February 5, 2009
A coral atoll, from Darwin's The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs, 1842.
For those teeming millions near Hanover, N.H., here's notice that I'll be giving a talk at Dartmouth at 4pm today -- Thu, Feb 5 -- about Darwin's first, favorite, and (to me) most interesting theory, which was his…
February 1, 2009
In an interesting essay at Slate's The Big Money, Jill Priluck argues that book authors must "transcend their words and become brands" if they're to sell books. Andrew Sullivan agrees :
My own view is that the publishing industry deserves to die in its current state. It never made economic sense…
January 28, 2009
I'll let the Boston Herald News tell the tale:
A celebrity from the moment he bounded off an American Airlines [AMR] flight Monday night at Miami International Airport, Lancy redux "very quickly integrated into the menagerie and held his own," said Lou Hawthorne, CEO of BioArts, the firm that…
January 28, 2009
John Updike, 1955
Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images, via NYMag
The 'net is fairly bursting with Updike appreciations, but I especially like this one from Sam Anderson at New York, which notes that amid what can seem an intimidating body of work, Updike's essays offer an easy and richly satisfying…
January 27, 2009
Pharma giant Pfizer got bigger on Monday, purchasing Wyeth Pharamceuticals for $65 billion in one of the few big business moves to get funding lately. This comes after several years of aggressive cost-cutting and huge layoffs at Pfizer, and was announced as the company released an annual report…
January 27, 2009
It's Mozart's birthday. We've been indulging in some Don Giovanni here amid (but inside, protected from) the snow. But for multimedia instead of fireside consumption, I thought this effortlessly electric encore by Heifetz would serve nicely. Wonderful how relaxed he is; how much he gets done doing…
January 27, 2009
Close on the heels of Lilly's $1.42 billion penalty for off-label marketing comes the news that Pfizer paid out $2.3 billion to settle similar allegations.
From FiercePharma
News of the Pfizer-Wyeth merger this morning drowned out some not so good news for the company. Just after announcing its…
January 27, 2009
'Tis a smaller world now. John Updike is dead of lung cancer.
The end of Rabbit at Rest:
"Well, Nelson," he says, "all I can tell you is, it isn't so bad." Rabbit thinks he should maybe say more, the kids looks wildly expectant, but enough. Maybe. Enough.
Fifty books, countless essays, some of…
January 27, 2009
CNN has a fascinating and rather frightening story about the toll football (or the concussions acquired playing it) take on the brain:
But today, using tissue from retired NFL athletes culled posthumously, the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE) is shedding light on what…
January 27, 2009
The Neiman Journalism Lab ponders the question:. :
Why has Rich embraced linking when his peers have not? "CThe theory was: Why not be as transparent as possible by showing sources, when we could?%u201D he told me recently.
and
Rich says his linking is as much about backing up his argument as it…
January 27, 2009
I'm rapidly seeing that Twitter isn't all bad after all. I've little taste for it when used primarily as a social net -- though I can see the attraction for some, especially people with free time in big cities. (I have no time and live in a tiny town...). But as this story shows, it's a…
January 25, 2009
The book opens so thrillingly -- a plane crash, a last-second Super Bowl victory, and a first chapter that comfortably reconciles Plato and Ovid with Tom Brady and John Madden -- that it spawns a worry: Can the book possibly sustain this pace?
"How We Decide" delivers. Jonah Lehrer, -- author of "…
January 23, 2009
In explaining How Not to Fix the New York Times, Felix Salmon identifies many assets that help make the Times so invaluable -- and which may be hard to replicate in a more fragmented media world.
The challenge for a New Media that seeks to replace newspapers rather than supplement them will be to…
January 22, 2009
"'I would die if I had to live here." - Tweet from a PR consultant landing in Memphis to give a presentation.
"A hazard of social networking is people will read what you write." - Email sent soon afterward to PR consultant from client he was visiting in Memphis.
