Michael Sims

@Michael_Sims_writer
2 Followers
10 Following
21 Posts
Nonfiction author, anthologist, journalist. I seem to live for reading, writing, and being outdoors. Parenting at grandparent age. Author of nonfiction books including an NYT Notable Book, Library Journal Best Science Book, a companion book to a National Geographic Channel series, a W. Post & Boston Globe & others Best Book of the Year, an Edgar & Gold Dagger finalist, & several others. Liberal, feminist, anti-racist, agnostic. Agent https://www.dystel.com/jessica-papin.

Did you know parts of my book have been censored in China?

The CCP doesn't want people know the truth of a famine that killed 15-55 MILLION people.

So when I wrote to a school board about book bans, I tried to tell what happens when people rewrite history. https://teamtrash.substack.com/p/banning-books-and-rewriting-the-world

Banning books and rewriting the world

when you feel like an octopus in a pot

Team Trash: Where People and Wildlife Meet

In the wild, baboons do NOT recognize themselves in a mirror.

This could mean that baboons, and primates...are not actually self-aware (according to the mirror test), unless they've been trained by people https://www.sciencenews.org/article/wild-baboons-mirror-recognize-test

Wild baboons don’t recognize themselves in a mirror

In a lab test, chimps and orangutans can recognize their own reflection. But in the wild, baboons seemingly can’t do the same.

Science News

"We’re about to be deluged with the most brazen and dangerous lies of our lifetimes."

Laura Helmuth has been flying free from SciAm for < 1 week and publishes a BANGER showing how RFK Jr. got where he is and why he's VERY dangerous. https://slate.com/_pages/cm3qctm2m0000lpkye5w6cw4v.html

I Know Personally Exactly What Kind of Bully RFK Jr Is. Now America Will Too.

Things could get really bad.

Slate
I so enjoy watching how much the #HarrisWalz2024 campaign worries (and confuses) the #DraculaRenfield1897 campaign.

Interesting results: people are more likely to believe fake news from a stranger than a from good friend.

This finding would be explained if people intuitively apply the three questions we suggest in our book to assess any claim:

1. Who is telling me this?
2. How do they know it?
3. What are they trying to sell me?

You know what your friends don't have a way of knowing (and often, what they're selling you). With a stranger, these are harder questions to answer.

https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/07/youre-more-likely-to-believe-fake-news-shared-by-someone-you-barely-know-than-by-your-best-friend/

You’re more likely to believe fake news shared by someone you barely know than by your best friend

"The strength of weak ties" applies to misinformation, too.

Nieman Lab
I have to share this tweet by my wonderful agent about my book in progress, DARWIN’S CHILD. #darwin , #evolution , #fatherhood
OK, now we can stop talking about how icky it is that people get old and focus on the fact that the GOP candidate is a rapist and Russian dupe who fantasizes about screwing his daughter, mass deportations, and Hannibal Lecter, and should already be dying in prison for high crimes including treason.
I thought my first post ought to be of one of my favorite things on Earth, so I chose a woodland path beside a creek—in this case in western Pennsylvania, where I live.

We need to talk about F&%KING Kevin...the squirrel in my yard.

"I hate my Kevins because they are animals in a place I think of as mine. They are doing something I don’t want. They are taking something that I value.

For a word that is supposed to describe an animal, “pest” has a lot of “I” in it."

https://www.bbg.org/article/understanding_the_pests_in_your_garden

Who Are You Calling a “Pest?” - Brooklyn Botanic Garden

The animals we call “pests” and the plants we call “weeds” all have something important in common, writes author Bethany Brookshire: Us.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden