Is this the first ever sci-fi novel?

…  John Lanchester — LRB 21 November 2013 . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  A Pledge And A Couple Of Pulitzers | Big Trial | Philadelphia Trial Blog .

…  Mill and Emerson: Sense and Nonsense | History Today . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) Mill's dislike of religion stands out here. And obviou...

…  Gifts for the Poetry Lover .

…  The Great Southern Book Scam | BREVITY's Nonfiction Blog .

I want to write for a readership that can create miracles. Children create miracles when they read. That’s why children need books. — ...

Scientists have discovered possibly the earliest signs of life on Earth – remains of bacteria that are almost three-and-a-half billion ...

Google Is Now Bigger Than Both The Magazine And Newspaper Industries

…   Everything That Rises - "I Am to Be an Artist" . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  John Cheever's First Ever Short Story Expelled | New Republic . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  The Reporter Who Hired Her Own Editor | Big Trial | Philadelphia Trial Blog .

…  Bryan Appleyard — The Robert de Niro Picture . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… Paul Davis On Crime: Happy Birthday To Robert Louis Stevenson .

…  The Six Greatest Living Artists | Vanity Fair . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  Nigeness: Tavener: Does Not Compute . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving.   —Robert Louis Stevenson , born on this date in 1850

... Much ado about niceness

... Marcel Proust and 10 talking points

... INHERITANCE AND INVENTION: FLANNERY O’CONNOR’S PRAYER JOURNAL

Are you an extreme reader? How much modernism can you handle? Take a look at these 50...

My research on Civil War writing leads me to one conclusion. If you are literate today, it does not mean you can write -- not even close ...

…  Sir John Tavener - obituary - Telegraph .

is going on now . 

…  The Republican Party Isn't Really the Anti-Science Party - Mischa Fisher - The Atlantic . Republicans, and members of the tradition...

…  A Sweet Birthday | BREVITY's Nonfiction Blog .

…  Maverick Philosopher: A Bad Reason for Thinking that Atheism is not a Religion .

…  The Learning of the Wise, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) Anyone can say, "I nev...

…  Podcast: Glamour Profession | Virtual Memories .

…  College Will Review Gun Policy After Students Defend Themselves - Reason 24/7 : Reason.com . Gonzaga is a Jesuit school. I am a graduat...

…  language goes on holiday: Nonsense in action . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  Libertarianism Beyond Nozick � 3:AM Magazine . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) [Libertarianism] is a theory about the proper size and scope of th...

If you do not expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail. — Heraclitus

…  Introducing the "My Life in Middlemarch" Book Club . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  The Film- Tar- The Life of Poet C.K. Williams | Fox Chase Review . I remember when Charlie Williams used to hang out at Dirty Frank...

…  'Writers Between the Covers' ~ When Art Hurts | Bill Peschel . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

But "Huh?"   The Syllable Everyone Recognizes

I would not want to look forward to a culture where science lost and religious faith became the dominating force for truth.  I would not w...

…  Andro Linklater - Obituary - Telegraph . I spent some time with Andro one day. He was charming and wonderfully bright. He took the phot...

…  Walking in Lenin’s footsteps by Anthony Daniels - The New Criterion .

…  “My friendship with him was perhaps the longest he’d ever had.” Stanford’s Paul Gregory on Lee Harvey Oswald | The Book Haven .

…  Fourteen Poets Recommend New and Recent Titles | On the Seawall: A Literary Website by Ron Slate (GD) . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  Science and Religion: Truth and Doubt | Henry Gee . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) The God-bothering superstitions which currently hold American...

…  The American Scholar: How a Poem Helped Me to Write Prose - James McConkey . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  Oxford English Dictionary: A 1925 silent film about the making of a book is unearthed by the Oxford University Press archive . (Hat tip, ...

…  The Death of Writing, and Its Impact on Our Politics | RealClearPolitics . This is a big reason why our approach to politics is broken...

To love someone means to see him as God intended him. —  Fyodor Dostoevsky , born on this date in 1821

... Malala Yousafzai's book banned in Pakistani private schools

... The death of the novel inscription

…  J. Michael Lennon (The Bat Segundo Show #523) | Reluctant Habits .

…  AttackingtheDemi-Puppets: National Propaganda Radio?  (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  Zealotry of Guerin: Eternity and Wisdom (Arnold Houbraken) .

