Books reviewed on 30 June 2017:
A Horse Walks into a Bar by David Grossman. Published by Jonathan Cape. 196 pages.
Winner of the 2017 Man Booker International Prize. Israeli author Grossman writes the tragic yet redemptive story of an Israeli comedian, Dovaleh G, a past-his-prime comic who falls apart in his show in a Netanya nightclub. Literature of the highest quality.
The Devil and Webster by Jean Hanff Korelitz. Published by Faber and Faber. 356 pages.
Naomi Roth is the first female and Jewish president of Webster College, a New England liberal arts college. A vague student protest that begins on campus unsettles and challenges every aspect of the university with comic and thought provoking consequences.
How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett. Published by Macmillan. 410 pages.
Most scientists believe that emotions come from specific parts of the brain and that we feel them whenever they are triggered by the world around us. Lisa Feldman Barrett draws on the latest scientific evidence to challenge these assumptions. This is a brilliant and original book on the science of emotions.
The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone by Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach. Published by Macmillan. 294 pages.
In this book the two authors show that to function, individuals rely not only on knowledge that is stored in their brains but also on knowledge stored elsewhere , increasingly with other people. The process of human thought is miraculously impressive but this book demonstrates that at its deepest level it never truly belongs to any individual alone.
Wonderful Feels Like This by Sara Lövestam. Published by Allen & Unwin. 305 pages.
A celebration of being a bit odd, finding your people and the power of music to connect us
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