True Stories
Page 34
18.Harris, Waking Up, p. 81.
19.Ehrenreich, Living with a Wild God, pp. 47–8.
20.Harris, Waking Up, p. 21.
21.Barbara Ehrenreich, ‘A Rationalist’s Mystical Moment’, New York Times, 6 April 2014.
22.Since I wrote this, Catherine Fox’s three Lindchester novels have appeared, scabrous, soapily plotted, theologically serious comedies of cathedral life, proving that the village-life of religion can still be narrated in England, so long as you adopt a teasing omniscience that lets you explain everything as you go along, and offer the metaphysic on visibly take-it-or-leave-it terms.
23.Yes, I really said in 1996 that the internet was becoming less and less important. I preserve this as an example of technological prediction at its most breathtakingly clueless.
24.David Lewis, Counterfactuals (Basil Blackwell, 1973), pp. 85–6.
25.Geoffrey Hawthorn, Plausible Worlds: Possibility and Understanding in History and the Social Sciences (Cambridge University Press, 1991).
26.John Crowley, Great Work of Time, in Novelty (Doubleday, 1989), p. 113.
27.The American edition. There was only an American edition, at this time.
28.Sven Birkerts, The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age (Fawcett Columbine, 1994), pp. 100–1.
29.‘Coriolanus’, in William Hazlitt, Characters of Shakespeare’s Plays (1817).
30.Angus Wilson, The Strange Ride of Rudyard Kipling (Secker & Warburg, 1977).
31.Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book (Everyman, 1993), p. 27.
32.Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars (Bantam Spectra, 1993), Green Mars (Bantam Spectra, 1994), Blue Mars (Bantam Spectra, 1996).
33.Robert Irwin, The Arabian Nights: A Companion (Allen Lane, 1994).
34.Felix Gilman, The Half-Made World (Tor Books, 2010), pp. 127–8.
35.Elif Batuman, The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them (Granta/Macmillan, 2010).
INDEX
500cc Club (i)
750 Club (i)
1066 and All That (W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman) (i)
1982, Janine (Alasdair Gray) (i)
2312 (Kim Stanley Robinson) (i)
Abbas ibn Ali (i)
Abu Ghraib (i)
Abyssinian Baptist Church (i)
Academy of Sciences (Russia) (i)
Ada (Vladimir Nabokov) (i)
Advancement of Learning, The (Francis Bacon) (i)
Aesop (i)
Akademgorodok (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)
Akatingwah (i)
Alaska (i), (ii)
Alexander the Great (i)
Alf Layla Wa Layla (One Thousand and One Nights) (i)
Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll) (i)
Alone (Richard Byrd) (i), (ii)
Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, The (Terry Pratchett) (i), (ii)
America
bias towards American history (i)
black America (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)
Champ Cars (i)
Christianity in (i), (ii), (iii)
C.S. Lewis and (i), (ii)
Depression (i)
engineers (i), (ii)
God and markets (i)
income comparison with Soviet Union (i)
intrusion into the Arctic (i)
leafy suburbs (i)
nineteenth-century railroads (i)
public glorification (i)
science fiction (i)
Soviet love for (i)
sports culture (i)
Welsh America (i)
American Civil War (i)
American Revolution (i), (ii), (iii)
Amish (i)
Amsterdam (i)
Amundsen, Roald (i)
Analytical Engine (i), (ii)
Anathem (Neal Stephenson) (i)
Anaukaq (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)
Ancient Land, Sacred Whale (Tom Lowenstein) (i), (ii), (iii)
Andersen, Hans Christian (i), (ii)
