Arts & Literature: ‘Before And After’ – Paul Gaughin

Explore Paul Gauguin’s final manuscript

Below, you can explore Avant et après, the final manuscript of the highly influential French Post-Impressionist artist Paul Gauguin. It is available both in its original form, as well as translated.

Part-memoir and part-manifesto, Avant et après reveals important insights into Gauguin’s life, relationships and thoughts. It includes numerous drawings and monotype prints by the artist.

Avant et après is an important addition to what is already the most significant collection of works by Gauguin in the UK – joining amongst other works the masterpieces from his Tahitian period, Nevermore and Te Rerioa – and further strengthens The Courtauld’s resources for Gauguin scholarship.

Preview: New Scientist Magazine – August 20, 2022

Image

In this week’s issue: How a strange system of eight-dimensional numbers could provide the mathematical framework to describe the entire universe.

  • CULTURE – Stray review: A game that lets you live your best cat life
  • FEATURES – Octonions: The strange maths that could unite the laws of nature
  • FEATURES – The secrets in our sewers helping protect us from infectious diseases

Public Transport: Inside Tokyo’s Electric ‘Red Bus’

An electric bus service has injected a new playfulness into a borough of Tokyo in need of a revamp. We hop aboard and meet Eiji Mitooka, its creator and Japan’s foremost train designer, who explains why he puts fun at the top of his list when designing public transport. All aboard!

Read more in the June issue of the magazine: [https://monocle.com/shop/product/2155…

News: U.S.-Taiwan Trade Talks, Ukraine Strikes Back At Russia In Crimea

A.M. Edition for Aug. 18. Recent explosions at a Russian air base and an ammunition depot in Crimea have made the Russian-occupied peninsula the latest battleground in the Ukraine war.

WSJ European security correspondent James Marson explains what the attacks signal about Ukraine’s capabilities and Russia’s ability to fight the war in southern Ukraine. 

Front Page: Wall Street Journal – August 18, 2022

Image

U.S., Taiwan Set for Trade, Investment Talks This Fall

The aim is to deepen ties on a range of issues including digital trade, agriculture and trade facilitation, and comes amid fresh tensions over Taiwan between the U.S. and China.

Explosion at Mosque in Afghan Capital Leaves Multiple Casualties

The attack comes on the heels of the first anniversary of the Taliban’s takeover of the South Asian country.

Droughts: Competing With Nature For Water

Climate change is causing rising temperatures, extreme weather events and more and more drought. And, in this changing reality, everyone needs more water. Humans are competing with the natural world for water. What does this mean for biodiversity? Fewer and fewer countries still have an abundance of water. The climate crisis, overpopulation and overexploitation are the root of this global problem. And, in a warming world, everyone is using more water: people, agriculture and industry. In Germany, streams and ponds are disappearing, forests and soils are drying out. What does this mean for biodiversity? And how do people cope with drought in countries that have even less water — for example, in the USA or Mexico? What happens when our water dries up?

Preview: The Guardian Weekly – August 19, 2022

19 August Guardian Weekly

Joe Biden’s political capital is riding high after a key plank of his legislative programme came to fruition. But the US president has greeted this “hot streak” in his usual quiet fashion. For his predecessor, it was a decidedly rough week after his home was raided by the FBI, looking for official documents that Donald Trump had held on to after his presidential term had ended. The reaction was a typical explosion of rage and accusation. David Smith, our Washington bureau chief, follows this compare-and-contrast theme to see which of the two men, who at this juncture still look likely to face each other again in the 2024 presidential election, came out on top.

Read more

City Walking Tour: The West End Of London (4K)

The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city’s major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings and entertainment venues, including West End theatres, are concentrated.

The term was first used in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross.[1] The West End covers parts of the boroughs of Westminster and Camden.[2]

While the City of London is the main business and financial district in London, the West End is the main commercial and entertainment centre of the city. It is the largest central business district in the United Kingdom, comparable to Midtown Manhattan in New York City, the 8th arrondissement in Paris, Causeway Bay in Hong Kong, or Shibuya in Tokyo. It is one of the most expensive locations in the world in which to rent commercial and office space.

Cover Preview: Scientific American – September 2022

New Solutions to Black Holes, Snake Phobia and Forecasting Atmospheric Rivers

New Solutions to Black Holes, Snake Phobia and Forecasting Atmospheric Rivers

These fun stories show progress from the scale of quantum effects to that of snakes and from Earth to the edge of the universe

Monkeypox Explained: Transmission, Symptoms, Vaccines and Treatment

Tanya Lewis

AI Can Help Indigenous People Protect Biodiversity

Wai Chee Dimock

CLIMATE CHANGE

What Megafires Can Teach Us about California Megafloods

Chelsea Harvey and E&E News

Previews: Times Literary Supplement – Aug 19, 2022

Image

The summer double issue of The Times Literary Supplement @TheTLS , featuring @YsendaMG on the British abroad; @questingvole on Roald Dahl; poems by John Fuller and Simon Armitage (both titled ‘The Repair Shop’); @RebeccaSpang on cryptocurrencies; @Skye_Cleary on love – and much more

News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious