BOOK AND PODCAST REVIEWS - NON-FICTION

Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism (1992) Peter H. Marshall   Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction (2004) Colin Ward   The Coming Insurrection (2007) The Invisible Committee   Peter Marshall's Demanding the Impossible is a substantial and worthy account of the history of anarchism, largely built around review chapters of prominent figures and historical reviews of anarchism in action. It takes a broad view by including writers and thinkers who might better or equally be considered liberal or libertarian, although Marshall is always at pains to show their differences from classical anarchist thought. It has to be said that it can be a little dull at times. There is also a lack of a sustained overview, something that would give us a better idea of what it all may mean. It was also written in or around 1991/2 so the 'action' (such as it is) takes place at one of the low points in anarchist history - a quarter of a century after the collapse of the st...

Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older: How Memory Shapes Our Past (2001) Douwe Draaisma Teach Yourself Jung (2005 ) Ruth Snowden 50 Psychology Classics (2006) Tom Butler-Bowdon 50 Psychology Ideas You Really Need To Know (2008)  Adrian Furnham Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older is a set of connected but discrete essays opening up a relatively new area for psychology - autobiographical memory. It should be of great value to creative writers. Draaisma (Professor of the History of Psychology at Groningen Unversity) is not afraid to go beyond science into literature in order to demonstrate a point. It is well worth reading if you are interested in how you see the world yourself and why you might do so. It also respects subjectivity in a way that one hopes others, with equal communications skills, will develop.     Teach Yourself Jung is a good basic introduction to Jung's life and thinking. It can be recommended, although Frieda Fordham's 1953 classic text approved by ...

Phaidon Colour Library Picasso (1971) Roland Penrose   Max Ernst (1979) Ian Turpin   Surrealist Painting (1982) Simon Wilson   Pop Art ((1996) Jamie James    Chagall (1998) Gill Polonsky   Taschen   Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973: Genius of the Century (2000) Ingo F. Walther   Surrealism (2004)  Cathrin Klingsohr-Leroy   Abstract Expressionism (2005) Barbara Hess  The Phaidon Colour Library is a remarkably cheap if old-fashioned set of full colour guides to the great artists and to some of the schools of art that make up the canon. Three particular choice from three successive decades are Roland Penrose on Picasso, Simon Wilson on Surrealism and Jamie James on Pop Art.  The Phaidon Guide to Picasso (48 pages) is, unfortunately, somewhat hagiographic because the extensive Introduction is by his friend, the surrealist painter Roland Penrose. At this time, Picasso's post-war work was not being widely appreciated by critics (wit...