Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind

LITERARY BENT - Writing at its best

The reclusive German writer Patrick Süskind (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Suskind) produced one internationally acclaimed bestseller. This was Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.  The novel examines what happens when one man’s indulgence in his greatest passion, his sense of smell, leads to murder. The summary is as follows. In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille […]

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Ingenious Pursuits by Lisa Jardine

EGGHEAD CHOICE - Crack open for a hard boiled think

Lisa Jardine has died on 25 October 2015. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11955153/Lisa-Jardine-historian-obituary.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Jardine) Daughter of Jacob Bronowski, she became a brilliant historian, Renaissance scholar, humanist and polymath. Everything I have read of hers has been a pleasure and an education. Hers was the voice of sanity, erudition and wisdom. Selecting only one of her works is difficult, but please read Ingenious

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Moral Tribes by Joshua Greene

EGGHEAD CHOICE - Crack open for a hard boiled think

Professor Joshua Greene (http://www.joshua-greene.net/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Greene_(psychologist)) is the director of Harvard University’s Moral Cognition Lab. He offers a grand synthesis of neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy here. His thesis in this book, Moral Tribes, is as follows. Human brains have evolved for tribal life, for getting along with a select group of others (‘Us’). Our hominid ancestors had to fight off everyone else (‘Them’). Modern

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Social Class in the 21st Century by Mike Savage

EGGHEAD CHOICE - Crack open for a hard boiled think

If you’ve ever thought the social class system in Britain was a thing of the past, think again. Professor Mike Savage of The London School of Economics (http://www.lse.ac.uk/sociology/whoswho/academic/savage.aspx) shows in this book, Social Class in the 21st Century, that it is as entrenched as ever. The author, with a team of sociologists responsible for the

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The Crossing

FANTASTIC FICTION - Escapes to other places and other times

Michael Connelly (http://www.michaelconnelly.com/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Connelly ) is back to entertain us with another detective thriller featuring Hieronymus (‘Harry’) Bosch. Bosch is named after the 15th century early Dutch painter known for his fantastic imagery. He painted detailed landscapes and illustrations of moral and religious narratives. Bosch is also the name of my washing machine, and I must say it’s been solid

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