The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins was published 40 years ago. It argued that life, with all its beauty and its flaws, is a product of gene selection. It is an object lesson in explaining complex and controversial subjects in…
Monthly Archives: June 2016
Greater Minds: Richard Dawkins on the 40th birthday of The Selfish Gene
Tagged with: Biology, Evolution, Richard Dawkins, Science, The Selfish Gene
Posted in Greater minds, Wednesday Pontification
Posted in Greater minds, Wednesday Pontification
Salvation Island
I had an island once. I didn’t have a deed with my name on it but I didn’t need one. I knew no one else would want it the moment I stepped ashore. But an island was better than a…
Plot cannot be just one damned thing after another
John Mullan incorporated novels and TV series into a recent essay on plot. A good plot engages the reader by posing questions. The ideal plot hides its own structure in plain sight. Plot is often regarded as the domain of…
Words Like Confetti
Rupert looked as though he’d been hoping for that question. “I love to write because words are like confetti to me. I throw them into the air and watch them rain bright colours on people passing by.” He adopted a…
Fiction Review: The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
I opened this book with some trepidation. I knew it won the Hugo Award last year but from the safe distance I watched from, last year’s Hugos looked like a toxic mess of political squabbling. Political choices are rarely good…
Tagged with: Cixin Liu, Ken Liu, science fiction, The Three-Body Problem
Posted in Book review: fiction, Wednesday Pontification
Posted in Book review: fiction, Wednesday Pontification
Emmanuel Akinwotu on Hawa Jande Golakai
Hawa Jande Golakai is in the news again, this time with as the subject of an article in The Guardian. I’ve mentioned her here before and I’ll mention her again because she’s an author worth repeating. She’s talking about her…
Inspirations: Are we all living in a simulation?
Elon Musk recently said we probably live in a computer simulation. He was quoting Nick Bostrom, who said we’re either in a simulation or there will never be one. It doesn’t matter to us whether our universe is constrained by…
Feeling Lucky
If I had a dream, it would start with this fifty pence piece. This one right here. Heads or tails? Heads? Let’s see… And it’s tails. You lose. I keep it. See, that’s where my dream starts. A little win…
Greater Minds: George Orwell’s thoughts on Politics and the English Language
George Orwell’s Politics and the English Language is as relevant now as it was in 1946. Redefining a dangerous word can steal its meaning. Ill-considered ideas may be hidden behind bad prose, even from the writer themselves. Attention to the…
Tagged with: George Orwell, Newspeak, Politics and the English Language, Style
Posted in Greater minds, Wednesday Pontification, Writing
Posted in Greater minds, Wednesday Pontification, Writing
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Cockburn's Eclectics 