The Truth about Machiavelli
This fascinating book represents the distillation of a lifetime of scholarly thought on Machiavelli. The author is Prof. Harvey C. Mansfield of Harvard University, the pre-eminent American political philosopher of…
GRAND HOTEL: The Musical
For those of you who have a vivid memory of 1932, you will recall the Academy award for Best Picture went to Grand Hotel. Produced by MGM, it was the…
‘Degenerate’ German Art at the Kimbell
An extraordinary loan of early 20th century art from the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin is now on view at the Kimbell Art Museum in Ft. Worth. This is actually the…
Madame Butterfly and a New Beginning for Austin Opera
The old war-horse Madame Butterfly was recently restaged by Austin Opera in a thoroughly enjoyable performance. Ever since its debut in 1904, it has become a canonical opera, likely seen…
Gay Men’s Chorus of Austin: A new level of professionalism
With the appointment of a new Artistic Director, and a new Executive Director, Austin Gay Men’s Chorus is stepping up to a new level of professionalism. They filled the stage…
Beautiful, Wonderful, Deep Mathematics
Image: Eratosthenes teaching in Alexandria “I would plead for more attention to the history of mathematics. It seems to me to be extremely desirable, if not actually indispensable, for entering…
When MONSTROSITY DEFINED HUMANITY
While this is a fine synthesis of the ancient Greek experience, it must be said that there is little ‘new’ in this book by Jennifer Roberts. The target audience is…
Natural Philosophy at Oxford University
Image: Sir John Ball, Sedleian Professor from 1996-2019 For the past 400 years, Oxford University has had an endowed chair of natural philosophy. It began in 1621, due to a…
PATRICK CHURCH on Art and Fashion
Ask any fashionista to name the top three young fashion designers, and one name will appear for sure: Patrick Church. Patrick granted me an interview last week, and let me…
NASA in Supersonic Race with China
NASA is pinning its supersonic hopes on the X-59, and a discussion about it was a featured session at SXSW in Austin. On hand were NASA’s lead pilot of the…