Weekly newsletter 80

2 Nov 2012 • 3 min read

A selection of our best article links of the week, plus featured FiveBooks interviews, videos, quotations and more.
(http://thebrowser.com)

Weekly Newsletter

Best of the Week

The Island Where People Forget To Die

Dan Buettner | NYT | 24 October 2012

The Greek island of Ikaria, about 30 miles off the Turkish coast, has an astonishing number of very old people. In good health too. How do they do it? Buettner, who studies longevity, goes to investigate Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/island-where-people-forget-die)

The Plot To Destroy America's Beer

Devin Leonard | Businessweek | 25 October 2012

Fascinating feature about beer behemoth, AB InBev, owner of Budweiser, Stella Artois, Beck's and much more. The boss is 52-year-old Brazilian, Carlos Brito, who sounds like an ascetic fellow for a CEO, and a ruthless cost-cutter Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/plot-destroy-americas-beer)

Google Now: Behind The Predictive Future Of Search

Dieter Bohn | Verge | 29 October 2012

Google is using what it knows about you (a lot) to build Google Now. It combines voice search with "cards" that guess what you might want to know at any given moment. It's a kind of pre-emptive search. In time, it'll run our lives Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/google-now-behind-predictive-future-search)

How Do You Raise A Prodigy?

Andrew Solomon | NYT | 31 October 2012

Parents of prodigies explain. One likens prodigiousness to disability. And Ken Noda has a great insight into how musical prodigies are able to express (adult) emotion in their playing, and why so many go on to have midlife crises Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/how-do-you-raise-prodigy)

Skyfall's Leaner, Meaner James Bond

Simon Schama | Newsweek | 29 October 2012

On 50 years of Bond, and what it says about Britain. Placebo for disappearing empire, fantasy of manly British style, exploration of British impotence. In "Skyfall", it's "Freud rather than Blofeld lurking in the dystopian darkness" Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/skyfalls-leaner-meaner-james-bond)

India's Feckless Elite

Sadanand Dhume | Wilson Quarterly | 18 October 2012

Will India become the first "fallen angel" of the BRICs? The talented don't go into public service. Parties are family fiefdoms and personality cults. Nearly a third of state and national legislators have criminal charges pending Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/indias-feckless-elite)

Proust Wasn’t A Neuroscientist. Neither Was Jonah Lehrer

Boris Kachka | New York | 28 October 2012

Ouch. "Neuroscience, evolutionary biology, behavioral economics are fashionable because of their newness. In these fields, in which shiny new insights so rarely pan out, every populariser must be, almost by definition, a huckster" Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/proust-wasn’t-neuroscientist-neither-was-jonah-lehrer)

World's Fastest Number Game Wows Spectators And Scientists

Alex Bellos | Guardian | 29 October 2012

The Japanese have stumbled upon an extraordinary way to do mental arithmetic very, very fast: Become proficient with an abacus, then discard it and do your calculations using a mental image of one. The results are mind-boggling Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/worlds-fastest-number-game-wows-spectators-and-scientists)
(http://www.amazon.com/Best-of-FiveBooks-2011-ebook/dp/B007GAM6RC?tag=thebro-21)

FiveBooks Interview

(http://thebrowser.com/interviews/simon-baron-cohen-on-autism-and-asperger-syndrome)

Simon Baron-Cohen on Autism and Asperger Syndrome

The head of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University tells us about myths surrounding autism and Asperger's, and what inspired his own research into the subject Read on (http://thebrowser.com/interviews/simon-baron-cohen-on-autism-and-asperger-syndrome)

Featured Topic

(http://thebrowser.com/reports/paying-election)

Paying for the US Election

How much is Romney vs Obama 2012 going to cost? Who's paying? And what do they expect in return? Read on (http://thebrowser.com/reports/paying-election)

Reader Recommendations

@joespring Edit that goes w/ @BusinessWeek cover. (@BradWieners, you won't be the last to tweet.) t.co/kz81evbB #longform #longreads #browsings (https://twitter.com/search?q=#browsings) More like this (http://thebrowser.com/browsings)

Book of the Week

Book of the Day (http://thebrowser.com/recommended/mothers-and-others-by-sarah-blaffer-hrdy)

Mothers and Others by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy

Paul Seabright says (http://thebrowser.com/interviews/paul-seabright-on-evolution-and-human-cooperation) : "Hrdy tells us that human childcare is a powerfully collaborative group endeavour. It’s not just about mothers on their own or just pair bonds either" FiveBooks Archive (http://thebrowser.com/fivebooks)