1:37PM

JUN 11 2007

Philosophy, economics, science and academia

Obituary: Richard Rorty, and more and more and more, and an interview with Danny Postel. From Philosophy Bites, Stephen Law, author of The Philosophy Files, The X-Mas Files and The War for Children's Minds, explains the Problem of Evil and gives an original take on this traditional philosophical problem; what can philosophers contribute to public life? Mary Warnock discusses how her training in philosophy prepared her for public roles; and Simon Blackburn, author of Plato's Republic: A Biography, on Plato's image of the cave. 

Four small books about four very big books: A review of Plato's Republic: A Biography by Simon Blackburn; The Qu'ran: A Biography by Bruce Lawrence; On The Wealth of Nations: A Biography by P.J. O'Rourke; and Marx's Das Kapital: A Biography by Francis Wheen. 

A Zelig among economists: A review of John Kenneth Galbraith: a 20th-Century Life by Richard Parker. eBay-nomics: Modern economists have assumed that people in auctions behave rationally. Then came eBay. A review of A Beautiful Math: John Nash, Game Theory, and the Modern Quest for a Code of Nature, by Tom Siegfried. A review of Numbers and Infinity: A Historical Account of Mathematical Concepts by Ernst Sondheimer and Alan Rogerson. You are looking at an open book: This conceptual pinwheel could change the way we read and retrieve information.

From American Scientist, a review of A New Human: The Startling Discovery and Strange Story of the “Hobbits” of Flores, Indonesia, by Mike Morwood and Penny van Oosterzee; a review of The Lie Detectors: The History of an American Obsession, by Ken Alder; a review of Why Choose This Book?: How We Make Decisions, by Read Montague; a review of Music: A Mathematical Offering, by David J. Benson; a review of Into the Black: JPL and the American Space Program, 1976–2004, by Peter J. Westwick; a review of The Grid: A Journey through the Heart of Our Electrified World, by Phillip F. Schewe; a review of The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History Since 1900, by David Edgerton; and a review of The Volterra Chronicles: The Life and Times of an Extraordinary Mathematician, 1860–1940 by Judith R. Goodstein.

From Think Tank, an interview with Edward O. Wilson on the future of life. Evolution, Religion and Free Will: The most eminent evolutionary scientists have surprising views on how religion relates to evolution. Peter Singer's message is uncomfortable: Most people follow a minimalist morality that makes them a lot more immoral than they consider themselves to be. A review of Autobiography as Philosophy: The Philosophical Uses of Self-Presentation.

Efforts to isolate Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, intensified yesterday after he was stripped of an honorary degree by Edinburgh University and faced similar action by academics in the US. Drew Gilpin Faust has been called Harvard's "safe" choice to succeed Larry Summers. Now, as she prepares to take office, no one knows what kind of president she will be. But we do know what kind of historian she is, and safe is not the word. From The American Scholar, Love on Campus: Why we should understand, and even encourage, a certain sort of erotic intensity between student and professor. Past Impressions: A look at how prior relationships cast a long shadow over our social lives.

1:37PM

JUN 11 2007

Poverty and inequality, religion, sex and masculinity

From The New York Times Magazine, a special issue on Money, including The Poverty Platform: John Edwards says Americans should care more about economic injustice. Can he turn the plight of the poor into a winning campaign issue?; The Class-Consciousness Raiser: In the nation’s classrooms, middle class teachers increasingly encounter poor students, often with disastrous results. Ruby Payne says she has the secrets to help them cross the great divide; Shop Stewards on Fantasy Island? With nothing but the very rich and the people who serve them, Florida’s Fisher Island is a stark metaphor for income inequality in America — and an irresistible target for labor activists; and Should We Globalize Labor Too? These days, capital and goods cross borders with ease.

