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May 20, 2026
I finally got around to reading Michel Houellebecq’s The Elementary Particles. I’d already read Submission and Whatever, which were good, but TEP is clearly the...
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May 14, 2026
Richard Holmes’s new biography, The Boundless Deep, depicts how Alfred Lord Tennyson absorbed the scientific discoveries of his era, paying special attention to revelations...
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Apr 10, 2026
Madeline Cash’s Lost Lambs is a family comedy so deft and winsome that only the most sterilely stolid souls could possibly refuse its charm. Cash first attracted my...
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Mar 3, 2026
Every great invention is also a question. Consider the telescope. It certainly has practical applications—it can help you scope out a rival military and bombard them into...
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Mar 2, 2026
In certain shops in Chicago, you will find a bumper sticker reading, “Too Dumb for New York, Too Ugly for LA.” While grimly amusing, I find this, on another level,...
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Feb 25, 2026
Every great invention is also a question. Consider the telescope. It certainly has practical applications—it can help you scope out a rival military and bombard them into...
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Jan 8, 2026
Whenever I heard someone say, “I wasn’t ready for that book in high school,” I used to smile inwardly. Smugly. I was sure that nothing would’ve been lost on...
May 20, 2026I finally got around to reading Michel Houellebecq’s The Elementary Particles. I’d already read Submission and Whatever, which were good, but TEP is clearly the...
May 14, 2026Richard Holmes’s new biography, The Boundless Deep, depicts how Alfred Lord Tennyson absorbed the scientific discoveries of his era, paying special attention to revelations...
Apr 10, 2026Madeline Cash’s Lost Lambs is a family comedy so deft and winsome that only the most sterilely stolid souls could possibly refuse its charm. Cash first attracted my...
Mar 3, 2026Every great invention is also a question. Consider the telescope. It certainly has practical applications—it can help you scope out a rival military and bombard them into...
Mar 2, 2026In certain shops in Chicago, you will find a bumper sticker reading, “Too Dumb for New York, Too Ugly for LA.” While grimly amusing, I find this, on another level,...
Feb 25, 2026Every great invention is also a question. Consider the telescope. It certainly has practical applications—it can help you scope out a rival military and bombard them into...
Jan 8, 2026Whenever I heard someone say, “I wasn’t ready for that book in high school,” I used to smile inwardly. Smugly. I was sure that nothing would’ve been lost on...