New York Times health and science reporter Benedict Carey has had more than a few interesting stories this summer. I particularly liked his write-up about how firstborn children have higher IQs. I’m a last born, for what it’s worth. For years he’s covered the case of one J. Michael Bailey, a pscyhologist at Northwestern University. Yesterday he wrote about the academic dispute involving Bailey, the former head of the psychology department:
Billy Graham's White House chaplaincy
It’s not front-page news that Billy Graham has enjoyed varying degrees of access to every president since Harry Truman. The latest issue of Time, which publishes excerpts from the new book The Preacher and the Presidents by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy, reports some interesting new details:
Rowling dispels Christian critics
About a month ago I had lunch with tmatt, who gave me solid arguments for why the Harry Potter series were loaded with Christian themes and messages. I didn’t need much convincing since the arguments that the books were bringing children into the occult sounded a lot like the ones people used against C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, and those are some of the best books ever written.
Christopher Hitchens' infallible insults
There’s something about Christopher Hitchens that makes him a less grating personality than some of the other celebrity atheists of the moment.
Harry Potter and the Tired Story Hooks
As for me and my blogmates, we will be avoiding the media hurricane of spoilers and debates surrounding all of those Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows scans, leaks, early mailings and embargo-busters. But I will scream “Boooooooooooo!” at the Baltimore Sun for publishing the last line of its early review. No, I will not provide a link.
Death of the muggle God?
Potter disciples await high holy day
A bête noir of fundamentalist-phobics
As a Salon Premium subscriber, I recently signed on for a free 12-month subscription to Reason. I had seen the magazine on occasion in public libraries, and the subscription has been rewarding enough that I’m likely to become a paying subscriber once the free year has expired.
Wedding bell blues
I am a fool for love stories and for weddings — not enough to subscribe to Modern Bride, but enough to buy the People Extra devoted to weddings. (“Inspiring True Love Stories!” “Dogs in the Ceremony!” “Wild Theme Weddings!”) I came away from this issue of People about as saddened as I would be by a loud reception filled with people doing the White People’s Overbite.
