Newsletter 291

[1]Poppies For Pain Relief
Links:
1. http://b.rw/g2MKca

Charli Carpenter | Lawyers, Guns & Money | 17 April 2011

There is a global shortage of analgesics like morphine for pain relief, and
yet the international community focuses on poppy eradication in Afghanistan,
the world's largest poppy producer, in the name of the "war on drugs"
[2]Comments
Links:
2. http://thebrowser.com/articles/poppies-pain-relief

[3]Life After A Bestseller
Links:
3. http://b.rw/igROz9

Elif Batuman | Guardian | 20 April 2011

Gorgeous first-person account of pleasures of success, from brilliant young
critic and novelist whose first book, a collection of essays on Russian
literature, became a surprise best-seller. Cameo appearance from Jonathan
Franzen [4]Comments
Links:
4. http://thebrowser.com/articles/life-after-bestseller

[5]Ariel Casts Out Caliban
Links:
5. http://b.rw/dTFKev

Eric Michael Johnson | Times Higher Education | 21 April 2011

Debunking myth of "killer ape" theory of evolution. Studies of bonobos
reveals calmer, more passive animals, likely to be our closest animal
ancestors. Suggests mutual aid and pleasure not violence were keys to human
success [6]Comments
Links:
6. http://thebrowser.com/articles/ariel-casts-out-caliban

[7]In The Sorting Office
Links:
7. http://b.rw/hU94gg

James Meek | LRB | 20 April 2011

Voyage through the Dutch postal service, privatised in 1989, then opened up
to competition. Result: a horrible mess. As opposed to the British postal
service, liberalised but not privatised. Result: another horrible mess. Go
figure [8]Comments
Links:
8. http://thebrowser.com/articles/sorting-office

[9]Concatenation In The Arab World
Links:
9. http://b.rw/ib9PZC

Perry Anderson | New Left Review | 20 April 2011

Marxist analysis of the Arab awakening. America has backed despots, to keep
the oil safe, but would prefer deferential democracies. "If an Erdogan can
be found for Cairo or Tunis, Washington will have every reason to be
satisfied" [10]Comments
Links:
10. http://thebrowser.com/articles/concatenation-arab-world

[11]Nervous Nellies
Links:
11. http://b.rw/hVjUpA

Taylor Clark | Slate | 20 April 2011

Are women really more anxious than men? Parenting disparities and cultural
pressures play a part. Yet "Women are simply more honest about their
anxiety, because they've been taught to deal with it through unencumbered
fretting" [12]Comments
Links:
12. http://thebrowser.com/articles/taylor-clark-slate-20th-april-2011

FiveBooks Interview

[13]Ian McEwan on Books That Have Helped Shape His Novels
Links:
13. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/ian-mcewan-on-five-books-have-influenced-my-novels

Novelist Ian McEwan talks about the books that have helped shape his own –
from the biography of a scientific genius to a treatise on the end of time
– and the importance of finding ‘mental freedom’