Kev Nickells (Author of Taylor Swift for Adults)

Kev Nickells wants to read Black Skin, White Coats: Nigerian Psychiatrists, Decolonization, and the Globalization of Psychiatry (New African Histories) by Matthew M. Heaton	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 25, 2026 07:41AM · like
Kev Nickells rated a book it was amazing Hell Is Round the Corner by Tricky	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I love an autobiography and I really liked this. I've seen another review criticising the editing and I can see their point but the thing I wanted to point out was how they've very carefully preserved the cadence of Tricky's south Bristolian language ...more
Jan 24, 2026 02:20AM · like · see review
Kev Nickells wants to read Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed by James C. Scott	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 21, 2026 11:27PM · like
Kev Nickells rated a book it was amazing Practicing Social Ecology: From Bookchin to Rojava and Beyond (FireWorks) by Eleanor Finley	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The strapline 'from Bookchin to Rojava and beyond...' is the interesting bit for me - I'm keen to read more about Rojava on account of having a faint idea that they're doing democracy right at the moment. Bookchin I should know more about, as he's ba ...more
Jan 11, 2026 10:28AM · like · see review
Kev Nickells liked Phoenix Scholz-Krishna's review of A Hundred Apocalypses and Other Apocalypses: "I read this in bits and pieces (which is nice, considering the format) and finished it today. A very interesting voice, whose cadences and idiosyncratic sentences remind me of Tim Etchells (and that's a very good thing)."
Jan 04, 2026 04:44AM · see review
Kev Nickells rated a book it was amazing Bad Fat Black Girl: Notes from a Trap Feminist by Sesali Bowen	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Academically this is a top-tier ethnography. Less formally, it's a touching set of anecdotes of lived experiences. Bowen is brilliantly articulate and, importantly, very happy to switch modes - much of this is in the language of the trap - meaning, l ...more
Jan 04, 2026 04:33AM · like · see review
Kev Nickells rated a book it was amazing In the Dust of This Planet (Horror of Philosophy, #1) by Eugene Thacker	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This ticks a few boxes for me (especially with regards pre-enlightenment philosophy and Theology). We are of course boycotting Zero at the moment so do buy it second-hand if you can. So this is dealing with a few ideas from pre-enlightenment or 'scie ...more
Dec 31, 2025 03:42AM · like · see review
Kev Nickells wants to read In Contradiction: A Study of the Transconsistent by Graham Priest	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 30, 2025 02:12PM · like
Kev Nickells rated a book it was amazing Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness by Da’Shaun Harrison (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A present from my partner for Christmas which allowed me to whip through it in about a day. It's a fairly short number. It's got lovely typesetting (important to me). It deals with stuff that I don't necessarily know about first-hand - transness, bla ...more
Dec 28, 2025 09:04AM · like · see review
Kev Nickells rated a book it was amazing There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I'm not much of a one for sci-fi or fantasy or narrative fiction so I'm not sure if I'm qualified to comment on this. But FWIW I enjoyed it muchly. I don't want to give too much away but the premise, such as it is, deals with antimemetics - an agency ...more
Dec 21, 2025 07:33AM · like · see review

Kev Nickells wants to read

Black Skin, White Coats by Matthew M. Heaton

Black Skin, White Coats: Nigerian Psychiatrists, Decolonization, and the Globalization of Psychiatry (New African Histories)
by Matthew M. Heaton

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Hell Is Round the Corner
by Tricky

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I love an autobiography and I really liked this. I've seen another review criticising the editing and I can see their point but the thing I wanted to point out was how they've very carefully preserved the cadence of Tricky's south Bristolian language I love an autobiography and I really liked this. I've seen another review criticising the editing and I can see their point but the thing I wanted to point out was how they've very carefully preserved the cadence of Tricky's south Bristolian language without making it grammatically (ahem) tricky. I grew up in the West and lived for a few years in South Bristol so I can quite viscerally hear Tricky's use of a very Bristolian English. However, there's plenty of idioms that can't ironed out - I can't prove it but there's plenty of places where someone would say something idiomatic like 'he's come in and said' that is rendered as 'he came in and said'. But critically not all of the Bristolian is blanched out. Sadly no "where's that to".

The impression I get is that Tricky is just a proper south Bristol kiddy - lots of chat about going up to different parts of Bristol. I like that Tricky doesn't hold sway with much of the classic divisions in Bristol - none of the slagging off of Clifton, no slagging off the gas (North Bristol). Some great insight into central and North clubs and nightlife from back in the 80s. He's very reasonable about Knowle West, which tends not to get much love even in Bristol. It's a poor area and a lot of culture (gigs, pubs etc) happens elsewhere but Tricky rightly pulls out the sense of community there.

