If, like me, you woke up one day and discovered you liked peas, you should take 17 minutes out of your busy schedule, get comfortable and listen to Elizabeth Loftus. And even if you didn’t, you still should. Loftus is […]

I’ve been reflecting on endings. Two books I’ve recently read have had relatively disappointing ones. They were both whodunnits that were going great guns until the penultimate chapter. There were so many unanswered questions, and so much sleuthing left to do. […]

Remember the days before email? Texting? Facebook (come on, it’s only been eight years)? Twitter? When you’re in the digital saucepan, it’s easy to forget that the water’s getting hotter. Bit by bit, the temperature changes, but so gradually, that […]

Several years ago, I spent a week in Florence. The guest house I stayed at was on the fourth floor of an old building overlooking a market square. When the stallholders packed up, the square went quiet. Bliss, I thought […]

Carrying on my theme of belief (see previous entry), I’ve been watching the always-entertaining Alain de Botton on TED. Back in 2009, I recommended his talk entitled A Kinder, Gentler Philosophy of Success, in which he spoke about the gulf between […]