If it’s possible to be luminous and dark at the same time then Thomas de Quincey (1785-1859) fits the bill. He always stood aside from the curriculum approved parade of literary greats whom it was our duty to read and revere at school. The A-Level Summer reading list of 150 titles nowhere featured Confessions of […]
Guilty Thing by Frances Wilson Read More »
You may enjoy this compelling hybrid of memoir, narrative and philosophy. Previously the author of academic works (Thinking Through the Imagination: Aesthetics in Human Cognition, 2014, and others), John Kaag (http://scholar.harvard.edu/jkaag/biocv) here teaches philosophy through narrative. It concerns the discovery of 10,000 books in a neglected building on the rural New Hampshire estate of William
American Philosophy by John Kaag Read More »
In 2016 the political Left in Britain is in disarray. Large numbers of people on the Left and in The Labour Party believe that it is impossible Jeremy Corbyn could be elected as British Prime Minister. Yet the Labour Party has resoundingly re-elected Corbyn as leader. Aside from the convictions of activists, it would be
George Orwell by Robert Colls Read More »
For most of us who are not sadists, it is hard to understand how a human being can get pleasure from the acute suffering of another sentient creature. Worryingly, the personality trait has emerged throughout recorded history and exists in the present day. As you read this thousands of humans and other animals are being tortured.
Infamous Lady by Kimberly L. Craft Read More »
Robert Trivers (http://roberttrivers.com/Welcome.html, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Trivers) is one of the world’s leading evolutionary biologists. In an extraordinary burst of creativity in the 1970s, Trivers established the basis for our current understanding of how evolution shapes an array of behaviours; his work from this decade alone comprises much of the backbone of today’s evolutionary psychology. Thus, even
Wild Life by Robert Trivers Read More »
It is a proud and correct claim that we can make in these islands that much of the foundational science which underpins the modern world took place in the C17 here. The Royal Society (founded in 1660, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Society ) was full of brilliant men whose invention, genius and tenacity guided us out of ignorance and superstition. One
London’s Leonardo by Jim Bennett et al Read More »
The convenience of electrical power is all around us. Like many things it is so much the background to our lives that we take it utterly for granted. Yet, in this case as in so many others, we are standing on the shoulders of giants. One giant to whom we should be grateful is Michael Faraday
2015 has brought us a whopping, meticulously researched biography of Ted Hughes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_hughes). Academic superstar Jonathan Bate (http://www.jonathanbate.com/) has published extensively on Shakespeare and written the life of John Clare. In Ted Hughes: The Unauthorised Life he offers what is sure to be the standard biography of Hughes for decades to come. It is also sure
Ted Hughes by Jonathan Bate Read More »
Denis Healey (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Healey) died on Saturday (3rd October 2015). He was a British politician of huge gravitas who found himself in government during a highly dangerous time for Britain, economically, in the 1970s. Standardly described as ‘the best Prime Minister Britain never had’, Healey possessed what a great many politicians today lack, namely a hinterland of
The Time of My Life Read More »
In Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5, lines 17-28) the eponymous anti-hero is informed of the death of his wife. Shakespeare then gives him one of the classic soliloquiys in all literature. It is a despairing reflection on the brevity and futility of human life. ‘She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such
Brief Candle in the Dark by Richard Dawkins Read More »
In this funny, hard-edged memoir, Mary Karr (http://www.marykarr.com/bio.php), a prize-winning poet and critic, looks back at her upbringing. The setting is a swampy East Texas refinery town in a volatile, defiantly loving family. She recalls her painter mother, seven times married, whose outlaw spirit could tip into psychosis. There is her violent father who spins tales with his
To play snooker at the highest level you would think you’d need an icy, ultra sober, ‘frame’ of mind. To execute shots with millimetre precision for hour after hour – well don’t you need to be someone like Steve Davis? Apparently not, because the sport has offered us wild and flamboyant characters. One was Alex
Jimmy White: Second Wind Read More »
David Lodge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lodge_(author) and http://literature.britishcouncil.org/david-lodge) novelist, English Literature Professor and literary critic offers a most interesting memoir here. One of the principal themes is inhibition, how you overcome it and the moral and practical consequences of that conquest – a sexual (and also a social and at times an intellectual) journey with, Lodge implies, many
Quite A Good Time to be Born: A Memoir: 1935-1975 Read More »
This Life follows the evolution of Dr David Livingstone’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Livingstone) aspirations from his childhood in Blantyre to his death beside a swamp in Central Africa, and finally to his posthumous apotheosis. The author conceals none of Livingstone’s blemishes whether in dealings with his wife and family or in his psychotic approach to those whom he felt had opposed,
Journey to Livingstone Read More »
Few lives of great men offer so much interest, and so many mysteries, as the life of Charles Darwin. His ideas are still inspiring discoveries and controversies more than a hundred years after his death. Many believe him simply to be the greatest figure of nineteenth-century science. Janet Browne (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Browne and http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hsdept/bios/browne.html) offers a vivid and comprehensive picture of Darwin
Charles Darwin: Voyaging Read More »
