Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published by “Steven Poole”

Four Ways of Thinking by David Sumpter review – safety in numbers?

A mathematician tries to make sense of the world through different lenses in this surprisingly original bookDepending on which source of pop-rationality you consult, there are three, five, six or more ways of thinking that need to be mastered before th...

Being Human by Lewis Dartnell review – how our biology shaped history

From ‘proactive aggression’ to our ‘predilection’ for polygamy, an engaging study of the traits that have influenced civilisation I blame Yuval Noah Harari. Since the Israeli historian’s bestselling Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind in 2011, there...

Conquest by Nina Allan review – alien invasion, coding and Bach

A science fiction story from the 50s propels this brilliantly digressive exploration into art, ecology and the psychology of conspiracy theoriesIn the future, Earth has won a gruelling war against an extraterrestrial civilisation. As a monument to huma...