The Greatest Beer Run Ever (John Chick Donohue and J.T. Molloy)

• Book Review: Subpar Parks: America’s Most Extraordinary National Parks and Their Least Impressed Visitors (Amber Share)

• Book Review: Courage is Calling (Ryan Holiday)

• Book Review: The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity (Carlo M. Cipolla)

• Book Review: Brewed in Japan (Jeffrey Alexander)

• Book Review: The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life (Armand M. Nicholi Jr.)

• Book Review: Family Reins (Billy Busch)

• Book Review: The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World (Riley Black)

• Book Review: The Wit and Humor of Oscar Wilde (Oscar Wilde)

• Book Review: Create Dangerously (Albert Camus)

• Book Review: The Road (Cormac McCarthy)
• Book Review: The Donnie Darko Book (Richard Kelly)
• Book Review: How to Rule the World: A Handbook for the Aspiring Dictator (André de Guillaume)
• Book Review: Here is New York (E.B. White)
• Book Review: When Will Jesus Bring the Porkchops? (George Carlin)

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

• MAPS OF BREWERIES

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

(Thank you for reading. The opinions, thoughts, and expressions of each article posted on The Beer Thrillers represents the author of the content and only themselves. It does not express the opinions, beliefs, or ideas held by The Beer Thrillers or any company in which the author themselves work for. Each piece of written content is written by the creator(s) listed in the authorial section on each article unless otherwise noted. Their opinions, comments, and words on screen do not represent any company in which they work for and / or are affiliated with or any non – profits that they contribute to. Thank you.)

Create Dangerously by Albert Camus

Create Dangerously

Live dangerously, think dangerously, create dangerously. This can be a wonderful way to sum up the life – and writings – of Albert Camus. One of my favorite writers, his works have profoundly touched me in my own writing, in my own way of thinking, and my life in general. One of my biggest inspirations for writing, alongside Kurt Vonnegut, George Orwell, Spinoza, Antonie de Saint Exupery, Aldous Huxley, Philip K. Dick, Nietzsche, and a host of others. Creating dangerously is something that gets to the core of writing, and gets to the core of what writers SHOULD do. It doesn’t mean “no fear or no worries” but it does mean to take risks, to write what needs to be written, to create what needs to be created. Art for art’s sake. To hell with the dictator, to hell with the public, to hell with who might cause you trouble for the creation. Create dangerously. Think dangerously. Live dangerously.

Albert Camus

Portrait of Albert Camus from New York World-Telegram and Sun Photograph Collection, 1957 (photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

Albert Camus was a famous writer, an existentialist writer that helped herald in the existentialist movement alongside Sartre and others. His “brand” of Existentialism was “Absurdism”, insofar as that life has no inherent meaning and it is up to us to find meaning, or to find purpose, or to just live, in an absurd world.

The following comes from his biography on Wikipedia:

Albert Camus (/kæmˈuː/^[2] kam-OO; French: [albɛʁ kamy] ^ⓘ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, journalist, world federalist,^[3] and political activist. He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history. His works include The Stranger, The Plague, The Myth of Sisyphus, The Fall, and The Rebel.

Camus was born in Algeria during the French colonization, to pied-noir parents. He spent his childhood in a poor neighbourhood and later studied philosophy at the University of Algiers. He was in Paris when the Germans invaded France during World War II in 1940. Camus tried to flee but finally joined the French Resistance where he served as editor-in-chief at Combat, an outlawed newspaper. After the war, he was a celebrity figure and gave many lectures around the world. He married twice but had many extramarital affairs. Camus was politically active; he was part of the left that opposed Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union because of their totalitarianism. Camus was a moralist and leaned towards anarcho-syndicalism. He was part of many organisations seeking European integration. During the Algerian War (1954–1962), he kept a neutral stance, advocating for a multicultural and pluralistic Algeria, a position that was rejected by most parties.

Philosophically, Camus’ views contributed to the rise of the philosophy known as absurdism. Some consider Camus’ work to show him to be an existentialist, even though he himself firmly rejected the term throughout his lifetime.

Albert Camus – Wikipedia

Absurdism

Absurdism is the philosophical thesis that life, or the world in general, is absurd. There is wide agreement that the term “absurd” implies a lack of meaning or purpose but there is also significant dispute concerning its exact definition and various versions have been suggested.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} The choice of one’s definition has important implications for whether the thesis of absurdism is correct and for the arguments cited for and against it: it may be true on one definition and false on another.^[6]

In a general sense, the absurd is that which lacks a sense, often because it involves some form of contradiction. The absurd is paradoxical in the sense that it cannot be grasped by reason.^[7][8][9] But in the context of absurdism, the term is usually used in a more specific sense. According to most definitions, it involves a conflict, discrepancy, or collision between two things. Opinions differ on what these two things are.^[1][2][3][4] For example, it is traditionally identified as the confrontation of rational man with an irrational world or as the attempt to grasp something based on reasons even though it is beyond the limits of rationality.^[10][11] Similar definitions see the discrepancy between intention and outcome, between aspiration and reality, or between subjective assessment and objective worth as the source of absurdity.^[1][3] Other definitions locate both conflicting sides within man: the ability to apprehend the arbitrariness of final ends and the inability to let go of commitments to them.^[4] In regard to the conflict, absurdism differs from nihilism since it is not just the thesis that nothing matters. Instead, it includes the component that things seem to matter to us nonetheless and that this impression cannot be shaken off. This difference is expressed in the relational aspect of the absurd in that it constitutes a conflict between two sides.^[4][1][2]

