Risky reading So how many family gatherings have been ruined by someone bringing up a particularly touchy subject and obnoxiously pressing it until relatives and friends either fled or committed assault and battery? How many Thanksgiving dinners have been spoiled by ugly political conversations or graphic descriptions of various medical problems? Well, Facebook is a lot like those family gatherings, except with a whole bunch of strangers invited. On Facebook, so-called friends do battle every day over all kinds of controversial issues, and things get so out of hand that often the most dreaded penalty imaginable in society today is imposed: "un-friending." Such a fate befell retired newspaper editor Dan Tolva, whose conservative political bent got him detached from the page of a beloved but passionately liberal granddaughter. As a result, Tolva, who has been posting on Facebook for several years with the object of compiling his pieces for an eventual book, decided to do just that. Here's the result, Politics, Religion and Other Stuff We're Not Supposed to Discuss in Polite Society. Most of the topics are volatile enough that this book probably should not be brought to your next family gathering. You have been warned. Dan Tolva September 2017