Hoe lang nog zwijgen review

In ‘Hoe lang nog zwijgen’ Fidan Ekiz talks about the topic of immigrants from Muslim-majority countries (such Turkey), and the issues that come together with their civil integration into the Dutch society. Ekiz is critical towards both natives and immigrants — and pleads to find ‘the radical middle’. It’s a good message, but Fidan still […]

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This is the Story of a Happy Marriage review

Patchett’s writing is impeccable (and enviable). Her work of fiction, Commonwealth, took such a grip on me that it’s no surprise her non-fiction is of the same quality. She’s notices depth in the mundane, whether writing about grandmother, marriage, school, or her dog — and adds her warmth along the way. When she projects herself […]

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The science behind how practice makes you better

(Written for Virtual Racing School.) In the book ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’, behavioural psychologist Daniel Kahneman describes how our brains work. Two points in particular make interesting lessons for simracing practice (or any practice, for that matter), namely the two systems that take care for our thinking, as well as the energy they need. Daniel […]

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Boring truths

In the 1980 science book Cosmos, Carl Sagan wrote about how a newspaper asked an astronomer to write a five hundred word article on whether there was life on Mars. The astronomer dutifully replied through telegram: “NOBODY KNOWS”, repeated two hundred and fifty times. It was the most honest answer possible, but people wanted answers nonetheless, […]

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