![cotard mug](https://quadrant.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/cotard-mug-1.png)
The Book Value of a Flyleaf Inscription
My wife wants to tidy the house before she dies and I want to catalogue my books—not that there is any point in doing so, no one wants books these days and it is difficult (so I am told) even to give them away. Fortunately, our respective tasks are so Herculean that, on the assumption that a sense of purpose lengthens life, we have many years ahead of us.
Anthony Daniels appears in every Quadrant.
Click here to subscribe
As I range my books, I had quite forgotten the existence of many of them. The problem is that, instead of proceeding with my task, I sit down to read them, in random order as I find them. The result is that my mind resembles a minestrone, so to speak, rather than a consommé or cream soup. But this does not worry me, since I decades ago gave up the ambition of forming a smooth and coherent view of the universe. To change the metaphor to a more familiar one, I am more inclined to be a fox than a hedgehog.
There is a lot to be said for reading at random, though…
Madam: Archbishop Fisher (July-August 2024) does not resist the attacks on his church by the political, social or scientific atheists and those who insist on not being told what to do.
Aug 29 2024
6 mins
To claim Aborigines have the world's oldest continuous culture is to misunderstand the meaning of culture, which continuously changes over time and location. For a culture not to change over time would be a reproach and certainly not a cause for celebration, for it would indicate that there had been no capacity to adapt. Clearly this has not been the case
Aug 20 2024
23 mins
A friend and longtime supporter of Quadrant, Clive James sent us a poem in 2010, which we published in our December issue. Like the Taronga Park Aquarium he recalls in its 'mocked-up sandstone cave' it's not to be forgotten
Aug 16 2024
2 mins