What can one say about A.C. Bradley’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._C._Bradley) Shakespearean Tragedy? This is a masterpiece of literary criticism that has enriched and influenced generations of students and lovers of Shakespeare since its publication in 1904. There is a beautiful lyrical poise and scholarly self-assurance in the work which makes one go back to read again (I […]
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Social scientist and writer Malcom Galdwell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Gladwell) put forward this thesis in 2008 about what leads to success. He examines the case of The Beatles, Bill Gates and J. Robert Oppenheimer. He draws on cultural and social factors to show that it’s not all a complete mystery. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, he points to sheer hard work, practice
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Karin Slaughter (born in a small community in Georgia, http://www.karinslaughter.com/) has sold more than 30 million copies of her books, and is published in 32 languages. ‘Criminal’ is the seventh book in the Will Trent series. The summary of this 2012 novel goes as follows: It is an epic tale of love, loyalty, and murder that
Jan Webster had a deep and instinctive feel for the Scots people of whom she wrote.This is an affecting saga of Scots life. ISBN 978-0446825825
This volume allows Bryan Magee (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Magee) the length to set out the arguments of the great German pessimist. He is largely sympathetic to Schopenhauer. Firstly he takes over 100 pages to explain how Schopenhauer’s starting point is very much the ‘transcendental idealism’ of Immanuel Kant. Briefly put this is a stance that Kant arrived at
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The Dale and Owen Industrial Community Since 1785 Are you ever embarrassed about not knowing more about your local area when visitors arrive? Bone up on this book and have it to hand. It traces New Lanark’s history from its conception as a centre of mass production in 1785 to its present day standing as
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Nicholas Carr’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_G._Carr) contention is that the internet is rewiring our brains to negative effect. He is not merely talking about ‘dumbing down’. What he posits is more significant: that human culture has been built steadily over our literate history by deep and meditative reading, and the internet threatens to undo this process. Millions of people are
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A superb study (2009) into the social insects – ants, bees, wasps and termites. Richly illustrated and brimming with first class scholarship throughout, this volume will give you an exciting and absorbing education into its subject matter. 576 pages in W.W. Norton & Co. hardback edition. ISBN 978-0393067040
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Jonathan Dollimore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Dollimore) tackles a huge theme here. It is the tangled topics of death, desire and loss in Western culture. His aim is to investigate the central paradox that desire is the bedfellow, so to speak, of loss and death. As he puts it ‘what connects death with desire is mutability–the sense that all being
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