Caroline Gerschlager (Brussells): Foolishness and Identity: Amartya Sen and Adam Smith. From nthposition, "Isn't God a shit?": What is the difference between reading and misreading or translating and mistranslating? From The Smart Set, an article on handwashing, food, and existentialism. Global warming demands more than do-gooder actions — it demands "geoengineering", like blocking the sun's rays with stratospheric dirt. From The Guardian, an interview with Salman Rushdie. From Popular Mechanics, can America find true happiness in a microcar? He pioneered the cult of youth and turned himself into a brand — no wonder Oscar Wilde is still seen as "one of us". A review of The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations by Brian Fagan. A review of Servants of the Supernatural: The Night Side of the Victorian Mind by Antonio Melechi. More and more on A Brief History of Anxiety (Yours and Mine) by Patricia Pearson. Stanley Fish blogs about French theory in America. Niall Ferguson reviews The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order by Parag Khanna (and more and more and more). From Cafe Babel, a special issue on architecture in Europe. PR-savvy powerhouse or the media world's own Britney Spears? Read what it took semi-credible, self-made maelstrom Julia Allison to bumrush New York's media elite.
