Calum Morrell

The first SNJO release. A promise of what is to come?

In the last 5 minutes I’ve just been told “An orchestra of Scotsmen with jazz… tehehehehe” when mentioning this CD. Well, if you are going to judge by any other than means than listening to it, you are missing out. This is a phenomenal performance by the SNJO and Ingrid Jensen. From hard, fast, heavy movements to the subtle delicacies of slower pieces, the album just flows from start to finish. I tend to prefer live Jazz to studio albums and this one just reinforces my feelings. The sound quality is excellent with little being lost in depth or quality, so congratulations to the sound engineers. (more…)

As a very short introduction to philosophy, this is a short book around a hundred pages with fairly large text and fractionally under A5 in physical size. Nagel runs through a light hearted yet informative range of core issues fundamental to philosophy, his humour coming through and allowing an easier read than some of the other short introduction style texts for the area. I would consider that most people should be able to work their way through the book with relative ease as Nagel tends to be clear, concise and, importantly, brief while discussing each topic while only occasionally providing a more in depth discussion where necessary.

The core areas he covers in order are How do we know anything?, Other minds, The Mind-body problem, The meaning of words, Free will, Right and wrong, Justice, Death and finally The meaning of life. It would be far too easy to make (bad) jokes at this point, but I shall display unusual restraint. Don’t think I’m going to be making a habit of it. (more…)

Alain de Botton is one of those names I’ve been aware of for a few years now, have noted the TV series and the book tie-ins (or so I thought) but have never paid attention to. This changed after I saw him appear either on a celebrity quiz show or some political program and I realised I enjoyed his style.

A few weeks later I found myself in a branch of Borders waiting for my brother as he hunted for a book. Becoming bored, I began to browse idly in the travel section and discovered before me The Art of Travel. I picked up a copy and started to read the first chapter (my brother is not the fastest person while looking for something) and decided after a few pages to buy it. (more…)