Books: Skeie, Tore: Alv Erlingsson
This historical novel, published by Spartacus, 2009, has been applauded by e g professor Kåre Lunden (“a picture of life in the 13th century”). Review to follow.
Books: John Gribbin: Science – a history
This is a good conventional take on science history, with little problematization of gender or who was heard or not heard. Very well written “within the frame”, not a good guide to the framing. – Preliminary report, one third read, March 2011
Books: Alan Norrie: Dialectic and difference, 2010
This is one of the few books I have recieved in the last year that I have cast into the category “a difficult read”. This is not a common category in my case, but some books end there. Another case is Elliot Sober: Evidence and evolution, 2008. In both cases I wonder, is it necessary […]
Books: Futuyma: Evolution (second edition) 2009
Douglas J. Futuyma’s Evolution is an impressive work on many accounts, well provided pedagogically with colour illustrations and examples, interesting to read. The research sensibility and evaluation seems good. Mainly, this book has a lot of new information, conveniently ordered, and often (but not always) well explained. More to follow.
Books: Englund wins again
Englund, Peter 2008 Stridens skønhet och sorg. Førsta varldskriget i 212 korta kapittel Atlantis, Varnamo For understanding the last part of the 20th century, including the second world war, the earlier part including the first world war remains an enigmatic background. Here is a good research-based update, written to get the reader into the mood […]
Comments: Democracy costs
Who is going to bear the costs, of Libya divided? Scenario one, a victorious Arab democratic revolution. Scenario two, some tyrants resisting, mixed picture, civil war. What is the best solution? The first, most of us would think, but how can it be achieved? The young generation “new configuration” of the new Middle East was […]
Books: Ordering Gene Wolfe
Gene Wolfe is one of the main voices of science fiction today. Watching current world news, especially the democratic struggles in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, I could not help thinking of his torturer and torture society portraits (e g The Shadow of the Torturer, 1980), and I have ordered two of his newer books, volume […]
Sociology: Evolving men
It is not often that broad new research on men, masculinities and gender equality is published. Here is a new case. An initial research report “Evolving men – Initial Results from the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES)” is now available from http://www.icrw.org/publications/evolving-men The report is based on a survey in seven countries (Brazil, […]
Libya defiant
How many people should die in the streets, before the world stops the killing? Where is the UN, stopping potential genocide in Libya? Is a revolution for democracy just a matter for a country on its own and isolated? Should a ruler be allowed to bomb his own people, Guernica style? Are we powerless to […]
Hugg’s Neon Dream – and a sound check
As many, eventually, have noticed, Mike Hugg’s Neon Dream (1975) is a remarkable and overlooked record. Cf http://prognotfrog.blogspot.com/2010/04/mike-hugg-hug-neon-dream-1975.html Broadly speaking it sums up a substantial part of the 1960s pop revolution experience, centred on the Mannfred Mann band case, and perhaps more intelligently, or at least as interestingly, reworked in Hugg’s case as in the […]