Orcadian rhythms
Maggie Fergusson's insightful and compassionate biography of George Mackay Brown reveals the physical and mental difficulties that beset one Scotland's greatest lyric poets, says Kathleen Jamie.
JK Galbraith
Visionary economist who defined, and defied, the 'conventional wisdom'.
Walking with Freud
Frances Wilson admires Matthew von Unwerth's portrait in miniature of the father of analysis, Freud's Requiem.
Star young author admits ‘unconscious’ plagiarism
America's hottest young author claimed new distinction in the burgeoning field of literary plagiarism by admitting to 'unconscious' copying of substantial portions of her debut novel from two other novels.
Britain’s fertility crisis
Felicity Lawrence is fascinated by Graham Harvey's study of the downsides of modern agriculture, We Want Real Food.
What is it about Albert Camus’ The Outsider that makes it such an enduring favourite with men?
Marcel Berlins: Imagine my distress to discover that a whole swathe of English male media types, academics and students were claiming similar intimacy with the book, and attesting to its significance for them.
The ideas interview: Lewis Wolpert
If religion is a consequence of the way our brains are wired, hears John Sutherland, all the more reason to question the truth of our beliefs.
Message understood?
Convoluted academic language is OK for the initiated, but the rest of us need plain English, says Michael McCarthy.
Brushes with genius
Richard Cork on the strange friendship of Van Gogh and Gauguin as revealed in Martin Gayford's The Yellow House.
Shakespeare for blokes
Fiona Shaw explores Dominic Dromgoole's account of a life lived in the shoes of Shakespeare in Will and Me.