Various components of the absurd have been suggested and different researchers often focus their definition and inquiry on one of these components. Some accounts emphasize the practical components concerned with the individual seeking meaning while others stress the theoretical components about being unable to know the world or to rationally grasp it. A different disagreement concerns whether the conflict exists only internal to the individual or is between the individual’s expectations and the external world. Some theorists also include the metacognitive component that the absurd entails that the individual is aware of this conflict.^{[2][3][12][4]}

An important aspect of absurdism is that the absurd is not limited to particular situations but encompasses life as a whole.^[2][1][13] There is a general agreement that people are often confronted with absurd situations in everyday life.^[7] They often arise when there is a serious mismatch between one’s intentions and reality.^[2] For example, a person struggling to break down a heavy front door is absurd if the house they are trying to break into lacks a back wall and could easily be entered on this route.^[1] But the philosophical thesis of absurdism is much more wide-reaching since it is not restricted to individual situations, persons, or phases in life. Instead, it asserts that life, or the world as a whole, is absurd. The claim that the absurd has such a global extension is controversial, in contrast to the weaker claim that some situations are absurd.^[2][1][13]

The perspective of absurdism usually comes into view when the agent takes a step back from their individual everyday engagements with the world to assess their importance from a bigger context.^[4][2][14] Such an assessment can result in the insight that the day-to-day engagements matter a lot to us despite the fact that they lack real meaning when evaluated from a wider perspective. This assessment reveals the conflict between the significance seen from the internal perspective and the arbitrariness revealed through the external perspective.^[4] The absurd becomes a problem since there is a strong desire for meaning and purpose even though they seem to be absent.^[7] In this sense, the conflict responsible for the absurd often either constitutes or is accompanied by an existential crisis.^[15][14]

Absurdism – Wikipedia

Book Review: Create Dangerously by Albert Camus

‘To create today is to create dangerously’

Camus argues passionately that the artist has a responsibility to challenge, provoke and speak up for those who cannot in this powerful speech, accompanied here by two others.

Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary, international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York’s underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space.

Create Dangerously (Back of Book Blurb) – GoodReads

As I said above in the introduction to this review – “live dangerously, think dangerously, create dangerously” could be a motto for Albert Camus. And its at the heart of what this small little book is all about. This tract is only 53 pages, of a small sized book. Its fast paced but not a quick easy read, you can easily find yourself reading over a page to regain, or to reorient, or to reread what you just read. Fully embracing, falling into what Camus is saying. Its two essays and one speech, but it packs so much into these 53 pages. I believe the two essays were also at one time used as speeches as well. So, in that sense this is just three speeches laid out in essay form each.

According to a quick Google search, the three speeches were:

• CREATE DANGEROUSLY – University of Uppsala, 1957
• DEFENSE OF INTELLIGENCE – L’Amitié Française, 1945
• BREAD AND FREEDOM – Labour Exchange of Saint-Étienne, 1953

The artist, the writer, the author, the creator is propelled to create, to do so, to not be silenced. It is imperative for a writer, for an artist; to do what is right to him or herself. To write or create regardless of what penalties one might face, no matter the force and the opposition. One is forced by all that is strong and right in the world, to create, no matter the outcome.

Lets break down the individual speeches / essays a bit more:

1) Create Dangerously

Camus is deeply concerned about the tormented relationship between the artist and the public, that is, the society in which he lives. Because the art of nowadays must deal with the masses. It must accept to be either engaged in some kind of historical commitment or corrupt by popularization, a choice the old masters had always been spared until the middle class prevailed and culture became accessible to the masses.

Today everything is changed and even silence has dangerous implications. To create today is to create dangerously. Any publication is an act, and that act exposes one to the passions of an age that forgives nothing. The question is how, among the police forces of so many ideologies, the strange liberty of creation is possible.

…

We know now that they exist, because the masses have become stronger and keep people from forgetting them.

Albert Camus – Create Dangerously

Camus is not blinded, nor is he ignorant of ideological faith and bias and prejudices. He’s perfectly aware of the implications of the so-called Socialistic Realism of his time, a delusional attempt to depict a ‘leftist’ reality that inevitably became mere propaganda: the masses were to be portrayed only as the ideal masses of the red utopia, and the writer’s grasp on reality could only be focused on the future – that is, on the non-existent. What we need today is, according to Camus, a creativity that is aware of its own potential. Today’s art is threatened by a dangerous lack of contact with the physical and emotional reality of life.

