Pascal Mercier is the pseudonym of Peter Bieri, who is a Swiss philosopher, and Night Train to Lisbon is an amazing investigation of life and love and what it is to be human. I came to Mercier’s book via the film of the same name, which was beautifully imagined and crafted and which motivated me …
One of the world’s greatest science fiction writers, Stanislaw Lem has with The Futurological Congress produced a short (129 pages) satirical work that can be equated to a roller-coaster ride where, at times, the carriage in which one is riding swerves off the rails and heads for outer space only to suddenly do an about-turn …
“A country run as a business does not have to concern itself with the tropes of post-war liberal inclusiveness (tolerance, open borders, a welfare state, even taxation) only with its shareholders: the voters” P.294 Although interesting, this is definitely not a light read, and most of the time it is downright depressing. Peretti puts forward …
If anyone believes that the conquest of Australia was fair and just, this is the book to right such ignorance. After lamenting the fact that Australian schoolchildren know more about American Indians – names, places, battles – than they do about Australian Aboriginal history, Willmot gives a balanced, and detailed, account of the early years …
Don Tillman, professor of genetics, makes the observation that “… ‘somewhere in a medical archive is a twenty-year-old file with my name and the words ‘depression, bipolar disorder? OCD?’ and ‘schizophrenia?’”. He feels that the question marks are important, seeing as no definite diagnosis was ever made. Nevertheless, he is obviously on the autism spectrum, …
A book about the ease with which a woman could be committed to a psychiatric hospital in the early part of the twentieth century. If a father or husband was displeased with a daughter or a wife (for whatever reason), the female in question could find herself locked away for ever without any possibility of …
In his book, neurosurgeon Alexander tells how, in November 2008, completely out of the blue, he contracted a type of meningitis that is related to E.coli bacteria. In spite of the best medical care available, he quickly slipped into a coma. The prognosis was that he would not survive and that if by some miracle …
This is an amazing book; it takes everything we know – and everything we think we know – about the world, and the different countries that comprise it, and expands it in every conceivable direction. It is well written with clear, concise, objective and up-to-date information. As Nicholas Lezard writes: ‘One of the best books …
On her 85th birthday, Miriam receives a beautiful bracelet from her family. It is handcrafted by gypsies and her name, Miriam, has been carefully engraved into the silver. However, she both amazes and disturbs her family when she announces that her name is not Miriam. Miriam’s thoughts revert to the 1940s, and we learn that …
Agnes Grey, though fictional, is actually based on many of Anne Brontë’s own experiences as a governess in the 1840s, and if you consider children of today (i.e. twenty-first century) to be rude and undisciplined then this is definitely a book you should read. While Agnes Grey’s small charges are nothing short of horrendous, Brontë …