The Book Bench
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Read It Again?
“For Nabokov, another reading was always constructive. But for Spacks, rereading—though satisfying for pure literary analysis—can reveal unwelcome truths about our past selves, and cause disenchantment—in the most literal sense—with the books we used to love.” The Book Bench reviews…
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On Big-Idea Books
At the Atlantic, Marshall Poe discusses his attempt to write a “big-idea book” about Wikipedia, and how he ended up with a “book of ideas” instead. “Years of academic research taught me two things. First, reality is as complicated as…
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Loss Aversion and Decisions
How useful is self-knowledge in decision making? Not very, according to Daniel Kahneman, author of Thinking, Fast and Slow. The Book Bench takes a look at Kahneman’s ideas—the most significant being that we suffer from loss aversion, which helps explain…
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On Our Public Privacy
In this Smart Set piece, Stefany Anne Golberg contemplates the “public commodification of privacy,” finding a precursor to our own tendencies in the poet Charles Baudelaire’s navigation of 19th century urban life. “But the illusion of public privacy is one…
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Morrison’s New Novel
Toni Morrison, who was in DC over the weekend to receive the 2011 Library of Congress National Book Festival Award for Creative Achievement, took part in a Q&A for the The Hay-Adams Author Series. The author touched on her upcoming…
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Frankenstein’s Conception
“Shelley has long been doubted for her version of events that led to the writing of one of the most beloved Gothic tales in the English language: That she wrote it on a challenge one night in June 1816 during…
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Deaf Culture
“Hearing people should not fool themselves into thinking they can understand the Deaf experience. What we need to understand, though, is that there is more to it than not being able to hear.” In honor of Deaf Awareness Week this…
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Touré Interview
“Post-racial suggests a world where race does not exist and racism does not exist, and it’s a completely ridiculous term…With post-Blackness, what I’m talking about is a conception of Blackness where the identity options are infinite. So, we’re not saying…
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On The Ecstatic
“From the Greek ek-stasis, it means “standing outside of,” as in separation from the common, or, in the Hellenic religious understanding, a hiatus from cognition in celebration of the visceral and mystical.” Interpreting Euripedes’ The Bacchae as “a masterful homage…
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Soundtracks for Books
Booktrack, a New York start-up, is weaving noises and music into e-books. According to their website, the idea behind synchronizing soundtracks to existing e-books, is to “dramatically boost the reader’s imagination and engagement.” To hear a demo you can check…
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Golden Gate Covers
“Pick up a random copy of a novel set in San Francisco, and there’s a good chance the book’s cover will feature the bridge – even if it has as much to do with the story as a stale loaf…
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“Books and Babies”
Cambridge University Library has a new exhibit entitled “Books and Babies: Communicating Reproduction,” which explores the ongoing interactions between the “two senses of reproduction” over time. If you cannot make it to England before the end of the year, you…