Photograph by Steve Pyke
Reviews
I have reviewed books for the Cambridge Review, Philosophy, New Society, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Mind, Philosophical Quarterly, Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science, Journal of Philosophy, Independent, Sunday Independent, Spectator, New Statesman, New Scientist, Nature, Economist, Guardian, Times Higher Educational Supplement, Times Literary Supplement, New York Times Book Review, Evening Standard, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Toronto Globe and Mail, Prospect, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, Observer, Literary Review and the Wall Street Journal.
Some of these reviews:
Living on Earth by Peter Godfrey-Smith, Literary Review August 2024
On Giving Up by Adam Phillips , Wall Street Journal 26 April 2024
Trash Talk by Rafi Kohan, Wall Street Journal 16 December 2023
Being by Peter van Inwagen ,Times Literary Supplement 30 June 2023
I have reviewed books for the Cambridge Review, Philosophy, New Society, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Mind, Philosophical Quarterly, Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science, Journal of Philosophy, Independent, Sunday Independent, Spectator, New Statesman, New Scientist, Nature, Economist, Guardian, Times Higher Educational Supplement, Times Literary Supplement, New York Times Book Review, Evening Standard, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Toronto Globe and Mail, Prospect, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, Observer, Literary Review and the Wall Street Journal.
Some of these reviews:
Living on Earth by Peter Godfrey-Smith, Literary Review August 2024
On Giving Up by Adam Phillips , Wall Street Journal 26 April 2024
Trash Talk by Rafi Kohan, Wall Street Journal 16 December 2023
Being by Peter van Inwagen ,Times Literary Supplement 30 June 2023
Perspectival Realism by Michela Massimi, Times Literary Supplement, 12 August 2022
Vagueness and the Evolution of Consciousness by Michael Tye, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 31 July 2022
Freedom: An Impossible Reality by Raymond Tallis, Times Literary Supplement, 4 February 2022
Games People Played by Wray Vamplew, Wall Street Journal, 29 October 2021
Fans by Larry Olmsted, Wall Street Journal, 23 February 2021
Metazoa: Animal Minds and the Birth of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith, Times Literary Supplement, 4 February 2021
Vagueness and the Evolution of Consciousness by Michael Tye, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 31 July 2022
Freedom: An Impossible Reality by Raymond Tallis, Times Literary Supplement, 4 February 2022
Games People Played by Wray Vamplew, Wall Street Journal, 29 October 2021
Fans by Larry Olmsted, Wall Street Journal, 23 February 2021
Metazoa: Animal Minds and the Birth of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith, Times Literary Supplement, 4 February 2021
Physical Intelligence by Scott Grafton, Wall Street Journal, 1 February 2020
Good Sport by Thomas H. Murray, Wall Street Journal, 8 February 2018
On Form by Mike Brearley, Times Literary Supplement, 22 December 2017
What We Think About When We Think About Soccer by Simon Critchley, Wall Street Journal, 18 November 2017
From Bacteria to Bach and Back by Daniel Dennett, Times Literary Supplement, 30 June 2017
Women in Philosophy edited by Katrina Hutchison and Fiona Jenkins, Times Literary Supplement, 15 July 2015 (plus a letter Aug 7 in response to letters about the review by Kate Manne, Catherine Wilson, Paul Wallace and Amia Srinivasan)
Good Sport by Thomas H. Murray, Wall Street Journal, 8 February 2018
On Form by Mike Brearley, Times Literary Supplement, 22 December 2017
What We Think About When We Think About Soccer by Simon Critchley, Wall Street Journal, 18 November 2017
From Bacteria to Bach and Back by Daniel Dennett, Times Literary Supplement, 30 June 2017
Women in Philosophy edited by Katrina Hutchison and Fiona Jenkins, Times Literary Supplement, 15 July 2015 (plus a letter Aug 7 in response to letters about the review by Kate Manne, Catherine Wilson, Paul Wallace and Amia Srinivasan)
Frank Ramsey (1903-1930): A Sister's Memoir by Margaret Paul, Times Literary Supplement, 18 October 2013
Time Reborn by Lee Smolin, Times Literary Supplement, 13 September 2013
Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking by Daniel Dennett, Literary Review, July 2013
