Sunday Notes

Leonardo Da Vinci's"The Last Supper" went online yesterday at 16 billion pixels –"1,600 times stronger than the images taken with the typical 10 million pixel digital camera." You should be able to see it as if you were standing only inches away. NYT report.

Louis Bayard,"It's Alive!" Washington Post, 28 October, reviews Susan Tyler Hitchcock's Frankenstein: A Cultural History.

Today, NYTBR's"Music Issue" features reviews of books on 20th century music: Alex Ross's The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century; Eric Clapton's Clapton: The Autobiography; Pattie Boyd's Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me; Oliver Sacks's Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain; and Jonathan Gould's Can't Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America.

Mark Grief,"Black and White Life," LRB, 1 November, reviews Arnold Rampersad's Ralph Ellison: A Biography.

On the free speech front last week, David Horowitz was shouted down and prevented from speaking Wednesday at Emory University and British Nationalist, Nick Griffin, was shouted down and prevented from speaking Friday at Michigan State University.

Jonathan Yardley,"America has a persuadable center, but neither party appeals to it," Washington Post, 28 October, reviews Ronald Brownstein's The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partisanship Has Polarized and Paralyzed America.

In Richard Schweder,"A True Culture War," Washington Post, 27 October, a thoughtful anthropologist considers the appropriate role for anthropologists regarding American troops on unfamiliar territory. Thanks to Manan Ahmed for the tip.