What We Are Reading Today: ‘King Tyrant’ by Mark P. Witton

What We Are Reading Today: ‘King Tyrant’ by Mark P. Witton
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Updated 17 October 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘King Tyrant’ by Mark P. Witton

What We Are Reading Today: ‘King Tyrant’ by Mark P. Witton

Tyrannosaurus rex is the world’s favorite dinosaur, adored by the public and the subject of intense study and debate by paleontologists.

This stunningly illustrated book brings together everything we have learned about T. rex—the “King of the Tyrant Lizards”—since it was first given its famous name in 1905.

It presents these creatures as science knows them rather than the version portrayed in movies, revealing them to be dramatically different, and far more amazing, than ever imagined.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘Lost Souls’ by Sheila Fitzpatrick

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Lost Souls’ by Sheila Fitzpatrick
Updated 16 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Lost Souls’ by Sheila Fitzpatrick

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Lost Souls’ by Sheila Fitzpatrick

When World War II ended, about 1 million people whom the Soviet Union claimed as its citizens were outside the borders of the USSR, mostly in the Western-occupied zones of Germany and Austria.

These “displaced persons,” or DPs—Russians, prewar Soviet citizens, and people from West Ukraine and the Baltic states forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1939—refused to repatriate to the Soviet Union despite its demands.

Thus began one of the first big conflicts of the Cold War. In “Lost Souls,” Sheila Fitzpatrick draws on new archival research, including Soviet interviews with hundreds of DPs, to offer a vivid account of this crisis, from the competitive maneuverings of politicians and diplomats to the everyday lives of DPs.


What We Are Reading Today: Leibniz in His World: The Making of a Savant

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Updated 15 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: Leibniz in His World: The Making of a Savant

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  • Drawing on extensive correspondence by Leibniz and many leading figures of the age, Audrey Borowski paints a nuanced portrait of Leibniz in the 1670s, during his “Paris sojourn” as a young diplomat

Author: Audrey Borowski

Described by Voltaire as “perhaps a man of the most universal learning in Europe,” Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) is often portrayed as a rationalist and philosopher who was wholly detached from the worldly concerns of his fellow men. Leibniz in His World provides a groundbreaking reassessment of Leibniz, telling the story of his trials and tribulations as an aspiring scientist and courtier navigating the learned and courtly circles of early modern Europe and the Republic of Letters.

Drawing on extensive correspondence by Leibniz and many leading figures of the age, Audrey Borowski paints a nuanced portrait of Leibniz in the 1670s, during his “Paris sojourn” as a young diplomat and in Germany at the court of Duke Johann Friedrich of Hanover. She challenges the image of Leibniz as an isolated genius, revealing instead a man of multiple identities whose thought was shaped by a deep engagement with the social and intellectual milieus of his time. Borowski shows us Leibniz as he was known to his contemporaries, enabling us to rediscover him as an enigmatic young man who was complex and all too human.

 

 


What We Are Reading Today: Henry V by Dan Jones

What We Are Reading Today: Henry V by Dan Jones
Updated 14 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: Henry V by Dan Jones

What We Are Reading Today: Henry V by Dan Jones
Dan Jones’ “Henry V” examines the life and leadership of England’s greatest medieval king.
In 1413, when Henry V ascended to the English throne, his kingdom was hopelessly torn apart by political faction but in less than ten years, he turns it all around. By common consensus in his day, and for hundreds of years afterward, Henry was the greatest medieval king that ever lived.
A historical titan, Henry V transcends the Middle Ages which produced him, and his life story has much to teach us today.

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Following the Bend’ by Ellen Wohl

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Following the Bend’ by Ellen Wohl
Updated 13 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Following the Bend’ by Ellen Wohl

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Following the Bend’ by Ellen Wohl

When we look at a river, either up close or while flying over a river valley, what are we really seeing?

“Following the Bend” takes readers on a majestic journey by water to find answers, along the way shedding light on the key concepts of modern river science, from hydrology and water chemistry to stream and wetland ecology.

In this accessible and uniquely personal book, Ellen Wohl explains how to “read” a river, blending the latest science with her own personal experiences as a geologist and naturalist who has worked on rivers for more than three decades. 


UK writer Samantha Harvey wins 2024 Booker with space novel

UK writer Samantha Harvey wins 2024 Booker with space novel
Updated 13 November 2024
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UK writer Samantha Harvey wins 2024 Booker with space novel

UK writer Samantha Harvey wins 2024 Booker with space novel
  • The prize is seen as a talent spotter of names not necessarily widely known to the general public

LONDON: British writer Samantha Harvey on Tuesday won the 2024 Booker Prize, a prestigious English-language literary award, for her novel tracking six astronauts in space for 24 hours.
Harvey’s “Orbital” follows two men and four women from Japan, Russia, the United States, Britain and Italy aboard the International Space Station and touches on mourning, desire and the climate crisis.
The 49-year-old Harvey previously made the longlist for the Booker Prize in 2009 with her debut novel “The Wilderness.”
Harvey dedicated the prize to “all the people who speak for and not against the earth and work for and not against peace.”
Chair of the judges, Edmund de Waal, said “everyone and no one is the subject” of the novel, “as six astronauts in the International Space Station circle the earth observing the passages of weather across the fragility of borders and time zones.”
“With her language of lyricism and acuity Harvey makes our world strange and new for us.”
A record five women were in the running for the £50,000 ($64,500) prize which was announced at a glitzy ceremony in London.
Previous winners include Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood.
The prize is seen as a talent spotter of names not necessarily widely known to the general public.
The Booker is open to works of fiction by writers of any nationality, written in English and published in the UK or Ireland between October 1, 2023 and September 30, 2024.