One of the many reasons I find Camus endearing, and more interesting than most other existentialist writers (like Sartre, or Kierkegard, or Weil) is that he is optimistic. He is looking forward, he is proud of where he is, proud of the future for mankind, and doesn’t have such a bleak and irreverent view of what mankind is or the future of mankind. Camus’ vision is hardly the bleak, depressing cliché of so many existentialists. He forwards an ideal concept of art as an achievement of all mankind throughout history, a common endeavor and a common task of both writers and readers. “Every man, on the foundation of his own suffering and joys, builds for all.” This may not be the core of Existentialism, but it certainly is the core of Existence.

2) Defense of Intelligence

It is interesting that as a system, as a society, that we have to “defend intelligence”. That intelligence, that reasoning and rationale, is in need of defense. That rational thinking, that reasoning, that intelligence isn’t the end goal in and of itself. But sadly, this is where we are at – and here he is talking of this in the 50s. And now, in the 2020’s, so little progress has been made, if anything, we have regressed on intelligence, regressed on our anti-academic and anti-scholarly work, regressed on our positions, our desire for intelligence, our desire for reasoning.

His speech here, done in 1945, was quick, and short, ten minutes, and aimed at France. Aimed at a nation just starting to heal and cure itself of all the wounds from all the recent tragedies that it has endured. n order to overcome the hatred and tension left behind by the war, Camus says, any desire for revenge must be put aside once and for all. Only a new political mentality can lead to a new start and a real change, in which there are neither partisans nor collaborators anymore.

What determined the fall of European civilisation and the ascent of barbaric dictatorships was the lack of respect for intelligence and intellectuals, who had been conveniently used as a scapegoat – or an enemy – by most governments.

The last and most long-lived victory of Hitlerism is to be found in the shameful scars made on the hearts of those who fought it most vigorously.

Albert Camus – Defense of Intelligence

3) Bread and Freedom

The last of the speeches / essays in “Create Dangerously” – this speech was delivered in 1953 for a labor exchange. A critique of the exploitation of freedom, shamelessly betrayed by the Soviet Revolution and often seen by the western government as an annoying ‘inconvenience’ of democracy. Once again indeed, Camus’ thought is not influenced by any political faction.

In this, he discusses how freedom – human freedom – are the same as justice. No justice can be devoid of intellectual freedom, and no intelligence can exist without social justice. Prejudices, biases, hatred, cannot exist within intelligence. An intelligent man cannot hate willfully and ignorantly. For reasons without merit. (ie. the color of someone’s skin, or who they love, or gender, etc.) This speech also shows the most unexpectedly, delightfully optimistic Camus, eventually suggesting a universal brotherhood between the intellectual and the worker as their only chance to fight back whenever their freedom is in danger.

Its amazing how timeless these three essays / speeches feel. How relevant they are in 2024 (with the upcoming election especially playing heavily in all of our minds, as well as the past several years with COVID, and American politics, and the wars that have started), and how timeless and prescient they feel. The issues at hand in these speeches are still issues at hand. Propaganda, freedom of speech, not giving into hatred, intellectual freedom, social justice, justice as a whole, human freedom, the role of an artist, etc – it all is as relevant today as it was in 1945, 1953, and 1957. We lost Albert Camus too early, too young. His words and wisdom are still needed to this day, and he should be essential reading for everyone. Not just artists.

Freedom is not a gift received from a State or a leader but a possession to be won every day by the effort of each and the union of all.

Albert Camus

My GoodReads Rating: ****
My LibraryThing Rating: ****.5
Global GoodReads Rating: 3.82 (as of 2.13.24)

Other Book Reviews

• Book Review: The Greatest Beer Run Ever (John Chick Donohue and J.T. Molloy)

• Book Review: Subpar Parks: America’s Most Extraordinary National Parks and Their Least Impressed Visitors (Amber Share)

• Book Review: Courage is Calling (Ryan Holiday)

• Book Review: The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity (Carlo M. Cipolla)

• Book Review: Brewed in Japan (Jeffrey Alexander)

• Book Review: The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life (Armand M. Nicholi Jr.)

• Book Review: Family Reins (Billy Busch)

• Book Review: The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World (Riley Black)

• Book Review: The Wit and Humor of Oscar Wilde (Oscar Wilde)

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

• MAPS OF BREWERIES

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

(Thank you for reading. The opinions, thoughts, and expressions of each article posted on The Beer Thrillers represents the author of the content and only themselves. It does not express the opinions, beliefs, or ideas held by The Beer Thrillers or any company in which the author themselves work for. Each piece of written content is written by the creator(s) listed in the authorial section on each article unless otherwise noted. Their opinions, comments, and words on screen do not represent any company in which they work for and / or are affiliated with or any non – profits that they contribute to. Thank you.)

Obliviously On He Sails: The Bush Administration in Rhyme by Calvin Trillin

Political Satire

Political satire through rhyme, who knew. A look at the time in office of President Bush. Published during his presidency; this doesn’t cover his last year (year and a half or so) of his second term. Calvin Trillin writes about the various aspects of Bush’s presidency, his campaigns, all obviously from a certain slant, a certain bias. So you will have to go into it full well knowing if you are extremely pro-Bush this will most likely come off as bashing or as very negative of his presidency. I think it helps with accountability though and it helps to act as a reminder of a president’s legacy, of a president’s time in office, his achievements or in this case lack of achievements or issues and problems. These accounts, either through satire and humor or through purely historical lenses offer us a valuable insight into what transformed all of our lives who lived through these times.