Lant Pritchett says that if the developing world’s workers could do the same, everyone would benefit; Roger Lowenstein on The Inequality Conundrum: How can you promote equality without killing off the genie of American prosperity?; a look at how former Treasury secretary Larry Summers is having second thoughts about how to make globalization work for the middle class; and a quiet exchange of funds lets a family buy a new house and helps the seller get a good price. So why is it illegal? A review of The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression by Amity Shlaes. For Brink Lindsey, affluence is a uniter, not a divider: A review of The Age of Abundance: How Prosperity Transformed America’s Politics and Culture. Who are you kidding? A review of Consumed by Benjamin Barber and The Real Toy Story: The Shocking Inside Story on Toys and the Industry That Makes Them by Eric Clark.

From Time, rancorously divided over homosexuality, global Anglicanism may be veering toward a schism. Can the Archbishop of Canterbury lead his flock back from the brink?; and an interview with Rowan Williams on homosexuality, the risk of a schism and hope. We of little faith: Religious belief is inconsistent with reason and corrosive to the human mind — and Susan Blackmore doesn't want to live in a world where it is respected. Nietzsche may have declared God dead in the 19th century, but He refused to go quietly. Today, fundamentalist religion is on the rise. But now, sceptical philosophers have regrouped and are fighting the faithful under the banner of The New Atheists. More on Michel Onfray's In Defence of Atheism. Let's see if we can find some common ground with everyone: Does Christopher Hitchens at least say "Oh, God" during sex?

From Psychology Today, a study finds the media messes with men's minds too, and here are five shocking stats about men and sex. How Viagra, bikinis and the internet changed the sexual landscape: A review of Manliness by Harvey C. Mansfield; Impotence: A Cultural History by Angus McLaren; Sex & the Psyche: Revealing the True Nature of Our Secret Fantasies From the Largest Ever Survey of Its Kind by Brett Kahr; and The Swimsuit: A Fashion History From 1920s Biarritz and the Birth of the Bikini to St Tropez and Sports Illustrated by Sarah Kennedy. Reaffirming boyhood in all of its politically incorrect glory: A review of The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn Iggulden and Hal Iggulden.

1:37PM

JUN 11 2007

Global development, Asia, Europe, Iraq and American politics

A new issue of Cultural Survival Quarterly is out, on passing the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. A review of Jungle Capitalists: A Story of Globalisation, Greed and Revolution by Peter Chapman. A review of The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About it by Paul Collier. Three for Thought: What you need to read about global poverty. Arrested development: Distribution of aid is too important not to pause for a moment while discovering how funds might best be allocated. Is Bob Zoellick the next Paul Wolfowitz? Bush's popular nominee to head the World Bank could fall prey to the same problems that doomed his predecessor.

From Time Asia, a special issue on Hong Kong, 10 years after the handover. A review of The Dragon and the Elephant: China, India and the New World Order by David Smith; China: Fragile Superpower by Susan L Shirk; and Getting Rich First: Life in a Changing China by Duncan Hewitt. The introduction to Punishment and Power in the Making of Modern Japan by Daniel V. Botsman. Masahiko Fujiwara's The Dignity of a State re-ignites the debate about whether there are specifically “Asian” values. 

From Prospect, Stephen Oppenheimer responds to readers' questions and comments on his October 2006 article on British ancestry. From The Observer, it is the debate on everybody's lips - just how British are we? Then came plans for a British Day. Then Gordon Brown spoke of "British jobs for British people". As a new study demands we celebrate "where we live" to combat social division, is there any way to define a nation's values? In Britain, the Scout movement still struggles to shake off a reputation as a place where men in shorts teach boys to tie rope. The French President's beautiful and strong-willed wife refuses to conform to expectations of how a statesman's spouse should behave. So maybe it's not surprising that she seems to attract more attention than her husband. Murder in the Pyrenees: When the unpopular mayor of Fago was found dead in a ditch, virtually the entire population of the isolated Spanish hamlet came under suspicion, writes Leslie Crawford. One man confessed - but was he telling the whole story. Sons of Italy: A long line of conservative Italian political thought goes ignored when we get caught up looking at Italy's current state

The Thin Iraqi Line: Can the U.S. train Iraq's military and police to be the anchor that steadies the country, or will they become part of the sectarian storm that terars it apart? The Guidebook for Taking a Life: The set of rules — a kind of jihad etiquette — that seek to guide and justify the killing that militants do is growing more complex. Defeat’s Killing Fields: An American defeat in Iraq would throw the entire Middle East into even greater upheaval.

