Category Archives: Reviews

Politics: The Guardian Weekly – October 13, 2023

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The Guardian Weekly (October 13, 2023) The new issue features Hamas militants’ devastating incursion into Israel  from Gaza resulting in thousands of deaths, provoking a declaration of war and upending the fragile diplomacy of the Middle East.

The swirling composite of images on the magazine’s cover this week tries to encapsulate the human chaos and grief of civilians, both in Israel and Gaza, caught in the chaos of war. The central image shows a vast explosion filling the sky above Gaza City, an ominous portent of many violent acts still to come.

As the region faces its worst conflict for 50 years, Bethan McKernan reports from a kibbutz ransacked by militants and finds shocked residents still struggling to process events. Guardian correspondents Harriet SherwoodPatrick Wintour and Peter Beaumont provide context and analysis, while international affairs commentator Simon Tisdall argues that the ultimate blame lies with Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s controversial prime minister.

Ahead of this weekend’s elections in Poland that could give the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party an unprecedented third term in office, Shaun Walker goes on the campaign trail with Donald Tusk whose centre-right Civic Coalition is hoping to reverse the country’s slide away from democratic norms. And Brussels correspondent Lisa O’Carroll reports on the EU’s Granada summit where Hungary’s Viktor Orbán accused fellow leaders of attempting to impose a “diktat” with a proposal on a bloc-wide agreement on migration.

With global temperatures for September described as “gobsmackingly bananas” by leading climatologist Zeke Hausfather, our interview with the president of Cop28 could not be more timely. Sultan Al Jaber explains to environment editor Fiona Harvey how he believes he can square his job as the chief of the United Arab Emirates’ national oil company with leading a global conference focused on net zero carbon emissions.

Arts/Books: Times Literary Supplement – Oct 13, 2023

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Times Literary Supplement (October13, 2023): The new issue features Deeper Truths – The spiritual quest of the Nobel Laureate Jon Fosse; ‘Woke Wars’ and identity politics; fashion and the Bloomsbury group; Jewish boxers in London; Elsa Morante’s princes and demons and ‘Free Will?’

Preview: Archaeology Magazine – Nov/Dec 2023

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Archaeology Magazine (November/December – 2023):

Assyrian Women of Letters

Kanesh Turkey Excavations

4,000-year-old cuneiform tablets illuminate the personal lives of Mesopotamian businesswomen

By DURRIE BOUSCAREN

Excavations at the ancient Anatolian city of Kanesh in Turkey have revealed a district where merchants from the distant Mesopotamian city of Assur in Iraq lived and worked. Some 23,000 cuneiform tablets, mostly dating from about 1900 to 1840 B.C., have been found in the merchants’ personal archives in Kanesh.

The parents of an Assyrian woman named Zizizi were furious. Like many of their neighbors’ children, their daughter had dutifully wed an Assyrian merchant. Sometime around the year 1860 B.C., she had traveled with him to the faraway Anatolian city of Kanesh in modern-day Turkey, where he traded textiles. But her husband passed away and, instead of returning to her family, Zizizi chose to marry a local.

China’s River of Gold

Excavations in Sichuan Province reveal the lost treasure of an infamous seventeenth-century warlord

Worshipping a Forbidden Goddess

A Roman noblewoman’s devotion to Isis outlasted even an emperor’s ban on foreign cults

Paleolithic Pathfinders

Around 55,000 years ago, a resourceful band of modern humans made a home in southern France

Who Were the Goths?

Investigating the mythic origins of the Roman Empire’s ultimate adversary

Previews: Country Life Magazine – Oct 11, 2023

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Country Life Magazine – October11, 2023:  The latest issue features the rise of the super cottage, autumn berries and how to win at conkers.

