Tolkien’s Letters Reveal a Cantankerous Conservative at Odds with His Own Work
Tolkien’s correspondence shows an erudite but misanthropic author who was perpetually behind on commitments and harsh toward translators, publishers, and fellow humans. Politically, he favored hereditary monarchy over democracy and supported Franco’s regime in Spain. His reactionary views clash ironically with readers who found progressive themes in Middle-earth, revealing the gap between author and interpretation.
The Dilbert Future is Scott Adams predictions of what the future holds, made at the dawn of the Internet era. It is a dystopian prediction. Advances in technology simply give rise to new opportunities for stupidity. Voice operated computers allow evil coworkers to delete your files over your shoulder. New software to run air
With some things you just need to read the label. As its name suggests, this is a book about monarchs presented in the form of heroic rhyming couplets. Specifically it is about the kings of England. I don’t make a habit of reviewing books when I haven’t completely read them, but I have to confess
The launch of one of my videos on YouTube is always accompanied by a flurry of PR activity. Well actually, I just tweet it a couple of times in the hope that somebody somewhere will notice. From time to time I even get some responses. My most recent one on the death of Alaric
Alaric died suddenly after a short fever. He was somewhere around forty years old. For all his urbane sophistication and his desire to become a Roman, he was given a truly barbarian funeral. The course of the river Busento was diverted and his body buried under its bed. Then the river was restored to its
I get a steady stream of offers of books to review, most of which I turn down. I don’t have enough time to read the books I already have on my list without adding more to them. But this one looked interesting. It is Sibyls by Jorge Guillermo of whom I haven’t heard before. I
