“A rock and roll life” it says on the cover. That’s a bit punchier than “sex, drugs and close-harmony falsetto”, though the longer version is probably a better summary as there’s a lot of all three in the book. This … Continue reading →
Dr Hilary Hamnett is a forensic toxicologist and Associate Professor of Forensic Science at the University of Lincoln, UK. In this book she reviews a number of fictional stories involving poisoning, including Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Casino Royale, The Count … Continue reading →
This is a nice little* book. I felt the blurb on the back says everything I wanted to say about it. Packed with surprising facts, this delightful and gorgeously designed book will beguile anyone who is curious about weather. Expertly … Continue reading →
Written in the wake of an outbreak of statue-toppling driven in part by the death of George Floyd in 2020 and the spread of the Black Lives Matter movement, historian Alex von Tunzelmann (‘AvT’) presents case studies of 12 examples … Continue reading →
The author is a long-term staff writer for ‘New Yorker’ magazine who lives outside the city on the banks of the Hudson river. In 2014 he happened to meet a stranger, a big grizzled man wearing “denim overalls, a faded … Continue reading →
As her honour affirms, Dame Janet Suzman is one of the great stage actors of our time. She is also an acclaimed director. So her personal insight into some of the great female roles in Western classic theatre is a … Continue reading →
Not a follow-up but in the same vein as his previously published ‘Fake History‘, Otto English turns his debunking searchlight on “heroes”. In ten chapters each devoted to one hero, he sets out to show that they are all deeply … Continue reading →
Matsuo Bashō was a 17th Century Japanese poet considered to be a master of the haiku, a traditional form of poem written in three sections of five, seven and five syllables. In his comprehensive introduction translator Yuasa traces the history … Continue reading →
Riding the very terrible 1914 Tour of Italy This is the fourth of Tim Moore’s books that I’ve read, and the ninth he has published. My reading is definitely non-sequential though: I read ‘French Revolutions‘, his third, in 2002; his … Continue reading →
Another trip on the ‘Serious Scientific Answers to Daft Questions’ merry-go-round from the author of the xkcd online comic. Covers such weighty matters as “How many pigeons would it take to lift an average person?”, “Can all the world’s bananas … Continue reading →