A blog about books and literary culture in San Francisco with nary a post about eggs. Go figure.
A good old-fashioned pugilistic showdown sponsored by Powell’s and The Morning News that lends fresh legitimacy to the creaky use of “literary heavyweight.”
Download your bracket (pdf) and follow along. Winners so far include…aww, go recap the thrilling brawls yourself.
Edward O. Wilson (editor of the From So Simple a Beginning) with a much more graceful elucidation of arguments found in Daniel C. Dennett’s recent book, Breaking the Spell.
Possibly the greatest philosophical question of the 21st century is the resolution of religious faith with the growing realization of the very different nature of the material world. You could say that we evolved to accept one truth — the religious instinct — but then discovered another. And having discovered another, what are we to do? You might say it’s just best to go ahead and accept the two worldviews and let them live side by side. I see no other solution.
Wilson leaves off where Dennett kicks in, by recognizing that the problem of sectarianism is a “major problem” and confirming himself as a “provisional deist, ” without once belittling true believers. Okay, he pulls the rug out from under Theology, but in a very polite manner.
Salon.com Books | “Religious belief itself is an adaptation”
An appreciation of Beckett (the centenary of his birth looms) by Edna O’Brien:
…as with Shakespeare, his darkest words are shot through with beauty and astonishment, his impassioned keenings the best witness that there is to the human plaint, his disgusts brimful with exhilaration. He was a maniac who managed with consummate skill to convert that mania into lasting poetry.
Guardian Unlimited Arts | Arts features | Laughter in the dark
Tonight at 826 Valencia, the editorial board of for the Galileo Academy of Science and Technology book project convened for its first meeting. Introductions were interrupted by a heavy rainstorm. The roof at 826 is particularly percussive, but Alvaro, our esteemed editor, assured everyone that it would hold — at least for the next two hours.
Two minutes later, a downspout doused a deskchair, then three trash cans, with water.
That’ll teach you, Alvaro. Don’t mess with Chac Mool.
I’m not sure democracy and fiction mix, but here’s a test case:
The Lit List is a site where readers submit links to online fiction—including short stories, eBooks and podcasts—and vote for their favorites. The most popular links are automatically “published” to the front page. It’s like a real-time literary journal edited by readers.
