online archive
5:00PM
AUG 1 2008
Ahead of the curve
From Reason, an article on the unfortunate case of Herbert Spencer: How a libertarian individualist was recast as a social Darwinist. A review of Herbert Spencer and the Invention of Modern Life by Mark Francis. An article on the myth of the toss-up election. From Scientific American, sleep on it: How snoozing makes you smarter; and making decisions tires your brain: The brain is like a muscle — when it gets depleted, it becomes less effective. If you set aside the incomparable cruelty and stupidity of human beings, surely our most persistent and irrational activity is to sleep. A review of Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School by Philip Delves Broughton. From Intelligent Life, for the first time, the most interesting architect is a woman, Zaha Hadid (and a look at what she's up against). From Edge, Mark Pesce on hyperpolitics, American style. Independence fray: Does Vermont have what it takes to go it alone? Paul Wolfowitz reviews The Return of History and the End of Dreams by Robert Kagan. Peter Steinfels on uncertainties about the role of doubt in religion. A look at why Islam is unfunny for a cartoonist. Seven years into the war against al Qa’eda, Fawaz Gerges finds the experts deeply divided on the shape and strength of the enemy. Restrictions on foreigners cause a greater loss of wages than racial and sexual discrimination – perhaps greater even than slavery.
1:00PM
AUG 1 2008
Life with the mavericks and oddballs
From Adbusters, an essay on The Hipster: The Dead End of Western Civilization. From H-Net, from Albion to Austin Powers: A review of Brit-Myth: Who Do the British Think They Are by Chris Rojek; and a review of Equality and the British Left: A Study in Progressive Political Thought, 1900-64 by Ben Jackson. A review of Kafka Comes to America: Fighting for Justice in the War on Terror by Steven T. Wax. From The Hill, here's the latest 50 Most Beautiful People list. The burden of knowing too much history: If, as a westerner, you are going to visit Africa, the earlier in your life you do it, the better. From Smithsonian, an interview with Laurie Anderson. From ScribeMedia, a look at The Future of the Book. The Outsider Artist: Assessing Kay Ryan, our new poet laureate. A review of My Sister, My Love by Joyce Carol Oates (and more). The system is busted, and now many people are experimenting with alternatives: Roberto Mangabeira Unger has long been one of those on the cutting edge of fundamental reform. A review of Iron Fists: Branding the 20th-Century Totalitarian State by Steven Heller. A review of Txting: The Gr8 Db8 by David Crystal (and more). From The Happiness Project, an interview with Tyler Cowen. From The American Scholar, the daily miracle: Life with the mavericks and oddballs at the Herald Tribune.
9:00AM
AUG 1 2008
The comedy of the commons
From Prospect, the received wisdom is that President Bush has been a foreign policy disaster, and that America is threatened by the rise of Asia — both claims are wrong; and a profile of Arianna Huffington: By revolutionising news, might she also be in danger of destroying it? From The New Yorker, a review of White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson by Brenda Wineapple (and more). Malwebolence: Inside the world of online trolls, who use the Internet to harass, humiliate and torment strangers. John Locke as "authoritarian": Here's Leo Strauss' review of Two Tracts on Government. From The Economist, the comedy of the commons: Why it still pays to study medieval English landholding and Sahelian nomadism; and do economists need brains? A new school of economists is controversially turning to neuroscience to improve the dismal science. In defense of casual sex: A new raft of chastity books laments a hookup culture that is hurting young women. Jessica Crispin on what we can learn from 1940s sex-ed classes. Marriage, a history: Long ago, love was a silly reason for a match — how marriage has changed over history. A review of I Don’t: A Contrarian History of Marriage by Susan Squire. Research find men who marry a child's mother parent just as well, if not better than biological fathers.
