According to recent studies, arguing on the internet is now the second most popular leisure activity in the world, just below shopping and just above sex. But how many of those who spend half their lives debating God versus Atheism or Climate Change on a message board or blog really ... Read More...
Non-Fiction
Jonathon "Mr Slang" Green allows us a glimpse of the curious life of the lexicographer... This is what I do. What I have done for at least 25 years and what I intend to do, audience and body willing until on some unspecified day I crash forward into the keyboard – or ... Read More...
A couple of years ago, I went to interview Keith Deller, 1983 World darts champion. He took the crown in one of darts’ most famous matches, an upset win over the allegedly unbeatable Crafty Cockney, Eric Bristow. In the pre-Sky, four-channel era, the final went out on one of those ... Read More...
In an occasional series Daniel Kalder examines the literary endeavours of the world's dictators. This week we learn of the dictator of a new and rather obscure nation who took a hands-on approach to Orwell's dictum that he who controls the past, controls the future. The collapse of the USSR brought ... Read More...
It's the first Tuesday of the month, which means - of course - it's time to review this month's Dabbler Book Club selection, Simon Winder's Germania. First, Dabbler regulars, Brit and Gaw, review their Teutonic trip. We then publish a few comments from an interesting California-British perspective by Dabbler Book Club ... Read More...
Our friends at Slightly Foxed (the real readers' quarterly - buy a subscription now!) have once again kindly allowed The Dabbler to dip into its rich archives. We have handpicked this gem for you -- originally entitled A Splendid Attitude to Death -- from the Spring 2010 edition, in which ... Read More...
Drawings from the Gulag begins unexpectedly, with a headshot of a proud homo-sovieticus from one of the USSR’s eastern minorities. Wearing thick soviet spectacles and a soviet suit, and with impeccable posture, this man gazes at you, the reader, with firm resolve. Here is a stalwart Comrade-of-the-Month, whose portrait would ... Read More...
Historian Juliet Gardiner is one of the leading commenters on British social history. Her book The Thirties: An Intimate History - which has recently been released in paperback - was described by The Telegraph as "a quite outstanding work of social history" for "the depth of its research, the quality of ... Read More...
I recently wrote a magazine article on how the last 50 years of progress haven't been particularly spectacular. A friend who has actually been around for the last 50 years and involved in the development of new technologies in that period of time recommended I read this book - Toward ... Read More...
Welcome to The Dabbler Book Club! This is your chance to get hold of free books, hand-picked by The Dabbler from the best new releases. It's free to join, is available inside and outside the UK, and every month you'll get the chance to: receive a free copy of the latest book read exclusive posts by authors ... Read More...
