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Lot's of interesting pop psychology on why people fall for scams. There's lots of techniques that scammers can use to prime people for scams. For example, that most people don't want to be the impolite person who asks hard questions especially in front of others.

As for what we can do about it, most of the sections have a technique or two designed to slow down a person's slide into the scam. However, they're all variations on "be vigilant enough to think about X". For example, "ask yourself why an offer is being made to you." The techniques will work best for someone who is already cranky and vigilant like me, and probably less so without training for others. And I really really wish all these techniques were put together in one section at the end, to provide a coherent overall thinking process.

But it's still pretty interesting.

new vocabulary: placket

an opening or slit in a garment covering fastenings or for access to a pocket or the flap of fabric under such an opening

Chekhov is revered, and I'm sure he wrote many wonderful, compelling things. But the title of this book is a misnomer. I'd say that three were worthwhile, though perhaps all three had endings that left me wanting. And the other two were meh, at best. So maybe read some Chekhov, just not this particular collection.

@eb76fd566cce52ed0afc588561864914@boundcovers.com i don't think the read dates show to anyone except the poster.

Everyone I Kissed Since You Got Famous is starting off so damn well! Romance with smart women (even the minor characters are smart). They use their words. They're setting up the stakes as "is minor TikTok influencer willing to blow up her life for famous Hollywood star". Stakes that make me believe in the characters rather than get frustrated by them.

I've now completed a list of the winners of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel, including this 2025 winner. As always, editions on the list on SFBA.club have good covers & descriptions; your mileage may vary on other servers.

This was a rather fascinating dive into tv sitcom history, queer history, and how modern media has been able to help sway public perceptions. I didn't watch the referenced shows growing up, so it was really interesting to see how show creators and actors were able to toe the line to get what was considered controversial material onto the air. It also gives you a little hope with how tumultuous things are in the world right now by showing that it's really not a new trend at all and was honestly expected. If you're at all interested in tv history helping the main population to be more accepting of queer folks, this would be a great read.

An excellent book about how transportation policy had become so car-centric, and ways that we are moving away from that. What I liked most in the book were Schwartz's stories about his time as traffic commissioner in New York City, including his initial push to get congestion pricing implemented in New York City, which was not implemented at the time of writing, but is now, (and it only took fifteen years to get through!). I also really liked his story of how they got a new stadium built with minimal parking and made it work by placing it next to a metro stop and giving attendees free access to the metro along with their ticket. Schwartz also talks about the future of transportation in this book, which is kind of fun, but more speculative.

New episode of If Books Could Kill podcast dropped this week, featuring this fawning biography of a very ugly man. Now added to the If Books Could Kill list on SFBA.club and other fine Bookwyrm servers.

new vocabulary: buss

1. kiss

A "beach read" I failed to start when I was on the beach.

First published at Tor.com as an online read and EPUB download, Tor now formally publishes it through ebook retailers.

Ponies here have wings, a horn and can talk. An allegory on what happens when people give things up to fit in.