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Archive for May, 2010

A mystery ending that keeps book world gripped

Monday, May 31st, 2010

Just over a year ago, at the height of the recession, Ben Roberts, a computer programmer at a hedge fund in London, was made redundant. Armed with his severance package the 29-year-old bought an Apple computer, some programming textbooks and got together with Chris Stevens, a friend from university and a journalist and illustrator. Read more…

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A Classic Turns 50, and Parties Are Planned

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

In Santa Cruz, Calif., volunteers will re-enact every word and movement in the famous courtroom scene. In Monroeville, Ala., residents dressed in 1930s garb will read aloud from memorable passages. In Rhinebeck, N.Y., Oblong Books will host a party with Mocktails and recorded music by the indie band the Boo Radleys. Read more…

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The art of Alex Katz

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010
His portraits betray an obsession with style and surface. How did Alex Katz become one of the most influential painters alive? Read more…

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The Jewish Question: Martin Heidegger

Sunday, May 9th, 2010

It may seem surprising that so many books continue to be written debating Martin Heidegger’s Nazi affiliations, since the fact that Heidegger was a Nazi has never been in dispute. How could it be, when the great philosopher took office as rector of Freiburg University in April 1933 specifically in order to carry out the Gleichschaltung, or “bringing into line,” of the school with Hitler’s new party-state? Didn’t he tell the student body, in a speech that November, that “the Führer and he alone is the present and future German reality and its law”? After the war, didn’t he go out of his way to minimize Nazi crimes, even describing the Holocaust, in one notorious essay, as just another manifestation of modern technology, like mechanized agriculture? Read more…

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Nietzsche: A Philosophy in Context

Saturday, May 8th, 2010

One of the pitfalls of writing a biography of a great philosopher is the temptation to reduce important ideas to mere psychology, an outgrowth of some fluke in the philosopher’s personal development. Julian Young, a professor at the University of Auckland and Wake Forest University, has for the most part avoided this trap by writing a “philosophical” biography of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) in which the life story provides context but ultimately not explanation for the ideas. In so doing he has provided a serious and readable, if not exactly ground-breaking, introduction to Nietzsche’s “philosophy with a hammer.” Read more…

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Why genius isn’t in the genes

Sunday, May 2nd, 2010

The belief that a genius is the product of genetic make-up is as pervasive as it is wrong, according to David Shenk.

Talent is like the marksman who hits the target others cannot reach; genius is like the marksman who hits a target others cannot even see. Thus Arthur Schopenhauer defined the concept of genius – as a gift displayed by semi-mystic beings whose innate qualities sets them apart from other mortals. Mozart, Einstein, Newton, George Best: all were blessed by their genes and achieved a greatness that the rest of us cannot hope to possess. Read more…

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