online archive
12:00PM
AUG 17 2007
Social science, natural science and education
From The Economist, a review of Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World by Gregory Clark. A review of The Industrial Revolutionaries: The Creation of the Modern World 1776-1914 by Brian Morton. The first chapter from Where Nation-States Come From: Institutional Change in the Age of Nationalism by Philip G. Roeder. The first chapter from Political Power and Corporate Control: The New Global Politics of Corporate Governance by Peter A. Gourevitch and James Shinn. A review of Knowledge Monopolies: The Academisation of Society by Marten Shipman. Science lovers have more fun - - it's a fact: A review of The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science by Natalie Angier. A review of What's Science Ever Done for Us? What the Simpsons Can Teach Us About Physics, Robots, Life and the Universe by Paul Halpern.
The Astronomy of Astrology: Astrology was first practiced in ancient Babylonia and was originally intertwined with astronomy. The Biggest Thing in Physics: Two teams of physicists compete to explain matter—and win a Nobel Prize. A review of The New Time Travelers: A Journey to the Frontiers of Physics by David Toomey. A review of Fly Me to the Moon: An Insider's Guide to the New Science of Space Travel by Edward Belbruno. Life in space discovered? On August 15, 1977, a radiotelescope at Ohio State known as “the Big Ear” heard something very unusual as it scanned the skies: "Wow". A look at why progressives should care about human destiny in space.
NOLA's Failed Education Experiment: Privatization runs amok in the post-Katrina New Orleans school system. Teachers who have master’s degrees are usually paid considerably more than their colleagues, but the additional degree doesn’t have much impact on student achievement. On Campus, Trying to Connect: Today's freshmen will have made e-contact with their roommates before they arrive on campus. But does so much connectivity make the transition harder? New College of Weirdness: The stories coming out of the New College of California point to a common S.F. malady — leaders expect everyone to drink the Kool-Aid. Who’s Afraid of Incestuous Gay Monkey Sex? Sociologists — especially those who study sexuality — have for years done controversial research. But some of their colleagues may feel enough heat right now that they are avoiding certain topics.
12:00PM
AUG 17 2007
American life, sex and reproduction and family life
The introduction to Bourgeois Nightmares: Suburbia, 1870-1930 by Robert M. Fogelson. The city of Magadan in Russia's Siberia was built from nothing, by and for Stalin's slave army. In Germany, the town of Ramersdorf was built from scratch on the magnanimous whim of Adolph Hitler. And America's very own example of the fad was the West Virginia town of Arthurdale, constructed during 1933 on the magnanimous whim of Eleanor Roosevelt. Every decade, it seems, contains a single year that epitomizes its era. The Depression had 1933; the Sixties, 1968. In the Fifties, it was 1957, the year of the pill, Sputnik, Dr. Seuss, Little Rock, and more. Half a century later, U.S. News takes a look back. A review of America's Uncivil Wars: The Sixties Era from Elvis to the Fall of Richard Nixon by Mark Hamilton Lytle. A review of Confronting the New Conservatism: The Rise of the Right in America. A "Great Society" Conservative: Is the GOP going the way of LBJ?
From The Village Voice, the state pays for sex: How a mob-run S&M club put your tax dollars to work. A review of Wendy Shalit's Girls Gone Mild. Steven E. Landsburg on Sex, Sin, and Streetlights: Parsing hypocrisy, courtesy of Bob Allen. James Kirchick on why the Dems should shut up about gay marriage. An interview with Melinda Henneberger, author of If They Only Listened to Us: What Women Voters Want Politicians to Hear. Getting Beyond Roe: A review of The Politics of Abortion by Anne Hendershott. Contradicting earlier findings of a greater risk of ectopic pregnancy, a new report says the controversial abortion pill is as safe for women as surgical abortions. Just how legally viable is Maryland’s Viable Fetus Act? An article on equating stillbirths with murders.
A review of Embryo Culture: Making Babies in the Twenty-First Century by Beth Kohl. Blended families of Angelina and Madonna renown seem to make people anxious, raising questions about the nature of parental love. Do people have different feelings about their adoptive children and their offspring? Is parental love a natural or a conscious act? From Christianity Today, an article on the spirituality of potty training. Has childhood really changed that much? A review of Children At Play: An American History by Howard P. Chudacoff (and more). Abandoning or neglecting children is not acceptable. Neither is abandoning or neglecting our elders. Is not the end of life as valuable as the start? A Modest Proposal: For preventing the People of the United States from being a burden to their Government, and For Making Them Beneficial to The Public.