The latest film from Alex Gibney, the investigative documentarian behind We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks and the Academy-Award wi...

New York Times’ Obama cheerleading harms the nation

…  Largehearted Boy: Online "Best Books of 2013" Updates Archives . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  Nature Editor Pens New Book On Humanity's Accidental Origins - Forbes . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) I continue to be perplexed by the ter...

…  Anecdotal Evidence: `For All Writers Living and Dead' .

…  Philosophy, lit, etc.: Delmore and Lou .

… Forgotten Treasures: A Symposium - Los Angeles Times — Cynthia Ozick on Rudyard Kipling . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  Teddy and Taft - a friendship gone sour . …  Of people, land, ties that bind . …  Tan's epic of mother, daughter, and sex . ...

You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips. — Oliver Golsmith , born on this date in 1730

... Top of the mind: Joining the Dots

... Town dependent on fame of Harper Lee book stung by museum lawsuit

... Dickens's unknown character: Himself

The world has offered two dichotomous representations of people who sell sex: the “happy hooker,” or the “victim,” often underage, who is ...

In the afternoon, three giant crossword grids were set on easels at the front of the ballroom, and the finalists took their places holding ...

…  4 Things the 'Ender's Game' Movie Got Right and 4 It Got Wrong | Bookish.com .

…  D. H. Lawrence possessed | TLS . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) When is good — and he is often very good — Lawrence is an indispensable. He is a...

…  Only God Knows | . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  Conspiracy Theories Gain Momentum by Simply Being Contrary - WSJ.com . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) How do we distinguish between critical th...

I am about to take off for Medway, Mass., to visit Gwen and her family. Also to se the Sargent watercolor exhibition at the MFA. Depending o...

To desire and expect nothing for oneself and to have profound sympathy for others is genuine holiness. — Ivan Turgenev , born on this da...

... Power to the press

... Like a CAT that's got the cream

... When the Gold Dust Settles

... Falling out of love

…  Anecdotal Evidence: `Events and Persons that Really Matter to the Reader' .

…  The Reluctant Memoirist: Jay Roberts Interviewed | BREVITY's Nonfiction Blog .

In 1934, Columbia University moved its twenty-two miles of books to the newly-built Butler Library. By means of a really long slide .

I think “write what you know” is the single worst piece of writing advice.

…  Paul Davis On Crime: Happy Birthday To Bram Stoker, Author of 'Dracula' . Bram Stoker was the Victorian actor Henry Irving'...

…  R.I.P., Jonathan Robinson Flynn | BREVITY's Nonfiction Blog .

…  Issa's Untidy Hut: Kala Ramesh & K. Ramesh: Wednesday Haiku, #140 .

…  First Known When Lost: "Every Day The World Grows Noisier; I, For One, Will Have No Part In That Increasing Clamour" . … thos...

…  Literature Without Style by Tim Parks | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)  Well, we shall see. I expect th...

…  Tim Berners-Lee: encryption cracking by spy agencies 'appalling and foolish' | World news | The Guardian .

…  Literary breakfasts: orders, please | Books | theguardian.com . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  How Many Americans Believe a Conspiracy Killed JFK? - Hit & Run : Reason.com . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

…  Writer Richard Rodriguez introduces readers to 'seasons of belief and doubt' | PBS NewsHour | Nov. 7, 2013 | PBS . (Hat tip, Dave...

…  Malcolm Gladwell Visits Glenn Beck, Finds Religion | New Republic . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

We cannot build up the idea of the apostolate of the laity without the foundation of the liturgy. — Dorothy Day , born on this date in 1...

…  Of Making Many Books There Is No End: Against Tim Parks's 'Death of the Novel' : The New Yorker . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) For...

... Claire Vaye Watkins wins Dylan Thomas Prize 2013

…  50 best cult books - Telegraph .

…  Calling Out Around the World, Are You Ready For a Brand-New Beat? | Confessions of a Mystery Novelist.. .  (Hat tip., Dave Lull.)

…  The Philadelphia Inquirer is melting down . (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)

…  W.H. Auden and Ecopoetics | Boston Review . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.) Auden’s personifications of nature are, in this regard, much like tho...

I am super-busy these days, so my blogging will resume later on.

…  Evidence of Successful Integration — New English Review . See also: The Only Thing Necessary for the Triumph of Evil is that Good Men D...