Speaking of Matter: Review of Q.E.D.
Feynman, Richard P, Q.E.D.: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter, Princeton, 1985 I loved many things about this book, but above all the moments when Feynman let own joy, unabashed wonder at...
Dylan as Listener: Review of The Philosophy of Modern Song
It’s technically a book, of course, but you need to listen to it as much as read it. It’s organised as notes to 66 selected songs — the selection and ordering lying at the...
Heartfield and Photography
The celebrated German photomontage artist John Heartfield (né Helmut Herzfeld, 1891-1968), had an astonishing gift for finding specific photographs and reconfiguring them as news in a world of his invention — a world in...
Borges on Writing [book review]
Like many other Anglophone readers, I assumed for a long time that Borges wrote primarily fiction, which meant that I had been overlooking roughly half of his writing. This book of essays (Jorge Luis Borges...
Computers Don’t Laugh
A few days ago, whether through algorithmic calculation or sheer coincidence, the website academia.edu invited me to comment on a paper called “The Last Defence of Human Language: Speech Community”. I hemmed and hawed...
Marcella! A Review of Amarcord
This one is a memoir, rather than a cookbook. It’s full of detailed information: places, times, details about food and preparation and teaching and publishing — and marriage. There’s a particularly memorable contrast between...