Back of Cover Blurb

Does the Bush Administration sound any better in rhyme? In this biting array of verse, it at least sounds funnier. Calvin Trillin employs everything from a Gilbert and Sullivan style, for describing George Bush’s rescue in the South Carolina primary by the Christian Right (“I am, when all is said and done, a Robertson Republican”), to a bilingual approach, when commenting on the President’s casual acknowledgment, after months of trying to persuade the nation otherwise, that there was never any evidence of Iraqi involvement in 9/11: “The Web may say, or maybe Lexis-Nexis / If chutzpa is a word they use in Texas.”

Trillin deals not only with George W. Bush but with the people around him—Supreme Commander Karl Rove and Condoleezza (Mushroom Cloud) Rice and Nanny Dick Cheney (“One mystery I’ve tried to / Why Cheney’s head is always at an angle . . .”) The armchair warriors Trillin refers to as the Sissy Hawk Brigade are celebrated in such poems as “Richard Whose Fault Is He?” and “A Sissy Hawk Cheer” (“All-out war is still our druthers— / Fiercely fought, and fought by others.”).

Trillin may never be poet laureate—certainly not while George W. Bush is in office—but his wit and his political insight produce what has been called “doggerel for the ages.”

Obliviously On He Sails: The Bush Administration in Rhyme – GoodReads

Book Review: Obliviously On He Sails: The Bush Administration in Rhyme

The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World by Riley Black

Dinosaurs

Why are we all so fascinated by dinosaurs? I know I was growing up – and to a degree still am. To think about creatures of such immense size roaming the very planet we are is an incredulous thought. So in that same vein, its natural to wonder what their last days on Earth were like. When the asteroid hit, or just before the asteroid hit, and after the asteroid hit. How their entire world completely upended on itself and everything they knew completely changed. (Imagine an asteroid hitting Earth right now – think about how drastically different life would be forever after that event.)

These gigantic behemoths that roamed the world fascinates just about everyone. Otherwise Jurassic Park wouldn’t be the successful book (and later movie franchise) that it is. There wouldn’t be countless kids shows devoted to dinosaurs (my favorite being Dinosaur Train, whoever thought about combining dinosaurs with trains was an absolute genius). They fill up our museums, they fill up our books, and they fill up our heads with natural wonder – how did they move, how did they act, how did their world work, why did they go extinct, what impact did they have, etc, etc, etc.

Book Blurb

The back of the book blurb, as per GoodReads:

Winner of the AAAS/Subaru Prize for Excellence in Science Books!

“This is top-drawer science writing.” ―Publishers Weekly, starred review

In The Last Days of the Dinosaurs, Riley Black walks readers through what happened in the days, the years, the centuries, and the million years after the impact, tracking the sweeping disruptions that overtook this one spot, and imagining what might have been happening elsewhere on the globe. Life’s losses were sharp and deeply-felt, but the hope carried by the beings that survived sets the stage for the world as we know it now.

Picture yourself in the Cretaceous period. It’s a sunny afternoon in the Hell Creek of ancient Montana 66 million years ago. A Triceratops horridus ambles along the edge of the forest. In a matter of hours, everything here will be wiped away. Lush verdure will be replaced with fire. Tyrannosaurus rex will be toppled from their throne, along with every other species of non-avian dinosaur no matter their size, diet, or disposition. They just don’t know it yet.

The cause of this disaster was identified decades ago. An asteroid some seven miles across slammed into the Earth, leaving a geologic wound over 50 miles in diameter. In the terrible mass extinction that followed, more than half of known species vanished seemingly overnight. But this worst single day in the history of life on Earth was as critical for us as it was for the dinosaurs, as it allowed for evolutionary opportunities that were closed for the previous 100 million years.

“This is pop science that reads like a fantasy novel, but backed up by hard facts and the latest fossil discoveries. Black is pioneering a new narrative prehistorical nonfiction.” ― Steve Brusatte, New York Times bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs

The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World – GoodReads

Book Review

This is an interesting book to quantify for the sake of reviewing, because its both scholarly / academic, as well as…. fictional. Its non-fiction, and its about the last days of the dinosaurs and all, but theres a lot of hypotheticals and conjectural or speculative ideas. Frankly – we don’t know for any definitive given how the dinosaurs one hundred percent lived, nor died, nor how they fully interacted with each other. We can extrapolate a fair bit from fossils, and using logic and reasoning, and seeing how other similar animals in our own world operate, but it still doesn’t give us a fool proof view of what it was like to be these dinosaurs or other creatures of that time period.

Riley Black dives into the speculative, and free – flows with much of what we do know about that period. The book blends non-fiction and fiction so seamlessly that often times its hard to decipher which is which; until you get to the back and go through the notes where its pontificated better and clearer on what is speculative vs  information we currently have. Even then, its so woven in, that its hard to tell at times. And I think the author has a hard time understanding that as well.

