A Don's Life by Mary Beard
Mary Beard, the prominent Classicist and always-provocative and insightful writer, has turned her blog, A Don's Life , which is associated with the London Times, into a book . The book reprints some selected posts, as well as including quite a few comments (and I think that debate actually makes the book). It also has an essay, by yours truly, on the nature of blogging -- and why I am a convert to the genre, despite many initial misgivings about dumbing down etc etc. I hope you'll like it. This of course raises a publication question: why would anyone buy the book if they could just look at her blog for free? Nonetheless, it sounds very intriguing: I'd like to think that anyone planning to apply to a so-called "elite" university would find some reassurance here: Oxbridge interviews really aren't as mad as they are made out to be, and you'll find some useful reflections from someone on the "wrong" side of the interview in the book. You'll also...