Inception

Christopher Nolan's Inception is a film which seems to have been dividing opinions this summer.  Fashionably late as always, the Bee takes a gander.  Our reviewer is Rhys Jones. The idea that drives Inception is the concept of the invasion of dreams. Invading the dreams of their victims, 'extractors' are able to glean precious secrets from the subject. Dom Cobb is such a man, and ...

Citizen Science

By Andrew Gorton I think there is a tendency now that when the 'S' word is mentioned, the image that is conjured up in most people's minds is of huge, barely comprehensible projects such as the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the Human Genome Project and the like.  There is a very human tendency for non-scientifically literate minds to go blank, or sometimes seize up with panic ...

Mr Levett's Scottish Tour, Part Five: Whisky Galore.

After Culloden, we stopped by Inverness for a mediocre fish and chips by the coach station, and on to the Black Isle (which is a green peninsula), past the seemingly endless fence of a cattle show, spying oil rigs out in the Moray Firth in the slanting rain. At Cromarty town we watched tugs escort an oil tanker out from the deep water terminal, and made a six-pointed trace italienne sandcastle with ...

Confessions of a One-Off Archaeologist: Part II

Alex Keller has been busy launching his first novel since he regaled the Bee with the first installment of his archaeological adventures.  Now he's back with the second installment...   Life in Bulgaria wasn't all digging however. Around two o'clock each day, we would pack up our things and be taken back to Nikyup in a state of near exhaustion. Once arrived, we would slump into the ...

Ten Ancient Civilizations...

Debbie Owen has alerted the Bee to this useful round-up of Ten Ancient Civilisations That Were Incredibly Advanced on Online Doctorate Degree. Click HERE to read the article ...

Books with bite: the rise of dark romance for teens

By Caroline Short As a bookseller I am sick to death of ill-written vampire fiction for teenage girls. Half of our Young Adult department is now black-spined and dedicated to the outrageously beautiful boys and girls who matriculate together, drink one another's blood and live in a heightened state of emotional and sexual arousal. Sexual awareness, death and violence have always been interconnected ...

The Godfather of Sail

Philip Reeve explains why you should set a course for wherever books are sold and stock up on the novels of Patrick O'Brian. "Why are you both reading Patrick O'Brian?" asked my son Sam the other day, spotting that his mother is reading Master and Commander for about the third time while I'm on The Ionian Mission for what must be the fifth.  It's a reasonable question, and one which ...

Mr Levett's Scottish Tour: Part Four: Culloden

Jeremy Levett and family continue their perambulations through bonny Scotland, arriving this week at the field of Culloden where, on the 16th April 1746 the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart was defeated by Government forces.  (All images in this post are taken from the visitor centre website. ) The visitor centre at Culloden had clearly had a lot of effort put ...

Mrs Tinne’s Wardrobe

Natalie Crawford reminds us that they also serve who only go and shop... As we remember the brave fighters of 1940’s Battle of Britain, I am put in mind of all the various war era heroes that go unsung. There were so many spectacular acts of bravery and kindness by every day people during both wars and the depression in between, that they are too numerous to count. Of course on occasions such as ...