Chris Arthur’s latest essay collection is unmistakably about hummingbirds. However, this innocuous fact is far more revealing than one might expect. Arthur’s hummingbirds are varied; sometimes they are avian, but they are also objects, words, creatures and people. To be a hummingbird is to capture the attention of the beholder and in doing so, challenge Read More
When Clare Best was asked by her dying father to help him write his memoir, she took the brave decision of using that process to examine her own, deeply painful past. By interweaving transcripts of interviews with her father, descriptions of cine films made by him and her own memories of events, The Missing List Read More
Picking up Paolozzi Revealed, I did expect a window into the private life of this creative titan. Instead, this summary of a Masterclass run by the renowned sculptor reads more like a research paper on creativity. But maybe that is indeed, in itself, revealing of Paolozzi, this book seemingly an embodiment of the creative process. In Read More
There are certain realities accessible only to a handful of people. Across 300 pages this book takes the reader to the unique reality of Scotland’s West Coast and offers a detailed account of life and culture in the region. However, as every reality, it’s not for everyone. Ian Stephen comes from the Isle of Lewis Read More
“It remains a sexist world and I can’t change it for my daughters the way I would like to. But I can try and improve the situation one man at a time. Starting with me.” Robert Webb has chosen to bare his soul with this autobiographical debut. He doesn’t just want to tell people where Read More
You know that episode of Friends where Ross is on one of his mildly patronising rants, oblivious to his friends’ disinterest? Yes, I realise that doesn’t narrow it down. It’s this specific one, when he states: “Soon, there will be computers that can carry out the same amount of functions as an actual human brain! Read More
Anatomy of a Soldier is the debut novel of Harry Parker. He joined the British Army when he was twenty three and served as a Captain in both Iraq and Afghanistan. You would be forgiven for thinking that an adventurous tale of derring-do would fit this profile, but in this book the author should be Read More
“Facts are chiels that winna ding / An downa be disputed” (Robert Burns, “A Dream”, 1786) This is an important book. As well as a history of the Scientific Revolution, it is a polemical defence of the very notion of such a revolution and an attack on the relativism which has infected much of academia Read More
As explained by Ed Vulliamy in the foreword, Michael Jacobs was working on this book when he died prematurely. Jacobs had hoped that the very process of researching and writing the book would enable him to solve the mysteries of the painting he regarded as the world’s greatest: Diego Velázquez’ Las Meninas. More broadly, in Read More
The country that separates fathers and sons has disorientated many travellers. It is very easy to get lost there. […] And the fathers must have known, having once themselves been sons, that the ghostly presence of their land will remain […] Hisham Matar’s debut In the Country of Men, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize (2006) and more; his second, Anatomy of a Disappearance (2011), showed his was Read More