Fat boy grim
William Leith has bitten off more than he can chew with The Hungry Years, says Alfred Hickling.
National treasures
Bestselling author Dave Eggers is brandishing his cutlass in defence of underpaid teachers. Dan Glaister visits him at a centre he runs for students in San Francisco.
The Wolfgang pack
Simon Callow relishes Jane Glover's beautiful account of the women in the composer's life, Mozart's Women.
New theory shifts site of Homer’s isle of Ithaca
A British trio claiming to have solved one of the riddles of the ancient world have announced that the true location of Ithaca was not the island of Ithaki, as its residents believe, but a peninsula of Kefalonia.
Return of the time lord
Stephen Hawking talks to Emma Brockes about disability, why women can't read maps and thinking in 11 dimensions. And for those of a less scientific bent, we offer our briefest of brief histories.
Computer learns grammar by crunching sentences
Researchers have developed a computer program that can scan text in any number of languages, including English and Chinese, and without any previous knowledge infer the underlying rules of grammar.
Journey to the heart
A trunk full of letters helped Vikram Seth to reconstruct the story of his great-aunt Henny and his great-uncle Shanti. Two Lives is a fitting memorial of an extraordinary couple, says Blake Morrison.
The crowned head
Simon Callow admires Terry Coleman's workmanlike life of Laurence Olivier, but feels the actor's heart has been left out.
Lost in music
Charles R Cross reveals the reality of Jimi Hendrix's life in his groundbreaking biography of rock's greatest guitarist, Room Full of Mirrors, says David Sinclair.
Sybil Marshall
· A great educationist, her career spanned a one-room school, universities and best-selling novels.
Online library banks on urge to lend
Bookworms are being invited to join what is described as the world's first online cooperative library, My Book Your Book, which was launched last night.
How a novelist’s twist sparked academic feud
When the feted author of Birdsong slipped a recent psychiatric idea into his work, one don saw red. Vanessa Thorpe reports.
Archer & Archer
Margaret Crick tries to explain Mary Archer's attraction to Jeffrey in a biography her subject tried to block. Why should anyone care, asks Catherine Bennett.