Blogroll

Orhan Pamuk shows his Nobel talents

I was just going to post a note about it but Nobel Prize laureate Orhan Pamuk’s lecture at the awards ceremony today is just too good to be relegated to a brief mention. Available online in English, it is a wonderful exposition. Here are just two excerpts.

On literature:

… The starting point of true […]

Book Briefs 3

It seems like it’s always this time of year where I find myself compelled to do somewhat condensed book reviews rather than full ones. It may have something to do with the fact that I’m not obligated to anyone to do a full review of the particular book or it could just be I don’t […]

Book Review: This Is Your Brain on Music (2006)

Many freely admit they are addicted. I am one of them. We can’t go through a day without listening to music on the radio, a stereo or MP3 player. Purchase of concert tickets or a new release by a favorite artist ranks among the necessities of life. Snippets of songs heard in passing almost immediately […]

Book Review: Kill the Messenger (2006)

Virtually no one disputes Gary Webb died in 2004 of self-inflicted gunshot wounds. Yet the question “What killed Gary Webb?” still exists.

Was it that his August 1996 “Dark Alliance” series in the San Jose Mercury News regarding how some Nicaraguan “contra” rebels backed by the CIA received funds from crack cocaine traffickers was seriously […]

The Atheist Manifestos III: The Heathen’s Guide to World Religions (2006)

It might be unfair to include William Hopper’s The Heathen’s Guide to World Religions with reviews of works by Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins. That’s because Hopper’s work is a Marxist manifesto. Marx as in Groucho Marx.

Yet that may be what is ultimately required when it comes to advocating atheism. Religious faith and belief […]