I moved away from Bristol about 15 years ago so there's a lot about this that's like a warm blanket. It doesn't make me want to move back but I like that you can see how his relationship to where he's from, his family and friends, changes over the years.

There's plenty about his non-Bristol life as well - I'm really chuffed that he points out a lot of stuff that seems obvious in Bristol. There wasn't a 'Bristol scene' - there are scenes in Bristol but what Tricky was doing wasn't really it, because he and the other 'Bristol scene' bands were disconnected in many ways. I'm glad he gets the point out there that Portishead aren't from Bristol, they're from Portishead. So Tricky's life as an adult and as a musician is kind of about moving around - LA, NY, Paris, Berlin. His affection for Paris ghetto kids is gorgeous. His 'son' Alex in Russia is great.

The book is shot through with interviews from people in Tricky's life as well - which reminds me of Wiley's biography from a few years back. It's a great way of adding context and not overloading the reader with a single voice. And again, Tricky's affection for the people around him is infectious.

Ultimately I came away wanting to listen to more of his music and thinking Tricky's a top bloke (mind) so that's all the ticks for an autobiography. ...more

Kev Nickells wants to read

Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed
by James C. Scott

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Kev Nickells rated a book it was amazing

Practicing Social Ecology by Eleanor Finley

Practicing Social Ecology: From Bookchin to Rojava and Beyond (FireWorks)
by Eleanor Finley

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The strapline 'from Bookchin to Rojava and beyond...' is the interesting bit for me - I'm keen to read more about Rojava on account of having a faint idea that they're doing democracy right at the moment. Bookchin I should know more about, as he's ba The strapline 'from Bookchin to Rojava and beyond...' is the interesting bit for me - I'm keen to read more about Rojava on account of having a faint idea that they're doing democracy right at the moment. Bookchin I should know more about, as he's bang in the middle of what I see of debates on ecology, environmentalism, and anarchism.

So you could say this book is a bit of a 'state of the nation' in terms of contemporary leftist practice. There's a series of imperatives at play here, and ones that are familiar - the problem of the nation state, the creation of non-national groupings, the organisation thereof, and the present climate catastrophe. Finley weaves together the subjects deftly and there's a decent heft to her case studies in specific subject areas (social ecology, eco-communities, assembly-based democracy, democratic confederalism). And if that sounds like it's going to be a book of abstract theory - it's resolutely not. While there's plenty of theory, there's a decent amount of case studies and interviews to pick out how movements like the PKK in Rojava work.

It's subtly fairly feminist as well - perhaps less overtly dealing in feminist theory but certainly dappling the importance of including minority voices. Importantly, that's not limited to demographic representation but also noting the modes of democracy - for instance, the tendency for traditional 'debate' to take a combative tone, while noting a more feminist take whereby people's perspectives are reconciled to larger projects.

Finally the case is made for democratic confederalism - a form of direct democracy that looks close to the federalism of 20th century anarchism. The key being that the studies Finley highlights are ones that seek to redress power imbalances and return land rights to natives. There's plenty here that extends beyond (traditional) political organisation - generating charters which guarantee equity among members could be taken to any organisation of people, from book clubs to event promotion.

I'd stress this is also a book which does contain theory but it's by no means dry or unreadable - I'd say it has an academic integrity but it's a long way from impenetrable theory, and perhaps most encouraging of all, it dares to be optimistic about the future of leftist organisation in the fact of climate catastrophe. ...more

Kev Nickells liked Phoenix Scholz-Krishna's review of A Hundred Apocalypses and Other Apocalypses:

A Hundred Apocalypses and Other Apocalypses by Lucy Corin

"I read this in bits and pieces (which is nice, considering the format) and finished it today. A very interesting voice, whose cadences and idiosyncratic sentences remind me of Tim Etchells (and that's a very good thing)."

Kev Nickells rated a book it was amazing

Bad Fat Black Girl: Notes from a Trap Feminist
by Sesali Bowen

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Academically this is a top-tier ethnography. Less formally, it's a touching set of anecdotes of lived experiences. Bowen is brilliantly articulate and, importantly, very happy to switch modes - much of this is in the language of the trap - meaning, l ...more

Kev Nickells rated a book it was amazing

In the Dust of This Planet by Eugene Thacker

In the Dust of This Planet (Horror of Philosophy, #1)
by Eugene Thacker

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This ticks a few boxes for me (especially with regards pre-enlightenment philosophy and Theology). We are of course boycotting Zero at the moment so do buy it second-hand if you can.

So this is dealing with a few ideas from pre-enlightenment or 'scie This ticks a few boxes for me (especially with regards pre-enlightenment philosophy and Theology). We are of course boycotting Zero at the moment so do buy it second-hand if you can.

