What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Shadow over Innsmouth’

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Updated 10 April 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Shadow over Innsmouth’

Author: H.P. Lovecraft

“The Shadow over Innsmouth” is one of H.P. Lovecraft’s most popular and influential stories, first published in 1936. It follows the narrator, a student on a rambling tour of New England, who stumbles upon the mysterious town of Innsmouth in Massachusetts.

The town of Innsmouth is shrouded in secrecy and strange rumors. The narrator becomes increasingly curious about the town’s dark history and the peculiar appearance of its inhabitants.

As the narrator digs deeper, he discovers a connection between his own family and the sinister activities of Innsmouth. He becomes entangled in a web of conspiracy, horror, and forbidden knowledge.

Eventually, he finds himself pursued by the inhabitants of Innsmouth, who are determined to keep their secrets hidden.

“The Shadow over Innsmouth” is notable for its themes of forbidden knowledge, cosmic horror, and the idea of hidden, ancient races lurking beneath the surface of our world.

It is often considered a significant contribution to Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, a shared fictional universe featuring ancient deities, forbidden texts, and otherworldly horrors.

Lovecraft was an American writer who developed cosmic tales as a weird, horror fiction literary genre.

His works have profoundly impacted subsequent generations of writers, and his creations, such as the Cthulhu Mythos, have become iconic within the genre.

Lovecraft’s works were not widely recognized during his lifetime, and he primarily published his stories in pulp magazines.

After his death, his writing gained more recognition and a dedicated following.

Other notable works of his are “The Call of Cthulhu,” “At the Mountains of Madness,” and “The Dunwich Horror.”

Lovecraft’s stories continue to captivate readers with their atmospheric descriptions, intricate mythologies, and the sense of cosmic dread they evoke.

 

 


What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Spike’ by Mark Humphries

Updated 17 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Spike’ by Mark Humphries

We see the last cookie in the box and think, can I take that? We reach a hand out. In the 2.1 seconds that this impulse travels through our brain, billions of neurons communicate with one another, sending blips of voltage through our sensory and motor regions.

Neuroscientists call these blips “spikes.” Spikes enable us to do everything: talk, eat, run, see, plan, and decide. In “The Spike,” Mark Humphries takes readers on the epic journey of a spike through a single, brief reaction.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘Lost Souls’ by Sheila Fitzpatrick

Updated 16 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Lost Souls’ by Sheila Fitzpatrick

When World War II ended, about 1 million people whom the Soviet Union claimed as its citizens were outside the borders of the USSR, mostly in the Western-occupied zones of Germany and Austria.

These “displaced persons,” or DPs—Russians, prewar Soviet citizens, and people from West Ukraine and the Baltic states forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1939—refused to repatriate to the Soviet Union despite its demands.

Thus began one of the first big conflicts of the Cold War. In “Lost Souls,” Sheila Fitzpatrick draws on new archival research, including Soviet interviews with hundreds of DPs, to offer a vivid account of this crisis, from the competitive maneuverings of politicians and diplomats to the everyday lives of DPs.


What We Are Reading Today: Leibniz in His World: The Making of a Savant

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Updated 15 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: Leibniz in His World: The Making of a Savant

  • Drawing on extensive correspondence by Leibniz and many leading figures of the age, Audrey Borowski paints a nuanced portrait of Leibniz in the 1670s, during his “Paris sojourn” as a young diplomat

Author: Audrey Borowski

Described by Voltaire as “perhaps a man of the most universal learning in Europe,” Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) is often portrayed as a rationalist and philosopher who was wholly detached from the worldly concerns of his fellow men. Leibniz in His World provides a groundbreaking reassessment of Leibniz, telling the story of his trials and tribulations as an aspiring scientist and courtier navigating the learned and courtly circles of early modern Europe and the Republic of Letters.

Drawing on extensive correspondence by Leibniz and many leading figures of the age, Audrey Borowski paints a nuanced portrait of Leibniz in the 1670s, during his “Paris sojourn” as a young diplomat and in Germany at the court of Duke Johann Friedrich of Hanover. She challenges the image of Leibniz as an isolated genius, revealing instead a man of multiple identities whose thought was shaped by a deep engagement with the social and intellectual milieus of his time. Borowski shows us Leibniz as he was known to his contemporaries, enabling us to rediscover him as an enigmatic young man who was complex and all too human.

 

 


What We Are Reading Today: Henry V by Dan Jones

Updated 14 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: Henry V by Dan Jones

Dan Jones’ “Henry V” examines the life and leadership of England’s greatest medieval king.
In 1413, when Henry V ascended to the English throne, his kingdom was hopelessly torn apart by political faction but in less than ten years, he turns it all around. By common consensus in his day, and for hundreds of years afterward, Henry was the greatest medieval king that ever lived.
A historical titan, Henry V transcends the Middle Ages which produced him, and his life story has much to teach us today.

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Following the Bend’ by Ellen Wohl

Updated 13 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Following the Bend’ by Ellen Wohl

When we look at a river, either up close or while flying over a river valley, what are we really seeing?

“Following the Bend” takes readers on a majestic journey by water to find answers, along the way shedding light on the key concepts of modern river science, from hydrology and water chemistry to stream and wetland ecology.

In this accessible and uniquely personal book, Ellen Wohl explains how to “read” a river, blending the latest science with her own personal experiences as a geologist and naturalist who has worked on rivers for more than three decades.