In writing a travel and philosophy book dealing with humanity’s cultural and political evolution, in addition to physically exploring the world, it was necessary to do a lot of reading.

For those interested in world history, global society, cultural and technological evolution, the wider human project or the worldview expounded in The Jolly Pilgrim, below are a list of my key intellectual influences, in rough order of importance. Read more »

SUMMATION

The often-accepted narrative of a world in decline is inconsistent with the facts. Judging the state of humanity from first principles – that of a species of evolved, fallible apes on a rock with no rule book, making it up on the fly – is not only the most realistic way to think about human civilisation, but lends itself to a profoundly optimistic, big-picture reinterpretation of today’s social, economic and geopolitical realities. Read more »

Afternoon!

Middlesbrough Literary Festival

Doing a talk at the Middlesbrough Literary Festival, next Tuesday 19th June. Among other things, they want a reading. I was thinking ‘Wide-Angle Lens’ (starting at the bottom of page 66). Any other suggestions?

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Recent media for The Jolly Pilgrim:

The Actuarial Post - article and review

The Actuarial Post published an article about the book, along with a marvellous (and, dare I say it, insightful) review by a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. Click here to see it. Read more »

This post is off-topic from this blog’s normal subject matter, for reasons explained below.

Background

My father was a dispatch rider for the Royal Army Ordinance Corps, in Palestine, between 1946 and 1948. During that time a terrorist organisation called Irgun planted a bomb at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, which was then the headquarters of the British Army and the Palestine government. It killed 91 people. Read more »