It was, surely, only a matter of time before someone would take Raymond Queneau’s idea of exercises in style and apply it to mathematics.
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review
Review: Oulipo and Modern Thought (Update)
If your interest in the Oulipo goes beyond simply trying out their techniques, and you wish to learn about the context in which it was conceived and the developments in went through, you will find this book very useful.
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The path to St Peter’s Church — photo by Terry Freedman
Second-hand bookshops #1
Two bookshops reviewed! “Although the place gives the impression of haphazardness, what with armchairs and stools all over the place, it is anything but.”
Read MoreReview: How words get good
This title charts what we might call the journey of a book, from the earliest shape of a story, through to cover design and blurb writing
Read MoreBook reviews the wrong way round
in Oulipo
This is the usual way of doing things. Someone writes a book, or a poem or whatever. Then (with a bit of luck) someone reviews it.
A fellow writer, Nathan, and I decided to do it the other way around. He wrote a review of something I hadn’t written yet. Then I wrote it!
Read MoreReview: Sentence models for creative writing By Christopher Youles
Most books on creative writing tend to be less technical, at least in appearance, than ‘Sentence models’.
Read MoreReview: The Written World and the Unwritten World: Collected Non-fiction, by Italo Calvino
Some of the essay topics may be a little dated – the failure of the Italian novel being one – but such is the clarity and variety of his work that the actual subject matter starts to feel immaterial.
Read MoreReview of Old Truths and New Clichés
It is bordering on the preposterous to think that a writer best known for his fiction, and who died nearly thirty years ago, has anything relevant to say to us today.
Read MoreReview: How to Teach Economics to Your Dog
You might wonder why I’ve included a review of it at all on this website, given that the target readership of the website is writers, and people thinking about writing.
Read MoreQuick looks: Oulipo and the Mathematics of Literature
in Bookshelf, Quick looks, Oulipo, Reviews
Berkman has written an interesting and very academic examination of the links between maths and literature.
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Review of How to be a writer, by Marcus Berkmann
The life of a freelance writer is one of unreliable remuneration, shifting loyalties and sudden endings, as this book makes abundantly clear.
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Click to see this book on the publisher’s website
Two reviews for the price of one! Climate Change for Dummies
in Bookshelf
I submitted my review of this book to Teach Secondary magazine, an educational magazine in the UK. The first review below is what the magazine published.
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Click to see this book on the publisher’s website
Two reviews for the price of one! Story Machines
in Bookshelf
I submitted my review of this book to Teach Secondary magazine, an educational magazine in the UK. The first review below is what the magazine published. The second one is what I actually wrote!
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Click to see this book on the publisher’s website
Two for the price of one: Reviews of No Excuses Turning around one of Britain’s toughest schools
in Bookshelf
Written mainly in the form of a diary, this is an account of how Colwell’s headship changed the culture of a community’s school.
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Please click on the cover to see this book on the publisher’s website
Two Book Reviews for the price of one! Futureproof: A Comprehensive Framework For Teaching Digital Citizenship In Schools
in Bookshelf
I submitted my review of this book to Teach Secondary magazine, an educational magazine in the UK. The first review below is what the magazine published. The second one is what I actually wrote!
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Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
Ways into advanced literary study: a review
in Reviews
For some years I’ve been considering studying for an MA in English Literature. Thus when this course came to my attention I was very interested in using it as a way of dipping my toes in the waters of academia once again.
Read MoreBook review: A Head Full of Everything: Inspiration for Teenagers With the World on Their Mind
Being a teenager is not easy.
Read MoreReview: Murder Your Darlings
The book covers language, voice, audience and other aspects of writing.
Read MoreReview: A Little Book of Language
It's always been my contention that practitioners should know as much about what they do as possible.
Read MoreReview: How to read like a writer
This is a very interesting, and useful, book. It covers a range of types of writing.
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