Websites

Over the last few days I've been looking at the website 3 Quarks Daily (http://www.3quarksdaily.com/) and would like to recommend it.  The content is more appealing to me than that of any other site I've come across.  I am continuing to look at Berfrois (http://www.berfrois.com/), which is also very good but does not appeal to me quite as much.  Both of these sites draw content from multiple sites, which gives them an enormous advantage over sites that rely on a fixed group of writers.

3 Quarks Daily, as the name suggests, values science, but it covers the arts quite well too. There seems to be somewhat of an emphasis on Pakistani topics because of the backgrounds of some of the editors. Berfrois has a very English feel to it and reminds me of the LRB and the TLS.  So far I would say that both sites are far more interesting to read than the NYRblog.

I have to confess that, while I don't particularly enjoy reading purely scientific essays, I have reached the point of becoming nauseated by literary essays. I've had a go at engaging the literary community over the last few years, and here is my conclusion: they are frivolous people who have little of value to say. Creating art is one thing, but writing about it is usually a waste of time once you get past the basic facts.  My impression is that the literary community is guilty both of not producing much of anything that I would consider to be art and of doing almost nothing of importance to identify, draw attention to or solve any of the problems facing mankind. Collectively they are like a bunch of flakes who moved to an art colony in 1968 and never came back - except that many of them now have substantial incomes from universities, literary works, arts foundations and journalism.  Collectively I find it impossible to take them seriously.