More than one friend, when told I was reading the “definitive” new biography of Charles Manson, said “Why would anybody want to read that?” It's a reasonable question. The Manson murders, almost 45 years ago,…
Posts published by “Steve Heilig”
“Ecstasy” is back in the news, although now it's being called “Molly.” A few young partiers have died at big “Electronic Dance Music” (EDM) festivals around the nation, even prompting cancellation of some such events.…
New books on “the brain” are being published every week, it seems, with many of them purporting to explain virtually everything about human behavior, health, follies, and the future.
Technology rules our lives, or rather, those who develop and sell it want us to believe that. Those who are peddling all manner of genetic testing really want us to take it on faith that…
The giant Burning Man structure went up in flames on Labor Day weekend as usual, and I watched it — online. It looked very dramatic and impressive. As the tens of thousands of “BM” attendees gathered around to watch and cheer in person as the smoke and fireworks rose to the sky, it also reminded me of the main reason I don't go up there to witness it all in person.
When I was growing up south of Los Angeles, anything north of, say, Santa Barbara seemed like Alaska. Or, almost. Certainly up above San Francisco was mysterious and exotic. On first visits, way up around…
The fabled City Lights bookstore in San Francisco is sixty years old this year. They're having a lot of celebratory events to mark the birthday. Even without the past decade's steady and precipitous decline in…