From The Washington Post Magazine, freshman congressman Joe Courtney, elected by a margin of 83 votes, is learning that the first requirement of power is self-preservation. A review of The Wrong Stuff: The Extraordinary Saga of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, the Most Corrupt Congressman Ever Caught (and an interview). Red Meat Season: The base likes it bloody. The candidates dish it up. Do the rest of us have to swallow it? Joel Achenbach wants to know. Noam Scheiber on how Mitt Romney's campaign shows who really runs the GOP. Fred Thompson is like Reagan without the new ideas. Nicholas von Hoffman on why we need fringe candidates. Politics 2.008: How will the Internet influence the presidential election?

1:37PM

JUN 11 2007

Writers, magazines, Great Britain and daily life

From NYRB, the Lost Jewish Culture: Harold Bloom reviews The Lost Jewish Culture The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950–1492; and Racing Against Reality: A review of Falling Man by Don DeLillo. The playful literary legend: John Updike, now 75, says he "lucked out and became a writer," but his distinguished career says otherwise. When it comes to humor, Woody Allen dishes up a perfect deli mix in his new collection of sketches and stories, Mere Anarchy. "And that's why you're a blogger and not a writer": New Yorker writer gets touchy in the comments section of a blog.

From The New York Review of Magazines, an interview with Atoosa Rubenstein, from magazine queen to the MySpace scene; and inside the juiced-up, iron-pumped world of bodybuilding magazines. Magazines and newspapers featuring poetry and short works of fiction are to be commended and awarded bonus points for culture. But publishing extracts from novels? It should be prohibited. How long does it take to write a novel? One year is the ambitious target Louise Doughty sets first-time writers in A Novel in a Year, aware that what most will have at the end of 12 months is a start rather than a finished product. A review of Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter; Writer's Coach: An Editor's Guide to Words That Work by Jack Hart; and When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It: The Parts of Speech, for Better and/or Worse by Ben Yagoda.

From 3:AM, a review of The Human War, the most pitch perfect representation of what it is like to live in America in 2007. An interview with author Pete Hamill: Bush and Cheney "didn't grow up in Brooklyn, where you know if you punch a guy in the mouth, he's going to come back with three other guys and punch you back". Anatomy of a row: Christopher and Peter Hitchens are two of Britain's most famous scribes, but they appear to agree on nothing. After their latest public spat, James Macintyre, who has known both brothers for many years, dissects their very odd relationship.

A review of How We Built Britain by David Dimbleby. A review of British Diplomacy: Foreign Secretaries Reflect. A review of The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown, and more on how Princess Diana brought the British monarchy to the brink of collapse, and more and more. Why Britannia still rules the stage: British theatre has never had it so good. On screen, in plays, and from Broadway to the Oscars, our actors are being feted as never before. We celebrate this remarkable renaissance by bringing together 50 great British actors in a unique portrait, featuring our finest young talents and treasured veterans like Ian McKellen (and part 2 and part 3). Fall From Grace: In 1843, British novelist Grace Aguilar was a household name on both sides of the Atlantic. So how come we've never heard of her?

A review of Queuing for Beginners: The Story of Daily Life from Breakfast to Bedtime. A review of Strange Son: Two Mothers, Two Sons, and the Quest to Unlock the Hidden World of Autism by Portia Iversen. A review of The Empty Nest: 31 Parents Tell the Truth About Relationships, Love, and Freedom After the Kids Fly the Coop. A review of The Sun Farmer: The Story of a Shocking Accident, a Medical Miracle, and a Family's Life-and-Death Decision by Michael McCarthy.