Newsletter 877
Best of the Moment
Newtown And The Madness Of Guns
Adam Gopnik | New Yorker | 14 December 2012
Gun lobbyists have made a clear moral choice: "That the comfort and emotional reassurance they take from the possession of guns, placed in the balance even against the routine murder of innocent children, is of supreme value" Comments (https://thebrowser.com/articles/newtown-and-madness-guns)
Should We Live To 1,000?
Peter Singer | Project Syndicate | 10 December 2012
Should we try to combat ageing, rather than merely the diseases of ageing? If so, what are the implications? And is it better to have fewer people living longer lives or more people living shorter lives? Comments (https://thebrowser.com/articles/should-we-live-1000)
On The Edge
Anonymous | Economist | 14 December 2012
All you need to know about America's fiscal cliff. How it was created, what it means, why it's so knotty to resolve. And who, in negotiations between Democrat and Republican, holds the stronger hand Comments (https://thebrowser.com/articles/edge)
Imitation Of Life
Brian Hayes | American Scientist | 13 December 2012
Can a computer program reproduce everything that happens inside a living cell? Are we on the threshold of “completing” molecular biology? Comments (https://thebrowser.com/articles/imitation-life)
Drivers' Moral Progress, And Why They Hate Cyclists
Andrew Brown | Guardian | 14 December 2012
"Cyclists are hated because they are cheats. The motorist is born free, but everywhere he is in queues. The courier burning through a red light demonstrates the freedom that car drivers have traded for comfort" Comments (https://thebrowser.com/articles/drivers-moral-progress-and-why-they-hate-cyclists)
Roll Over Beethoven
Eric Banks | Bookforum | 11 December 2012
Tired title, laboured first paragraph, but once you're past those, the pleasure of this piece begins. On Beethoven's Fifth Symphony: Its canonic status as the most referenced orchestral work; and the power of those first four notes Comments (https://thebrowser.com/articles/roll-over-beethoven)
(http://www.amazon.com/Best-of-FiveBooks-2011-ebook/dp/B007GAM6RC?tag=thebro-21)
FiveBooks Interview
(https://thebrowser.com/interviews/sophie-king-on-creative-writing)
Sophie King on Creative Writing
The author and creative writing teacher tells us where to go for tips on finding one's voice, grabbing readers' attention and getting published Read on (https://thebrowser.com/interviews/sophie-king-on-creative-writing)
Featured Special Report
(https://thebrowser.com/reports/after-aurora)
Guns in America
How does one make sense of the killings in Newtown and Aurora? And will Americans, will President Obama do anything to stop it happening again? Read on (https://thebrowser.com/reports/after-aurora)
Reader Recommendations
polit2k (http://twitter.com/polit2k) "@OlafStorbeck (http://twitter.com/OlafStorbeck) : How UK judges legitismise killing cyclists - An open letter to the British Judical system- # (http://t.co/8fPF2vIh) browsings (http://twitter.com/#!/search?q=#browsings)
More like this (http://thebrowser.com/browsings)
Book of the Day
Book of the Day (https://thebrowser.com/recommended/way-world-by-nicolas-bouvier)
The Way of the World by Nicolas Bouvier
Colin Thubron says (http://thebrowser.com/interviews/colin-thubron-on-travel-writing) : “Bouvier never wrote another book comparable to this one. I loved it for its humanity, for its footloose feeling”
FiveBooks Archive (http://thebrowser.com/fivebooks/archive)
Video of the Day
The Mostly German Philosophers' Love Song
(https://thebrowser.com/videos/mostly-german-philosophers-love-song)
Does exactly what it says on the tin More videos (http://thebrowser.com/videos)
Quote of the Day
Roman Krznaric, on narcissism (http://www.romankrznaric.com/outrospection/2012/10/16/1729)
"Narcissism is the fear of being ordinary"
More quotes (http://thebrowser.com/quotations)