A world of experience

I’m not too sure why it’s taken me so long to get around to reading Hilary Mantel’s novels about the … More

Smart roots

I’ve been following the work of James Beaudreau since he sent me a trio of beautifully packaged CD albums for … More

History of tradition

I think I’ve burnt myself out on research now. There’s a lot more I could read to expand my thinking … More

Specifically dense

Michael Woodman is a lover of words. On his most recent album in particular, his lyrics display an affinity for … More

An orrery of thought

Having finished reading Neal Stephenson’s epic historical trilogy The Baroque Cycle it’s quite hard, on reflection, to recall everything that’s … More

Judging hope

Martin Compston is best known for appearing in the entertainingly silly police fantasy Line of Duty, but his first acting … More

Keeping faith

Frank Herbert’s Dune has been a part of my life for many years—I started reading it for the first time … More

Putting medicine in its place

The historian Roy Porter was known during his lifetime as a ‘one-man book factory’, a prodigiously productive scholar who wrote … More

The last man who knew everything (about bread)

Mostly if I want to find out about something (I call it ‘research’ when I’m feeling self-important), I look on … More

Between bodies and speakers

Sampling became one of the most significant new techniques in record production during the 1980s, and although its influence on … More

Nurture writing

I read an interview with Suzanne Simard in New Scientist and it brought tears to my eyes. Her description of … More

Hardy perennials

Kim Stanley Robinson is known for not writing stories about soldiers, or other stereotypically heroic figures—which in our deeply fucked-up … More

Ordinary voices

Ordinary voices get so little time and exposure that we tend to forget what they sound like, despite the fact … More

Old school concision

Much of the development of videogames passed me by, despite my early and continuing interest, thanks to my long voluntary … More