Jared Diamond is a master of cultural and historical bricolage. His books weave epic stories about the human condition from the disparate cultural practices of a wide range of people living in different environments. In his Pulitzer Prize–winning Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond used this eclectic empiricism to tell a story about the role of geography in human history. In Collapse, he used the same approach to stage a morality play about the dangers of disregarding those geographic conditions. In his new book, The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?, Diamond probes the differences between modern cultures and traditional societies that subsist through hunting and gathering, and he comes to several bold conclusions about their relative merits. His examples are evocative and his narration is powerful, but Diamond ultimately fails to substantiate his arguments. By the end of the book, it is impossible to tell if one has finished reading a masterpiece of rigorous analysis or a masterfully written collection of just-so stories. Continue reading at 'Slate'
[ Slate | 2013-02-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
Letter to Salma, by Yousef Khanfar Literary Tributes [email protected] Wed, 08/09/2023 - 15:14 In the following tribute, Yousef Khanfar pens a letter to the eminent scholar Salma Khadra Jayyusi, laureate of the 2021 Palestine Prize for Literature,... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2023-08-09 20:14:32 UTC ]
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Oded Galor examines the drivers of progress and innovation, and the reasons for inequality. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-04-29 12:00:53 UTC ]
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Lee Lai’s Stone Fruit is the kind of book that stays with you. Since I finished reading it, the graphic novel has been lingering in the corners of my mind, sticky and sweet as a nectarine. It’s a book about family, breakups, queerness, childhood, sisters, and healing, but most of all, Stone... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-12-09 12:00:00 UTC ]
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The Bodley Head has pre-empted a "landmark" account of human history by Oded Galor. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-11-18 09:20:49 UTC ]
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Kassia St. Clair explains the essential role of fabric, from ancient Egypt to outer space. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-01-09 12:28:19 UTC ]
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Cultural Cross Sections Will Hagle Photo courtesy of the author Following decades of British colonial rule to the rapidly tightening grip of mainland China and all the stories told about that chunk of land along the way, Hong Kong has grown accustomed... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2019-12-17 15:28:20 UTC ]
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The late physicist’s editor, Peter Guzzardi, recalls his first meetings with Hawking and how his book became a bestsellerStephen Hawking dies aged 76I first encountered Stephen Hawking on the cover of the New York Times magazine. Inside, its pages told a story we all know today, but at the time... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-03-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Transworld has acquired Iranian-American author Reza Aslan’s "most personal book yet": God, A Human History. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-07-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Fast Company talks with author Yuval Noah Harari, whose new book looks ahead and hazards a few guesses on what's next for humanity. Fast Company talks with author Yuval Noah Harari, whose new book looks ahead and hazards a few guesses on what's next for humanity.Yuval Noah... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2017-02-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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UNESCO has called the destruction of libraries and books in Mosul 'one of the most devastating acts of destruction of library collections in human history.' Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kobo has released data about how many people finish ebook bestsellers and data indicates that purchasing a book is no indication of willingness to read it. The post Haven’t Finished Reading that Bestseller? You’re Not Alone appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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