Newsletter 524


Hic sunt camelopardus: this historical edition of The Browser is presented for archaeological purposes; links and formatting may be broken.

[1]All of our Best of the Moment article recommendations, plus FiveBooks
  interviews and other selected content from thebrower.com
    Links:
      1. http://thebrowser.com

[5]Christopher Hitchens: 'The Consummate Writer, The Brilliant Friend'
    Links:
      5. http://b.rw/t9Puef

Ian McEwan | Guardian | 16 December 2011

Wonderful, touching piece from McEwan remembering last weeks of his great
  friend. A writer, to the last: "His head would droop, his eyes close, then
  with superhuman effort he would drag himself awake to type another line"
  [6]Comments
    Links:
      6. http://thebrowser.com/articles/christopher-hitchens-consummate-writer-brilliant-friend

[7]How National Identities Are Really Formed
    Links:
      7. http://b.rw/tEzH9l

Hussein Ibish | Ibishblog | 14 December 2011

Spiky, enjoyable analysis that takes as its starting point Newt Gingrich's
  recent remarks about Palestinians being "an invented people". They're no
  more or less "invented" than any other modern national identity [8]Comments
    Links:
      8. http://thebrowser.com/articles/how-national-identities-are-really-formed

[9]Sing Of The New Invasion
    Links:
      9. http://b.rw/v6O2Ct

Slavoj Zizek | New Statesman | 12 December 2011

"Fiennes's Coriolanus is like the eyes of God or a saint in an Orthodox
  icon: Without changing a word in Shakespeare's play, the film looks squarely
  at our predicament today, offering us the figure of the radical freedom
  fighter" [10]Comments
    Links:
      10. http://thebrowser.com/articles/sing-new-invasion

[11]A Death Of One's Own
    Links:
      11. http://b.rw/vH068H

Peter Singer | Project Syndicate | 16 December 2011

"In the US, you can buy a gun and put a bullet through your brain without
  breaking any laws." But if you ask your doctor to shoot you, or to kill you
  by some other means, you are party to a crime. What sense does that make?
  [12]Comments
    Links:
      12. http://thebrowser.com/articles/death-ones-own

[13]If You Can’t Notice A Gorilla In Plain Sight, How Can You Testify As A
Witness?
    Links:
      13. http://b.rw/vhT3ES

Daniel Simons | The Crux | 14 December 2011

Interesting post on limits of our perception, awareness. As notorious
  "gorilla test" shows, we are far less likely to notice unexpected events
  than we presume. Which could have severe consequences, when it comes to
  matters of law [14]Comments
    Links:
      14. http://thebrowser.com/articles/if-you-can’t-notice-gorilla-plain-sight-how-can-you-testify-witness

[15]Hitch
    Links:
      15. http://b.rw/sT9QAr

Jane Mayer | New Yorker | 16 December 2011

Brief but brilliant. A fabulous vignette. The scene: An exclusive, allegedly
  anti-Semitic country club in Palm Beach. Christopher Hitchens is shown to a
  table in the middle of the dining room... [16]Comments
    Links:
      16. http://thebrowser.com/articles/hitch

FiveBooks Interview

[17]Lev Grossman on Fantasy
    Links:
      17. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/lev-grossman-on-fantasy

We're living through a golden age for fantasy fiction, says the author of
  _The Magicians_. He tells us what makes for a good fantasy novel, and who's
  staking out the future not just of fantasy but of fiction itself [18]Read on
    Links:
      18. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/lev-grossman-on-fantasy

Featured Special Report

[19]Christopher Hitchens
    Links:
      19. http://thebrowser.com/reports/christopher-hitchens-0

Remembering the superlative essayist, polemicist and debater [20]Read on
    Links:
      20. http://thebrowser.com/reports/christopher-hitchens-0

Reader Recommendations

@[21]farnamstreet How Two American Kids Became Big-Time Weapons Traders And
  how   the   Pentagon   later   turned   on   them   [22]t.co/bNCgQchA
  #[23]longreads #[24]browsings [25]More like this
    Links:
      21. http://twitter.com/farnamstreet
      22. http://t.co/bNCgQchA
      23. http://twitter.com/#!/search?q=#longreads
      24. http://twitter.com/#!/search?q=#browsings
      25. http://thebrowser.com/browsings

Book of the Day

[26]Book of the Day
    Links:
      26. http://thebrowser.com/recommended/end-revolution-by-wang-hui

[27]The End of the Revolution by Wang Hui
    Links:
      27. http://thebrowser.com/recommended/end-revolution-by-wang-hui

[28]Rana Mitter says: “To get something of the pulse of thinking in modern
  China a century after the 1911 revolution, Wang Hui is a good starting
  point” [29]FiveBooks Archive
    Links:
      28. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/rana-mitter-on-100-years-modern-china
      29. http://thebrowser.com/fivebooks/archive

Video of the Day

[30]Box Like A Boss
    Links:
      30. http://thebrowser.com/videos/box-boss

How to pack your Christmas presents. A tutorial [31]More videos
    Links:
      31. http://thebrowser.com/videos

Quote of the Day

[32]John Gray, on history
    Links:
      32. http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2011/12/money-debt-paper-world-coggan

"History is a solvent of illusions"

[33]More quotes
    Links:
      33. http://thebrowser.com/quotations

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