A clash of two cultures
Jones’s science may be good, but his history is all over the place in No Need for Geniuses, a survey of invention and progress in the Age of the Enlightenment
Chance would be a fine thing
In his highly disturbing The Perfect Bet, Adam Kucharski reveals how global politics and economics are increasingly dictated by a system of informed gambling
Gods and monsters
Nepal’s stunning capital, having opened itself to the world, is inevitably losing some of its Shangri-La magic, according to Thomas Bell
Crossing continents
Tahmima Anam writes movingly of an arranged marriage and unfulfilled love in her tender third novel, The Bones of Grace
Women and song
Anna Beer’s account of female musicians from the ninth century to the present finds them often vilified as loose women or even witches
Escape from the hood
Ta-Nehisi Coates — a name we should all be getting to know — describes escaping the black ghetto for university life in an inspiring memoir, The Beautiful Struggle
Running the triple crown
The Czech runner’s unorthodox style — described as ‘a man wrestling an octopus on a conveyor belt’ — set 18 world records and won him the Triple Crown in 1952
Who’s who and what’s what
Jack Lynch turns up some delightful reference books from the past, including Collectible Spoons of the Third Reich and A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist
A selection of short stories
Matilda Bathurst reviews short stories by debut writers Daniele McLaughlin, Greg Jackson and Arlene Heyman — and a first volume in over 20 years from Julia O’Faolain
The gooseberry fool
The friend of Boswell and Johnson was clearly a most engaging man of letters — but, frustratingly, he remains an enigma in Norma Clarke’s Brothers of the Quill
Deluded divas
Were Florence Foster Jenkins and her fellow culprits touchingly heroic, cynically fraudulent or just plain bonkers?
Literary lap dance
Plus: at the Lyttelton Theatre, a Soviet satire becomes a smart contemporary spoof in the hands of Suhayla El-Bushra
Wings of desire
Maria Sibylla Merian transformed our understanding of insects and gave us some of the most beautiful scientific illustrations in the process
Last words
‘I still stand amazed at the power of the written word. People will tolerate almost anything but being on the wrong side of a published opinion’
Bell canto
But the conductor’s light, fleet way with the music at least allowed this element to proceed in an attractive way
Striking the wrong note
Stephen Frears’s new film fails to ask the most important and basic question: how did Florence not know she was an awful singer?
Fade to grey
Plus: some convincing sexual depravity in Tannhauser and an outstanding new double bill from the BalletBoyz at Sadler’s Wells
Service with a smile
Tom Service’s new Sunday afternoon programme The Listening Service isn’t as satisfying as Catherine Bott’s long-established series on Classic FM
That’s entertainment
Plus: Grayson Perry's new Channel 4 documentary All Man was far less banal than it looked likely to be at the start
Low life
A worker is suing the government claiming that having nothing to do at work triggered depression and epilepsy
Real life
It may need new carpets, replastering, a new kitchen and bathroom but there are no bifold doors so I’m buying it
Bridge
I’ve been practising bidding online with my friend Guy Hart in preparation for the Spring Fours in Stratford (we’ll know…
