Precision And Soul

"We do not have too much intellect and too little soul, but too little precision in matters of the soul."—Robert Musil Best known as author of the novel The Man without Qualities, Robert Musil wrote these essays in Vienna and Berlin between 1911 and 1937. Offering a perspective on modern society and intellectual life, they are concerned with the crisis of modern culture as it manifests itself in science and mathematics, capitalism and nationalism, the changing roles of women and writers, and more. Writing to find his way in a world where moral systems everywhere were seemingly in decay, Musil strives to reconcile the ongoing conflict between functional relativism and the passionate search for ethical values. Robert Musil was born in 1880 and died in 1942. His first novel, Young Törless, is available in English. A new two-volume translation by Burton Pike and Sophie Wilkins of The Man without Qualities is forthcoming from Alfred A. Knopf. "Now we have these thirty-one invaluable and entertaining pieces, from an article on 'The Obscene and Pathological in Art' to the equally provocative talk 'On Stupidity,' which, with a new translation of The Man without Qualities forthcoming . . . amount to a literary event for the reader of English comparable to Constance Garnett's massive translation of Chekhov's stories."—Joseph Coates, Chicago Tribune "Musil is one of the few great moderns, one of the handful who ventured to confront the issues that shape and define our time. . . . He has a range and a striking capacity every bit as great as that of Mann, Joyce, or Beckett."—Boston Review "These essays are crucial in understanding a writer and critic whose lifelong task was an attempt to resolve the dichotomy between the precision of scientific form and the soul—the matter of life and art."—Choice

A major new study of Robert Musil by one of the world's leading Musil scholars. Musil's extraordinary works, the study reveals, emerged from the problem of the "two cultures."

An electric new collection, built from the rubble and strangeness of daily life.

Tim Wallace's wife died in a boating accident several months ago. Tim was the only eye witness, and one New Jersey cop is sure he killed her. He didn't, but even if the police eventually clear his name, he'll never get over this terrible tragedy. On New Year's Eve, his two best friends and business partners finally convince him to go out for the first time since Maggie's death, and at their neighborhood pub just a few minutes before midnight, things in Tim Wallace's life go from bad to worse. "Can you keep a secret? A really big one?" a drunken stranger asks him. Before Tim can say anything or turn away, the man confesses to a months-old murder, even offering as proof the location of the woman's body. "Now it's your problem," he says and walks away. When the man turns out to have been telling the truth, Tim's life and work are put under the microscope again by the cops, and this time they're not giving up. But neither is Tim, even when things keep getting worse for him, and eventually he realizes he's the only person who can figure out what's really going on---even if it kills him. David Rosenfelt, popular author of six Andy Carpenter mysteries, including the recent hit Play Dead, delivers his first standalone with Don't Tell a Soul, combining the suspense and great characters of his mystery series with an unputdownable, thrilling read.

Recent progress with precision physics of simple atoms / S.G. Karshenboim, V.B. Smirnov -- Part I. The hydrogen atom: Coulomb green function and its applications in atomic theory / L.N. Labzowsky, D.A. Solovyev -- Part II. Muonic and exotic atoms and nuclear effects: Atomic cascade and precision physics with light muonic and hadronic atoms / T.S. Jensen, V.E. Markushin -- The structure of light nuclei and its effect on precise atomic measurements / J.L. Friar -- Deeply bound pionic states as an indicator of chiral symmetry restoration / T. Yamazaki -- Part III. Hydrogen-like ions: Virial relations for the dirac equation and their applications to calculations of hydrogen-like atoms / V.M. Shabaev -- Lamb shift experiments on high-Z one-electron systems / T. Stöhlker, D. Banaś, H. Beyer, A. Gumberidze -- Part IV. Testing quantum electrodynamics: Simple atoms, quantum electrodynamics, and fundamental constants / S.G. Karshenboim -- Resent results and current status of the muon (g-2) experiment at BNL / S.I. Redin [and others] -- Part V. Precision mearuements and fundamental constants: Single ion mass spectrometry at 100 ppt and beyond / S. Rainville, J.K. Thompson, D.E. Pritchard -- Current status of the problem of cosmological variability of fundamental physical constants / D.A. Varshalovich, A.V. IVANCHIK, A.V. Orlov, A.Y. Potekhin.

The dazzling new collection from the winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature. Louise Glück's work consistently draws on her own experience, looking for the common threads in it that render it universal. Her poems are not confessional, they are mythic. In Winter Recipes from the Collective, she starts with the dying and death of a near relation to create an indelible group of characters who act in poems that touch on the family romance, loss, art, and immortality. Her poems are so powerful because her portrayal of experience reminds us so trenchantly of what we recognize we too have seen and felt.

While most people throughout history have believed that we are both physical and spiritual beings, the rise of science has called into question the existence of the soul. Many now argue that neurophysiology demonstrates the radical dependence, indeed, identity, between mind and brain. Advances in genetics and in mapping human DNA, some say, show there is no need for the hypothesis of body-soul dualism. Even many Christian intellectuals have come to view the soul as a false Greek concept that is outdated and unbiblical. Concurrent with the demise of dualism has been the rise of advanced medical technologies that have brought to the fore difficult issues at both edges of life. Central to questions about abortion, fetal research, reproductive techologies, cloning and euthanasia is our understanding of the nature of human personhood, the reality of life after death and the value of ethical or religious knowledge as compared to scientific knowledge. In this careful treatment, J. P. Moreland and Scott B. Rae argue that the rise of these problems alongside the demise of Christian dualism is no coincidence. They therefore employ a theological realism to meet these pressing issues, and to present a reasonable and biblical depiction of human nature as it impinges upon critical ethical concerns. This vigorous philosophical and ethical defense of human nature as body and soul, regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees, will be for all a touchstone for debate and discussion for years to come.