London Falling
by Patrick Radden Keefe, 2026 There are certain authors who publish books periodically, and I will read virtually anything they write. One such author is Patrick Radden Keefe, whose investigative journalism is nearly unmatched. He has written six books; among them Empire of Pain (the secret history of the powerful Sackler family, their founding of […]
Hackers, Scammers, and Identity Thieves, Oh My!
Help! I’m being attacked from all directions! March was a bad month for feeling secure in my digital life, and one where I had to really stay on my toes. Within a matter of 10 days, these things happened: A book marketer contacted me about promoting my book, and this time I was tempted to take the […]
A Storm’s Comin’!
The dire weather warnings for this weekend have reminded me of the worst blizzard I ever endured in my hometown of Grand Forks, North Dakota. I was a senior in high school and oblivious of what was going on around me—so, a typical teenager. One Friday night, my two best girlfriends and I decided to […]
I went to Venezuela once. They were still a democracy then.
Back in the mid-1980s (1983, to be specific) I was laid off from my first professional position as a geoscientist by an oilfield services company in Dallas called Core Laboratories. It was hard times in the industry—I’d survived the first three rounds of layoffs before the ax finally fell on me. It began a tough […]
The Tragedy of Gene Hackman
A few weeks ago I watched my worst nightmare play out in the news, first as a notification on my phone and later in the online newspapers I read: Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa died alone in their home in a remote section of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Their bodies were not found […]
