No Answers, Only Questions
Rilke, Durer, and the rise of science.
Wes Phillips
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12 Tones, No Waiting?
Does the Western 12-tone scale represent every tone possibility? Oh, grasshopper, you have so much to learn.
Inner Ear Report
You can tell how nimble an animal is by checking the size of its inner ear.
Missing Pages
<I>Missing Pages: Black Journalists of Modern America—An Oral History</I> sounds like one heck of a good read. And while we're on the subject, I also recommend the Library of America's <A HREF="http://www.reportingcivilrights.org/loa/"><I>Reporting Civil Rights</I></A>.
How Is It Possible to Speak of a Mother's Body?
Mary Gordon writes on the essence of memory.
Revolutionary Restaurants
I'm with Calvin Trillin on this one: Never eat in a restaurant that rotates.
Atta Boys!
Conn and Hal's Iggulden's <A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR20070… Dangerous Book for Boys</I></A> has been on my must-read list since it was published here in the States, but Conn's lovely essay, "In Praise of Skinned Knees and Grubby Faces," has catapulted it to the top of my list.
Kinematics
When Franz Reuleaux created the "language of invention," he more or less invented the future we live in.
A Kingsley Amiss Revival?
Not bloody likely, says Michael Dirda. A scant 12 years after his death, you're unlikely to find even his most lauded novel, <I>Lucky Jim</I> in bookstores, libraries, or on friends' bookshelves.
Sweet Spot Wherever You Are
We received a e-mail recently from long-time reader Sharon Churchill, which linked to an <A HREF="http://www.newscientist.com/blog/invention/2007/06/sticky-sweet-spot.ht…; in the <I>New Scientist Invention</I> blog concerning a recent Sony patent application for a system that will automatically recalibrate its response to put the sweet spot where the listener is, wherever that might be.