Reviews

Parallel Worlds: The Science of Alternative Universes and Our Future in the Cosmos by Michio Kaku Penguin Books, £8.99 (pb), ISBN 0141014636 It has become compulsory to...

The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity: A Study in Sociological Semantics and the Sociology of Science by Robert K Merton and Elinor Barber Princeton University Press,...

The Hanged Man: A Story of Miracle, Memory, and Colonialism in the Middle Ages by Robert Bartlett Princeton University Press, £9.95 (pb), ISBN 0 691 12604...

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive by Jared Diamond Penguin, £9.99, ISBN 0-140-27951-2 “The monumental ruins left behind by societies hold a romantic fascination...

Evil Incarnate Rumors of Demonic Conspiracy and Satanic Abuse in History by David Frankfurter Princeton University Press, $29.95, ISBN 0-691-11350-5 In the 1980s, American TV ‘revealed’ a...

The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland by Steve Roud Penguin, £10.99, ISBN 0140515127 Why is it that, whenever I see a single magpie,...

A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives by Cordelia Fine Icon Books, £9.99, ISBN 1840466782 For those of us who like to put...

The Nativity: History and Legend by Geza Vermes Penguin Books, £7.99 (pb), ISBN 0-141-12446-1 Christian dogma rests on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ and in...