Riley Black has a clear cut enthusiasm for dinosaurs, the era, and the eons of history ago. You can sense it throughout the book, and this lends to itself a wonderful tale. The book reads both quickly and slowly. I found myself engrossed but at the same time finding the prose to be lugubrious and a chore to get through, but also caught up in the passion and interest of the author. Its a weird dichotomy and blend, and I think thats par for this blended piece of work as a whole. It at times feels like an easy read, and at times feels like a chore, it feels like non-fiction, but reads like fiction, it feels challenging and intellectual, but at times feels mundane, boring, and aimed at both the children in us and the academic we could possibly be.

The narratives for each chapter of the different dinosaurs and other species (mammals, mollusks, etc.) does somewhat tire and fall flat, becoming a bit repetitive by the end of the work. Its a nice introduction to each incremental time jump from the moment of impact, but it does become tiresome to a degree. I get the idea of using this as a way to jump from day of, to day after, to month after, to year after, etc, but it does grow old since most of the times its X creature dying. Showing you how they lived a bit, and then dying.

All in all I think its an interesting look and take of the period, and seeing how the dinosaurs died off, not as just one big cataclysmic event, but slowly thereafter. The execution while mostly good has its faults, but overall its a good picture of this time period and an interesting read for most who have an interest in dinosaurs or the time period.

My GoodReads Rating: ***
My LibraryThing Rating: ***.5

Global Average GoodReads Rating: 3.70 (as of 1.10.24)

Other Book Reviews

• Book Review: The Greatest Beer Run Ever (John Chick Donohue and J.T. Molloy)

• Book Review: Subpar Parks: America’s Most Extraordinary National Parks and Their Least Impressed Visitors (Amber Share)

• Book Review: Courage is Calling (Ryan Holiday)

• Book Review: The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity (Carlo M. Cipolla)

• Book Review: Brewed in Japan (Jeffrey Alexander)

• Book Review: The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life (Armand M. Nicholi Jr.)

• Book Review: Family Reins (Billy Busch)

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

• MAPS OF BREWERIES

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

(Thank you for reading. The opinions, thoughts, and expressions of each article posted on The Beer Thrillers represents the author of the content and only themselves. It does not express the opinions, beliefs, or ideas held by The Beer Thrillers or any company in which the author themselves work for. Each piece of written content is written by the creator(s) listed in the authorial section on each article unless otherwise noted. Their opinions, comments, and words on screen do not represent any company in which they work for and / or are affiliated with or any non – profits that they contribute to. Thank you.)

Simple and quick answer – curiosity. Firstly, luckily I didn’t read it, I listened to it on Libby as an Audio Book, and listened to it while doing inventory at work over two months.

I found out about Ryan Holiday after watching the WiseCrack video on Stoicism:

I’ve been a big fan of WiseCrack videos ever since their old school 8-Bit Philosopher videos (and yes, thats going back a bit now that I realize it).

So I will admit that I went into the book a bit skeptical of Ryan Holiday…. and was not surprised or shocked… or dismayed from my opinion of him.

I can see why he is loved and favored by the Joe Rogan, Jordan Peterson, loving crowds.

Ryan Holiday

From Wikipedia:

Ryan Holiday (born June 16, 1987) is an American Stoic philosopher, author, public-relations strategist, owner of the Painted Porch Bookshop, and host of the podcast The Daily Stoic.^[2] Prior to becoming an author, he served as the former director of marketing and eventually an advisor for American Apparel.^[3] Holiday’s debut to writing was in 2012, when he published Trust Me, I’m Lying. Holiday’s notable works include his books on Stoic philosophy, such as The Obstacle Is the Way, Ego is the Enemy, Stillness is the Key, Discipline is Destiny, Courage is Calling, and Lives of the Stoics.

Ryan Holiday – Wikipedia

I really think calling Ryan Holiday a philosopher is a stretch here. More like “philosophical hack” or “philosophical self help guru to make himself money”. The way he distorts and uses stoicism as a means to the end of his writing is completely antithetical to what Marcus Aurelius wrote about.

A great quote I saw from a GoodReads review:

Calling Ryan Holiday a philosopher is like calling Bezos a philanthropist or Trump a human rights activist. This is another privileged communal narcissist that cares only about his ego. Funny enough as one of his books is called Ego is The Enemy. He also became one of the incels’ guru among Jordan Peterson and Joe Rogan.

Przemek Kotowski – Courage is Calling Book Review

Book Review: Courage is Calling by Ryan Holiday

So lets just get into this.

Ryan Holiday’s bestselling trilogy–The Obstacle Is the Way, Ego is the Enemy, and Stillness is the Key–captivated professional athletes, CEOs, politicians, and entrepreneurs and helped bring Stoicism to millions of readers. Now, in the first book of an exciting new series on the cardinal virtues of ancient philosophy, Holiday explores the most foundational virtue of all: Courage.

