From Literary Review, a review of Unknown Quantity: A Real and Imaginary History of Algebra by John Derbyshire. An excerpt from How Mathematicians Think: Using Ambiguity, Contradiction, and Paradox to Create Mathematics by William Byers. Want to be good at science? Take lots of math. Alexis Lemaire has broken the record for finding the 13th root of a 200-digit number. It's an incredibly hard calculation so how does the "human calculator" do it? Researchers pinpoint the neurons responsible for figuring out how things add up.
From The New Yorker, where have all the bees gone? Elizabeth Kolbert investigates. A review of The Other Insect Societies by James T. Costa. A Brief History of House Cats: It may be that "nobody owns a cat," but scientists now say the popular pet has lived with people for 12,000 years. Walk This Way: Humans' two-legged gait evolved to save energy, new research says. A new study suggests human beings can run long distances because we carry multiple copies of a gene that helps supply our cells with energy. From NYRB, a religion for Darwinians? H. Allen Orr reviews Living with Darwin: Evolution, Design, and the Future of Faith by Philip Kitcher. In games, an insight into the rules of evolution: Martin Nowak’s projects may seem randomly scattered across the sciences but they share an underlying theme: cooperation.
Philip Zimbardo, author of The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, on Person X Situation X System Dynamics. From Discover, an article on 10 Unsolved Mysteries of the Brain: What we know—and don’t know—about how we think. Who’s Minding the Mind? The subconscious brain is more active, independent and purposeful than once thought. Sometimes it takes charge. A sampling from the oeuvre of Albert Ellis, the pioneering psychotherapist and inventor of rational emotive behavior therapy, who died last week at 93.
From The Chronicle, universities should support a broader concept of publishing in the digital age, a long-awaited report says. From Inside Higher Ed, Sailing from Ithaka: There’s a new report on the future of digital publishing in academe. Scott McLemee thinks you should drop everything and read it posthaste. An interview with Loriene Roy, the new president of the American Library Association, on the future of library science. A behind-the-scenes tour of Oxford academia: A review of Remnants of a Quiet Life by Henry Harris. Trading $80 Wine for Cheap Cookies: An administrator reflects on the transition from a wealthy private university to a public institution. How do you stop young people deserting a deprived area? Opening a university could be the first step; and competitive spirit: Don't knock today's degrees, your country needs them. The Cult of Speed: College rankings are a crutch that too many students and families use to avoid a thoughtful search for the right fit.
From The Mises Institute, an article on why government can't make decisions rationally. Who's for Big Government: One of the most predictable arguments is also one of the most useless: that politics comes down to a choice between being for "big government" or "small government". A review of A Power Governments Cannot Suppress by Howard Zinn. Form Political Affairs, Of Marx, Christ, and the Persecution of Radicals: How will humanity survive the capitalist threat? From Communalism, Janet Biehl on Theses on Social Ecology and Deep Ecology; Eirik Eiglad on Theses on Power; and an essay on Anti-Semitism in the Socialist Tradition. The right fights for the right: An Atlanta gathering features luminaries of the white nationalist movement. Cosmopolitan Si, Multicultural, No: The common culture may not be what it once was (and maybe it never was), but it is still enough to keep the conversation going. Restore truth and beauty to the Internet! Help cover Frum’s face!
From Christianity Today, a review of God's War: A New History of the Crusades by Christopher Tyerman; and yes, there are still Freemasons, including a reported 1.8 million members in the United States. And if the unconfirmed anecdotes ct editors hear regularly are to believed, Masonic cliques still wield power in several places. For the Love of Xenu: Scientology may be a bizarre faith invented by a sci-fi hack. But it's not a cult. Face to faith: Studying the Inquisition can help to distinguish between the best and worst of religion. From Skeptic, two reviews of The Physics of Christianity by Frank Tipler.
An interview with Brendan Sweetman, author of Why Politics Needs Religion: The Place of Religious Arguments in the Public Square. Cathy Young on Jerry Falwell's Paradoxical Legacy: Political victories and cultural failures. The return of Jesus "could be any time": An interview with Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, authors of the Left Behind series. Millions believe the world's first openly gay bishop The Rt Rev V Gene Robinson is the Antichrist. Dangerous nonsense: Faith is not a form of mental fortitude, but an absurdity — which can give rise to atrocity. An interview with AC Grayling on atheism.
This is your brain on love: When you're attracted to someone, is your gray matter talking sense — or just hooked? Scientists take a rational look. Seven Deadly Sentiments: Evolutionary psychology helps us understand why we are ashamed of having forbidden thoughts that make us feel like lousy people. It tells us that these shameful feelings are hardwired—strategies that led to success on the Pleistocene savanna (and a primer). After exhaustively compiling a list of the 237 reasons why people have sex, researchers found that young men and women get intimate for mostly the same motivations (and more). Science of Sex: Scientists have now discovered that there are three separate sex drives that control the rules of the mating game.
