In which I unwittingly mimic my hero with the aid of an old chopping board.
Sidelines
Stuff I write when I ought to be writing other stuff.
LRB letter: ‘The reaction economy’
On Charles Darwin’s use of photography in his book about human and animal emotions.
Charles Darwin’s book-writing process
Charles Darwin’s approach to book-writing went through four key stages…
Darwinian smut
On my new ‘Daily Darwin’ project.
2022: a year in photos
My twelfth annual video slideshow.
Cambridge Darwin pilgrimage
A trip to see a treasure-trove of Darwinalia.
Charles Darwin’s note-making system
An exploration of how Darwin kept track of his various notes, enabling him to produce a huge body of work.
My notes ‘tagsonomy’
An overly nerdish description of the taxonomy I use to classify my various notes.
On the rocks
What I saw sitting on my favourite rock.
Grampus
A thrilling encounter on one of my favourite walks along the north Anglesey coast.
Sitting on a rock with a brew, gazing out to sea
There are important elements of writing that feel like skiving.
Winter emigrants—for the time being
Swallows aren’t summer migrants; they’re winter emigrants.