Almost every religion, spiritual practice, philosophy and person grapples with fear. The most repeated phrase in the Bible is “Be not afraid.” The ancient Greeks spoke of phobos, panic and terror. It is natural to feel fear, the Stoics believed, but it cannot rule you. Courage, then, is the ability to rise above fear, to do what’s right, to do what’s needed, to do what is true. And so it rests at the heart of the works of Marcus Aurelius, Aristotle, and CS Lewis, alongside temperance, justice, and wisdom.

In Courage Is Calling, Ryan Holiday breaks down the elements of fear, an expression of cowardice, the elements of courage, an expression of bravery, and lastly, the elements of heroism, an expression of valor. Through engaging stories about historic and contemporary leaders, including Charles De Gaulle, Florence Nightingale, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Holiday shows you how to conquer fear and practice courage in your daily life.

You’ll also delve deep into the moral dilemmas and courageous acts of lesser-known, but equally as important, figures from ancient and modern history, such as Helvidius Priscus, a Roman Senator who stood his ground against emperor Vespasian, even in the face of death; Frank Serpico, a former New York City Police Department Detective who exposed police corruption; and Frederick Douglass and a slave named Nelly, whose fierce resistance against her captors inspired his own crusade to end slavery.

In a world in which fear runs rampant–when people would rather stand on the sidelines than speak out against injustice, go along with convention than bet on themselves, and turn a blind eye to the ugly realities of modern life–we need courage more than ever. We need the courage of whistleblowers and risk takers. We need the courage of activists and adventurers. We need the courage of writers who speak the truth–and the courage of leaders to listen.

We need you to step into the arena and fight.

Courage is Calling (GoodReads Blurb)

This is a claptrap of cliches, observations, and just recounting the same stories over and over and over. Its a padded out, extended, blog post, that could have been thinned down, or narrowed into a single chapter. But that doesn’t sell as much.

It reminds me of some of Paulo Coelho’s “pseudo – philosophical” claptrap books. The type that gets you invited onto Oprah and makes people love reading it because they feel smarter than they really are.

This is the equivalent for the frat boy “bruh” “alpha male” boys.

Firstly, lets start with the idea that the entire premise is predicated on a fault – that greatness relies on courage. And one can only obtain greatness via courage.

This is ironic because his previous book was Ego is the Enemy and flies completely in the face of this. So which is it Mr. Holiday? Whatever sells books I suppose.

This book is a collection of doctored stories repeated over and over and over and over and over, cherry picked evidence and a ton of cliche observations that are not worth the value of a paper they were printed on.

The Bible passages are certainly on that cherry picked side, and are often completely used out of context as well. I’m no Biblical scholar, and have even stopped being religious many years ago, but his usage of the Bible is ignorant, insufferable, and I imagine to the Christian populace probably problematic and annoying.

Another issue is the way the quotes and stories are presented. Its a jumbled mix and mash, a puzzle not yet put together into a coherent flow. At times the flow is right, at times he seems to have the correct unity, the correct grouping of stories and quotes and anecdotes with a loosely thinly tied bow to keep them all packaged together, but then theres many times that they are random, out of place, the bow is off, the pieces lay scrambled about the floor and are incoherent and rambling, and unnecessary or forced.

This basically sums up the book as a whole. And if you know Ryan Holiday, it perfectly sums things up in general. Here’s Bloppity-Blop out of context, I’ll tangentially connect it to Stoicism even though it doesn’t really correlate, and I’ll post YouTube videos, and write half assed books about it, and will collect and collect and collect. None of this book was helpful by the end of it, I didn’t feel like I had a better grasp of courage, or fearlessness, or stoicism, or anything else identifiable or intelligent. If anything I feel like the end of Billy Madison’s ramble – I feel like everyone has become stupider for having listened to it.

My GoodReads Rating: *
My LibraryThing Rating: 1/2*
GoodReads Universal Rating: 4.05 (as of 12.20.23)

(Its shocking to me that it has a universal rating of 4.05, but I know his demographic and audience, and there are numerous, and they are relentless ‘reviewers’. To each their own. Different strokes for different folks.)

Some More Book Reviews

Some more book reviews for you to check out:

• Book Review: Family Reins (Billy Busch)
• Book Review: Futurama and Philosophy (Edited by Courtland Lewis)
• Book Review: You Don’t Look 35, Charlie Brown! (Charles M. Schulz)
• Book Review: Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents (Cormac O’Brien)
• Book Review: The Greatest Beer Run Ever (John Chick Donohue and J.T. Molloy)
• Book Review: A Woman’s Place is in the Brewhouse – A Forgotten History of Alewives, Brewsters, Witches, and CEOs (Tara Nurin)
• Book Review: The Blue Zones Challenge: Your Guide to a Healthier, Happier, Longer Life (Daniel Buettner)
• Book Review: Pulisic – My Journey So Far (Christian Pulisic)
• Book Review: The Essential Salvador Dalí (Robert Goff)
• Book Review: Beer and Society: How We Make Beer and Beer Makes Us (Eli Revelle Yano Wilson and Asa B. Stone)
• The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life (Armand M. Nicholi Jr.)
• Book Review: The Philosophy of Snoopy (Charles M. Schulz)
• Book Review: On Bullshit (Harry G. Frankfurt)
• Book Review: Free Will (Sam Harris)
• Book Review: Free Will Explained (Dan Barker)
• Book Review: The Art of Stillness – Adventures in Going Nowhere (Pico Iyer)
• Book Review: The Physics of Baseball (Robert K. Adair)
• Book Review: Machiavelli – The Art of Teaching People What to Fear (Patrick Boucheron)
• Book Review: Wit’s End (James Geary)

