Philosophy podcasts & negative book reviews

Otto Neurath

Galen Strawson gives Nicholas Humphrey's new book a negative review, and Humphrey retaliates with some nasty remarks in the comments section

Colin McGinn takes a relatively mild tone (compared to some of his other reviews) in this reflection on V. S. Ramachandran's latest book.

Scott Atran comes down hard on Sam Harris's book, and Gary Wills is not impressed by that book about 'whooshing' by Dreyfus and Kelly. Here's a brief reply by Kelly.

A BBC podcast in which Melvyn Bragg talks to Simon Blackburn, Helen Beebee, and Galen Strawson on free will, and here's Bragg talking to Grayling, Millican, and Keefe about logic

From Philosophy TV, here are Michael Boylan and Charles Johnson discussing 'philosophy and literature'. Here's an article by Boylan on the use of fiction for the exploration of philosophical questions.

From North Dakota, there's an impressive archive of interviews for the radio show, 'Why?'. For example, there are hour-long interviews with Arthur Danto, Charles Taylor, Rebecca Goldstein, Martha Nussbaum, etc.

Two podcasts on the Philosopher's Zone: one on the philosophy of music (with A. J. Hamilton), the other on Kurt Gödel (with Mark Colyvan)

And two from philosophy bites: one on Montaigne (with Sarah Bakewell) and one on F. P. Ramsey (with Hugh Mellor -- there's a link there to Mellor's BBC documentary on Ramsey from the late 1970's in which Mellor interviews A. J. Ayer, I. A. Richards, R. B. Braithwaite, etc.). Here's Anthony Appiah's discussion of Bakewell's book on Montaigne. And there's now another book on Montaigne, this time by Saul Frampton.

Here are several audio files from a Philosophy of Literature meeting at Royal Holloway University (ht OLP)

Here's the text of an interview with Julia Kristeva

A video of Baroness Mary Warnock in a panel discussion of roles for philosophy in politics. Warnock recently made the Guardian's list of the top 100 women in writing and academia, as did another philosopher, Onora O'Neill.

A Guardian piece on Roland Barthes' Camera Lucida, which influenced Sebald

Here's the 2nd hour of CBC's 'Sunday Edition', in which Michael Enright interviews Jason Brennan, a philosophy prof at Brown University, about not voting

At 24:30 of that CBC podcast, Enright begins his interview with 'Debo' Mitford. It isn't about philosophy but I highly recommend it. I LOL'd at 36:10 and 37:25. Here's a description of the whole program.

Karen Armstrong at the New York Public Library

The grand old Dame was never plain

The Guardian has two reviews of Richard Greene's new biography of Dame Edith Sitwell. There are lots of other reviews -- by Claudia FitzHerbert, Robert O'Byrne, Duncan Fallowell, Sarah Bradford, Deborah Longworth, and by Victoria Glendinning (whose own biography of Edith Sitwell appeared in 1981). The reviewers are divided over the merits of Greene's book and of Dame Edith's poetry. They all seem to agree, though, that Edith Sitwell had a genius for publicity and was a celebrity (the proof of this is usually taken to be the photo of her with Marilyn Monroe -- see below). In the Daily Mail, Roger Lewis portrays Sitwell's life as a gag-a-minute comedy skit.

Sitwell's great-nephew, William Sitwell, comments on Greene's biography and reflects upon his famous family. He calls the illustrious Dame's collaboration with William Walton, Façade, 'early white rap'.

Sitwell's appearance was striking. Elizabeth Bowen likened it to that of 'a high altar on the move.' In Roger Lewis compares Sitwell's appearance to 'an effigy on a Plantagenet tomb.' According to Lady Natasha Spender, these 'Plantagenet features could strike a chill'.

At the Telegraph, Dr. Christopher Goulding wrote in to correct a remark of Claudia FitzHerbert's, who had said that Edith, while still a child, received as a gift from her father a book called How to be Pleasing, Though Plain. Dr. Goulding says the book was more likely called How to be Pretty, Though Plain by C. E. Humphry. I haven't seen this book, but rummaging around on the net I found these gems quoted from Ms. Humphry's book:

'When the face is washed care must be taken to dry the nose downward, not upward, and whenever the nose is touched with the hand or handkerchief, the same advice must be borne in mind or very ugly results will follow.'

 'To Remove Freckles: Apply with a linen cloth two tablespoonfuls of grated horseradish mixed with teacupful of sour milk.'

'Now, I am far from wishing to encourage tight-lacing, but if girls and women will practise it I should like to point out how it may be done with the least possible injury to the organs of the body.... girls (and women) will tight-lace, no matter what strength of protest is made, and it is better for them to do it in the least injurious way, if possible. Therefore I offer the following advice:-.... Of course, this is all unnecessary when funds are available to command a well-made corset from a trained physiologist.'