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"Hill House": Haunted by What Might Have Been

The great nonsense of cultural relativism has been superseded by personal relativism. Values are now relative to each person. Shirley...

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Whose Mind Is It Anyway?

On the intellectual crutches that prevent us having to think. The other day I was forced to ask myself a question I never could have...

"The Fabelmans": A new recipe for old ingredients

On the ways we are formed in childhood, and how artists return to familiar places to find new ways forward. In our beginning, as T. S....

In Praise of Comic Books

On what makes comic books special, and an argument against calling them "graphic novels". When I was growing up, comic books were a major...

"Stolen Focus": Part Two

On Johann Hari's book Stolen Focus, and how the most extreme voices are dominating our public conversations. In part one of this essay, I...

"Stolen Focus": Part One

On Johann Hari's book Stolen Focus, and how a digital detox can clear up mental clutter. Read part two here. Art Of Conversation has...

The Cost of Greatness

On Damien Chazelle's Whiplash and Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day, and what both can tell us about what some will sacrifice to...