A website exploring the novel's themes of climate change and artificial intelligence
With wars raging in Ukraine and Gaza, and a looming USA-China conflict over Taiwan, one might ask what factors lead to war especially those that involve the great powers. There are a range of theories but the one that I find most compelling is that proposed by John J. Mearsheimer of the […] Read More
We study history not to know the future but to widen our horizons, to understand that our present situation is neither natural nor inevitable, and that we consequently have many more possibilities before us than we imagine. Yuval Noah Harari Author Yuval Noah Harari’s bestselling book Sapiens is about the history of […] Read More
The collapse of society on Easter Island is an oft-repeated cautionary tale of man-made ecocide, which blames an ignorant indigenous population for deforesting the island out of an obsession with stone statue building and greed, leading to societal collapse. But author Paul Cooper’s new book Fall of Civilizations makes a compelling case […] Read More
We’re all busy people nowadays. We’re busy churning out reports or emails or text messages. We skim through incoming messages, reading the ‘important’ ones and disregarding the rest. And so, we have all missed important messages or requests from time to time. Or failed to get the desired responses from our own […] Read More
Read it! One of the best works of literature I have encountered. The Overstory by Richard Powers follows nine individuals with disparate backgrounds who, to greater and lesser degrees, get connected to each other over the course of the novel. The connective force is Trees. The novel starts with the backstories of […] Read More
Over the last three years alone, more than forty countries have developed a Hydrogen Strategy which aims to decarbonize energy emissions while providing a boost to their local economies. All of the strategies are based around the concept of manufacturing hydrogen or using manufactured hydrogen. This strategic position is underpinned by the […] Read More
Explanations are relevant to many aspects of our lives. Think of business presentations, writing essays, interacting with your doctor, job interviews, writing emails, talking to your tradesman and the list goes on. If done well, explanations can inform, get things done and save you and others lots of time. Good explainers are […] Read More
Are we being deliberately confused or tricked by corporate narratives? Entrepreneur turned philanthropist Nick Hanauer and his co-authors think so. They argue that political or corporate elites resist reforms in order to preserve a skewed status quo that serves their interests. In their book Corporate Bullsh*t, they present the Six Big Lies […] Read More
I am thrilled to announce that the four-episode ‘found audio’ drama adaptation of Court of the Grandchildren has finally been published. It is based on the Zoom reading by the Magnetic Theatre of the stage adaptation. You can listen to it on any of your favorite podcast apps or at this link. […] Read More
History gifts us many lessons, but our direct life experiences, which span a mere seventy years or so, limits our capacity to learn them. Ray Dalio’s book The Changing World Order amply demonstrates what can be learnt by studying the last five hundred years and beyond. And those lessons provide guideposts for […] Read More