Book Review: Spineless
/A fascinating new book looks at the unendingly odd jellyfish - and some of the unexpected roles it plays in the 21st century world.
Read MoreBook Review: The Friendly Orange Glow
/A tremendously involving narrative history of a forgotten chapter in Internet history
Read MoreBook Review: The Dawn Watch
/A fantastic new biography of Joseph Conrad follows him around in his travels and delves into the heart of his many books.
Read MoreNorman Lebrecht's CD of the Week - Cecilia and Sol
/The present album brings together the super-mezzo Cecilia Bartoli and cellist Sol Gabetta. It is as good as it gets, until you realize that you can get too much of a good thing.
Read MoreNorman Lebrecht's Album of the Week - Late Schubert Sonatas
/Some records grab you by the ears, others take longer to impress. It is in no sense to Krystian Zimerman’s discredit that his first attempt at late Schubert took three spins on my deck before I grasped the originality of his interpretation.
Read MoreBook Review: Cartoon County
/In "Cartoon County," Vanity Fair editor Cullen Murphy recounts his famous cartoonist father's adventures during the heyday of the American pop art industry.
Read MoreBook Review: Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts
/The life stories of twelve incredible medieval manuscripts.
Read MoreBook Review: The Water Will Come
/A powerful new book covers in terrifying detail what happens to the modern world if Earth's ice caps dissolve.
Read MoreNorman Lebrecht's Album of the Week - Les Troyens
/The need for a new-gen recording of Berlioz’s epic opera Les Troyens is pressing. A new release aims for the crown and hits its mark.
Read MoreA World Apart
/The re-introduction of a wolf pack to Yellowstone National Park led to ecological changes even some naturalists didn't foresee - and gave rise to the daily dramas recounted in Nate Blakeslee's new book.
Read MoreFaience and Light
/Vermeer is the name we all know, but a new exhibition demonstrates the charm and beauty of his contemporaries in 17th-century Dutch genre painting.
Read MoreThe Atrium Effect: Museums Under Glass
/Big slabs of glass may look impressive, but they have a serious effect on our interaction with art. Museums are changing, and it isn't always a good thing.
Read MoreMan's Pest Friend
/Only one dog out of every five on Earth is somebody's pet; the rest are roamers in streets and city dumps. A fascinating new book looks at the lives of the canine majority.
Read MoreNormal Lebrecht's CD of the Week - George Martin
/This first album of George Martin's orchestral music and film scores, elegantly played by Craig Leon’s Berlin’s Music Ensemble, gives us an opportunity to see what might have been going on behind George’s determinedly bland musical façade.
Read MoreBook Review: The Collector of Lives
/Giorgio Vasari, the author of a fundamental and beloved collection of the lives of Renaissance artists, here gets a lively and readable biography of his own.
Read MoreBook Review: Grant
/Bestselling biographer Ron Chernow tells the story of famous general and infamous president Ulysses S. Grant.
Read MoreNorman Lebrecht's CD of the Week - Weiner Divertimentos
/The five Divertimentos that make up the bulk of this release date from the 1930s to 1950s and, rooted in folk dances, are determinedly upbeat. You’d never know that Hitler and Stalin were banging at the door.
Read MoreBook Review: Istanbul
/Orhan Pamuk's bestselling love letter to Istanbul receives a gorgeous new illustrated edition.
Read MoreBook Review: Tamed & Untamed
/Two beloved writers of natural history team up to tell stories about a host of animal species, from the ones in our homes to the ones in our gardens to the ones still prowling the wild.
Read MoreBook Review: Calder
/The legendary avant-garde sculptor Alexander Calder gets his very first biography, written by art critic Jed Perl
Read More
