In China, the year 1997 was marked by the death of Deng Xiaoping, the country’s leader for two decades, and the return of Hong Kong from British rule. Peter Hessler (http://www.peterhessler.net/) spent two years teaching English literature in a small town on the Yangtze, and observed Chinese political life first hand. He is able to […]
River Town by Peter Hessler Read More »
All around us all the time, a silent process is taking place. Plants are fixing the radiant energy of the Sun by the process of photosynthesis. Oliver Morton (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Morton_(science_writer)) explains how it all happens. The story of how we came to understand the process is itself interesting. It involves biochemistry, the nuclear physics of isotopes
Many dedicated readers, who are devoted to the life of the mind, understand that deep thought can be represented in literature. Angus Fletcher (http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?pid=183131649) shows here how thought gets expressed in the language of history writing, poetic writing, philosophical writing, and fiction writing. Fletcher’s references are wide and rich. We are taken into the mind
Colors of the Mind by Angus Fletcher Read More »
Stephen Senn (https://www.lih.lu/page/research-group-senn) explains here how statistics determine many decisions about medical care. This ranges from allocating resources for health, to determining which drugs to license, to cause-and-effect in relation to disease. He tackles big themes: clinical trials and the development of medicines, life tables, vaccines and their risks or lack of them, smoking and
In this collection of 17 brief essays Elena Passarello (https://www.elenapassarello.com/bio/) traces stories of famous animals and how they have reshaped our thinking about humans. She reflects on our need for new language in an age of mass extinction, the way that Albrecht Dürer’s wildly inaccurate rhinoceros prints influenced popular imagination in 16th century Europe, and
Animals strike curious poses by Elena Passarello Read More »
Sean B. Carroll (http://seanbcarroll.com/about/) presents a summary of the emerging field of evolutionary developmental biology and the role of toolkit genes. He argues that evolution proceeds by modifying the way that regulatory genes, which do not code for structural proteins (such as enzymes), control embryonic development. In turn, these regulatory genes are based on a very old set
Endless Forms Most Beautiful Read More »
Happiness studies have shown repeatedly that people with accumulated wealth are less fulfilled than those with little money. How, then, can we explain the glorification of profit and the insatiable quest for riches that pervades our culture? From Hippocrates, Plato, and Seneca to Montaigne and Cervantes, many first rate minds have viewed the love of
The Usefulness of the Useless by Nuccio Ordine Read More »
Ronald Hyam (https://www.magd.cam.ac.uk/user/hyam) offers a wide-ranging set of essays on the history of The British Empire. In his view British imperialism was marked by diversity and complexity which he seeks to illuminate here. Hyam covers geopolitical and economic dynamics of empire, religion and ethics, imperial bureaucracy, the contribution of political leaders, the significance of sexuality, and
Understanding the British Empire Read More »
Eric Foner (http://www.ericfoner.com/) offers a sweep of American history with the idea of freedom as the main subject. He focuses on three major themes: 1) different meanings of freedom, 2) social conditions that made freedom possible, and 3) the boundaries and exclusions of freedom. The main understandings of freedom have been ‘civil liberties’; being free from outside coercion; economic liberty;
The Story of American Freedom Read More »
