THE SCIENCE

by Tentatively, A Convenience

16 springboard reviews of science books, mostly medical science books, with an editorial emphasis on the non-monolithic nature of scientific opinion.

530 pages, Paperback

Published October 31, 2022

About the author

Thanks to the idiocy of Goodreads policy my books are no longer easily found & do not all appear here. Instead, 5 of them appear under "Tentatively a Convenience": https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... .

My name is "tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE". It is NOT "Tentatively, A Convenience". The completely disrespectful push for conformity is on. Such 'normalization' of my spelling, wch I've been using since 1979, is a symptom of what I call "AU", Artificial Unintelligence - both that of algorithms wch can't possibly cope w/ the human imagination & that of robopathic humans - say the type of person who studied creative writing w/ a professor who isn't a creative writer & who isn't published. This type of person then proceeds to learn 'how to be creative' in a completely uncreative way & goes on to not be a creative writer or to be published either but to still be convinced that they're qualified to edit actual published actual creative writers. That's a form of regrettably delusional behavior fostered in them by their inability to educate themselves outside of potty training.

Alas, some GoodReads fiend has removed my date of death! I had it as "September 3, 1953" - before my date of birth so that my death won't happen in my lifetime. Some humorless GR person must want me to die. Foo on them.

Making matters even worse, my bk "footnotes" has been removed from the database here & I'm now listed as the author of "15" bks instead of the correct SIXTEEN. "footnotes" was still for sale online the last time I checked so I highly recommend getting a copy before they disappear altogether.

OTHERWISE, please read this extensive interview w/ me by poet/essayist Alan Davies as part of "Otoliths 27" ( http://the-otolith.blogspot.com.au/20... ). It's a DOOZY, I promise. It'll also hopefully be published as a small & cheap bk by Six Gallery Press in early, 2013 - uh, make that possibly w/in my lifetime - uh, make that NEVER by 6GP.

ALSO, my friend Anthony Levin-Decanini has started an excellent new (as of mid 2013) improvising series called "Crucible Sound" in Pittsburgh at Modernformations Gallery & I was honored by his interviewing me regarding improv for his relevant blog. I quite like the interview & I hope you do too. Here's the link for part 1:

http://cruciblesound.blogspot.com/201...

& the link for part 2:

http://cruciblesound.blogspot.com/201...

I hope you find it interesting enuf to subscribe to the blog & to check out the other programs. If you're in or nearby Pittsburgh, PLEASE ATTEND THE CRUCIBLE SOUNDS! Things like this don't last forever, but while they do they can be quite lively!!

The photo of me is by my friend Julie Gonzalez. Maybe someday I'll write a bio in here but, in the meantime, I'll just sign w/ some of my email signature:

electronically signed,

He-Who-Has-Written

Amir-ul Kafirs

Some tenuous beginnings of P.N.T. (Perverse Number Theory):
(for all x)x = (for all x)x (Anything is Anything)
(A Double Negative As Not A Positive)
(A finite quantity represented as a set containing
an infinite quantity of its subdivisions
(such as its subdivision in terms of rational numbers)
does not equal the same finite quantity
represented as a set containing an infinite quantity
OF A DIFFERENT DEGREE of its subdivisions
(such as its subdivision in terms of irrational numbers).)
m + n does not equal n + m is isomorphic to x
the ceiling of x is greater than or equal to the ceiling of the ceiling of x
(Enough is Enough)
The Formula o

Reviews

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 5 out of 5]

review of
tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's THE SCIENCE (volume 1)
- by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - December 10, 2022

This is my most recent bk, my 16th. I consider it to be one of the best things I've ever written AND truly important. The big question: Will anyone read it? On Goodreads, I have many 'followers' who've expressed an interest in my reviews. This is certainly the bk of mine that most coherently presents my 'wit & wisdom' thru the medium of reviews. Really, take the plunge. Read it, you won't be wasting your time. I swear it's better than constantly reaching for your chapstick. Here's the Introduction:

1st, there's no such thing as THE SCIENCE - by that I don't mean that there's no such thing as SCIENCE, I mean that there's no such thing as a monolithic scientific community opinion in wch everyone's in agreement. Scientists, after all, are people 1st & foremost & have the same foibles & varieties that other people do. Even if there's an agreement about what constitutes 'scientific method' & even if an application of that method to a particular subject yields similar results from a multitude of sources it doesn't mean that there can't be underpinning problems w/ axioms &/or distortions of data based on ulterior motives, etc, etc..

During the time of the so-called COVID-19 pandemic it's been my observation that people have been going along w/ medical propaganda based on their subculturally approved 'news'feeds that purport to represent THE SCIENCE despite there being substantially adversarial opinions amongst scientists. In the liberal circles that I'm most directly exposed to, anyone who espouses an opinion that goes against the grain of what's packaged as liberal science is dismissed as a right-wing bone-head.

Since I don't think that politicizing science in that way does any good whatsoever toward helping to understand, I've tried to educate myself somewhat using a variety of medical science bks (mainly, if not entirely, for the lay reader) from sources whose philosophy I may or may not agree w/. This approach, I hope, helped me keep a more open mind & kept me aware of my biases.

In general, I just wanted to educate myself about medical science since the people who wd potentially argue w/ me asking for THE SCIENCE usually aren't 1. intellectuals, 2. scientists, 3. people capable of any significant research. This bk enables me to explain what my studies have yielded so far. Anyone who might want to argue w/ me can read this bk instead & save me the time & energy of otherwise engaging w/ what I feel is endless combatative ignorance.

My most sensationalist take-away from this reading is reinforcement for opinions that've been coming to the fore in recent yrs: viz., that medical science has replaced the Inquisition as a means of dominating & instilling fear into the 'little people' (meaning the vast majority). Just as the Inquisition robbed, kidnapped, tortured, & murdered people for 'the good of their souls' & in accordance w/ 'God's will' so does medical science bully & intimidate people 'for their own good' by inducing a constant fear of impending death. I share many of the same opinions w/ Ivan Illich (author of Medical Nemesis) - esp the opinion that iatrogenesis is responsible for more deaths than the medical establishment is ever likely to admit to. This latter opinion was further reinforced by reading Dr. Edgar March Crookshank's History and Pathology of Vaccination - Volume 1.