History Happy Newtonmas 25 Dec 201122 Jun 2018 Isaac Newton was born on the 25th of December (under the old Calendar; in our calendar he was born on 4 January, but ignore that for this post). In a wonderful marriage of good scholarship and computers (often a very bad arrangement), Cambridge University Library’s Digital Library project has digitised… Read More
Evolution Some reading 18 Jul 2009 My longtime correspondent Bill Benzon has a very nice piece on the biological failure of the so-called “literary Darwinism” movement, in particular that of Joseph Carroll, who is the leading exponent of it. As Bill points out, we can mistake cultural tropes for biological traits all too easily. Will Thomas… Read More
All right, where is the reference to “1066 and All That?” A student essay with no acknowledgment of its sources will be failed.