Howard Jacobson- Man Booker Prize winner

Good for me, I haven’t read him, too… Another author for the to do list…

Howard Jacobson Wins Man Booker Prize

The Telegraph reports that Writer and broadcaster Howard Jacobson won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction for his 11th novel, The Finkler Question. Jacobson, 68, is the oldest writer to win the prize since William Golding in 1980. He overcame 10-1 odds to win the prize. Jacobson told the Telegraph that he is so tired of being described as “the underrated Howard Jacobson.” He said “the thought that this judging panel has got rid of that forever is wonderful.”

Gaming as Teaching Tool

At Educause, one technologist says the games that normally distract students from schoolwork could provide an ideal model for course design. more

Social interaction in utero?

Fascinating findings by Umberto Castiello, Cristina Becchio, Stefania Zoia,Cristian Nelini, Luisa Sartori, Laura Blason, Giuseppina D’Ottavio, Maria Bulgheroni, and  Vittorio Gallese in an article entitled: “Wired to Be Social: The Ontogeny of Human Interaction” freely available at PLOS One here.

Left: self-directed movement towards the mouth Right: the foetus “caressing” the head of the sibling.

Structuralism, Cybernetics, and Regimes of Attraction

In the after panel discussions, one of the key questions that came up was that of how I account for the work that the concept of structure is trying to do.  It was Peter Gratton that raised this important and perfectly legitimate question (both in the Q&A following my talk and in subsequent conversations throughout the remainder of the day).  If I understood Peter?s question properly, the worry here is that of how we?re to account for how certain social patterns iterate and reproduce themselves across time and geography if wen dispense with the concept of structure.