“I wonder whether I am afflicted with something more than a “gentle madness,” as Nicholas A. Basbanes described it in his 1999 book on the history of book collecting,” writes this annonymous English professor from a Midwestern liberal arts college. “You see, I spend more […]
Last week, the nominees for the prestigious National Book Award were announced from the great state of Minnesota. Among the nominees is Minnesota author Pete Hautman, nominated for his young-adult novel “Godless (Simon & Schuster). “The 20 finalists were announced from the Fitzgerald Theater in […]
Why read? In reading circles it seems to be a subject of debate. University of Virginia Professor Mark Edmunson has written a book of the same title, which was published in September. In August, I posted excerpts from the book printed in an essay by […]
Scott Esposito at Conversational Reading has a good post today on his site. I hope he doesn’t mind if I reprint it here. Questions to ask yourself to determine whether you are a book lover: Do you surreptitiously observe what people are reading on public […]
A short story written by Ernest Hemingway in 1924 has surfaced, according to the New York Times, and it is causing a bit of controversy between those who wish to see it published and those who control his estate. “At present, the opponents of publication […]
“It must be the inborn human instinct to imitate–that and man’s commonest weakness, his aversion to being unpleasantly conspicuous, pointed at, shunned, as being on the unpopular side. Its other name is Moral Cowardice, and is the commanding feature of the make-up of 9,999 men […]
I believe this must qualify as one of the biggest books ever published. A story in today’s New York Times points out that the publishing accomplishment of the year, perhaps of the decade, is about to take place. Brian Harrison, working in Oxford, has completed […]
This sounds like a fascinating book: THE FIRST IDEA: How Symbols, Language, and Intelligence Evolved from our Primate Ancestors to Modern Humans, writtten by Stanley Greenspan and Stuart Shanker. “Its authors, one a psychiatrist and the other a psychologist and philosopher, have teamed up to […]