Category Archives: Books

Reviews, comments and thoughts on books

Multi-Signature Letter on Azerbaijan

Posted on 3 June 2010 by Robert

The letter in The Guardian is an example of a multi-signatory letter, an age old tactic for all types of political campaigner. Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Europe, London | Leave a comment

Harper Lee on the Modern World

Posted on 1 June 2010 by Robert

I am tired of this lazy shortcut, which equates using technology with stupidity of having an ‘empty mind’. What do Lee and the other smug detractors of the Internet think we are doing with all this technology? We are consuming ideas. We are thinking, collectively more deeper and with more eclecticism than ever before. Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Internet Philosophy | 2 Comments

The Empty Chair (a.k.a. Cory Doctorow is Away)

Posted on 15 May 2010 by Robert

I wrote and performed an impromtu poem at the London Book Fair. Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Human Rights | Leave a comment

Fallout

Posted on 22 April 2010 by Robert

My photoset on Flickr, showing the economic fallout of the volcanic erruption… Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Economy, London, Visual | Leave a comment

Blog Burning

Posted on 16 April 2010 by Robert

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post – ‘Write A Blog, Kill Your Career‘, about the possibility of bloggers going into politics and the trouble that their archives might cause them.  I linked to a marvellous cartoon by … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Internet Philosophy, Politics | 1 Comment

Judging a Book by its Cover

Posted on 1 April 2010 by Robert

An event report I wrote for the English PEN website. I’ll admit, I judged this event by its cover. I assumed that an discussion titled ‘Judging a book by its cover’ would be about book jacket design, rich and fertile … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Elsewhere, Literature | Leave a comment

Borgesian Blogging?

Posted on 20 March 2010 by Robert

There is an online trend towards giving an idea away for free.  A journalist or a thinker comes up with a great idea, but rather than implement it too see if it works in practice, they just ask someone else … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Internet Philosophy | Leave a comment

Back-up Your Brain

Posted on 6 February 2010 by Robert

A human consciousness restored from my uploaded back-up would be indisputably my creation, a more detailed product of my life and times than anything I might write or carve, or anyone I might sire. Far better that they, in particular, get to witness the “more glorious dawn” of a Galaxy-rise, than some other generic homo sapien. Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Film, Literature, Science, Space Travel | 3 Comments

Inside Time

Posted on 7 December 2009 by Robert

I celebrated a minor victory on Criminal Memoirs for Inside Time Magazine. There doesn’t seem to be a permalink for the article, so I’m reproducing it below. Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Elsewhere, Human Rights, Literature | Leave a comment

The Future of Bookshops

Posted on 27 November 2009 by Robert

So Borders have gone into administration. In an analysis for The Evening Standard, Lucy Tobin describes how independent bookshops might benefit as the sector is hit by the rise in online shopping and supermarket competition. [James] Daunt reckons his competitive … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Internet Philosophy | 1 Comment