ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review Synthetic Sincerity, Our Hero, Balthazar, Heartstopper Forever, and A Year In London
Capitalism and the planet – analysis reqd.
RICHARD MURGATROYD is disappointed by an ambitious survey that fails to get to grips with the relationship between human consciousness and nature
PROFIT BEFORE HUMANITY: Female pigs used for breeding - 'breeding sows' are confined most of their lives in 'gestation crates' which are so small that they cannot even turn around. The pigs' basic needs are denied, and they experience severe physical and psychological disorders
[Farm Sanctuary/flickr/CC]
KEITH RICHMOND relishes a superbly conceived modern version of Aeschylus’ drama of murderous family succession
MICHAL BONCZA recommends a minimalist installation that prompts intriguing connotations
FIONA O’CONNOR questions the achievement of this year’s Orwell prize winner for political fiction
LEO BOIX reviews two powerful Latin American novels in which myth and crime fiction expose the deadly consequences of patriarchy, clandestine abortion and state violence
New releases from Laura Veirs, The Waterboys, and Yard Act
Ron's rages are sincere and — according to his wife — healthily cathartic. But can these splenetic outbursts loosen the grip of capitalism at its most monstrous?
Living on Earth: Life, Consciousness and The Making of the Natural World
Peter Godfrey-Smith
A CLIMATE emergency, species extinction, habitat destruction... all largely driven by human actions and choices. Why has our impact become so destructive? Logically, consciousness – whether human or animal – plays an important part.
The author begins with fundamentals. He charts the rise of life from the simplest chemical processes 3.8 billion years ago to the present. The emphasis is on the role evolution played within a unified, complex, ever-changing ecosystem. Shifts in climate are decisive, but living creatures also change their environments simply by living. No species in the long history of life on Earth has proved so dynamic as us.
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