The proper purpose of being human, is to help other humans. This was AL Kennedy’s response to an audience member who had fallen ill being assisted by both audience and staff at Edinburgh’s International Book Festival. In that sentence she echoed many others. Some of the world’s greatest thinkers pass through the Festival every August and this … [Read more...] about The Politics of Kindness
EdBookFest 2018: Doctors of Philosophy and Girls of Slender Means
On the centenary of the birth of one of Scotland’s most celebrated authors it’s no surprise that Muriel Spark featured heavily in the Book Festival. The bookshop featured a table of brand new editions, the former Scottish Power Studio Tent moved out into George Street and became the Spark Theatre, and her work was at the centre of a set of events. … [Read more...] about EdBookFest 2018: Doctors of Philosophy and Girls of Slender Means
EdBookFest 2018: Maria Popova and Tania Kovats on Rachel Carson
“From the moment the rains began to fall, the lands began to be worn away and carried to the sea. It is an endless, inexorable process that has never stopped - the dissolving of the rocks, the leaching-out of their contained minerals, the carrying of the rock fragments and dissolved minerals to the ocean. And over the eons of time, the … [Read more...] about EdBookFest 2018: Maria Popova and Tania Kovats on Rachel Carson
EdBookFest 2018: Dr Michael Brooks and Rick Edwards
Dr Michael Brooks and Rick Edwards met when a mutual friend suggested they do a podcast together. Three years on their podcast Science(ish) is going strong and has resulted in a book of the same title. They work less with the science mistakes in movies but in the real science that inspired them. As they say, there are a myriad of YouTube channels, … [Read more...] about EdBookFest 2018: Dr Michael Brooks and Rick Edwards
EdBookFest 2018: Miranda Kaufmann
Dr Miranda Kaufmann was invited to this year’s book festival as part of guest selector Afua Hirsch’s series of events focusing on identities. Kaufmann’s work has focused on a period of history that seems to be a national obsession: The Tudors. Most of us can remember learning about Henry VIII and his wives in school and the period has been the … [Read more...] about EdBookFest 2018: Miranda Kaufmann
EdBookFest 2018: Gavin Francis
Gavin Francis appears to dance, quite happily, between award winning author and GP in Edinburgh’s South Side. His first two books explored travel into the Arctic and Antarctica, the second of them winning Scottish Book of the Year and landing him on four further shortlists. Adventures in Human Being came next and added a few more awards and … [Read more...] about EdBookFest 2018: Gavin Francis