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

• MAPS OF BREWERIES

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

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You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

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We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

(Thank you for reading. The opinions, thoughts, and expressions of each article posted on The Beer Thrillers represents the author of the content and only themselves. It does not express the opinions, beliefs, or ideas held by The Beer Thrillers or any company in which the author themselves work for. Each piece of written content is written by the creator(s) listed in the authorial section on each article unless otherwise noted. Their opinions, comments, and words on screen do not represent any company in which they work for and / or are affiliated with or any non – profits that they contribute to. Thank you.)

We all see it daily, maybe even hourly. We encounter it when we’re least expecting it — as well as when we are expecting it. Perhaps it can even happen to us – or from us. Of course, I am talking about human stupidity.

We encounter it all the time in our daily lives. At work, at home, online (especially online), while driving, while out eating, while out shopping, etc, etc, etc.

Perhaps its one of those things we just accept and move on, knowing that its going to be involved in our lives and there isn’t much we can really do about it.

Thankfully Carlo M. Cipolla gave us a codified look at the Laws of Human Stupidity. Philosophy in that same sense as ‘On Bullshit’ by Harry G. Frankfurt and ‘Assholes: A Theory’ by Aaron James. This is a quick dive into the stupidity of human nature.

Audio Book

While doing inventory at work today, I opened up Libby (an audio book app that lets you borrow books from libraries to listen to). It was a super quick read, and read extremely well too. Less than an hour for the book to be read all told, and it was read with the dry wit and humor that this piece is attempting to invoke while also being true and smart and intelligent.

It was narrated by Paul Boehmer.

The Laws:

1. Everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals among us.
2. The probability that a certain person is stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
3. A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person while deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses themselves.
4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals.
5. A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.

Book Review – The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity

GoodReads Blurb:

In the spirit of On Bullshit and Assholes: A Theory, an economist explores the five laws that confirm our worst fears: stupid people can and do rule the world

Since time immemorial, a powerful dark force has hindered the growth of human welfare and happiness. It is more powerful than the Mafia or the military. It has global catastrophic effects and can be found anywhere from the world’s most powerful boardrooms to your local pub. This is the immensely powerful force of human stupidity.

Seeing the shambolic state of human affairs, and sensing the dark force at work behind it, Carlo M. Cipolla, the late, noted professor of economic history at the University of California, Berkeley, created a vitally important economic model that would allow us to detect, know, and neutralize this threat: The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity.

If you’ve ever found yourself despairing at the ubiquity of stupidity among even the most ‘intellectual’ of people, then this hilarious, timely, and slightly alarming little book is for you. Arm yourself in the face of baffling political realities, unreasonable colleagues, or the unbridled misery of Christmas day with the in-laws with the first and only economic model for stupidity.

“Cipolla’s subtle tongue-in-cheek humor made this book an underground classic in Italy. Today, under current worldwide political trends, it reads more like black humor. Keep in mind: reliable statistical data shows that 98% of the people seriously believe that they are far less stupid than the average.” –Carlo Rovelli, author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity (GoodReads)

One of my favorite quotes from the book: “A stupid creature will harass you for no reason, for no advantage, without any plan or scheme and at the most improbable times and places. You have no rational way of telling if and when and how and why the stupid creature attacks. When confronted with a stupid individual you are completely at his mercy.”

This about sums up stupid people. The laws are pretty irrefutable, and there isn’t much room for negotiation on it. Again, the laws are:

1. Everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals among us.
2. The probability that a certain person is stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
3. A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person while deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses themselves.
4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals.
5. A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.

The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity

The first is exceptionally true. We all underestimate the number of stupid individuals among us. They are everywhere. Its like shape shifters, alien lizard people, like the Skrulls from Marvel, they are hiding in plan sight. They might even be someone you know – your best friend, your mum, your girlfriend even, who knows? Thats how insidious this “disease” [stupidity] is.

The book is pretty blunt in its language and phrasing. Theres no real political correctness, but there is no real political [in]correctness either. It just is. For example, rule number two is pretty straight forward – the stupid person is stupid because he’s not stupid; not because of any other defining characteristic. His race, his ethics, his nationality, his location, his place of birth, the way he looks, his gender, the skin color, etc, doesn’t matter. He is stupid — simply because — he is stupid.

George Carlin pretty much best sums it all up:

“Consider that the average person is stupid. Now, consider that most people are below average.”

George Carlin

I would have to look up the date for Carlin’s quote in question to see if he was inspired by Cipolla or vice versa; but they are basically cribbing off each other on this one.

