Social media and many other facets of modern life are destroying our ability to concentrate. We need to reclaim our minds while we still canWhen he was nine years old, my godson Adam developed a brief but freakishly intense obsession with Elvis Presley…
Oppositions by Mary Gaitskill review – wide-ranging, unsparing essays
From Nabokov to Talking Heads, these insightful and revealing pieces stubbornly reject groupthink In one of Mary Gaitskill’s best short stories, The Agonized Face, a female journalist watches a “feminist author” read at a literary festival. The author …
Britain got it wrong on Covid: long lockdown did more harm than good, says scientist
A new book outlines the mistakes and missteps that made UK pandemic worseThere was a distinctive moment, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, that neatly encapsulated the mistakes and confusion of Britain’s early efforts to tackle the disease, says M…
Garbo by Robert Gottlieb review – distant darling of the silver screen
The renowned editor wittily explores the appeal of the actor, whose ability to charm and mystify mesmerised admirers – until her abrupt retirement in the age of the ‘bombshell’In more innocent or credulous days, the faithful sat in the dark to gaze at …
The Books Bill Gates Enjoyed Reading in 2021
Last night we asked what books you’d enjoyed reading this year.
Here’s how Bill Gates had answered the same question on his personal blog Gates Notes:
When I was a kid, I was obsessed with science fiction. Paul Allen and I would spend countless hour…
The Guardian view on wintry reading: a box of delights | Editorial
As 2022 dawns, turn to an icily seasonal story to lift the spirits and transport the imaginationAnd so here we are: among the dark, blustery, not so cold days of between-Christmas-and-new-year. A time to say goodbye to 2021, the year everyone hoped wou…
Books and films censored under Franco still circulating in Spain
Dictator who died in 1975 stamped out mention of Spanish civil war, sexuality and anti-Catholic viewsA Spanish association has called for an investigation into the enduring legacy of censorship during the Franco regime after it emerged that censored ve…
First, do no harm: An argument for a radical new paradigm for treating addiction
Ars chats with author Maia Szalavitz about her book, Undoing Drugs
Bambi: cute, lovable, vulnerable … or a dark parable of antisemitic terror?
A new translation of Felix Salten’s 1923 novel reasserts its original message that warns of Jewish persecutionIt’s a saccharine sweet story about a young deer who finds love and friendship in a forest. But the original tale of Bambi, adapted by Disney …
2021年度世界史関連ベストブック10 – 歴ログ -世界史専門ブログ-
今年読んだ本のベスト１０を発表します ぼくは自分の読書本数を数えたことがないので、今年何冊読んだかよく分からないのですが、多分120～130冊くらいになると思います。 その中で「これは面白かったなあ」と印象に残っている作品をランキングにしました。 「世界史関連」と銘打っていますが、世界史以外の本、紀行文や…