A placebo response to Barack Obama
Three days before his inauguration, 3.4 million copies (1.7 hardcovers and 1.7 paperbacks) were sold of Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope.* Why did people buy it? What were they hoping for? What is hope and how does it work?

Julian Barnes' fear of being eaten by a crocodile
Novelist Julian Barnes has written a book about his fear of death. It is a witty book, partly due to the email exchanges between Barnes and his brother, Jonathan, who is a philosopher. The elder Barnes, with his dry and cool comments, appears the more rational of the two, whereas Julian thinks it is rational to fear death.