So this is dealing with a few ideas from pre-enlightenment or 'scientistic' epistemology - demonology, occultism - and how those principles are refracted through horror. The key insight of Thacker's that struck me was that he was keen to circumscribe that (eg) demonology isn't rendered as something to be considered in broader sociological terms (where many thinkers would say something like 'the demon is a manifestation of social anxieties'). Rather Thacker uses the manifest-unknown to think through ideas like nihilism (we might say the nihilate - thought tending towards nihil), which is to say, taking the sources not as antiquated curios so much as key sources in the unknown.

This in my head is similar to a thread that runs through a lot of 20th-century theology - that of taking the predicate of (nominally) antiquated text as serious in its own terms rather than justifying it exclusively in contemporary terms. A kind of non-condescending use of older texts - which is worth saying that in contemporary theology can quickly lead to some volatile conclusions (say the Exclusivism of Daniel Strange). This approach to demonology also problematises a kind of fixed Heideggerian dasein - not least because demonology is so diffuse in its horror. As Thacker points out, it is not merely the anthropic which is saturated with demons (or horror), the landscape (trees, mountains etc) can be writ with demons. The principle of a this and not-this, a thing-in-itself is made complex when horror is invested in the object-in-itself.

A counterpoint to the above would be 'that's a silly way of seeing things' and that's reasonable. Worth noting that Thacker is often drily witty here - there's a sense that Thacker's sincerity isn't per se to reify occultism (which is likely true of his medieval sources) but rather to use the unhewn impulse of horror to think-towards the nihilate. His use of contemporary and earlier horror (say, Dante's inferno through to early 20th-century literature) ends up articulating a contemporary-to-us horror of climatology. Which is an interesting subject for 'reification' in the definitive sense of 'making the abstract concrete' - climate apocalypse leaves us with philosophical quandaries of our own annihilation (how to think the absence of humans-to-think) and is hugely abstract - we're left with a litany of effects but the holistic view of climate-in-general is unknowably diffuse.

That is to say, in conclusion, that this work does a great job of bringing us closer to the horror of the unknown. Not really a happy conclusion but the world is on fire so this feels like a necessary work for the coming horror. ...more

Kev Nickells wants to read

In Contradiction: A Study of the Transconsistent
by Graham Priest

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Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness
by Da’Shaun Harrison (Goodreads Author)

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A present from my partner for Christmas which allowed me to whip through it in about a day.

It's a fairly short number. It's got lovely typesetting (important to me). It deals with stuff that I don't necessarily know about first-hand - transness, bla ...more

Kev Nickells rated a book it was amazing

There Is No Antimemetics Division
by qntm (Goodreads Author)

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I'm not much of a one for sci-fi or fantasy or narrative fiction so I'm not sure if I'm qualified to comment on this. But FWIW I enjoyed it muchly.

I don't want to give too much away but the premise, such as it is, deals with antimemetics - an agency I'm not much of a one for sci-fi or fantasy or narrative fiction so I'm not sure if I'm qualified to comment on this. But FWIW I enjoyed it muchly.

I don't want to give too much away but the premise, such as it is, deals with antimemetics - an agency devoted to documenting and handling Unknowns. Per se I'd probably say this is dystopian, insofar as the agency never quite qualifies itself as successful. The fiddly part of this is that Unknowns are typically hidden from view and deliberately un-knowable. And so the caprice of mnestics operates within the antimimetics division - means of not-forgetting or rendering manifest the Unknowns.

Now that could've been a convoluted mess but qntm deals with it well. I've seen some reviews saying this book is difficult to follow and I'd probably agree there are degrees of opacity, as well as a non-continuous narrative. For my money that's all spice to the soup though - as the main storyline deals in opacity and oblique presences, so too does the structure appear discontinuous and foggy.

The thing for me that probably interests me most is the metaphors that arise from the principle of seeing-the-unseen. You can read a few narratives into that - Theological ones, magical ones, technological ones (insofar as our very-digital world is often abstractions obscuring abstractions), political ones... the mechanics of hypostasis (in its many definitions), the perilousness of unseen malicious presences. Perhaps there's also the political ambiguity of conspiracy there - per se we know that state-level conspiracies have happened, which doesn't qualify all conspiracy; but the germ of speculation (as in, to see through the deliberately-obscured) easily grows into neo-fascist conspiracy (or decent political analysis).

So all of that is kind of speculative 'what next...' for the concepts in this book. It's probably the case that not everyone cares about that stuff, and good for them. I'd say the engine of suspense here works because there's a very broad conceptual field that's activated as maliciously opaque, at once everyday and fantastical. I liked this book a lot. ...more

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	Taylor Swift for Adults: Taking Swift Seriously 3.56 avg rating — 32 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Open Polyversity #2 by Zali Krishna (Editor), Adrian Carter (Goodreads Author) (contributor), Edmund Davie (contributor) 4.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2018	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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