Happy Holidays from Down Under

Sydney Harbor (Opera House at right)

The Goddess and the Bull: Kindle edition

For those very few of you out there who have not yet read my book about Neolithic Catalhoyuk and the dawn of civilization, the Kindle edition is now…

Lorrie Moore

I'm in a Lorrie Moore phase. I've been in it for a long time, going back and forth chronologically in her bibliography. Reading her first nov…

Pope begs forgiveness for sexual abuses, shifts blame to Devil, and announces no new measures

So says the New York Times today. The Devil Made Me Do It. A great way to avoid personal responsibility. And asking forgiveness before announcing s…

The Pope must resign

It would appear that the smoking finger is now being pointed directly at Pope Benedict XVI, as the New York Times today ties him directly to the se…

Jeanne-Claude, R.I.P.

Claude Lévi-Strauss est Mort

A great man is gone. R.I.P. More about him . From my Science colleague Constance Holden.

Goodbye to Tarragona

On my way back to Paris via Barcelona, but had a chance this morning to run around Tarragona with my camera. Well worth a visit. The inhabitants live…

Greetings from Tarragona

I've been on the road for the past week, attending a meeting in this archaeologically rich city (won't tell you now which meeting.) But here …

La Bohème in the suburbs

We've had a heavy dose of science and politics on this blog these past days, now for some culture. Last Tuesday, September 29, the French-German …

No special treatment for Polanski

I don't usually weigh in on cases like this, but those who think that the charges against Polanski should be dropped without him showing up in co…

Does "Creation" lack the spark of genius?

That's the conclusion my colleague John Travis, European Editor of Science , comes to about this otherwise laudable attempt to portray the human …

A sunny day in the Lake District

The view from Brantwood House, John Ruskin's home for 28 years, looking out over Coniston Water in the English Lake District. Photo: Michael Balt…

The Yes Men are back--in prime time!

First of all, for those who have never seen it, let's start off by watching one of the greatest, most brilliant, most successful, and most well d…

Paris City of Night

I blogged sometime back about this thriller by my friend and colleague David Downie, and now it is out. Here is my Amazon review: "Okay, this bo…

Mike Davis, Marc Cooper, James Rainey, Michael Lacey, Jill Stewart, the L.A. Weekly, and the lies that liars tell

A friend of mine in Los Angeles has just brought to my attention a scurrilous column published in the L.A. Weekly late last month, authored by Mich…

Rainbow over Çatalhöyük

The archaeology team working at 9500 year old Neolithic Çatalhöyük, one of the largest early farming sites ever investigated, has shown up and begun …

Obama and the head scarf

Barack Obama said many important and interesting things in his Cairo speech today, and here is one comment I especially appreciated: ... it is import…

Jared Diamond and the New Yorker: Columbia Journalism Review weighs in

Last week I previewed my Science story about the $10 million lawsuit against Jared Diamond and the New Yorker by two men from Papua New Guinea who …

'Vengeance' Bites Back at Jared Diamond

That's the title of my three-page News Focus in this week's issue of Science , about the lawsuit filed last month by two men from Papua New G…