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Writing tagged Periodicals

  1. Divided into zones

    An interesting passage from a review of a book about the writer Uwe Johnson.

  2. The foco

    A parallel between the success of the Cuban Revolution and changing large organisations.

  3. Everything had to be new

    On the fads of 19th century Parisian bohemia.

  4. First sentence

    A great first sentence from an LRB article by Adam Smyth.

  5. The most profound interest

    No one believed the Wright Brothers could fly.

  6. The natural order of things

    Bits from an LRB review of a book about how socialism has disappeared from America.

  7. The Canadian iron ring tradition

    Canadian engineers wear rings on their little fingers as a reminder of their responsibilities to the public.

  8. They hate competition

    On companies hating competition.

  9. Slender gains

    A bit from a review of a book by Katherine Boo, about how the poor complain about their neighbours more than they do about the rich.

  10. Midcult

    Some bits about “midcult”, Dwight Macdonald’s term for middlebrow culture.

  11. Failure quotes

    Two quotes about failure, from Samuel Beckett and Stephen Spender.

  12. Doors with no handles

    “…the Volkspolizei would come through the doors, drag the Gruftis and Autonomen into the East, rough them up and throw them back out.”

  13. Two million radio sets capable of broadcasting

    Reviewing Tim Wu’s ‘The Master Switch’, Steve Coll describes how once anyone could broadcast their own radio station.

  14. They ate the money

    John Lanchester on the feeling of people in Greece and elsewhere about the economic crisis.

  15. The undercover quanitifed self

    A chunk of Hamish MacGibbon’s father’s life was recorded by the security services, and still readable fifty years later.

  16. Then behave yourselves

    Stephen Sedley in the LRB comparing an intrusive media to a snooping state.

  17. Living lightly to cope with disaster

    An article in the LRB about Japan’s historical response to disasters, and how it perhaps used to cope better.

  18. Ships, terrorists, red tape, persons

    Notes from an article about the history of English law.

  19. What I read on my holiday

    Notes from holiday reading.

  20. Coins and Experiments

    A pointer to some quotes from a couple of LRB articles that happen to mention Pepys.

  21. The launch of bipolar disorder

    How bipolar disorder was launched as an identifiable condition.

  22. A better afterlife

    Two bits from reports about UK social attitudes, aspiration and inequality.

  23. Ignore the naming of objects

    Is it better to know everything about a city, or the countryside, or is it better to rely only on your imagination?

  24. Pirate economics

    The pay differentials of 18th century pirates.

  25. 30 tons of baggage

    A description of a Victorian journey into Africa and the huge amount of resources required.