Careful what you tweet. Read the…
January 22, 2009
"If I have to be male, I was hoping for a younger, more fit body, and a better head of hair. It does however fulfill one of my greatest fantasies, which is that I have long had subpoena envy."
New Yorker writer Jane Mayer, author of "The Dark Side," who has done much to expose the Bush…
January 22, 2009
In response to my post on himself, the NY Times, Zyprexa, Infinite Mind, etc.
January 21, 2009
My brother, who started his medical career as a pulmonary tech at a naval hospital and is now the medical director for the National Disaster Medical System -- a system that draws heavily on medical personnel normally employed outside government -- sent me this account of his Inauguration Day,…
January 21, 2009
An impressive list of (mostly overlooked) readings about Obama, from Neuroanthropology.
I kept wondering yesterday why, along with being deeply moved while watching the ceremonies, I a deep sense of dread and foreboding. Narrowed it to three things:
- a sadness my mother (who died soon after 9/11…
January 20, 2009
Off my usual route -- but isn't Obama on everyone's today?
Much to admire in the man. Seems almost too much to ask that his signature could be so attractive as well. But there it is. This is from the first proclamation he signed soon after taking office.
That's from Reuters . Another site has…
January 20, 2009
Why do I love paper art so much? Intersection of book, art, and (by presentation here) new media? Or is just because it's pretty?
This certainly is. A video of a walk through a highly literary society. I love the nighttime section.
From the folks at 4th Estate
Hat tip: Alice
January 20, 2009
One theory about antidepressants is that they relieve depression by encouraging neurogenesis -- the creation of new neurons. Neuroskeptic reviews a study that argues against this idea.
the neurogenesis hypothesis has problems of its own. A new paper claims to add to what seems like a growing list…
January 20, 2009
Today's inaugural oath got bumpy, and I was among many who dropped the ball got confused about whether it was Roberts or Obama who originally dropped the ball. Benjamin Zimmer explains:
Chief Justice John Roberts' administration of the presidential oath to Barack Obama was far from smooth. ... the…
January 20, 2009
While some have chided Michael Hirschorn for offering the Huffington Post the as the most promising template for replacing print newspapers, another candidate Hirschorn mentioned has been strengthening its bid to combine access, clout, and experience with a Media 2.0 agility and energy (as…
January 19, 2009
Seth Godin offers another take on what we might miss if/when newspapers die: investigative journalism.
What's left is local news, investigative journalism and intelligent coverage of national news. Perhaps 2% of the cost of a typical paper. I worry about the quality of a democracy when the the…
January 19, 2009
I stirred some ire last week when I asserted that the Times (for -- disclosure dept -- whom I sometimes write) and similar mainstream papers offer a public good through their unique combination of a) access to information and 2) clout with the public and government. Several readers took me to task…
January 18, 2009
Virginia Postrel says
It's the worst regulatory news I've heard in a long time--and it predates the new administration by a half year. Sidney Wolfe, who seemingly never met a new drug or device he thought should be legal, has been named to four-year term on the FDA's Drug Safety and Risk Management…
January 15, 2009
The price drug companies pay for illegally marketing drugs for off-label (tnat is, non-FDA-approved) uses just got higher. Such off-label pushing has been a growing problem the past few years, as drug companies sought to expand the use and thus the profit from established drugs. Doctors are free to…
January 13, 2009
Someone finally did a review study on TV -- including "educational DVDs" -- and infants. Among results that should not surprise ...
Watching TV programmes or DVDs aimed at infants can actually delay language development, according to a number of studies. For example, a 2008 Thai study published in…
January 13, 2009
Life is good. I love this guy.
Neil Young - Fork In The Road
January 13, 2009
Caleb Carr Crain on why he remains pessimistic about reading despite the recent National Endowment of the Arts report showing a reversal last year in a 25-year decline in reading. It's a good consideration of several ways i which the data might be a mismeasure or a misleading anomaly.
Why aren't I…
