Author Archives: Houyhnhnm

the scythians at the british museum

Posted on October 27, 2017 by Houyhnhnm

interesting to think about the contrast between the rich, immersive environment created by the exhibition’s curators and the paucity of hard evidence of how the scythians actually lived their lives – so many conclusions are based on guesswork from knowledge … Continue reading →

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The Moral Maze on veganism and animal rights (Radio 4)

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Houyhnhnm

Panel: chair: Michael Buerk human exceptionalist: Clare Fox three worried carnivores: Ann McElvoy, Matthew Taylor (whose book The Philosopher and the Wolf I later read), Giles Fraser interviews Anthony Warner (The Angry Chef) Claim: ‘no guilt or shame about what you eat’ … Continue reading →

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Boxes

Posted on August 6, 2015 by Houyhnhnm

Space Oddity Boxes pimped in transformative ending Grease, Withnail on betrayal of youth in achieving worldly success About getting jobs, crappy jobs, selling out Technical skill in devising and moving the boxes, symbols at first of constraint and social straitjacketing … Continue reading →

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endings

Posted on August 6, 2015 by Houyhnhnm

a meeting by the river (christopher isherwood) tales of the city by armistead maupin the restaurant at the end of the universe by douglas adams plato’s phaedo neil gaiman’s stardust book 1 of thucydides’ history of the peloponnesian war dan … Continue reading →

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Protagoras

Posted on April 4, 2015 by Houyhnhnm

In Plato Protagoras seems to be a pompous but likeable old chap who’s dined out on his cleverness for many years. In both Protagoras and Theaetetus he seems to focus on advising young men, both those in power and those … Continue reading →

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“Sweet Danger” by Marjery Allingham; “Have his Carcase” and “Whose Body?” by Dorothy L. Sayers

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Houyhnhnm

Sayers is great fun – Wimsey is a wonderful character, such a perfect epitome and caricature of clubland and the Edwardian aristocracy, and her murder mysteries are intricate and teasing. Allingham though is to be preferred: her Campion has greater … Continue reading →

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Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Houyhnhnm

The Illustrated Man was my previous experience of Ray Bradbury: beautiful and disturbing post-war sci-fi stories, set in our present. Fahrenheit 451 is clearly, from the author’s various prefaces and the publisher’s blurb, a much more famous work, probably because of … Continue reading →

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“The Liturgies of Quakerism” by Ben Pink Dandelion

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Houyhnhnm

Perhaps the dullest of book titles. Ever. Especially when received as a Christmas present (one I had asked for…). And I didn’t read it all, as the middle chapters seemed very similar to Pink Dandelion’s more recent and general history … Continue reading →

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“The Trial of Mussolini” by ‘Cassius’

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Houyhnhnm

A wonderful find (I’ve forgotten where from). A 1943 fictionalised transcript of the trial Benito never had, at some putative war-crimes tribunal in London. Part of the Gollancz series of anonymous books published in the war. The first prosecution speech … Continue reading →

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“Sweet Danger” by Marjery Allingham; “Have his Carcase” by Dorothy L. Sayers

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Houyhnhnm

Campion or Wimsey? Campion. Lugg or Bunter? Bunter. Stanislaus Oates or Parker? Oates. So Allingham wins 2:1. And when you factor in Sayers’ casual racism (part of the time, but tellingly absent from Allingham), and the grating vicarious Wimsey-worship of … Continue reading →

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