12:00PM
AUG 17 2007
India and Pakistan
From The Hindu, a special edition on Independent India at 60, including essays by Amartya Sen, Manmohan Singh, and more. From The Guardian's G2, a special issue on The New India. From Forbes, a special report on India At 60, including an essay by Amartya Sen. Shashi Tharoor on how the nation born 60 years ago today is built on a bold idea of difference — and an agreement that it's healthy to disagree. A miracle in Calcutta: Horace Alexander spent India's day of independence with Mahatma Gandhi in Calcutta—and watched him broker a miraculous peace between the city's warring Hindus and Muslims. With celebrations commemorating the country's 60th year since gaining independence from British rule already well underway, India is poised to enter a new era of economic expansion, led by a burgeoning class of young movers and skakers.
A review of Indian Summer: The secret history of the end of an Empire by Alex von Tunzelmann (and more). A review of Gandhi: the Man, His People and the Empire by Rajmohan Gandhi; The Great Partition: the Making of India and Pakistan by Yasmin Khan; and India Remembered by Pamela Mountbatten. A review of India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha. A review of Fantasies of a Bollywood Love Thief: Inside the World of Indian Moviemaking by Stephen Alter. Bollywood’s hegemony: Sixty years after Independence, the reach of popular Hindi cinema has left regional films and talented directors out in the cold. The Big Fat Indian Wedding: India's economic prosperity has brought a burgeoning of lavish ceremonies at astronomical cost. Will efforts to cap the wasteful spending succeed? India is both secular state and religious society. Where does Buddhism fit, and what can the Indian experience teach?
From Open Democracy, the violent territorial rupture of 1947 and its legacy reveal partition to be conceptually flawed and historically ill-grounded as a solution to political antagonism. Sixty Years of Freedom — and Animosity: Both Pakistan and India are celebrating six decades of independence from the British this week. But the reality of today is a far cry from the dreams of 1947. Despite their shared culture, cuisine and love for the game of cricket, India and Pakistan seem prepared to fight more wars. Pakistan at the Crossroads: Stability depends on restoring democracy and bringing prosperity to Pakistan, and an interview with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. After the Raj: Cif bloggers write about India and Pakistan, 60 years after partition, including Partition's other anniversary: Bangladesh may have its independence, but there is still no freedom for its minorities. Always with us: An article on the intractability of South Asian poverty.
12:00PM
AUG 17 2007
Science, religion and the novel, media and technology
From The Nation, two writers explore the perversion of our collective imagination and the ways that science and myth shape our understanding of spirituality: A review of Phantasmagoria by Marina Warner and Muses, Madmen, and Prophets: Rethinking the History, Science, and Meaning of Auditory Hallucination by Daniel B. Smith. An interview with Taner Edis, author of An Illusion of Harmony: Science and Religion in Islam. The introduction to The Mathematics of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India, and Islam: A Sourcebook. The first chapter from A Certain Ambiguity: A Mathematical Novel by Gaurav Suri and Hartosh Singh Bal. How to write the best novel in the world, ever: First, you must believe you are the best writer in the world ... And then vanquish the green-eyed monster, status envy. The sweet taste of trash lit: Sometimes, you can't help yourself. It might be rubbish, but you just can't put it down.
A review of The New Influencers: A Marketer's Guide to the New Social Media by Paul Gillin. Changing the Terms of Debate: Seven people with experience in both new media and old answer the question: What would a real new-media debate look like? The $23 Million Boa: Despite her huge payday, Mediabistro mastermind Laurel Touby still stands outside the press-gang elite. From The New York Observer, how does Perez Hilton, a.k.a. Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr., deal with the criticism of his bitchy eponymous gossip Web site? Customer Feedback 2.0 — Notes from Britannica’s electronic mailbag: "Your method is hard to understand. It is made by Geeks for Geeks". Take note: bloggers will change the world, and have already begun to do so.
Second Life's Real-World Problems: As this virtual colony grows, lawyers, tax men and troublemakers are crashing the party. Making Money in Second Life: Linden Lab's CFO John Zdanowski explains how the economy works in the virtual community. Virtual Depravity: How desperate are Second Life's cyber-lechers for a digital get-down? Radar investigates. The virtual generation: They are the most tech-savvy generation, finding expression and identity entwined in the real and virtual worlds. Jo Chandler steps into teenagers' symbiotic universes. Lifehacker 2.0: Millions of people are embracing the idea that life is as easily and productively modifiable as a Dell computer. A review of Core Memory: A Visual History of Vintage Computers by John Alderman.
