John Baker’s Blog

Jonah Lehrer at The Boston Globe describes recent experiments into the nature of expectation, looking at research into people’s experiences of wine, medication, motor cars and a host of other products. Fascinating studies.
The human brain, research suggests, isn’t built for objectivity. The brain doesn’t passively take in perceptions. Rather, brain regions involved in developing expectations [...]

In Robert Browning’s Fra Lippo Lippi, the following lines occur:
But, mind you, when a boy starves in the streets
Eight years together, as my fortune was,
Watching folk’s faces to know who will fling
The bit of half-stripped grape-bunch he desires,
And who will curse or kick him for his pains,–
Which gentleman processional and fine,
Holding a candle [...]

Kitty Wellington, the depressed and unhinged narrator of Clare Morrall’s novel, has a strong and compelling voice. She is a woman pursued by demons, fuelled by the loss of her mother and her own baby. She inhabits a reality which most of us are spared but which, nevertheless, is instantly and unmistakably, recognisable.
As she [...]

I have to smile at the popular images of community living, as depicted in film and television. These often show groups of naïve young people being manipulated by a cynical older man. There is usually some form of exploitation going on, drugs or mind-zapping religious theories, and we are led to believe that most of [...]