online archive
5:00PM
FEB 19 2008
The fun and excitement of civilization wars
From The New Yorker, Elizabeth Kolbert reviews Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely and Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard Thaler. Can we teach people to be happy? Anthony Seldon and Frank Furedi debate. Halle Berry uses hair extensions, so does Angelina Jolie: Much of the hair they end up with comes from women who offer up their locks to Hindu gods in Indian temples. From Foreign Policy, the US Military Index surveys more than 3,400 active and retired officers at the highest levels of command about the state of the U.S. military — they see a force stretched dangerously thin and a country ill-prepared for the next fight; and was Fidel good for Cuba? A debate between Carlos Alberto Montaner and Ignacio Ramonet. Glenn Greenwald on Mark Steyn and the fun and excitement of civilization wars (fought from afar). An the winner is: Alan Wolfe on the coming religious peace. Which are the most popular conspiracy theories? Research suggests human culture is subject to natural selection, but that there's no easy answers in evolution of human language. Wired goes inside the bizarre world of Japanese pickup schools. On foreign policy, McCain's off his rocker, and the Dems should call him on it. Is PBS still necessary? From Edge, a conversation with Drew Endy on engineering biology.
1:00PM
FEB 19 2008
Ecotopias aren't just for hippies anymore
Here's the Bookforum interview with French writer and film director Alain Robbe-Grillet. From LRB, a review of The Wilsonian Moment: Self Determination and the International Origins of Anti-Colonial Nationalism by Erez Manela. From TLS, a review of books on the indiscretions of the history men. From Wired, a look at how ecotopias aren't just for hippies anymore — and they're sprouting up worldwide. From The American Conservative, a special issue on John McCain and the Great Betrayal. This election is certainly important, but it isn’t likely to result in a major swing in economic policy.From TNR, a review of The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow Into Depressive Disorder by Allan V. Horwitz. A review of Cultural Foundations of Mathematics: The Nature of Mathematical Proof and the Transmission of the Calculus from India to Europe in the 16th c. CE by C. K. Raju. A review of Worth and Welfare in the Controversy over Abortion by Christopher Miles Coope. It’s a BA-by!: A conversation between a secular ethicist and an abortion protester. From Taki's Top Drawer, an article on the Right’s science problem. A Prague brothel offering free sex and the chance of internet stardom is providing men with a novel style of sexual recreation. An excerpt from Pompeii Awakened: A Story of Rediscovery by Judith Harris.
9:00AM
FEB 19 2008
The essential guide to the latest thinking
From The Washington Post Magazine, a cover story on How Lobbyists Always Win: Dispatches from Washington's most relentless growth industry. From National Journal, the job is highly demanding, but the financial rewards of running a Washington trade group or other non-profit have never been greater. A review of Cullen Murphy's The New Rome? From THES, the humanities have traditionally been the core of a classical university education, equipping graduates both culturally and morally; today, however, humanities academics are increasingly questioning their purpose; and it is not often that you will find respected academics saying "I want to be Kelly McGillis, in Top Gun, kissing Tom Cruise", at least not in public. A review of Big Ideas: the Essential Guide to the Latest Thinking by James Harkin. What Nietzsche means to philosophers today: Prescient and misunderstood or excessively sensitive and irrelevant? A review of The Neutral: Lecture Course at the College de France (1977-1978) by Roland Barthes. A review of Flat Earth News: an Award-winning Reporter Exposes Falsehood, Distortion and Propaganda in the Global Media by Nick Davies (and more and more and more). From Nerve, an interview with David Shields, author of The Thing About Life is That One Day You'll Be Dead; and more on the history of single life: Plato's Retreat and Swingtown USA.