Anglo-Saxons (i)
Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy) (i)
Anscombe, Elizabeth (i)
Antarctic, the (i), (ii)
albatrosses (i)
Antarctic Treaty (i)
cities in ice (i)
Douglas Coupland on (i)
explorers’ huts (i)
final scenes in a tent (i)
final years of competition for (i)
Flaubert’s Parrot on (i)
geology of (i)
Gondwanaland (i)
greatest of books on (i)
iceberg formation (i)
Scott (i), (ii)
Shackleton (i)
Shangri-La and (i)
Soviet Antarctic Programme (i)
The Worst Journey (i)
time perception in (i), (ii)
Antarctica (Kim Stanley Robinson) (i)
Anthony, Jason (i)
Appetite for Wonder, An (Richard Dawkins) (i)
Aquinas, Thomas (i)
Arabian Nightmare, The (Robert Irwin) (i)
Arabian Nights (i)
Arabs (i), (ii)
Arctic, the
cities in ice (i)
Estoty (i)
final years of competition for (i)
Flaubert’s Parrot on (i)
human history of (i)
‘Malcolm Mooney’s Land’ (i)
Ariane (i)
Arlington National Cemetery (i)
Armstrong, Neil (i)
‘Art as Technique’ (Viktor Shklovsky) (i)
Arthur, King (i)
Artists in Residence (i)
Asatchaq (i), (ii), (iii)
Atannauraq (i)
Attenborough, David (i)
Auden, W.H. (i)
Augustus, Emperor (i)
Autobiography (John Stuart Mill) (i)
Aviaq (i)
Awdry, Reverend W. (i)
Babbage, Charles (i)
artificial intelligence and (i)
Difference Engine and (i)
science fiction, in (i)
Science Museum’s aims (i)
world of (i)
Babel, Isaac (i)
‘Babus’ (i)
Backroom Boys (Francis Spufford) (i), (ii), (iii)
Bacon, Francis (17th century) (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)
Baden-Powell, Robert (i)
Baikonur (i)
Baker, Nicholson (i)
Balestier, Caroline (i)
Banks, Iain M. (i), (ii)
Barnes, Julian (i)
Barry, Marion (i)
Batuman, Elif (i)
Baxter, Stephen (i)
BBC (i)
BBC Micro (i)
Beardmore Glacier (i)
Beast and Man in India (Lockwood Kipling) (i), (ii)
Bengal (i)
Ben-Yehuda, Eliezer (i)
Berdsk (i)
Bergson, Henri (i)
Bering Strait (i)
Berlin (i)
Bernacchi, Louis (i), (ii)
Bible, the (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)
Big Rock Candy Mountains (i), (ii)
Birkerts, Sven (i), (ii)
Black Arrow (satellite rocket) (i), (ii)
Black–Scholes formula (i)
Blake, William (i), (ii)
Bleak House (Charles Dickens) (i)
Bliss Cottage (i)
Blitz (i)
Blue Mars (Kim Stanley Robinson) (i)
Bluford, Colonel Guion S. (i)
Bolsheviks (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)
Bond films (i)
Book of the New Sun, The (Gene Wolfe) (i)
Borchgrevink expedition (i)
Borges, Jorge Luis (i), (ii), (iii)
Bosch, Hieronymus (i)
Botton, Alain de (i)
Bova, Ben (i)
Bowers, ‘Birdie’ (i), (ii), (iii)
Brattleboro, Vermont (i)
Braun, Werner von (i), (ii)
Brendan, St (i)
Brexit (i)
Briggs, Raymond
(i)
Britain (i)
Braun and (i)
car industry (i)
Christians in (i), (ii)
engineers (i), (ii)
Formula One domination (i)
growth statistics (i)
Harold Wilson and the economy (i)
humanism in (i)
India and (i), (ii)
polar explorers (i), (ii); Scott (i), (ii), (iii); Shackleton (i)
politics moves to the right (i)
post-war industrial history (i)
relationship with the past (i), (ii)
rocket programme (i)
science fiction (i)
snow in (i)
British Antarctic Expedition (i)
British Antarctic Survey (i)
British Empire (i)
British Interplanetary Society (i)
British Legion (i)
Brixton Hill (i)
Bronx Chamber of Commerce (i)
Brunel, Isambard Kingdom (i), (ii)
Buddhism (i), (ii), (iii)
Burke, Edmund (i)
Burns, Robert (i)
Burroughs, Edgar Rice (i)
Burton, Sir Richard (i)
Butte, Montana (i)
