Long on the ‘to do’ reading list, I’m delighted finally to have read Bel Canto (2001) by Ann Patchett (http://www.annpatchett.com/) this Easter 2018. The novel was awarded both the Orange Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. In December 1996, 14 members of the Tupac Amaru guerrilla group entered the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Lima, Peru, seized […]
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The ‘Scientific Revolution’ (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/scientific-revolutions/) cannot be thought of as occurring neatly in a certain time period. Steven Shapin (https://scholar.harvard.edu/shapin/home, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Shapin) states: ‘There was no such thing as the Scientific Revolution, and this is a book about it!’. He continues ‘There was, rather, a diverse array of cultural practices aimed at understanding explaining, and controlling the natural
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Today, 31 March 2018, is the day of Stephen Hawking’s funeral. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-43582950). It says something about our culture and its deep religious heritage that the funeral should take place in Great St. Mary’s Church, Cambridge. It is conducted by churchmen of the Anglican fold. This in full acknowledgement of Hawking’s atheism (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/03/14/im-not-afraid-what-stephen-hawking-said-about-god-his-atheism-and-his-own-death/?utm_term=.1945c64ab9d0) Hawking’s ashes are
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By 2050, 70% of the world’s population will live in cities. (https://www.fastcodesign.com/1669244/by-2050-70-of-the-worlds-population-will-be-urban-is-that-a-good-thing) (https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2009/aug/18/percentage-population-living-cities) There is a complex web of factors accounting for this staggering fact. If you want to understand the human future, then have a long hard think about cities. In this book, Jane Jacobs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Jacobs), building on the work of her debut, The Death
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If you’ve ever wondered what’s going on when you’re appreciating art and beauty, this could be the book for you. In theory of art and beauty Frank Sibley (1923-1996) is especially well known for his attempts to distinguish the domains of aesthetic and non-aesthetic. His 1959 paper ‘Aesthetic Concepts’ is referred to as one of the
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It’s March 2018. Migration is a hot topic as we enter into the final 12 month period before the UK leaves the European Union. Whichever way the UK succeeds or fails to control the number of migrants entering this country, global migration seems set to become a major phenomenon. It looks likely that millions of
Just as fossils provide a window into the past, evolution leaves a footprint on DNA. In The Making of the Fittest, Sean B. Carroll (http://seanbcarroll.com/about/) sets out the overwhelming evidence for evolution provided in DNA. Carroll offers examples from sequences of DNA that once coded for genes no longer used, remnants of ancestral lives,
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China has achieved a staggering transformation in the last 30 years, and now stands on the threshold of becoming the world’s largest economy. It is flexing its military muscle in the South China Sea, whilst at the same time building transport links to the West which will allow rapid export for its vast manufacturing output.
My Country and My People by Lin Yutang Read More »
This classic by Alan Moorehead (https://www.nytimes.com/1983/10/01/obituaries/alan-moorehead-73-writer-acclaimed-for-war-reporting.html) is one for your shelf of travel literature. Based on contemporary records, as well as character portraits, this is the exciting story of fifty years of African exploration and the attempt to reach the sources of the Nile. Across these pages we meet a mixed group of reckless and determined
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