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Sunday, February 5, 2012

The Browser daily newsletter [5 Feb 2012]

5 February 2012

 Best of the Moment

Atheism In America

Julian Baggini | FT | 3 February 2012

Fascinating investigation into discrimination, isolation of atheists in the US. “I’d rather have a big ‘L’ or ‘lesbian’ written across my shirt than a big ‘A’ or ‘atheist’, because people are going to handle it better” Comments

Super Power Of Franz Liszt

Charles Rosen | NYRB | 2 February 2012

Greatest pianist ever. His genius as performer overshadowed his genius as composer. "No one before Liszt played an entire public concert on the piano. He turned a musical performance into something like an athletic feat" Comments

Let Us Now Praise Private Equity

Reihan Salam | National Review | 30 January 2012

Sharp, well-argued defence of private equity. And, by extension, Romney and Bain Capital. "The difficult truth that virtually no politician is prepared to acknowledge is that the road to job creation runs through job destruction" Comments

The Me Who Knew It

Jenny Diski | LRB | 1 February 2012

Enjoyable essay review of new book that charts a century of memory research. From Frederic Bartlett, who concluded in 1913 that we remake our memories each time we remember them, right up to contemporary research on memory erasure Comments

Feet In Smoke

John Jeremiah Sullivan | Deadspin | 1 February 2012

Writer recalls brother's accidental electrocution, temporary brain damage. "I can't imagine anything more hopeful or hilarious than having a seat at the spectacle of my brother's brain while it reconstructed reality" Comments

On The Meaning Of Life

HL Mencken | Letters Of Note | 1 February 2012

In 1931 philosopher Will Durant asked a select few about life, death, religion. Mencken's reply is memorable. "When I die I shall be content to vanish into nothingness. No show, however good, could conceivably be good for ever" Comments

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