Conkering heroes

Simon Lester swings into the win-at-all-costs world of that old playground chestnut: conkers

Last call for the corncrake

This small and secretive bird is becoming ever-more rare, but there is hope, finds Vicky Liddell

Doing it by the book

Independent bookshops are thriving against the high-street odds. Catriona Gray selects a few of her favourites from the shelf

Interiors

Giles Kime picks 10 blasts from the past that are back in fashion, Eleanor Doughty marvels at Nels Crosthwaite Eyre’s light touch, Bee Osborn hails the rise of the super cottage and Amelia Thorpe visits a resurgent Pimlico Road

Nine centuries of service

In the second of two articles, John Goodall focuses on London’s St Bartholomew’s Hospital

Native breeds

The ‘picturesque’ New Forest pony is central to centuries-old grazing rights, finds Kate Green

Colour supplements

Fiery autumn tints catch the eye of Jane Powers in the secluded Cliff House Garden in Co Dublin

We reap what he sowed

Katherine Cole hails campaigner Miles Hadfield, who fought to save a host of historic gardens

Having a gourd time

Pumpkins and squashes have long been an inspiration to chefs and artists, reveals Lia Leendertz

The good stuff

Brown is the colour this season, so it’s chocs away for Hetty Lintell

Science And Technology: Issues Magazine (Fall ’23)

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ISSUES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE (FALL 2023): The latest issue of @ISSUESinST features Lessons from Ukraine, Quantum Workforce, The Energy Transition, Why Space Debris Flies Through Regulatory Gaps and more…

Blue Dreams

REBECCA RUTSTEIN

Blue Dreams is an immersive video experience inspired by microbial networks in the deep sea and beyond. Using stunning undersea video footage, abstract imagery, and computer modeling, the work offers a glimpse into the complicated relationships among the planet’s tiniest—yet most vital—living systems.

Why Space Debris Flies Through Regulatory Gaps

MARILYN HARBERTASHA BALAKRISHNAN

Orbital debris has been a looming issue for decades, and it’s only getting worse as activities in space increase. With technical expertise and authority over space activities widely distributed across the US government, officials need to determine the appropriate regulations and policies to address how space is changing.

Opinion: Free Markets Are Fading, Democracy Dims In Africa, Bitcoin Origins

‘Editor’s Picks’ Podcast (October 9, 2023) A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, are free markets history? Also, why Africans are losing faith in democracy (10:25) and we investigate whether bitcoin originally leaked from an American spy lab? (17:25)

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – Oct 16, 2023

Five people on a gondola drifting through New York's subway.

The New Yorker – October 16, 2023 issue: The new issues cover features Yonatan Popper’s “Service Changes” – the delightful and dreadful parts of riding the subway.

Jake Sullivan’s Trial by Combat

A photoillustration of Jake Sullivan with a map of Ukraine.

Inside the White House’s battle to keep Ukraine in the fight.

By Susan B. Glasser

On a Monday afternoon in August, when President Joe Biden was on vacation and the West Wing felt like a ghost town, his national-security adviser, Jake Sullivan, sat down to discuss America’s involvement in the war in Ukraine. Sullivan had agreed to an interview “with trepidation,” as he had told me, but now, in the White House’s Roosevelt Room, steps from the Oval Office, he seemed surprisingly relaxed for a congenital worrier. (“It’s my job to worry,” he once told an interviewer. “So I worry about literally everything.”)

The Crimes Behind the Seafood You Eat

Video of a squid ship from above

China has invested heavily in an armada of far-flung fishing vessels, in part to extend its global influence. This maritime expansion has come at grave human cost.

By Ian Urbina

In the past few decades, partly in an effort to project its influence abroad, China has dramatically expanded its distant-water fishing fleet. Chinese firms now own or operate terminals in ninety-five foreign ports. China estimates that it has twenty-seven hundred distant-water fishing ships, though this figure does not include vessels in contested waters; public records and satellite imaging suggest that the fleet may be closer to sixty-five hundred ships.

Chicago Exhibitions: ‘Caravaggio In Rome’

The Cardsharps - Wikipedia
The Cardsharps, about 1595
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.

