Writing

A rare specimen of damn strong science fiction, without the slightest bows toward adventure literature.

At school, geometric theorems absolutely would not yield to me. It was simply beyond my strength to memorize, step by step, a complicated sequence of actions.

Dawkins makes a convincing case for religion as a by-product of childhood trust. What interests me more is what belief gives the believer. True and good are different judgments.

The Selfish Gene changed me. I realised I didn't have to indulge the 'wishes' of my genes. I could have wishes of my own, and that felt enormously freeing.

In just two quotes: one from Bertrand Russell about Bishop Colenso and the Zulus, and one from Saint Augustine about the vice of curiosity.

Heading to the kitchen this morning, I took my laptop with me so I would have something to read or watch while waiting for water to boil for tea and crispbread to toast.

Native Australians kept captive dingos as companions, watchdogs, and even as living blankets, giving rise to the expression "five-dog night" to mean a very cold night.

Это сложно представить: где-то на скучных задворках одной из галактик кружилось наше Солнце, а рядом с ним маленький зелёно-голубой мирок, который мы называем Землёй.

I have always been interested in people who show themselves not in one narrow field, but in many. And the greater the difference between those fields, the more interesting it is.

If William of Malmesbury can be trusted, once, when John was dining with the king, the king asked: "What separates a Scot from a sot?" John answered: "Only the width of the dinner table!"