Published in August of 2020, Oxford University Press’s English translation of Doctor Pascal marked the first time that Émile Zola’s 20-book Les Rougon-Macquart series was available in print under one publisher.
Technology and the Arts
Book Review: Facing Up to the Damage Wrought by Facebook
“Resistance is futile. But resistance seems necessary.”
Book Review: How Science Fared in the Enlightenment — At the Halle Orphanage
Kelly Joan Whitmer does two things very well: she tells a vibrant tale of intellectual reform and shines a light on less prominent historical actors in the history of science.
Television Review: “Silicon Valley” Gets the Algorithm Right
The creator of the series, Mike Judge, and his team have gone to great lengths to sweat the details of the corporate landscape of San Jose and its environs. Right from the start Silicon Valley rang true.
Book Review: “Plato at the Googleplex” — A Passionate and Thoughtful Look at Philosophy Today
Rebecca Newberger Goldstein’s erudition, coupled to her literary skill, makes Plato at the Googleplex inviting and readable without sacrificing complexity.
Visual Arts Review: Cyberarts’s Art on the Marquee — Digital Game Shorts for Now People
Whether art can comfortably exist in this thoroughly commercial frame is a question for the ages. Let’s say that whether this show succeeds is firmly in the eye of the beholder.
Book Review: “Reading Ḥayy Ibn-Yaqẓān” — Rewriting the History of Ideas
“Reading Ḥayy Ibn-Yaqẓān” is a mesmerizing study that will enchant anyone interested in interdisciplinary, cross-cultural explorations of the history of science that transform the way we look at the past and the present.
Book Review: Building “The Wired City” — Journalism’s Future?
Dan Kennedy could have written a book that extols the “Huffington Post,” WGBH, or Patch as the future of serious community journalism. He doesn’t, which means that he is on the side of the angels rather than the corner-cutting devils.
Fuse News: Rdio Creates Vdio, An Online Video Service
Yesterday the folks behind Rdio.com, the online music subscription service, started unveiling Vdio, an online video rental and sales service.
Visual Arts Review: Boston Cyberarts’ “The Game’s Afoot” — Something Clever
None of these games engendered any suffering at all. They were already pre-designed for failure; a player has no chance of success. But isn’t part of the pleasure of gaming the repeated failures that, over time, lead to successes?