John Baker’s Blog

Neoteny. The retention by adults within a species of traits previously seen only in juveniles.
We have a shifting perception of neoteny at the present time. It was traditionally seen as a sign of weakness, immaturity. Someone who had, for whatever reason, failed to grow up.
Humans have tinkered with the development of other species for millennia, [...]

I’m expecting a raid. When the police come to my house, they’ll find a shelf full of books glorifying terrorism. In The Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla, by Carlos Marighella, they’ll find detailed instructions on waging war against the state. Among the Red Army Faction communiques they’ll find statements like this: “Either a pig or [...]

There’s a sentence in my notebook which says: Mind and imagination are crippled by notion, conviction and opinion.
Sounds like a quote but it came to me one night while I was sleeping. I woke with the words in my head. They weren’t quite arranged in that way when I first heard them. I wrestled for [...]

The Kenyon Review has an interesting piece on Politics and Literature and attempts to place Salman Rushdie’s most controversial novel in context:
Virtually all recent accounts of the Rushdie affair contain a note of impatience about the book at the center of the controversy: important, yes, but do we really have to read it? [...]