Born in Guildford, Surrey, on November 25, 1941, the son of two literary figures, Gerald Seymour now lives in the West Country. He joined ITN in 1963, covering The Great Train Robbery, Vietnam, Ireland, the Munich Olympics massacre, Germany’s Red Army, Italy’s Red Brigade, and Palestinian groups. Harry’s Game, was his first book, published in […]
The Corporal’s Wife Read More »
‘Literature as a way of life’ is the theme of this 1973 work by the self-assured Harold Bloom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Bloom and http://english.yale.edu/faculty-staff/harold-bloom). It is also an on-going conversation across the generations and between authors. Bloom traces out the strands of influence which connect all these authors of poetry. His take on the concept of influence is that
The Anxiety of Influence by Harold Bloom Read More »
James Gleick (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Gleick and http://around.com/) is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, writer and lecturer. He made his name in 1987 with Chaos. Chaos theory has made huge advances since that time but this is possibly still the best introduction on the subject for the layperson. It describes the Mandelbrot set, Julia sets, and Lorenz attractors without resorting to
Chaos by James Gleick Read More »
50 million dead. Western civilization shattered. The Second World War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_world_war) boggles the mind on every level. Of the hundreds of histories on either the whole, parts, or aspects of this recent conflict which should you choose? This is one that I really ‘enjoyed’ if that term is appropriate. Roberts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Roberts_(historian)) sheds great illumination. His style
The standard publisher’s summary is very good on this one – Ever since the attacks of 11th September western leaders have described a world engaged in ‘a fight for civilization.’ But what do we mean by civilization? We believe in a western tradition of openness and freedom that has produced a good life for many
Civilization by Roger Osborne Read More »
Joseph Campbell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Campbell) was the great comparative mythologist of the twentieth century. In this book (1949), from an astonishing range of examples, Campbell constructs the ‘monomyth’, a universal structure found in mythologies, folk tales, and fairy tales across the globe. This is the “Hero’s Journey”. In addition, Campbell explores the Cosmogonic Cycle, the mythic pattern of world
The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell Read More »
Many attempts have been made to define exactly what makes us uniquely human. The use of tools? The use of language? A sense of morality? The practice of religion? But one of them has always been that humans tell stories. There is no known culture that does not possess sets of narratives which are handed
The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker Read More »
A man-made plague has swept the earth, but a small group survives, along with the green-eyed Crakers – a gentle species bio-engineered to replace humans. Toby, onetime member of the Gods Gardeners and expert in mushrooms and bees, is still in love with street-smart Zeb, who has an interesting past. The Crakers’ reluctant prophet, Snowman-the-Jimmy,
MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood Read More »
It’s 1948 in Los Angeles, and Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins needs to make a mortgage payment. Too bad all he has in his pocket is lint. Along comes a savior, looking like a devil and talking like a devil, but offering Easy the precious cash he needs. The man has one simple request: find the woman
Devil in a Blue Dress Read More »
