Des Spence
Looking For the Magic Bullet
I have seen a lot of people die. This isn’t some machismo strutting but merely reflects the nature of being a doctor and of dealing with cancer. Emotional Americana has spawned countless tear-stained books in which celebrities share their experience of cancer; likewise, daytime TV constantly churns out real-life stories. One in Three is a different type of cancer book. It is calm, factual, beautifully written, intelligent and moving.
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The minimalist Fumio Sasaki 'confesses that as he began to purchase fewer consumer goods, his meals shrank in size. He decluttered and lost weight. Accumulation is not just an economic way of life but a form of embodiment too. Enlightenment is reduction.'
https://literaryreview.co.uk/gardens-of-emptiness
'The river’s desecration mirrors Colombia’s long history of violence: "for years we treated it like a sewer," says Ahmed, a survivor of a particularly brutal paramilitary massacre, "just like we treated each other".'
Patrick Wilcken on the Magdalena.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/troubled-waters-3
It's 'all lively and entertaining but rather too black and white. Her account of British politics and the success of the Brexit campaign verges on the cartoonish.'
@David_Goodhart on Anne Applebaum's 'Twilight on Democracy'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/a-tale-of-two-parties