Author: Andrew Delbanco As the commercialization of American higher education accelerates, more and more students are coming to college with the narrow aim of obtaining a preprofessional credential. The traditional four-year college experience—an exploratory time for students to discover their passions and test ideas and values with the help of teachers and peers—is in danger of becoming a thing of the past. In “College,” prominent cultural critic Andrew Delbanco offers a trenchant defense of...
Authors: Richard V. Fisher, Grant Heiken, And Jeffrey Hulen Whenever a volcano threatens to erupt, scientists and adventurers from around the world flock to the site in response to the irresistible allure of one of nature’s most dangerous and unpredictable phenomena. In a unique book probing the science and mystery of these fiery features, the authors chronicle not only their geologic behavior but also their profound effect on human life.
Author: PETER R. GRANT “Enchanted by Daphne” is legendary ecologist Peter Grant’s personal account of his remarkable life and career. In this revelatory book, Grant takes readers from his childhood in World War II–era Britain to his ongoing research today in the Galápagos archipelago, vividly describing what it’s like to do fieldwork in one of the most magnificent yet inhospitable places on Earth. This is also the story of two brilliant and courageous biologists raising a family together while...
Author: Jonathan Rosen “The Best Minds” is Jonathan Rosen’s brilliant and heartbreaking account of an American tragedy. “The Best Minds” is a deeply sad book. It is a story about the bonds of family, friendship, and community; the promise of intellectual achievement; and the lure of utopian solutions. Tender, funny, and harrowing by turns, at times almost unbearably sad, “The Best Minds” is an extreme version of a story that is tragically familiar to all too many. In the hands of a writer of...
Author: Paul J. Nahin For centuries, mathematicians the world over have tried, and failed, to solve the zeta-3 problem. Math genius Leonhard Euler attempted it in the 1700s and came up short. The straightforward puzzle considers if there exists a simple symbolic formula for the following: 1+(1/2)^3+(1/3)^3+(1/4)^3+ . But why is this issue — the sum of the reciprocals of the positive integers cubed—so important? With “In Pursuit of Zeta-3,” popular math writer Paul Nahin investigates the history...
RIYADH: “Before the Coffee Gets Cold,” published in 2015, is a time travel-themed novel written by famous Japanese playwright Toshikazu Kawaguchi and translated to English by Geoffrey Trousselot. In the novel, four women wish to travel back in time for various reasons, whether to confront the man who left them, to receive a letter from a husband suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, to visit a loved one for the last time, or to see a daughter they were never able to meet.
In the acknowledgements of his 2020 debut novel, ’A Star Is Bored,’ Byron Lane thanked his then-boyfriend, fellow author Steven Rowley, in a sweet paragraph that ended with the words, “Will you marry me?” Then, in the acknowledgements of his own 2021 novel, ’The Guncle,’ Rowley finally gave his public reply: “A thousand times YES.” Now, with the knot long tied, both of the pair’s next books are hitting shelves—and on the same day, May 30, just in time for Pride month. We caught up with Steven...
Sony's excellent WF-C700N noise canceling earbuds only launched in April and they've just got a 15% price cut – but it won't last long.
With the weather heating up, botanical gardens in Germany are a great place spend the day. Here are our favourites in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg and beyond.
From seed sowing to patio pots, these are the essentials you need to take care of this month
Do you want to add some California native plants to your garden? Do you want your garden to be more attractive to birds and butterflies? I would suggest that you visit the Bay Model Pollinator Garden in Sausalito. This garden is a collaboration between the Marin chapter of the California Native Plant Society and the […]
NOW that summer is finally here and daylight hours are at their longest, gardens will be bursting into life. But it also means that there’s work to be done to make sure your outdoor areas are