The Tell-Tale Brain: Unlocking the Mysteries of Human Nature by VS Ramachandran, The Independent, 4 February 2011
The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley, The Observer, 13 June 2010
The Eeerie Silence by Paul Davies, The Observer, 28 March 2010
What Darwin Got Wrong by Jerry Fodor and Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini , Prospect Magazine, 24 February 2010
Scientific Representation, and Images of Empricism by Bas van Fraassen and edited by Bradley Monton resp, Times Literary Supplemnent, 24 July 2009
Don't Sleep There Are Snakes by Daniel Everett, Indepedent, 14 November 2008
The Possibility of Knowledge by Quassim Cassam, Times Literary Supplement, 30 May 2008
Memory: An Anthology edited by Harriet Harvey Wood and A.S. Byatt, The Independent, 25 January 2008
Freedom and Neurobiology by John Searle, Times Literary Supplement, 18 January 2008
The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker, Independent, 5 October 2007
Bigger Deal: A Year on the New Poker Circuit by Anthony Holden, Times Literary Supplement, 15 June 2007
Second Nature: Brain Science and Human Knowledge by Gerald M. Edelman, Nature, 5 April 2007
Ignorance and Imagination: The Epistemic Origin of the Problem of Consciousness by Daniel Stoljar, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 15 April 2007
Moral Minds: How Nature Designed Our Universal Sense of Right and Wrong by Mark D. Hauser, Independent, 2 February 2007
The Goldilocks Enigma: Why Is the Universe Just Right for Life? by Paul Davies, Independent, 13 October 2006
The New Brain Scienes: Perils and Prospects edited by Dai Rees and Stephen Rose, Nature, 24 February 2005
The Physiology of Truth: Neuroscience and Human Knowledge by Jean-Pierre Changeux, Nature, 3 June 2004
The Genome War: How Craig Venter Tried to Capture the Code of Life and Save the World by James Shreeve, New York Times Book Review, 15 Feb 2004
Everything and More: A Compact History of ∞ by David Foster Wallace, New York Times Book Review, 16 November 2003
The Sense of Being Stared At by Rupert Sheldrake, Toronto Globe and Mail, 24 May 2003
Reference and Consciousness by John Campbell, Times Literary Supplement, 14 February 2003
Time Traveller by Michael Novacek, New York Times Book Review, 21 April 2002
Leonardo da Vinci by Sherwin B. Nuland, New York Times Book Review, 26 November 2000
Karl Popper: The Formative Years, 1902-1945 by Malachi Haim Hacohen, New York Times Book Review, 12 November 2000
The Private Life of the Brain by Susan Greenfield, Independent, 10 June 2000
Iceman: Uncovering the Life and Times of a Prehistoric Man Found in an Alpine Glacier by Brenda Fowler, New York Times Book Review, 21 May 2000
Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 by Gina Kolata, New York Times Books Review, 21 November 1999
Mind in a Physical World, and The Mysterious Flame by Jaegwon Kim and Colin McGinn resp, The Economist, 29 April 1999
I See a Voice: A Philosophical History of Language, Deafness and the Senses by Jonathan Ree, Independent, 21 February 1999
Brave New Worlds by Brian Appleyard, Independent, 20 January 1999
Phantoms in the Brain by V.S. Ramachandran and Sandra Blakeslee, New Scientist, 26 September 1998
Clones, and Clones and The Ethics of Human Cloning edited by Martha C. Nussbaum and Cass R. Sunstein, and edited by Leon R. Kass and James Q. Wilson resp, New York Times Book Review, 6 September 1998
Habitus by James Flint, Independent, 15 August 1998
The Hand by Frank R. Wilson, New York Times Book Review, 19 July 1998
Lifelines: Biology Beyond Determinism by Steven Rose, New York Times Book Review, 18 January 1998
Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point by Huw Price, Times Literary Supplement, 13 June 1997
The Origins of Virtue, and Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape by Matt Ridley and by Frans de Waal resp, New York Times Book Review, 11 May 1997
Life Itself: Exploring the Realm of the Living Cell by Boyce Rensberger, New York Times Book Review, 23 February 1997
Not Yet Home by Justin Cartwright, Times Literary Supplement, 11 October 1996
Full House: The Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin by Stephen Jay Gould, New York Times Book Review, 22 September 1996
The Conscious Mind by David Chalmers, The Times Literary Supplement, 21 June 1996
