(Image Credit: http://www.penguinbooks.co.nz) In succinctly summarising the intellectual genius of John von Neumann, Hungarian Mathematician Rózsa Péter remarked: “Other mathematicians prove what they can; von Neumann proves what he wants.” Von Neumann is undisputably one of the greatest thinkers to have ever lived. His influence is so encompassing that his vision continues to shape scientific … Continue reading The Man From Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann – Ananyo Bhattacharya

Ben Ware begins his book by setting out the context and purpose plainly. On Extinction is a ‘philosophical and psychoanalytical critique of our damaged times.’  The Visiting Senior Research Fellow in Philosophy at King’s College. London then proceeds to take his readers on a dizzying journey, in the company of some outstanding thinkers. Before the … Continue reading On Extinction: Beginning Again at the End – Ben Ware

A clever mesh of contemporary and Cold-War era espionage sees a young, inexperienced but enormously talented station chief of the United States Intelligence take on forces that are remorselessly hostile, insidious, and unpredictable, in Anna Pitoniak’s edge of the seat thriller The Helsinki Affair. Amanda Cole gets a surprise and spontaneous promotion as the Station … Continue reading The helsinki affair – anna pitoniak

(Image Credit: simonandschuster.com) Frighteningly candid, refreshingly poignant, and fascinatingly alluring, In My Time of Dying is a confirmed atheist’s unrelenting search to find meaning in the mysterious workings of life and his meditations on the inevitability of death. New York Times bestselling author and winner of a Peabody Award, Sebastian Junger wrenched himself out from … Continue reading In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face to Face With the Idea of an Afterlife – Sebastian Junger

(Image Credit: Penguin Books Australia) Mirko Czentovic, by all accounts and ruminations is the most “accidental” world chess champion in the history of the game. The son of a poor South Slavonian boatman, whose modest craft had been run down one unfortunate night by a freight steamer carrying grain, Czentovic is taken in by the … Continue reading Chess – Steafan Zweig