I am in the very fortunate position of actually enjoying my job. This is in great contrast to previous employment I have had and, from what I understand, great contrast to my peer group and, without a doubt, the greater part of people who live on this island. That having been said, I have found [...]

Erik Ringmar, a good friend of mine from the LSE, has written what, to my knowledge is a double first with his book, A Blogger’s Manifesto. It is the first academic study of blogs and it is the first book about blogging that isn’t about how public relations people should take advantage of blogging, how [...]

I’ve been reading Thorstein Veblen‘s book, The Theory of the Leisure Class (available for free online via Project Gutenberg), lately. George Monbiot, writing in today’s Guardian, makes an excellent point – much in line with Veblen’s theory of conspicuous consumption. The basic argument, as I understand it, is that there is not a huge amount [...]

I haven’t read any of Salman Rushdie’s books. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. He should, though, be able to write what he wants free from intimidation. A lot of people are condemning the reactions to his knighthood – that is well and good. I hope that someone in Pakistan is writing that the reactions [...]

The BBC reports that the town of Aracataca, birthplace of Gabriel García Márquez, has decided not to rename itself Macondo, the name of the town in Márquez book, Cien años de soledad, and avoided a trap of double irony. The mayor of Aracataca hoped that renaming the town after Macondo would attract tourists, perhaps not [...]

This came up in conversation today… what are the ten most dangerous books ever written? In no particular order 1. Capital/Das Kapital – ‘Uncle’ Karl Marx Capital is a dry text on economics and yet it, and the books that go along with it in the Marxian canon, have, one way and another, inspired a [...]

I’ve been reading Elizabeth Wurtzel’s Prozac Nation. I’d previously seen the film so I thought I should see what it’s based on. The film took a bit of a panning from the critics which I don’t think it altogether deserves. Although the events it is based on are the same, the film, by virtue of [...]