Creative readings of neuroscience in Inception
Anirban Mahapatra considers whether the theories about the human mind in the film, Inception, are rooted in scientific knowledge of dreams and the architecture of the mind. Thought-provoking and beautifully shot, the film takes considerable creative license with the current state of neuroscience.
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A masterpiece in miniature
A poignant, compellingly rendered tale about a little man ajar with the world, Arzee the Dwarf is also a love letter to Bombay, to its alleys that, despite their filth, hold in them a quiet silence and beauty, to its decrepit buildings like the Noor, to its dusty suburbs. Rohit Chopra reviews Chandrahas Choudhury’s brilliant debut novel.
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The importance of Religulous and Bill Maher
Bill Maher’s film Religulous does not subject secular rationality to the same withering critique as it does faith and and religious belief. But, argues Rohit Chopra, it raises necessary and difficult questions about the right to offend, the arrogance of easy certitudes, and the dangers of religious absolutism.
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The unembedded truth
Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq seeks the truth about Iraq beyond the blinkers of embedded reporting. The reality outside the comfort of the Green Zone squarely challenges the mainstream media picture of insurgency and everyday life there. Amy Blyth reviews Dahr Jamail’s book.
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About a war
So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits — and the President — Failed on Iraq lays bare the psychology of the ongoing self-censorship in the American media. There was not so much a conspiracy of silence about the war as an ideological refusal by the media to listen, see, and ask. Rohit Chopra reviews Greg Mitchell’s book.
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