Jay Rayner has recently been recommending cookbooks. I like Jay Rayner's columns. Obviously, I’m not alone. Hesitate too long to buy his book recommendations and the price rises from pennies to hundreds of pounds. Indecision meant I missed out on the...

Recently we have seen a lot of lichen on our walks. Once beautiful green hedges are suddenly covered with a sort of green fungus. What are lichens, I asked myself?

Dawkins has an answer in his book, The Selfish Gene.

Richard Dawkins, The...

In 2021, I have three resolutions: write (and post) at least one blog post every week; buy no clothes for myself (my birthday present is being delivered today); spend no more than £30 a month on books.

‘When I had heard all the evidence, I leaned back and shut my eyes and began to think.’
Hercule Poirot
Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie

In the best detective novels, there’s always a dazzling twist at the end—Murder on the Orient ...

Newspapers thrive on human interest stories about interesting or unusual people. The story of one person’s experience makes something real. People who have shared the same experience will feel close; people who don’t have the same experience will fe...

The omniscient narrator has long been out of fashion, but research by Jonathan Leavitt and Nicholas Christenfeld has shown that reader enjoyment can be increased with spoilers. Narrators are also not all equal. Narrators in Anthony Trollope’s Bars...