Man, I'm horrible at this "regular updates" thing. I still haven't returned to my earlier levels of online activity, so I'm hesitant to update until I have some things to tell you about. But most things are still in the planning stages, although they're further along than last time I "talked" to you. (How rude of me–how are you doing?)
The biggest news is a few weeks old by now: on July 23 I handed in the manuscript of my latest book, The Manipulation of Choice: Ethics and Libertarian Paternalism, which is now in production at Palgrave Macmillan. I have a new book proposal under consideration with them, another one slowly moving along at Oxford University Press, and another one under development for yet another press. Several other smaller writing projects, ranging from multi-book reviews and short ebooks, compete for my attention as I finish up work on Superman and Philosophy and "look forward" to returning to school fulltime in two weeks. (Due to the writing workload and a growing conference schedule, however, I am planning to take my first sabbatical in 15 years this coming spring.)
As Phyllis Diller says in A Bug's Life, "That's our lot in life. It's not a lot, but it's our life."
Here's what I've managed to do online the last month or so (mostly the last week!):
- One post at Psychology Today (this morning, in fact), "Can Love Conquer All?", based on watching 1954's Brigadoon and 2011's Like Crazy one after the other a few weeks ago.
- Several substantive posts at Economics and Ethics: "How Much Inequality Do We Want? This Is the Wrong Question" (August 2), "Chick-fil-A, Corporate Social Responsbility, and Ethical Consumption" (August 8), and "Nutritional labeling, nudges, and a 'cynical view of human nature'" (August 9).
- My friend Matt Finch included me in a conversation with Nick Sousanis and Martyn Pedler, in a piece he wrote about the way superhero comics deal with real-world issues (July 30).
In other news, I noticed (thanks to Google Alerts) that The Avengers and Philosophy and Iron Man and Philosophy are both available as audiobooks from Audible.com. (Unlike Batman and Philosophy, I didn't narrate the new ones–I didn't even know about them!)
Finally, I've received some good feedback on my piece on the ethics of adultery in the latest print issue of Psychology Today–I have a radio interview at the end of the month and I received an inquiry email from an agent with whom I had a great conversation last week.
Now if I could only get an extension on summer (heat and all). I'll look into that…
Mark D. White 
Leave a comment