Tag Archives: Science

Midwife, No Doc, at Grandson’s Birth

By Robin Bates | Published: February 6, 2012

My new grandson had the birth experience denied Tristram Shandy: one where a midwife was in charge.

Posted in Sterne (Lawrence) | Also tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

The Brainiest Detective and the Brain

By Robin Bates | Published: December 26, 2011

How well did Sherlock Holmes anticipate future studies of the brain? Not very well.

Posted in Doyle (Arthur Conan) | Also tagged , , | 1 Comment

Metaphors and the Brain

By Robin Bates | Published: November 16, 2010

I read a fascinating article in yesterday’s New York Times on metaphors and the brain. If I understand Robert Sapolsky’s piece correctly, the insula—which is the part of the brain that processes, say, disgust with rotten food—also processes “rotten” when it is used as a metaphor (as in “the very deep did rot” from Rime [...]

Posted in Dickinson (Emily) | Also tagged , | Comments closed

Rising Again to Dance

By Robin Bates | Published: July 18, 2010

Chidi Okoye (Nigeria)  Spiritual Sunday I refute Berkeley thus, Samuel Johnson famously said. And kicked a rock. Bishop Berkeley was the 18th century idealist philosopher who asked how we know reality is really there if we are dependent upon our senses for perceiving it. Is the rock in existence when we turn our backs? Johnson’s [...]

Posted in Clifton (Lucille), Orr (Gregory) | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments closed

  • AVAILABLE NOW!

  • Literature is as vital to our lives as food and shelter. Stories and poems help us work through the challenges we face, from everyday irritations to loneliness, heartache, and death. Literature is meant to mix it up with life. This website explores how it does so.

    Please feel free to e-mail me [rrbates (at) smcm (dot) edu]. I would be honored to hear your thoughts and questions about literature.

  • Sign up for weekly newsletter

    Your email will not be shared or sold.
    * = required field

    powered by MailChimp!

  •  Subscribe in a reader

  • Twitter Authentication data is incomplete