online archive
5:00PM
JAN 21 2008
They knew they were right
From The American Interest, an interview with Robert Putnam, author of Making Democracy Work. An interview with Jacob Heilbrunn, author of They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons (and a review and more). An excerpt from On the Make: The Hustle of Urban Nightlife by David Grazian (and a review). A review of Sex, Science & Profits: How People Evolved to Make Money by Terence Kealey. A review of Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment by Anthony Lewis (and more and more). Moving beyond Gore’s message: A look back (and ahead) at climate change communications. Art is the new activism: Banksy attracts the press attention, but around him is an increasingly influential movement of political artists operating outside the mainstream (and more and more). A review of Affluenza by Oliver James (and more). There is a Nobel Prize-winning alternative to our illogical voting system. Election officials have had no practical way to guarantee a correct ballot count—until now. The introduction to Mathematics and Democracy: Designing Better Voting and Fair-Division Procedures by Steven J. Brams. Fritz Stern on how German history holds a cautionary tale for America. Instead of dumbing down the classics, mass-market popularizations sometimes make them even better. A review of A Natural History of Time by Pascal Richet.
9:00AM
JAN 21 2008
The logic of life
From The Observer Review, a special issue on the political and cultural revolution that took place in 1968. Creative class, dismissed: Jean-Jacques Rousseau articulately rejected the nobility of art; for art students, that's a serious downer. A painful history: Democracies like to think they oppose torture, but they only keep it out of sight. Science 2.0: Wikis, blogs and other collaborative web technologies could usher in a new era of science — or not. A review of The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World by Larry Diamond. Two excerpts from Tim Harford's The Logic of Life (and more). From Scientific American, a series of articles on the future of physics. Rebels with Causes: Christopher Hitchens, Thomas Paine, and two modern revolutions. Justin Raimondo on why the Beltway libertarians are trying to smear Ron Paul. A Tale of Three Cities: Linked by a shared economic culture, New York City, London and Hong Kong are exemplars and explanations of globalization. A review of Big History: From the Big Bang to the Present by Cynthia Stokes Brown. Thomas Shelling on uncertainty and action on climate change. Scott McLemee reviews Women for President: Media Bias in Eight Campaigns by Erika Falk. Why business ignores the business schools: Managers tend to be practical, proceeding by trial and error: this works, that does not.