Whereas Carlin is looking at things kind of more on an anecdotal, sociological side of things, more for the purposes of just humor with a bit of provocation of thought – Cipolla is doing it on kind of a philosophical, sociological, and academically / scholarly side. The economics and finance background of Cipolla lends him some credibility with the probability, the statistics, and the scholarly worldview. Whereas Carlin is making the statement and moving on with his monologue, Cipolla has science to back himself up and gives it to us.

Stupidity comes in many forms. And with that – in comes to people of all different levels; people who we would “think” are intelligent. Noble Prize Winners can do some stupid things (example – James Watson, the DNA co-discoverer, claiming that Blacks are inferior to Whites), politicians (…actually, this might not come as much of a shock to many people), leaders of all sorts – Hitler attacking Russia, people who have extreme values and allow them to cloud their normally intelligent judgments, people who express conspiracy theories long after they’ve been proven wrong; and these can be from all forms of walks of life – teachers, mentors, professionals and experts in their fields, etc, etc, etc.

“Whether the Second Basic Law is liked or not, however, its implications are frightening: the Law implies that whether you move in distinguished circles or you take refuge among the head-hunters of Polynesia, whether you lock yourself into a monastery or decide to spend the rest of your life in the company of beautiful and lascivious women, you always have to face the same percentage of stupid people—which percentage (in accordance with the First Law) will always surpass your expectations.”

The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity

This book borderlines on the brevity, one might even call it a pamphlet more than an actual rigorous book of academic value. But that might also be its best feature, its saving grace. For if it this was taken too far, to continue too long, it would become more on the bore, more on the tedious side, and lose much of that sharp wit, much of what makes it so poignant. On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt follows that same similar ideology.

As some might say, this book goes a long way to showcasing the “downfall of Western Society since 1945”. Might be a bit too harsh on society… but then you have to remember – the stupid walk amongst us.

My GoodReads Rating: ****
My LibraryThing Rating: ****1/2
GoodReads Average Rating: 3.88 (as of 11.20.23)

Philosophy Books We’ve Reviewed

Some philosophical works we’ve reviewed:

• Book Review: The Philosophy of Snoopy (Charles M. Schulz)
• Book Review: On Bullshit (Harry G. Frankfurt)
• Book Review: Free Will (Sam Harris)
• Book Review: Free Will Explained (Dan Barker)
• Book Review: The Art of Stillness – Adventures in Going Nowhere (Pico Iyer)
• Book Review: Machiavelli – The Art of Teaching People What to Fear (Patrick Boucheron)
• Book Review: Wit’s End (James Geary)
• Book Review: The Wit and Wisdom of Tyrion Lannister (George R.R. Martin)
• Book Review: The World According to Mister Rogers (Fred Rogers)
• Book Review: Life’s Journey According to Mister Rogers: Things To Remember Along the Way (Fred Rogers)
• Book Review: Curb Your Enthusiasm and Philosophy (Edited by Mark Ralkowski)

Some More Book Reviews

Interested in more book reviews? Then check these out:

• Book Review: The Physics of Baseball (Robert K. Adair)
• Book Review: The Greatest Beer Run Ever (John Chick Donohue and J.T. Molloy)
• Book Review: A Woman’s Place is in the Brewhouse – A Forgotten History of Alewives, Brewsters, Witches, and CEOs (Tara Nurin)
• Book Review: The Essential Salvador Dalí (Robert Goff)
• Book Review: Beer and Society: How We Make Beer and Beer Makes Us (Eli Revelle Yano Wilson and Asa B. Stone)
• Book Review: Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck)
• Book Review: An Atlas of Tolkien (David Day)
• Book Review: You Don’t Look 35, Charlie Brown! (Charles M. Schulz)
• Book Review: Pulisic – My Journey So Far (Christian Pulisic)

More Information

• The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity (GoodReads)
• The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity (Penguin House)

Carlo M. Cipolla

The following biography comes from Wikipedia:

Carlo M. Cipolla (15 August 1922 – 5 September 2000) was an Italian economic historian. He was a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society

…

As a young man, Cipolla wanted to teach history and philosophy in an Italian high school, and therefore enrolled at the political science faculty at the University of Pavia. While a student there, thanks to professor Franco Borlandi, a specialist in medieval economic history, he discovered his passion for economic history. He graduated from Pavia in 1944. Subsequently, he studied at the University of Paris and the London School of Economics.

Cipolla obtained his first teaching post in economic history in Catania at the age of 27. This was to be the first stop in a long academic career in Italy (Venice, Turin, Pavia, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and Fiesole) and abroad. In 1953 Cipolla left for the United States as a Fulbright fellow and in 1957 became a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Two years later he obtained a full professorship.

Carlo M. Cipolla (Wikipedia)

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

• MAPS OF BREWERIES

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

(Thank you for reading. The opinions, thoughts, and expressions of each article posted on The Beer Thrillers represents the author of the content and only themselves. It does not express the opinions, beliefs, or ideas held by The Beer Thrillers or any company in which the author themselves work for. Each piece of written content is written by the creator(s) listed in the authorial section on each article unless otherwise noted. Their opinions, comments, and words on screen do not represent any company in which they work for and / or are affiliated with or any non – profits that they contribute to. Thank you.)