The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools.
― Thucydides
Why do some geographic areas (Okinawa, Sardinia) produce lots of supercentenarians? Turns out it’s a combination of poor record-keeping, exaggeration, and pension fraud rather than diet, climate, or high-quality medical care.
With a title pulled from Immanuel Kant's famous statement that 'out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made', it's an amalgam of academic and political writing that has muscled its way into the epicentre of intelligent discussion since its conception in 2003. Formed as an internet supergroup, pulling several popular intellectual blogs together, Crooked Timber now has 16 members – largely academics – across the US, Europe, Australia and Asia. The site has built itself a reputation as something of an intellectual powerhouse; a sort of global philosophical thinktank conducted via blog.
Best book lists
Of best books-lists there is, of course, no end at this time of year, but among those of possible interest -- and freely accessible -- see now also the Foreign Affairs' reviewers The Best of Books 2023 and writers from The New Europeanreporting on The best book I've read this year.
10 most-read PW book reviews
Publishers Weekly has published its list of The 10 Most-Read Book Reviews of 2023 -- always interesting to see.
I haven't seen any of these.
Samira’s memories of ICC ..