Byrd, Richard (i)
Byron, Lady (i)
Byron, Lord (i)
Caine, Michael (i)
Cairo (i)
Calcutta (i)
California (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v)
Caligula (i)
Calvinism (i)
Cambridgeshire (i)
Cambridge University (i)
Canticle for Leibowitz, A (Walter M. Miller) (i)
Cape Adare (i)
Cape Columbia (i)
Cape Crozier (i)
Cape Evans (i), (ii)
Cape Kennedy (i)
Capra, Frank (i)
Carlyle, Thomas (i)
Carnegie Medals (i)
Carpe Jugulum (Terry Pratchett) (i)
Cassini Division (Ken MacLeod) (i)
Celts (i)
Champ Cars (i)
Chaplin, Charlie (i)
Chapman, Colin (i), (ii)
Chekhov, Anton (i)
Cheops, Great Pyramid of (i)
Cherry-Garrard, Apsley (i), (ii), (iii)
Child that Books Built, The (Francis Spufford) (i)
China (i), (ii)
Christianity (i), (ii)
America and (i), (ii), (iii)
atheism and (i)
challenge to God’s benevolence and omnipotence (i)
Christians together (i)
C.S. Lewis (i)
Dawkins on (i)
evidence, truth and belief (i)
God and (i), (ii)
hell and (i)
human soul in (i)
in defence of (i)
Islam and (i)
representations of (i)
science fiction and (i)
and story (i), (ii)
Thomas Paine (i)
Chryse Planitia (i)
Churchill, Winston (i)
CIA (i)
Clio (i), (ii)
Cockaigne, Land of (i), (ii)
Cold War (i), (ii)
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (i), (ii), (iii)
Collins, Francis (i)
Collins, Wilkie (i)
Colombia (i)
Colored Commercial Association of Chicago (i)
Colosseum (i)
Columbus, Christopher (i), (ii)
Commodore 64 (i)
Common People (Alison Light) (i)
communism (i)
Confederacy (i)
Congo, River (i)
Congress (India) (i)
Conrad, Joseph (i), (ii)
Consider Phlebas (Iain M. Banks) (i)
Cook, Dr Frederick (i), (ii)
Cooper, Charles (i), (ii)
Cooper, John (i), (ii)
Copenhagen (i)
Corbyn, Jeremy (i)
Cordingley, Patrick (i)
Cosby, Bill (i)
Cossacks (i)
Cosworth engines (i)
Counter, Dr Allen (i)
Counterfactuals (David Lewis) (i)
Coupland, Douglas (i), (ii)
Coventry Climax engines (i)
Coyne, Jerry (i), (ii)
Cromwell, Oliver (i)
Crowley, John (i), (ii)
Cuban Missile Crisis (i)
Current Digest of the Soviet Press, The (i)
Daily Worker (i)
Daniel (Bible) (i)
Dante Alighieri (i)
Dark Companion (Dr Allen Counter) (i)
Darwin, Charles (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v)
Davy, Humphrey (i)
Dawkins, Richard (i)
Appetite for Wonder, An (i)
areas of expertise (i)
errors perceived in his approach (i), (ii)
functional atheism (i)
measurement and meaning (i)
‘metaphorical Christians’ (i)
on scientists who believe (i)
religion as abstraction (i)
science, religion and evidence (i)
Day of the Owl (Leonardo Sciascia) (i)
Dealey Plaza, Dallas (i)
Debenham, Frank (i)
De Havilland Spectre (i)
Deighton, Len (i)
DeLillo, Don (i)
Demons (Fyodor Dostoevsky) (i)
Denmark (i)
Dennett, Daniel (i)
Depression, the Great (i), (ii), (iii)
De Quincey, Thomas (i)
Descartes, René (i)
Dialectics of Nature (Friedrich Engels) (i)
Dick, Philip K. (i)
Dickens, Charles (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)
Dickinson, Peter (i)
Difference Engine (i), (ii), (iii)
Difference Engine, The (William Gibson and Bruce Sterling) (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)
Dilbert (i)
Discworld (i)
Disney (i)
Disraeli, Benjamin (i), (ii)
Doré, Gustave (i)
Dostoevsky, Fyodor (i), (ii)
Dr Haggard’s Knee (Patrick McGrath) (i)
Dunnett, Dorothy (i)
Dyson, James (i)
Eagle (i), (ii)
East India Company (i)
Eckhart, Meister (i)
Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren (John Maynard Keynes) (i)
