The Condor's Head
Ferdinand Mount's new novel features the Marquis de Condorcet, Thomas Jefferson, the Duke and Duchess de la Rochefoucauld, Jefferson's secretary William Short, Sally Hemings, Lafayette, and Robespierre—seldom, according to Adam Thorpe, to their credit.
The Context of Cave Paintings
Art or magic? I suspect both, having been fascinated by them ever since attending an exhibition of meticulously rendered reproductions about 20 years ago, Dang, but they're powerful and specific.
The Curious Incident of the Book Club in Texas
One of the best reads I've had in the last few years was Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, a story written in the first-person voice of Christopher Boone, an autistic 15-year-old.
The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Terror stalks the streets of Felton.
The Da Roxy Code
Over on Brian Eno's website, there's a hilarious teaser concerning conspiracies, relics, and the re-alignment of the, um, stars.
The Days and Knights of Tom Murphy
Murphy is the Dean of the Chess University of Dupont Circle.
The Death Clock
Good news! You're going to die—want to find out when?
The Death of a Cliché
You know that old bromide about science not being able to explain how a bumblebee flies? It's dead—they did it. As to how bumblebees manage to carry heavy loads, they apparently increase wing stroke amplitude without adjusting frequency, which is already high at 230bps—just like JA's beloved F1 race cars employ high revolution engines to power them to their mind boggling speeds.
The Death of Handwriting?
It has survived my penmanship, so it's obviously quite robust.
The Declaration of Independence
I grew up in Charlottesville, VA, in the shadow of Monticello and a few blocks from UVA, Mr.Jefferson's university, so I always felt a tad proprietary about the Fourth of July. Schoolchildren in Charlottesville were pretty much taught that the Revolution was Thomas Jefferson and some other guys against King George.