There’s nothing like the spectacle of female villainy brought to justice to revive the old debate over whether women are by nature saintly or demonic. Unleashed by ghastly visions of the angel of the house clutching a knife or pistol, a swarm of Furies rises shrieking from our collective unconscious, along with a flock of […]
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood Read More »
In this comprehensive book E.J. Michael Witzel (http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mwpage.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Witzel) demonstrates the prehistoric origins of most of the mythologies of Eurasia and the Americas (‘Laurasia’). By comparing these myths with others indigenous to sub-Saharan Africa, Melanesia, and Australia (‘Gondwana Land’) Witzel is able to access some of the earliest myths told by humans. The Laurasian mythologies share
The Origins of the World’s Mythologies by E.J. Michael Witzel Read More »
Simon Blackburn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Blackburn andhttp://www2.phil.cam.ac.uk/~swb24/) puts forward a compelling and original philosophy of human motivation and morality. Why do we behave as we do? Can we improve? Is our ethics at war with our passions, or is it an upshot of those passions? Blackburn seeks the answers to such questions in an exploration of the nature of
Ruling Passions by Simon Blackburn Read More »
Ivor Armstrong Richards (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I._A._Richards and https://archive.org/details/practicalcritici030142mbp was one of the founders of modern literary criticism. He enthused a generation of writers and readers and was an influential supporter of the young T.S. Eliot. Principles of Literary Criticism was the text that first established his reputation and pioneered the movement that became known as the ‘New Criticism’. Highly
Principles of Literary Criticism by I.A. Richards Read More »
Secrecy‘s protagonist is Zummo, a maker of beautiful and macabre waxworks, who is offered the patronage of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo III. He is happy to have something like a regular job after a life more or less on the run, having been drummed out of his Sicilian hometown as a teenager for
Futurist and science writer David Bodanis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bodanis) provides an excellent read in Electric Universe. He weaves tales of romance, divine inspiration, and fraud through a lucid account of the invisible force that permeates our universe. In these pages the virtuoso scientists who plumbed the secrets of electricity come vividly to life, including familiar giants like Thomas Edison;
Philip Ball (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Ball and http://www.philipball.co.uk/) encourages us to take our eyes away from the individual and focus on the broader currents of activity in human society. He asks whether there are ‘natural laws’ that govern the ways in which humans behave and organize themselves, just as there are physical laws that govern the motions of atoms and
What if you could predict your future — which political party you will vote for, what kind of person you will marry, which disease will end your life, whether your blue mood will fester into something more troubling, even debilitating. Would you want to know? Taking a uniquely intimate and cheeky approach to the personal
My Beautiful Genome Read More »
How did life invent itself? Where did DNA come from? How did consciousness develop? Powerful new research methods are providing vivid insights into the makeup of life. Comparing gene sequences, examining atomic structures of proteins, and looking into the geochemistry of rocks have helped explain evolution in more detail than ever before. Nick Lane (http://www.nick-lane.net/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Lane) expertly reconstructs the history
