The physical and natural sciences investigate how the world is, its contents and relations between them. Why, though, is there anything rather than just nothing? This is a perenniel question and many thinkers cite this fact to suggest that it is really unanswerable. It may be able to be framed grammatically, yet could still be […]
Why does the world exist? by Jim Holt Read More »
According to Dilly Court’s own website (http://www.dillycourt.com/about.aspx) she has been heavily influenced by Enid Blyton. She now lives in Dorset where her hobbies include knitting. In this gripping new novel of 2013 which penetrates to the heart of the human condition with all its random complexities, we meet eight-year-old Sarah Scrase and her widowed mother
The Workhouse Girl Read More »
In August 1930 the 36 last remaining inhabitants of St. Kilda (a tiny archipelago 40 miles west of the Outer Hebrides http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Kilda,_Scotland) left for the mainland, bringing the end to an extraordinary way of life that may have persisted for 2000 years in near total isolation. This was the remotest community in Britain and its way of life
The Life and Death of St. Kilda Read More »
Berlin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaiah_Berlin) was a colossus of a thinker bestriding the twentieth century. His unique intellectual contribution was the concept of value-pluralism. Allow the mellifluous tones of John Gray to give you a tour round Berlin’s mind, and in particular his ideas about agonistic liberalism. 240 pages in Princeton University Press paperback edition. ISBN 978-0691157429
Isaiah Berlin by John Gray Read More »
Do you know anyone who is exhausted by work and permanently under stress? Perhaps that person takes a smartphone and tablet to a wi-fi hotspot on the beach whilst on holiday? Work, seemingly, has become an end in itself and we all worship at the altar of Efficiency, praise be upon its name. All our
Willing Slaves by Madeleine Bunting Read More »
Why do people persist in superstitious convictions long after science has shown them to be ill-founded? Robert L. Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_L._Park) has some ideas. He covers here in 2008, among other topics, parapsychology, homeopathy, acupuncture, souls, ‘intelligent design’, the power of prayer, reincarnation and astral projections. Park’s previous debunk ‘Voodoo Science’ (2000, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Voodoo-Science-Road-Foolishness-Fraud/dp/0198507453/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1375693564&sr=1-1) is also well worth a read. 240
Superstition by Robert L. Park Read More »
Our very own David Hume is revered by many professional philosophers as the greatest of their number ever to write in English. His work is almost endlessly rich and stimulating to deep thought. The result is that there has sprung up a vast industry of publication on every single nuance that can be discerned from
Reading Hume by Peter Millican Read More »
A cheeky blend of impish pleasure and serious intent, Lust (2004) rescues this life-giving impulse from the revulsion of the dessicated desert fathers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Fathers), the smug detachment of ascetics, and Puritans the world over. What is lust? Even though our language makes it clear that it can have broader applications, lust is often associated with sexual
Lust by Simon Blackburn Read More »
Danielle Steele is one of those people who has had such a busy life one can’t figure out where all the time came from to cram it all in. Another I often think of in this light is Melvyn Bragg. Steele (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danielle_Steele) is now 65 years old and the world’s best selling author, having sold
