What, Why & How do we Know ?
I’m reading “The March of Unreason – Science, Democracy and the New Fundamentalism” because it’s the book selected by Central London Humanists book group for July. The name sounded familiar – it is the Dick Taverne of UK Labour / Independent / Lib-Dem politics fame, currently in The Lords. I’m reading the 2006/7 paperback edition where … Continue reading “The March of Unreason – Dick Taverne”
(Editorial Note : This paper was originally prepared for the 2005 Liverpool Conference on Robert Pirsig and his Metaphysics of Quality (MoQ). It is a personal non-technical view of the MoQ, and indeed the first part of paper is an entirely subjective and naive account of the author’s “thought journey” that led to reading Pirsig … Continue reading “It’s Evolutionary Psychology Stupid”
40 years after publication of Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance, an extended and updated version of the 1974 CBS Ideas radio interview of Robert Pirsig by Tim Wilson. (Hat tip to Mark Richardson on Facebook.) Fascinating stuff to add to the timeline. The basement with the “roller-skate drawer”. The MoQ given its intended … Continue reading “The Motorcycle Is Yourself. ZMM at 40.”
Interesting to hear Roger McGough and Pat Kane discussing the Bob Dylan Like a Rolling Stone manuscript on Radio 4 Today this morning. Seeing the process of composition in discards of rhymes and couplets in the handwritten edits. Obviously I’m sensitive to the topic, still reading Clive James Cultural Amnesia, of poetry in writing good prose. In … Continue reading “How Does it Feel?”
I’ve been reading my way through Terry Eagleton’s “Culture and the Death of God” pretty slowly – blogged a few times I was both enjoying it and finding it a bit tough going. Subject-wise I’m pretty well read, but of course Terry is really well read and not afraid to construct his rhetorical flourishes from … Continue reading “Culture and the Death of God”
Didn’t spot this until pointed out by Marsha on MD, but in the Q&A session in the 4th Grayson Perry 2013 Reith Lecture, responding to a question around 35:50 about the need for non-judgemental playfulness in order to encourage new potentially creative ideas, he recalls a favourite quote from Robert Pirsig’s ZMM (Zen and the … Continue reading “Playful Zen & Grayson Perry”
Interesting 2012 TED talk by billionaire Nick Hanauer on the creation myths of jobs and wealth. Like every aspect of life, even in the built-environment, creation arises from natural cycles across multiple levels. Ironic and perhaps fortunate that his squirrel chicken-and-egg analogy about who created evolution, makes the general point even better than his explicit economic … Continue reading “Wealth & Jobs Creationism”
I blogged recently on having seen Roy Harper at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester in October, and having been very disappointed in his well below par, distracted, forgetful performance. In compensation I’ve been listening to his back catalogue almost constantly since, including his epic (one of his many epics) Lord’s Prayer, a complex 20 minute poem … Continue reading “Geronimo and the Lord’s Prayer”