A friend of mine visited England a few years ago. Playing darts and drinking pints with the locals in a pub, the "yank" found himself on the receiving end of a constant stream of harassment. Though generally good-natured, the comments finally exceeded his limit. When it came time to tally his score, he announced "...and eight more, that makes ... 1776!" The uproar that followed clearly demonstrated that everyone caught his reference. It would seem that 1776 was a year long-remembered on both sides of the Atlantic. David McCullough's latest book explains why.

• Posted by cmcurtin
• Published: 2006-07-03

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After eighteen years in education, Waller R. Newell raised a question. The question itself sounds simple enough but it is one whose answer is surprisingly elusive. A strictly biological answer seems to beg the question: technically accurate but superficial -- completely devoid of insight. It cannot easily be dismissed, for it is too close to who we are, not just as individuals but as a species. What is a man?

• Posted by cmcurtin
• Published: 2006-06-26

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In July 1799 Napoleon's armies were battling Ottoman soldiers in northern Africa. Expecting an attack on their position in Rosetta, the French headed to Borg Rashid (the tower of Rosetta) a dilapidated fifteenth-century fortress. A young scientist and French officer, Lieutenant Pierre François Xavier Bouchard discovered there a dark stone about three feet in height. One of its sides was highly polished and had etched upon it a message in three scripts. With this scene, Solé and Valbelle begin their account of the Rosetta Stone.

• Posted by cmcurtin
• Published: 2006-06-05

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Pale Fire is like no other novel that I have read. Strictly speaking, Pale Fire is a poem of 999 lines, presented in four cantos. In a Foreword written by Charles Kinbote we are introduced to this form and given some details about Pale Fire's author, John Francis Shade. The majority of this volume is Dr. Kinbote's commentary, published after the conclusion of the poem.

• Posted by cmcurtin
• Published: 2006-05-29

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Arthur & George is the story of two boys who came of age in late Victorian England. One became a celebrity author; the other, a humble solicitor whose claim to fame should have been a treatise on railway law. We follow their lives from early childhood to the end, experiencing life with them in a time and place far removed from the western world in the twenty-first century.

• Posted by cmcurtin
• Published: 2006-04-17

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I'm fascinated by the process of picking up books, leafing through them, and deciding which ones to take home. The Thurber House had a book sale not long ago. I went, walked through, and found Andrei Codrescu's recent novel, Wakefield. I read the opening lines, flipped through a few pages, smiled, and moved along, still holding the book; this was one to take home.

• Posted by cmcurtin
• Published: 2006-01-30

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No Such Agency. Never Say Anything. Depending on whom you ask, these are words behind the abbreviation NSA. Some twenty-two years ago, James Bamford put the puzzle together and presented us with the first comprehensive look into the National Security Agency.

• Posted by cmcurtin
• Published: 2006-01-16

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Benson Bobrick masterfully tells the story of how the Bible became readily available in the native tongue of millions of people in the English-speaking world and how thus engaging the minds of the laity broke the stranglehold of power held by the cartel of Church and State.

• Posted by cmcurtin
• Published: 2006-01-02

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• (1)

Throughout much of human history, leaders of nations were the children of leaders of nations. Nearly 230 years ago, a radical notion was advanced in a document that would help to form a new republic: that all men are created equal. Many of those American colonists who declared themselves independent of their king wanted not only to limit the power of the executive but to be sure that they had the ability to choose who that executive would be, rather than to have it pass from father to son. Thus, "only three of the first eight presidents produced potential successors, [and] only three of those sons were considered presidential timber." Two of them were named Adams, and one of them would actually become president.

• Posted by cmcurtin
• Published: 2005-10-24

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Since sometime in the spring of this year, the Wall Street Journal has been carrying a notice that it would be publishing a new edition each Saturday starting in the fall. The edition is a welcome addition to my weekend tradition.

• Posted by cmcurtin
• Published: 2005-09-26

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Dorothy Parker was one of the great American wits of the past century, always ready to engage in wordplay. Once challenged to construct a sentence with the word "horticulture," she reportedly responded without hesitation, "You can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think."

• Posted by cmcurtin
• Published: 2005-07-18

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In 1994, Russian author Viktor Pelevin first published his commentary on Russian society after perestroika and even after the fall of the Soviet Union. While many reviewers focus on the unique Russian character of Жизнь Насекомых [The Life of Insects], I was struck by its quality as an allegorical commentary on Russian society. While obvious comparisons to certain Russian masters like Chekhov and Turgenev seems inevitable, I thought more of the allegories and social commentaries of authors such as Zamyatin, Nabokov, and even Orwell. I read a 1996 translation into English by Andrew Bromfield.

• Posted by cmcurtin
• Published: 2005-07-11

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"We intend to begin on the first of February unrestricted submarine warfare. We shall endeavor in spite of this to keep the USA neutral. In the event of this not succeeding, we make Mexico a proposal of alliance on the following terms: Make war together. Make peace together. Generous financial support and an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The settlement in detail is left to you. You will inform the President [of Mexico] of the above most secretly, as soon as the outbreak of war with the USA is certain and add the suggestion that he should on his own initiative invite Japan to immediate adherence and at the same time mediate between Japan and ourselves. Please call the President's attention to the fact that the ruthless employment of our submarines now offers the prospect of compelling England in a few months to make peace."

• Posted by cmcurtin
• Published: 2005-07-04

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A 2005 consideration of Lawrence Lessig's 1999 Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, with reflections on my own work and where we're headed.

• Posted by cmcurtin
• Published: 2005-06-20

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I recently encountered a genre of short stories, defined by their severe limitations in length. Can a real short story actually be packed into 250 words? How about fifty-five words?

• Posted by cmcurtin
• Published: 2005-06-13

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Seventy-five years ago, San Francisco private detective Sam Spade took a case from Brigid O'Shaughnessy, a seductive redhead in a lot of trouble. Something to do with the mob, she says. Spade is no erudite master of elaborate theoretical puzzles constructed by others. He's a regular tough guy who knows how to take care of himself while tracking facts to whatever conclusion they lead.

• Posted by cmcurtin
• Published: 2005-05-30

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I found the place by accident; I always do. It isn't as though I set out looking for them but they call out to me. I don't even have to see them. Sometimes I can simply sense their presence. The closer I draw, the greater their insistence, the more persuasive their arguments, and the stronger the attraction. A good bookstore is irresistible.

• Posted by cmcurtin
• Published: 2005-05-09

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"In the year 2010, computers are the new superpowers. Those who control them, control the world. To enforce the Net Laws, Congress creates the ultimate computer security agency within the FBI: Net Force."

• Posted by cmcurtin
• Published: 2005-03-21

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Internet resources related to the crack of a message encrypted with the Data Encryption Standard.

• Posted by cmcurtin
• Published: 2005-02-07

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MIT and games go way back, with folklore that includes famous "hacks" to the research into how to make computers play games well. That the story of a team who beat blackjack and walked away with millions of dollars of the casinos' money -- all perfectly legally -- originates from MIT seems somehow apropos.

• Posted by cmcurtin
• Published: 2005-01-31

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