The notion that the universe has a designer, that it didn’t occur entirely as the result of blind cosmic forces, is not one that gets a lot of attention from the media. Many people assume that all reputable scientists dismiss the notion out of hand. Many reputable scientists do–but not all. There are actually strong …
Tag: books
The Harry Potter books: more than the sum of their hype
I’d be a pretty poor excuse for an arts columnist this week if I didn’t say something about Harry Potter. Harry Potter, for those who have been living in an isolation tank for the past few months, is the young wizard protagonist of a series of children’s books by J. K. Rowling, which are selling …
Frankenstein
It’s a safe bet most of those who dressed as Frankenstein’s monster on Hallowe’en didn’t do so to honor the birth of a new form of literature and a new way of looking at the world–but Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus, was both. At first glance, Frankenstein seems like just another Gothic novel, full of dank castles, wandering …
Libraries
I love libraries–always have–and I can’t help noticing: they’re changing. Libraries, traditionally, have been repositories for books. In fact the word derives from the Latin word for books, “liber.” But today you’ll also find newspapers, magazines, videotapes, films, CDs, computer programs and even terminals hooked up to the Internet. This is not your father’s library. …
Books
There are few things I esteem more highly than books, and I’m not just saying that because I was honorary patron of Saskatchewan Library Week (October 15 to 22–and if you missed it, don’t worry; your local library will welcome you any week). Books have been my friends, companions and teachers since I learned to …
Rise of the cyberbooks
Don’t look now, but here come the cyberbooks. No, cyberbooks aren’t the villains in an episode of Dr. Who, but it’s true their arrival may well signal a kind of revolution–and the first shot in that revolution has already been fired in (where else?) Japan, in the form of a new high-tech gadget called the Data …