The Esquire Book of Sportswriting edited by Greg Williams, Sunday Independent, 7 January 1996
Terrors and Experts by Adam Phillips, Guardian, 3 November 1995
In Every Face I Meet by Justin Cartwright, Times Literary Supplement, 15 September 1995
Knowledge and the Mind-Body Problem, and The Myth of the Framework by Karl Popper, Times Literary Supplement, 23 June 1995
Reinventing Darwin, River out of Eden, and Darwin's Dangerous Idea by Niles Eldredge, Richard Dawkins and Daniel C. Dennett resp, New York Times Book Review, 14 May 1995
The Trouble with Science by Robin Dunbar, Sunday Independent, 26 March 1995
The Commodore by Patrick O'Brian, Sunday Independent, 15 January 1995
How the Leopard Changed its Spots: The Evolution of Complexity by Brian Goodwin, New York Times Book Review, 18 December 1994
The Astonishing Hypothesis by Francis Crick, Sunday Independent, 8 May 1994
Reason not the Breed by Henry Plotkin, Sunday Independent, 17 April 1994
Shadows of the Mind by Roger Penrose [written for a new supplement to The Economist in 1994 but not published as the supplement was never launched]
The Future Lasts a Long Time by Louis Althusser, Sunday Independent,14 November 1993
The Private Lived of Albert Einstein, and Einstein: A Life in Science by Roger Highfield and Paul Carter, and Michael White and John Gribbin, resp. Sunday Independent, c June 1993
The Love Songs of Nathan J. Swirsky by Christopher Hope, Times Literary Supplement, 11July 1993
The Diversity of Life by E. O. Wilson, New York Times Book Review, 4 October 1992
Britons by Linda Colley, Sunday Independent, 27 September 1992
Objectivity, Relativism and Truth and Essays on Heidegger and Others, Philosophical Papers vols 1 & 2 by Richard Rorty, Sunday Independent, 2 June 1991
The Space Trap by Colin McGinn, Times Literary Supplement, 10 July 1992
Get Shorty, and Stardust by Elmore Leonard and Robert B. Parker resp, Times Literary Supplement, 30 November 1990
My Traitor's Heart, and White Tribe Dreaming by Rian Malan and Marq de Villiers resp, Times Literary Supplement, 4 May 1990
Mind, Brain and the Quantum, and The Quantum Self by Michael Lockwood and Danah Zohar resp, Times Literary Supplement, 23 February 1990
Another Time by Ronald Harwood, Times Literary Supplement, 13 October 1989
Middlepost by Anthony Sher, Times Literary Supplement, 30 September 1988
Journey Continued and The Essential Gesture by Alan Paton and Nadine Gordimer resp, Times Literary Supplement, 23 September 1988
Hello and Goodbye by Athol Fugard, Times Literary Supplement, 26 August 1988
The Intentional Stance by Daniel Dennett, Times Literary Supplement, 19 August 1988
Sport in Britain and How to Win at Cricket by Tony Mason and E. M. Rose resp, Times Literary Supplement, 22 July 1988
Old Year's Eve by Peter Speyer, Times Literary Supplement, 11 December 1987
Asymmetries in Time by Paul Horwich, Times Literary Supplement, 6 November 1987
Crossing the Line, An Act of Immorality, and Kaffir Boy by Willian Finnegan, John Carr and Mark Mathabane resp, Times Literary Supplement, 27 August 1987
Epistemology and Cognition by Alvin Goldman, Times Literary Supplement, 20 March 1987
The Rationality of Induction by David Stove, Times Literary Supplement, 19 December 1986
The Social Science Encyclopedia edited by Adam Kuper and Jessica Kuper, Times Literary Supplement, 9 May 1986
Revolution in Science by I. Bernard Cohen, Times Literary Supplement, 13 September 1985
Minds, Brains and Science by John Searle,Times Literary Supplement, 14 December 1984
The Extended Phenotype by Richard Dawkins, Times Literary Supplement, 20 July 1984
The Need for Interpretation edited by Sollace Mitchell and Michael Rosen, Times Literary Supplement, 4 November 1983
Popper and After by David Stove, Times Literary Supplement, 1 July 1983
The Possibility of Naturalism by Roy Bhaskar, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, December 1982
Philosophical Papers vols 1 & 2 by Paul Feyerabend, Times Literary Supplement, 29 October 1982
Philosophical Subjects: Essays Presented to P. F. Strawson edited by Zak van Straaten, Times Literary Supplement, 19 February 1982
Theory and Evidence by Clark Glymour, Times Literary Supplement, 17 October 1980
Essays on Explanation and Understanding edited by Juha Manninen and Raimo Tuomela, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, September 1978
Time Reborn by Lee Smolin, Times Literary Supplement, 13 September 2013
Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking by Daniel Dennett, Literary Review, July 2013
The Tell-Tale Brain: Unlocking the Mysteries of Human Nature by VS Ramachandran, The Independent, 4 February 2011
The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley, The Observer, 13 June 2010
The Eeerie Silence by Paul Davies, The Observer, 28 March 2010
What Darwin Got Wrong by Jerry Fodor and Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini , Prospect Magazine, 24 February 2010
Scientific Representation, and Images of Empricism by Bas van Fraassen and edited by Bradley Monton resp, Times Literary Supplemnent, 24 July 2009
Don't Sleep There Are Snakes by Daniel Everett, Indepedent, 14 November 2008
The Possibility of Knowledge by Quassim Cassam, Times Literary Supplement, 30 May 2008
Memory: An Anthology edited by Harriet Harvey Wood and A.S. Byatt, The Independent, 25 January 2008
Freedom and Neurobiology by John Searle, Times Literary Supplement, 18 January 2008
The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker, Independent, 5 October 2007
Bigger Deal: A Year on the New Poker Circuit by Anthony Holden, Times Literary Supplement, 15 June 2007
Second Nature: Brain Science and Human Knowledge by Gerald M. Edelman, Nature, 5 April 2007
Ignorance and Imagination: The Epistemic Origin of the Problem of Consciousness by Daniel Stoljar, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 15 April 2007
Moral Minds: How Nature Designed Our Universal Sense of Right and Wrong by Mark D. Hauser, Independent, 2 February 2007
The Goldilocks Enigma: Why Is the Universe Just Right for Life? by Paul Davies, Independent, 13 October 2006
The New Brain Scienes: Perils and Prospects edited by Dai Rees and Stephen Rose, Nature, 24 February 2005
The Physiology of Truth: Neuroscience and Human Knowledge by Jean-Pierre Changeux, Nature, 3 June 2004
The Genome War: How Craig Venter Tried to Capture the Code of Life and Save the World by James Shreeve, New York Times Book Review, 15 Feb 2004
Everything and More: A Compact History of ∞ by David Foster Wallace, New York Times Book Review, 16 November 2003
The Sense of Being Stared At by Rupert Sheldrake, Toronto Globe and Mail, 24 May 2003
Reference and Consciousness by John Campbell, Times Literary Supplement, 14 February 2003
Time Traveller by Michael Novacek, New York Times Book Review, 21 April 2002
Leonardo da Vinci by Sherwin B. Nuland, New York Times Book Review, 26 November 2000
Karl Popper: The Formative Years, 1902-1945 by Malachi Haim Hacohen, New York Times Book Review, 12 November 2000
The Private Life of the Brain by Susan Greenfield, Independent, 10 June 2000
Iceman: Uncovering the Life and Times of a Prehistoric Man Found in an Alpine Glacier by Brenda Fowler, New York Times Book Review, 21 May 2000
Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 by Gina Kolata, New York Times Books Review, 21 November 1999
Mind in a Physical World, and The Mysterious Flame by Jaegwon Kim and Colin McGinn resp, The Economist, 29 April 1999
I See a Voice: A Philosophical History of Language, Deafness and the Senses by Jonathan Ree, Independent, 21 February 1999
Brave New Worlds by Brian Appleyard, Independent, 20 January 1999
Phantoms in the Brain by V.S. Ramachandran and Sandra Blakeslee, New Scientist, 26 September 1998
Clones, and Clones and The Ethics of Human Cloning edited by Martha C. Nussbaum and Cass R. Sunstein, and edited by Leon R. Kass and James Q. Wilson resp, New York Times Book Review, 6 September 1998
Habitus by James Flint, Independent, 15 August 1998
The Hand by Frank R. Wilson, New York Times Book Review, 19 July 1998
Lifelines: Biology Beyond Determinism by Steven Rose, New York Times Book Review, 18 January 1998
Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point by Huw Price, Times Literary Supplement, 13 June 1997
The Origins of Virtue, and Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape by Matt Ridley and by Frans de Waal resp, New York Times Book Review, 11 May 1997
Life Itself: Exploring the Realm of the Living Cell by Boyce Rensberger, New York Times Book Review, 23 February 1997
Not Yet Home by Justin Cartwright, Times Literary Supplement, 11 October 1996
Full House: The Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin by Stephen Jay Gould, New York Times Book Review, 22 September 1996
The Conscious Mind by David Chalmers, The Times Literary Supplement, 21 June 1996
The Esquire Book of Sportswriting edited by Greg Williams, Sunday Independent, 7 January 1996
Terrors and Experts by Adam Phillips, Guardian, 3 November 1995
In Every Face I Meet by Justin Cartwright, Times Literary Supplement, 15 September 1995
Knowledge and the Mind-Body Problem, and The Myth of the Framework by Karl Popper, Times Literary Supplement, 23 June 1995
Reinventing Darwin, River out of Eden, and Darwin's Dangerous Idea by Niles Eldredge, Richard Dawkins and Daniel C. Dennett resp, New York Times Book Review, 14 May 1995
The Trouble with Science by Robin Dunbar, Sunday Independent, 26 March 1995
The Commodore by Patrick O'Brian, Sunday Independent, 15 January 1995
How the Leopard Changed its Spots: The Evolution of Complexity by Brian Goodwin, New York Times Book Review, 18 December 1994
The Astonishing Hypothesis by Francis Crick, Sunday Independent, 8 May 1994
Reason not the Breed by Henry Plotkin, Sunday Independent, 17 April 1994
Shadows of the Mind by Roger Penrose [written for a new supplement to The Economist in 1994 but not published as the supplement was never launched]
The Future Lasts a Long Time by Louis Althusser, Sunday Independent,14 November 1993
The Private Lived of Albert Einstein, and Einstein: A Life in Science by Roger Highfield and Paul Carter, and Michael White and John Gribbin, resp. Sunday Independent, c June 1993
The Love Songs of Nathan J. Swirsky by Christopher Hope, Times Literary Supplement, 11July 1993
The Diversity of Life by E. O. Wilson, New York Times Book Review, 4 October 1992
Britons by Linda Colley, Sunday Independent, 27 September 1992
Objectivity, Relativism and Truth and Essays on Heidegger and Others, Philosophical Papers vols 1 & 2 by Richard Rorty, Sunday Independent, 2 June 1991
The Space Trap by Colin McGinn, Times Literary Supplement, 10 July 1992
Get Shorty, and Stardust by Elmore Leonard and Robert B. Parker resp, Times Literary Supplement, 30 November 1990
My Traitor's Heart, and White Tribe Dreaming by Rian Malan and Marq de Villiers resp, Times Literary Supplement, 4 May 1990
Mind, Brain and the Quantum, and The Quantum Self by Michael Lockwood and Danah Zohar resp, Times Literary Supplement, 23 February 1990
Another Time by Ronald Harwood, Times Literary Supplement, 13 October 1989
Middlepost by Anthony Sher, Times Literary Supplement, 30 September 1988
Journey Continued and The Essential Gesture by Alan Paton and Nadine Gordimer resp, Times Literary Supplement, 23 September 1988
Hello and Goodbye by Athol Fugard, Times Literary Supplement, 26 August 1988
The Intentional Stance by Daniel Dennett, Times Literary Supplement, 19 August 1988
Sport in Britain and How to Win at Cricket by Tony Mason and E. M. Rose resp, Times Literary Supplement, 22 July 1988
Old Year's Eve by Peter Speyer, Times Literary Supplement, 11 December 1987
Asymmetries in Time by Paul Horwich, Times Literary Supplement, 6 November 1987
Crossing the Line, An Act of Immorality, and Kaffir Boy by Willian Finnegan, John Carr and Mark Mathabane resp, Times Literary Supplement, 27 August 1987
Epistemology and Cognition by Alvin Goldman, Times Literary Supplement, 20 March 1987
The Rationality of Induction by David Stove, Times Literary Supplement, 19 December 1986
The Social Science Encyclopedia edited by Adam Kuper and Jessica Kuper, Times Literary Supplement, 9 May 1986
Revolution in Science by I. Bernard Cohen, Times Literary Supplement, 13 September 1985
Minds, Brains and Science by John Searle,Times Literary Supplement, 14 December 1984
The Extended Phenotype by Richard Dawkins, Times Literary Supplement, 20 July 1984
The Need for Interpretation edited by Sollace Mitchell and Michael Rosen, Times Literary Supplement, 4 November 1983
Popper and After by David Stove, Times Literary Supplement, 1 July 1983
The Possibility of Naturalism by Roy Bhaskar, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, December 1982
Philosophical Papers vols 1 & 2 by Paul Feyerabend, Times Literary Supplement, 29 October 1982
Philosophical Subjects: Essays Presented to P. F. Strawson edited by Zak van Straaten, Times Literary Supplement, 19 February 1982
Theory and Evidence by Clark Glymour, Times Literary Supplement, 17 October 1980
Essays on Explanation and Understanding edited by Juha Manninen and Raimo Tuomela, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, September 1978