Eden, Garden of (i)
Edison, Thomas (i)
Egypt (i)
Ehrenreich, Barbara (i), (ii)
Eisenstein, Sergei (i), (ii)
Elephant Island (i), (ii)
Eliot, George (i), (ii)
Eliot, T.S. (i)
Embassytown (China Miéville) (i)
Endurance (Alfred Lansing) (i)
Engels, Friedrich (i), (ii)
Enlightenment, the (i)
Erebus, HMS (i)
Erebus, Mount (i)
Eskimos (i), (ii), (iii) see also Inuit
Estoty (i), (ii)
Excession (Iain M. Banks) (i)
Exercises (St Ignatius) (i)
Faclan Book Festival (i)
Faith vs Fact: Why Science and Religion are Incompatible (Jerry Coyne) (i)
Farrar, Austin (i), (ii)
Farthest North (Fridtjof Nansen) (i)
Fatima al-Zahra (i)
Faust (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) (i), (ii)
Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain (i)
Ferrari (i)
Ferrari, Enzo (i)
Finnegans Wake (James Joyce) (i)
First World War (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)
Fitzgerald, Penelope (i)
Flaubert’s Parrot (Julian Barnes) (i)
Flintstones, The (i)
Formula One (i), (ii), (iii)
Forster, E.M. (i)
Fortnum & Mason (i)
Fort Sumter (i)
Fortune magazine (i)
Four Ways to Forgiveness (Ursula Le Guin) (i)
Fox, Catherine (i)
n13
Fram (ship) (i), (ii)
Francis of Assisi, St (i)
Frankenstein (Mary Shelley) (i)
Franklin, Sir John (i)
Franz Josef Land (i)
Frazer, Sir James (i)
Free Presbyterian Church (i)
French (people) (i), (ii), (iii)
French Revolution (i), (ii), (iii)
Freud, Sigmund (i), (ii)
Friedman, Thomas (i)
‘Frost at Midnight’ (Samuel Taylor Coleridge) (i)
Gagarin, Yuri (i), (ii)
Galland, Antoine (i)
Game of Thrones (i)
García Márquez, Gabriel (i)
Gaskell, Elizabeth (i), (ii)
Gazprom (i)
General Strike (i)
Genesis, Book of (i)
Germany (i), (ii), (iii)
Gethsemane (i)
Gibson, William
Difference Engine, The (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v)
Neuromancer (i)
Sprawl trilogy
Gilead (Marilynne Robinson) (i)
Gilman, Felix (i)
God (i)
atheists and anger (i)
believing in existence of (i), (ii), (iii)
Christians as atheists (i)
Dawkins and (i), (ii)
dreams of plenty and (i)
Jesus and (i)
markets and (i)
monotheisms and (i)
religion without (i)
rule-maker and rule-breaker (i)
the world and (i)
God Delusion, The (Richard Dawkins) (i), (ii), (iii)
Goerler, Raimund (i)
Goethe, Johann Gottfried von (i), (ii)
Golden Bough, The (Sir James Frazer) (i)
Golgotha (i)
Gondwanaland (i), (ii)
Gorbachev, Mikhail (i), (ii), (iii)
Gosplan (i), (ii)
Graham, W.S. (i)
Granada (Spain) (i)
‘Grand Prix Valley’ (i)
Grass (Sheri S. Tepper) (i)
Gray, Alasdair (i)
Great Divorce, The (C.S. Lewis) (i)
Great Ice Barrier (i), (ii)
Great Work of Time, The (John Crowley) (i), (ii)
Green, Bill (i)
Greene, Graham (i)
Greenland (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v)
Greenland, Colin (i)
Green Man (i)
Green Mars (Kim Stanley Robinson) (i), (ii)
Greenwich Village (i)
Grossman, Vasily (i)
Guardian (i)
Gulag (i)
Gutenberg Elegies, The (Sven Birkets) (i)
Hafez (i)
Haggard, Rider (i)
Half-Made World, The (Felix Gilman) (i), (ii), (iii)
Hardy, Thomas (i)
Haroun al-Raschid (i)
Harris, Sam (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)
Harrison, M. John (i)
‘Harry Palmer’ (i)
Hawaii (i)
Hawthorn, Geoffrey (i), (ii)
Hayek, Friedrich (i)
Hazlitt, William (i), (ii)
Hearnshaw, F.J.C. (i)
Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad) (i)
Hebrew (language) (i)
Hemel Hempstead (i)
Henson, Matthew (i), (ii)