The Art Institute of Chicago (October 8, 2023) – Whether for his large dramatic canvases or his larger-than-life persona, the name Caravaggio evokes images of turmoil and violence, both sacred and profane. Born in Milan in 1571, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio entered the robust Roman art scene around 1592 and, over the next 14 years, developed an original and captivating painting style that attracted eminent patrons and passionate followers, thrusting him into the public eye. 

Among Friends and Rivals: Caravaggio in Rome

Sep 8–Dec 31, 2023

Martha and Mary Magdalene (Caravaggio) - Wikipedia
Martha and Mary Magdalene, about 1598
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. 

Caravaggio’s followers, known as the Caravaggisti, embraced the stylis­tic hallmarks of the painter’s intensely naturalistic work. Like their trailblazing idol, they used models from real life, boldly depicting their quirks and flaws in dynamic compositions whose turbulent movement was revealed in dramatic extremes of light and dark. The themes and individual artistic approaches of Caravaggisti often depended on their direct or indirect relationships to Caravaggio—some knew the artist personally, while others knew him only through his work.

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World Economic Forum: Top Stories – Oct 7, 2023

World Economic Forum (October 7, 2023) – This week’s top stories of the week include:


0:15 Start-up turns trees destined for landfills into products – Every year, US cities lose 36 million trees. They succumb to old age or disease or are felled to make space for development Much of this wood could be made into useful products but instead it’s turned into woodchips or used as firewood and 12 million tonnes end up in US landfills each year. To prevent this, Cambium Carbon partners with sawmills, arborists, and manufacturers to build local, circular supply chains. Wood destined for landfill is diverted and upcycled into siding, flooring, furniture and more. Cambium calls its product ‘Carbon Smart Wood’.

1:55 These solar panels work even on snowy days – A new coating causes snow to slide off panels ensuring they can generate power all year round. The coating was developed by a team at the University of Toledo. It can be easily retrofitted to existing equipment.

3:28 US women pay billions more for healthcare than men – Researchers at Deloitte analyzed data on 16 million workers with health coverage. They found women spend $15.4 billion more every year on healthcare than men,. That works out to a premium of $266 for the average womanor around 18% more than men. This discrepancy exists for all women of working age.

4:57 French supermarket launches packaging return scheme – Customers in 100 Carrefour stores can buy products in reusable packaging. They pay a small deposit which is refunded when they drop the empty packaging back at the store. This system is called Loop. It’s the brainchild of waste management firm TerraCycle

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The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. We believe that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to make positive change.

Finance Preview: Barron’s Magazine – October 9, 2023

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BARRON’S MAGAZINE – October 9, 2023 ISSUE:

12 Picks to Play the Future of Healthcare, From Our Roundtable Pros

12 Picks to Play the Future of Healthcare, From Our Roundtable Pros

Weight-loss treatments aren’t the only big deal in medicine. Our 2023 healthcare roundtable explores the best investing opportunities.

Small-Cap Funds Are More Promising Than They Have Been in Years. Buy These.

Small-Cap Funds Are More Promising Than They Have Been in Years. Buy These.

Small-cap stocks continue to be overlooked. These funds have the edge to reward investors when they finally take off again.Long read

Why Booking Shares Could Rise 41% in a Slowing Travel Market

Why Booking Shares Could Rise 41% in a Slowing Travel Market

The travel website has high margins, low overhead, and lots of free cash flow. The current business has deep strengths in Europe and its rolling out new products.4 min read

A European Carbon Tax Is Coming. What It Means for the World.

A European Carbon Tax Is Coming. What It Means for the World.

With the tariff, climate policy is now being written directly into trade rules, forcing major industrial companies to expedite efforts to reduce emissions, shift trade patterns, or pay up.Long read

Revenge Travel Is Dead. What Comes Next.

Revenge Travel Is Dead. What Comes Next.

After two years of putting up with anything to visit must-see destinations, travelers are looking for more bliss, less stress.Long read