From Dialogi, when will words become actions? A look at how homophobia and xenophobia, falsely parading as free speech, has entered the Slovenian political mainstream. From 2000, transition or transitions? "Incomplete regime change", "interrupted revolution", "geo-political paradigm shift". Accounts of the transition in eastern central Europe have tended to emphasize particular features to the exclusion of others. The new European century: Europe's long-term influence depends as much on its neighbours' human rights records as their supplies of gas and oil.
From NPQ, an interview with Richard Holbrooke on Iraq, the Balkans and Turkey. The lesson from Turkey: Islamist parties that follow the rules should be allowed to win elections. Turkey's corset of modernisation: Zafer Senocak on the legacy of Turkey's modernisation and the AKP's electoral victory. Deconstructing Islamist Participation: All Islamic parties are not equal – understanding the differences is essential for confronting democratically elected mullahs. God-Fearing People: Why are we so scared of offending Muslims? Christopher Hitchens wants to know.
From Prospect, Balochistan's rebels: Is the US providing covert support to Baloch rebels in Iran? If so, what does this say about its support for Musharraf in Pakistan? Some see him as a reformer and the West's ally, but others believe he's a dictator who secretly supports the Taliban. With the recent violence in Pakistan and elections on the way, General Pervez Musharraf finds himself under siege. Can Musharraf survive? Immanuel Wallerstein investigates. Dennis Ross on how a president should engage with despots. Selling Arms to the Saudis: Is Washington manipulating Riyadh, or is it the other way around? From LRB, The Rise of the Private Army: A review of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army by Jeremy Scahill.
An '08 free-for-all: For the first time in decades, the conventions may pick the candidates. Show-Off Nation: How our consumer obsession with originality and authenticity affects our taste in political candidates. Linda Hirshman.on how to use philosophy to help the Democrats. The Unions’ Man? John Edwards does more than talk the talk on workers’ but will he walk away with labor’s endorsement? Letters From the Past: Hillary Clinton's 40-year-old correspondence reveals nothing about her candidacy. Astrologers Agree: Obama faces Machiavellian enemy—but he may boast a potent "leadership chart" just like Bill Clinton. If you want to be President, you can't be afraid to step into a cartoon.
From PopMatters, a review of The Mysterious Case of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys by Carole Kismaric and Marvin Heiferman. Move over, Prep and Harry Potter — Taylor Antrim has written the great American (or is that Korean-American?) boarding school novel, The Headmaster Ritual. The “golden age” is an apt term for the inter-war whodunnits – it describes exactly what these novels were trying to regain or create, after the horror and chaos they had just passed through. Somehow, cyberspace and the real world switched places: An interview with William Gibson on Spook Country. Race, the final frontier: Black science-fiction writers bring a unique perspective to the genre. Do novels fall into two classes? Anthony Burgess argued that novels were engaged either with the world, or with language. A striking claim, but not a very convincing one. Author Laura Albert must pay nearly $350,000 in legal fees, triple the amount a jury said she owes a production company.
From ReadySteadyBook, A Defence of the Book: Many of the most vehement advocates of new technology in education, as an alternative to books, are frankly advocating a novel species of illiteracy. Off the Shelf: Ever dreamt of weeding out the excess books in your office? Scott McLemee interviews a professor who did the deed. Book collectors discover a small market when they try to unload their treasures. From Britannica, an article on the Book as Object: Books and bytes; and Dewey isn’t synonymous with library, and the demise of his system doesn’t mean the downfall of libraries. A library bigger than any building: An ambitious project to create an online catalogue of every book in every language ever published is under way. Public goodwill is not in doubt, but some libraries remain to be convinced.
From New York Press, an article on the Official History of Music Video. A review of All That Glitters: Living On The Dark Side of Rock & Roll by Pearl Lowe. I'd Like To Dedicate This Next Song to Jesus: An article on the freaky origins of Christian rock. Heather Mac Donald on The Abduction of Opera: Can the Met stand firm against the trashy productions of trendy nihilists? From Sign and Sight, tradition, revolution and reaction in Bayreuth: Marianne Zelger-Vogt on Katharina Wagner's ambitious Bayreuth debut with the "Mastersingers of Nuremberg". An excerpt from Sketches from a Secret War: A Polish Artist’s Mission to Liberate Soviet Ukraine by Timothy Snyder. From PopMatters, an essay on The Sydney Morning Herald and the cultural life of Sydney. An interview with Elif Shafak, survivor of a court case, on her renewed love for Turkey's multi-ethnic heritage.
Bias and the Beeb: The BBC stands accused of promoting a leftwing agenda, sometimes in the name of altruism. Although it is legally required to be "impartial", is it time to question whether this is desirable, or even possible? Lessons From an Ex-Murdoch Man: As the editor of the Sunday Times, Andrew Neil witnessed just how Rupert Murdoch uses his newspapers to advance his personal interests. The Murdoch Journal Watch: Having bagged his trophy, how long will it take Rupert to bugger it?