Spinoza

Time travellers’ tales: The Book of Records, by Madeleine Thien, reviewed

31 May 2025 9:00 am

Sheltering from a flood in a labyrinthine ‘nothing place’, Lina opens a secret door to neighbouring rooms – where she finds three revered historical figures whose life stories she shares

Plotinus and Michel de Montaigne are included in George Steiner’s broad survey. His argument that we should elevate the pursuit of disinterested knowledge over the making of money is a familar one since classical times

The same old song

18 April 2015 9:00 am

T.S. Eliot liked to recall the time he was recognised by his London taxi driver. Surprised, he told the cabbie…

David Davis vs Cicero

14 February 2015 9:00 am

The MP David Davis has lamented that the British seem to prefer laws that protect their security rather than guard…