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Reads in Progress

Finished reading How Fiction Works by James Wood this evening. I’ll do a review for the review section of this site and Amazon in the next day or two. Beginning The Art Instinct (Denis Dutton)tomorrow. Listened to Dutton interview on The Marketplace of Ideas podcast this AM in which Dutton addressed the surprising amount of enthusiasm, mostly positive, the book is receiving.

In the tradition of E.O. Wilson and his Sociobiology, which was scorned by academics everywhere when published a few decades ago, Dutton’s work may get a kinder reception. Perhaps society is ready to get past the knee-jerk, politically-correct reactions of the 70s and face the reality that evolution ain’t just about physical traits and behaviors.

After Dutton, The Alchemist. After that, back to In Search of Lost Time (on to The Guermantes Way), my 2009 major project.

A Reality-Based Weblog

Faith in magic is dangerous.
Try facts and well-argued ideas.

Myth and history are both valuable.
They are not, however, identical.

An ethical life needs no religion.
Religion often makes living one impossible.

Humans make gods in their own images.
It does not work the other way round.

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