The more I read about the late Daniel Bell, the more I like him. I recently picked up a copy of his classic The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism. I’ve set it aside to read Fukuyama’s latest, but I intend to pick it up again very […]
Alyssa Ford, a former Greenspring colleague of mine, has this great Star Tribune profile of Anatoly Liberman, a University of Minnesota professor who is trying to finish what’s turned into a lifelong project: a comprehensive dictionary of some of the most misunderstood English words. For […]
Though an unbeliever, Christopher Hitchens has written a tribute of sorts to the King James Bible which turns 400 years old this year: “Four hundred years ago, just as William Shakespeare was reaching the height of his powers and showing the new scope and variety […]
I’ve just finished The Information by James Gleick, one of the finest science writers in the business. I loved the book and would highly recommend it. To learn more about James Gleick, check out his website here. From Gleicks bio page: His first book, Chaos, […]
The next book on my list has captured a bit of media attention lately. It’s called All Things Shining: Reading the Classics to Find Meaning in a Secular Age. It’s written by two leading philosophers: Hubert Dreyfus, an interpreter of existential philosophy who taught at […]
I’m very excited to read a new book that just hit the shelves written by noted science writer James Gleick. It’s called The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood. The book seeks to explore the concept of “informatio.” What is it? How have we […]
I am a fan of David Brooks, even though my politics may tend to drift a bit left of his. I enjoy his columns every week, and I especially like the subject matter of his latest book, The Social Animal–out now in stores and online. […]
I love the headlines at this Guardian post: “Reading is overrated. Too many people will have you believe that our very humanity resides in books – and that’s reading a little too much into it.” So is it true? Is reading overrated? Of course I […]
I’m a big fan of Malcom Gladwell’s well-known books. This site (The Malcolm Gladwell Book Generator), created by another fan, nonetheless pokes a bit of fun at the author’s well-known style of intellectual journalims. My favorite is Slurp: What Kitten’s Tongues Teach Us About Derivatives. […]