Don MacLean

Title: Apollo's Arrow: The Profound And Enduring Impact Of Coronavirus On The Way We Live Published: October 27, 2020 Publisher: Little, Brown And Company ISBN: 13:9780316628211 In Apollo’s Arrow, Nicholas A. Christakis tells an essential, if incomplete, story about Covid-19 and the pandemic [...]

The Rule of Stephens By Timothy Taylor Doubleday Canada Tim Taylor’s new novel very usefully begins with a definition of the title, The Rule of Stephens. The Rule of Stephens n. an axiom holding that the observable universe works in one of two mutually exclusive ways: (1) strictly in [...]

Admissions: Life as a Brain Surgeon By Henry Marsh Admissions is a moving and often thrilling account of a man struggling to come to terms with old age and the end of a satisfying career while continuing to work as a neurosurgeon in parts of the world that desperately require that sort of medical [...]

The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land In Between By Hisham Matar Hisham Matar’s memoir is a beautiful and heartbreaking read. On September 1, 1969 Libya’s first post-colonial head of state, King Idris, was overthrown in a coup by General Mohammad Qaddafi. Like the Arab spring [...]

Consider some of the recent and dizzying developments from the world of science and technology. Google and Tesla have prototypes for self driving vehicles. Soon - if not now - there will be artificial intelligence (AI) that can design infrastructure - bridges, buildings - in ways that humans cannot even [...]

By Gaslight By Steven Price Book Reviewed by Don MacLean Steven Price’s remarkable new novel By Gaslight opens with a Dickensian depiction of London. It’s January 1885 and the great city is steeped in a swirling, ominous fog. Like a debilitating virus, the coal soaked air serves to make anyone sick [...]

Graham Swift’s latest novel explores the mystery of a woman discovering herself The premise of Graham Swift’s slim, new novel Mothering Sunday is familiar: the arc of a human life is sometimes altered by the most innocuous and unexpected of developments. It’s March 1924 and Jane [...]

Some Rain Must Fall By Karl Ove Knausgaard Reviewed by Don MacLean Why has Karl Ove Knausgaard’s 5 volume autobiography made him an international literary sensation? Karl Ove Knausgaard begins the fifth volume of his autobiography Some Rain Must Fall with a surprising admission.  The volume will cover [...]

A God in Ruins - Kate Atkinson Reviewed by Don MacLean June 2016 Kate Atkinson likes to write about ordinary individuals swept up in extraordinary circumstances. In two separate but companion novels, Life After Life and A God In Ruins, Atkinson tells the stories of Isabel Todd and Teddy Todd, respectively. [...]

Walking with Abel: Journeys with the Nomads of the African Savannah Anna Badkhen Riverhead Books, New York, 2015 Reviewed by Don MacLean May 2016 Anna Badkhen’s wonderful book Walking with Abel: Journeys with the Nomads of the African Savannah documents her journeys with members of the nomadic Fulani, [...]