Israel’s eternal dilemma by Victor Davis Hanson Enrique Gómez Carrillo by Anthony Daniels The singularity of speech by Wilfred M. McClay A life in ballet by Peter Martins
New poems by Amit Majmudar, James Matthew Wilson & Michael Casper
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW (February 16, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Philip Gefter’s sizzling, “unapologetically obsessive” new book, “Cocktails With George and Martha: Movies, Marriage and the Making of ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’” Our critic Alexandra Jacobs calls it “a shot glass filled with one work that, alongside contemporaneous books like Richard Yates’s novel ‘Revolutionary Road’ and Betty Friedan’s polemic ‘The Feminine Mystique,’ showed how the ‘cartoon versions of marriage’ long served up by American popular culture always came with a secret side of bitters.”
With Burton and Taylor as stars and a writer and director feuding, adapting the scabrous play wasn’t easy. “Cocktails With George and Martha” pours out the details.
‘Neighbors’ Opens the Door to a Literary Career Cut Short
A story collection from Diane Oliver, who died at 22, locates the strength in Black families surviving their separate but equal surroundings.
NEW HUMANIST MAGAZINE – SPRING 2024 ISSUE: The new issue features Emma Park on how the culture wars are damaging the sciences, theoretical physicist Tasneem Zehra Husain on why the imagination is key to decoding the universe, and Alom Shaha on what can be gained by thinking like a scientist…
Beyond the two cultures
Amid a polarised debate, science and art seem further apart than ever. Emma Park, editor of The Freethinker, explores what humanism has to teach us about the apparent conflict between these ways of thinking and how to bridge the divide.
“While humanities scholars are often (not without justification) accused of being Luddites, those on the science and technology side could also benefit from the knowledge that the humanities have accumulated over the centuries … [And] no intellectual activity worth the name can flourish in a politically repressive environment: freedom of expression and enquiry should be an issue to unite artists, scholars and scientists.”
The poetry of science
Metaphors are key to unlocking the secrets of the universe – scientists should do more to harness their power, writes acclaimed physicist Tasneem Zehra Husain.
“Metaphors aren’t only a means of description, they can also lead to revelations. Centuries ago, Newton was able to calculate the gravitational attraction between two objects … [but] would ‘feign no hypothesis’ as to why it was so. He had the equation, but he did not understand gravitation … With Einstein, we finally have a metaphor. When we picture space-time as a dynamic ‘fabric’ … we begin to understand what gravity means.”
Science Magazine – February 15, 2024: The new issue features ‘A record drought in October 2023 that lowered the Amazon River near the Brazilian city of Tefé, revealing sand dunes and forcing local fishing boats to compete for spots.
The Economist Magazine (February 10, 2024): The latest issue features ‘The Right Goes GAGA’ – Meet the Global Anti-Globalist Alliance’; Goodbye to the racial jobs gap; San Francisco’s comeback; China’s chipmaking plan; The looming hell in Rafah….
Nature Magazine – February 14, 2024: The latest issue cover climate and land-use stresses could push the rainforest past a tipping point as early as 2050. The researchers probed five causes of water stress — global warming, annual rainfall, seasonal intensity of rainfall, length of the dry season and deforestation — using palaeorecords, climate models and observational data.
National Geographic Magazine (February 14, 2024) – The new issue features ‘The Hidden World of Hyenas – Why these misunderstood – and maligned – animals are one of Africa’s most successful predators…
The species help harness carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, deep in the ocean, but much is still unknown about this region and its fascinating inhabitants.
The spotted hyena is Africa’s most successful predator—and one of its most misunderstood animals. But decades of cutting edge research is yielding greater understanding, respect, and protection.
Times Literary Supplement (February 14, 2024): The latest issue features Thinking AI; London literary consequences, A new play in the great tradition, and Household terrors…
The Atlantic Magazine – February 13, 2024: The latest issue features ‘To stop a school shooter’ – the case of the contested Basquiats; uncancel Woodrow Wilson; and start-up cities. Plus Michael R. Jackson, the despots of Silicon Valley, Raina Telgemeier, the James Bond trap, “Africa & Byzantium,” Marilynne Robinson, and more.
Why would an armed officer stand by as a school shooting unfolds? By Jamie Thompson
It was the early afternoon of Valentine’s Day 2018, and the campus of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was full of kids exchanging stuffed animals and heart-shaped chocolates. Scot Peterson, a Broward County sheriff’s deputy, was in his office at the school, waiting to talk with a parent about a student’s fake ID. At 2:21 p.m., a report came over the school radio about a strange sound—firecrackers, possibly—coming from Building 12. Peterson stepped outside, moving briskly, talking into the radio on his shoulder. Then the fire alarm rang. Peterson, wearing a sheriff’s uniform with a Glock on his belt, started running.
Nature Magazine – February 14, 2024: The latest issue cover 
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