National Public Radio’s All Things Considered interviews Sarah Rose, author of For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World’s Favorite Drink and Changed History.
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Monthly Archives: March 2010
Thrilling Commercial Espionage
Posted in Reading
Tagged capitalism, china, fraud, interview, nonfiction, npr, sarah rose, uk, usa
Decidedly Lesser Effort
Posted in Reading
Tagged book review, ian mcewan, michiko kakutani, new york times, uk, usa
Beyond Prestige
At Salon Jed Lipinski and Anya Kamenetz discuss changes in higher education.
As you write in the book, colleges can increase their tuition simply to appear more prestigious on the U.S. News & World Report rankings.
Right. The problem is, we don’t really know what happens inside a college classroom. We have the SAT, which measures high school performance more or less, but there are no national standards for higher education. So the U.S. News & World Report rankings depend on exclusivity and spending.
Posted in Education
Tagged anya kamenetz, capitalism, interview, jed lipinski, salon, usa
The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them by Elif Batuman
Not recommended.
Posted in Read in 2010
Tagged elif batuman, farrar straus and giroux, nonfiction, not recommended, usa
Writing Craft
Mediabistro talks to Tim O’Brien.
Something has gone wrong in our schools, it’s sad to see. Even in our MFA programs students don’t know how to make decent sentences. In a lot of cases, I’m talking about grown, 35-year-old students who speak fine English, but for some reason, can’t write it. Students hate hearing that, but it’s absolutely essential for success.
Posted in Writing
Tagged galleycat, interview, tim obrien, usa
Dubious Distinction
The Bookseller announces the winner of the Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year. Collectible Spoons of the Third Reich lost.
Posted in Writing
Tagged charlotte higgins, daina taimina, guardian, prize, the bookseller, uk
Very Little Consensus
In Free Software Magazine Terry Hancock examines paths to copyright reform.
Posted in Writing
Tagged copyright, free software magazine, terry hancock, usa
Equally Risible Clichés
Ron Charles of the Washington Post reviews James Hynes’s Next.
Hynes knows exactly where he’s going with this story, and his compulsive patter is witty and alluring enough to keep us running alongside Kevin. Soon enough, it’s obvious that what looks like a lonely guy just marking time is really a man engaged in a moving, brilliantly composed act of introspection.
Posted in Reading
Tagged book review, james hynes, ron charles, usa, washington post