Things Noted Here and There

William Lee Miller,"The Mournful Giant," Washington Post, 2 October, reviews Joshua Wolf Shenk's new book, Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness. Thanks to Manan Ahmed for the tip.

Crooked Timber's Henry Farrell publishes"The Blogosphere as a Carnival of Ideas" in the CHE, 7 October. TLS editor, Sir Peter Stothard, has launched a blog at Times Online with a strong historical interest. His first posts are on the color blue since the middle ages, the sexual activity of Spartan women, Lord Nelson, and statue-tipping. Thanks to Patrick Belton at Oxblog for the tip. Scott McLemee has a new column,"Omnivore," at TPM Online. One of his heroes, Joseph McCabe, is its first subject.

Daniel Kennefick,"Einstein versus the Physical Review," Physics Today Online, 3 October, is a fascinating tale about Albert Einstein and peer review. Thanks to Sam Shaw at Historiblogography for the tip.

Kim Sengupta,"Iraq War Delayed Katrina Relief Effort, Inquiry Finds," Independent, 3 October, reports the findings of an independent inquiry commissioned by the Secretary of Defense.

Jonathan Alter,"Tom DeLay's House of Shame," Newsweek, 10 October, sketches a devastating picture of what DeLay's leadership has done to the House of Representatives. Thanks to Kevin Drum at Political Animal for the tip. [ ... ]

On the science fiction front, M. G. Lord,"Heinlein's Female Troubles," New York Times, 2 October, takes note of a conference on Robert Heinlein's work and Ben Brumfeld at Horizon comments on it. Mr. Sun! calls attention to China Mieville's"Fifty Fantasy & Science Fiction Works That Socialists Should Read," Fantastic Metropolis, 23 January 2002.