I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars Cassandra is mostly wisely honest with herself as well as being generous spirited and loving, and the combination makes for pleasant reading. There is a feast of interesting details, though the castle makes me feel cold, and some nicely sketched… Continue reading My Castle…
Against Interpretation and Other Essays by Susan Sontag My rating: 3 of 5 stars None of us can ever retrieve that innocence before all theory when art knew no need to justify itself, when one did not ask of a work of art what it said because one knew what it did. From now to… Continue reading Critique on Critique on Critique
New York Vertical Portable Format Edition by Horst Hamann My rating: 3 of 5 stars The premise of this book is that New York is markedly vertical and thus is interestingly captured when a vertical perspective is adopted. As is customary in photography books there is nothing much written. The preface mentions a few topics… Continue reading New York disembodied
The Wretched of the Screen by Hito Steyerl My rating: 5 of 5 stars version 1.0 One could of course argue that this is not the real thing, but then – please, anybody – show me this real thing. This stuff is so fresh it hurts. I am shocked and shaken and overstimulated. I’ve stumbled… Continue reading Notes from the rubble
The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory by Carol J. Adams My rating: 4 of 5 stars Recently my adult English class were studying the topic of ‘nature’ which had a section on ‘animals’. One of the opinions on the page was something along the lines of ‘the world would be a healthier… Continue reading Eat Rice Have Faith In Women
The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus My rating: 4 of 5 stars A good friend introduced me to Nietzsche in my early teens, and Nietzsche and I have had a turbulent relationship ever since. One of the first adult books I read was Kafka’s The Trial and Nietzsche was there too, inviting me to… Continue reading Rolling the rock up together?
Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’ve read other books by de Botton and (unlike some readers) enjoyed his chatty style and self-deprecating anecdotes. This book is less personal and has more of an essay feel, but the modus operandi is still graceful, readable synthesis and organisation of material… Continue reading The myth of meritocracy & its discontents
In Praise of Shadows by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki My rating: 5 of 5 stars The quality that we call beauty must always grow from the realities of life, and our ancestors, forced to live in dark rooms, presently came to discover beauty in shadows, ultimately to guide shadows towards beauty’s ends (If you don’t have time… Continue reading Under the eaves
Words of my brother on reading this article by Dr Vandana Shiva” “Brilliant. We need a resource based economy.. not based on the gold standard, not based on our economic growth forecasts.. just based on the available resources and our ability to obtain them at sustainable rates. We have to face up to the fact… Continue reading This.
Email exchange with the IOP: I’m a tutor rather than a teacher – still spreading the joy of physics though! Hate the government – that’s the main reason I didn’t go into teaching when I finished my PGCE Hi Rose-Anna, Thanks for getting in touch, I’ll update your details, If you could spare the time,… Continue reading Why I am not a teacher – in brief
(I am because you are) 