Et cetera: non-fiction roundup – reviews
The Great Accelerator by Paul Virilio, Sparrow by Kim Todd and The Power of Habit by Charles DuhiggThe Great Accelerator by Paul Virilio, translated by Julie Rose (Polity, £9.99)Virilio, the French philosopher, has long cultivated a kind of Delphic co...
In One Person by John Irving
A comic celebration of polymorphous perversityEveryone's an actor, in an amateur-dramatic society whose prompter has fallen ill and whose audience comes only for the pleasure of hating the show and leaving at the interval. So try not to be too harsh on...
Etcetera: Steven Poole’s non-fiction choice – reviews
On Education by Zygmunt Bauman & Riccardo Mazzeo, Floating Gold by Christopher Kemp and Trout by James OwenOn Education by Zygmunt Bauman & Riccardo Mazzeo (Polity, £9.99)When graduates can't find jobs, the bargain of commercialised education – take...
Steven Poole’s non-fiction choice – reviews
The Face of God by Roger Scruton, Wolf by Garry Marvin and MG Lord's The Accidental FeministThe Face of God by Roger Scruton (Continuum, £18.99)According to Roger Scruton, a dolphin doesn't have a face, but a house does. This is a series of face-based...
Review: Imagine by Jonah Lehrer
A self-regarding how-to guide through the creative processHow did Bob Dylan write "Like a Rolling Stone"? The pop-science writer Jonah Lehrer wasn't there, but he pretends to know anyway. Inspired by Dylan's own description of "vomiting" forth the song...
Et cetera: non-fiction reviews roundup
The No-Nonsense Guide to Equality by Danny Dorling, Correspondence: Max Frisch & Friedrich Dürrenmatt and How to Take Care of Your Clothes by Claire LeaveyThe No-Nonsense Guide to Equality by Danny Dorling (New Internationalist, £7.99)Palaces are nic...
Et cetera: non-fiction roundup – reviews
This Is Not a Diary by Zygmunt Bauman, Seven Puzzles of Thought by RM Sainsbury & Michael Tye and The Meat Fix by John NicholsonThis Is Not a Diary by Zygmunt Bauman (Polity, £14.99)The eminent sociologist of "liquid modernity" began this journal of e...
The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta – review
Life after the RaptureIn the mega-selling Left Behind novels, millions of Christians vanish in a puff of divine smoke called the Rapture, leaving a troubled world ripe for takeover by the Antichrist – who is, of course, secretary-general of the Unite...
Et cetera: non-fiction roundup – reviews
Build Your Own Time Machine by Brian Clegg, The Happiness of Pursuit by Shimon Edelman and Make Love Like a Prairie Vole by Andrew G MarshallBuild Your Own Time Machine by Brian Clegg (Duckworth, £14.99)If time travel into the past will become possibl...
Et cetera: Steven Poole’s non-fiction reviews
Murder in Notting Hill by Mark Olden, Smart Thinking by Art Markman and The Joy of Sin by Simon LahamMurder in Notting Hill by Mark Olden (Zero Books, £11.99)In 1959, Kelso Cochrane, an Antiguan carpenter, was attacked by white men in Notting Hill and...
Et cetera: non-fiction roundup – reviews
Out of Sight, Out of Mind by John Podmore, Historical Capitalism by Immanuel Wallerstein and The Company They Kept: Writers on Unforgettable Friendships edited by Robert B SilversOut of Sight, Out of Mind by John Podmore (Biteback, £14.99)Prison doesn...
Et cetera: Steven Poole’s non-fiction reviews
Migration: Changing the World by Guy Arnold, Better than Human by Allen Buchanan and 21st Century Dodos by Steve StackMigration: Changing the World by Guy Arnold (Pluto Press, £19.99)Migration has always happened, and it is almost always good for the ...
