Humans get used to the benefits of new technology fast. There is an entire generation alive today (born since 1989) which has never known a world without the Internet or the instantly gratifying means of digital communication delivered by portable devices. Life is hardly imaginable without the kit. As with most things in human life, […]
World Without Mind by Franklin Foer Read More »
Middle-class, midwest suburban family life is Celeste Ng’s (https://www.celesteng.com/about/) subject matter in this recent novel. It concerns motherhood, surrogacy, abortion and adoption, and the narrative traces the events which lead to the tragedy of a raging house fire. The Richardson family owns a large picture-perfect house in Cleveland’s progressive Shaker Heights neighbourhood. It has four cars in the
Little Fires Everywhere Read More »
In the last few years we’ve become accustomed to lies, distortion, pick n’ mix ‘facts’ and ‘fake news’ splashing around like an angry Falls of Clyde. Lies, falsity, religion and superstition have existed for as long as conscious minds, of course. The new twist is the ubiquity of instant means of digital communication. The trap is
Believing Bullshit Read More »
Waking up on New Year 2018 may have brought some random thoughts like ‘Oh! God’, ‘Why me?’ ‘Why here?’, accompanied by a general sense of apprehension. Pressing the doubt and unease further may lead to a question which has troubled many for centuries, namely ‘Why is there Anything rather than just Nothing?’ The question was
Why there is Something rather than Nothing by Bede Rundle Read More »
Those who give thought to ethics and moral psychology will welcome this book. Here is a ‘mise en bouche’ of the argument before you rush out to acquire the volume. Some goods that we generate for others, as when we give them attention, help or encouragement, require us to provide that benefit under the actual
The Robust Demands of the Good Read More »
It’s closer than your next breath, and without it you will have ‘passed’ (as people euphemistically say, these days, for being dead). It’s the air you breathe every minute and this book is the story of the atmosphere that organisms suck in all the time. The book starts with the natural history of the
Caesar’s Last Breath Read More »
If faced with surgery most of us expect to go under the knife painlessly and wake up sorted. For almost the whole of human history that would have been impossible. Agony, a botched job or death were next to certain. How then did we get from butchery to modern surgery in the last 200 years?
The Butchering Art Read More »
Amanda Craig (https://www.amandacraig.com/) has written a cycle of seven interconnected novels which deal with contemporary British society, often in an expansive, dramatic and satirical manner. Her multi-stranded approach to writing fiction has invited comparison with the output of Anthony Trollope. She has contributed journalism to over 10 newspapers and periodicals over many years. Craig’s 7th
The Lie of the Land Read More »
Lee Child (http://www.leechild.com/) sells crime thriller novels on a shipping container scale. His legion of devoted readers mark their diaries with the expected date of character Jack Reacher’s next outing. Library shelves are empty at the places where his fiction is stored, and reservation lists long. There is clearly a market for Child’s hard boiled
