At the New York Times, Karl Ove Knausgaard describes how Joyce’s Portrait included him in literature’s potential in a way that Ulysses didn’t: In “Portrait,” Joyce ventures inside that part of…
Everyone is wrong at times, even people who are paid lots of money to be right. The 1984 book The Experts Speak collected thousands of wrong statements and predictions, and…
Robotics have come a long way in the last century, but even Siri can’t lay claim to impeccable British manners. The British Science Museum is crowdfunding a replica of the…
I’m sure you’re familiar with the concept of mansplaining, but just in case you’re not, here are some examples of ways to clarify that you’re not being patronizing. I’d be…
In the midst of the Greek debt crisis and its repercussions, many writers are using the country’s economic downturn as fuel for a poetic renaissance: In a country where there…
If you could bring one J.G. Ballard novel to a deserted island, what would it be? Although the film adaptations of Crash and the upcoming High-Rise might make those popular…
Mychal Denzel Smith likes sneakers a lot, and he also likes to let people know: I kind of throw it in people’s faces a little bit,” he said. “Because I…
The New York Times published a profile of exclusively male book clubs. You could read it, or you could skim this highlight reel of the most obnoxious quotes from the…
Jennifer Ouellette reports on recent studies of Wikipedia’s editorial hierarchy. While the site was founded on democratic ideals, the reality has turned into something quite different: Their analysis demonstrates that…
In the New Yorker, Richard Brody laments how little coverage there is of independent film in mainstream media. If film culture is to change for the better, he argues, critics…