Prose and Passion

Pirate Luthier update An old violin came in for some TLC and a new set of strings, after decades spent in decorative service o...

I'm torn between thinking that generative AI (in the shape of ChatGTP and such like) is a fundamentally bad idea that will accelerate o...

On the second-last full day of my recent trip to Germany I accidentally discovered a catalogue of the Ziegler collection, a corpus of more ...

While reporting on the revolutionary findings coming out of the sequencing of ancient DNA in the last two decades, I have occasionally come ...

Some thoughts on Franz by Agnieska Holland Czech Republic 2025 We know Franz Kafka through so many reflections and distortions that...

A few years ago, before I got obsessed with fixing fiddles , I found a lovely oud on gumtree. I was told it was made in Syria by a well-know...

We know that various groups of insects are declining, and we tend to worry about them if they are beautiful butterflies or busy bees, but we...

Some thoughts on: The Butcher, The Tailor, The Picture-Frame Maker... Stories of Middle Way Gareth Winrow The Book Guild 2023 The aut...

Pirate Luthier update This month I rescued an old cello , gave away a violin (number 23), and received one to repair and ret...

We do like to think that the stuff we put into recycling bins or return to shops will be neatly disassembled and reconfigured into new produ...

I reported about the Earth BioGenome Project, which aims to obtain genome sequences for all eukaryotic species known to science, when it lau...

Three years ago, just before I embarked on my pirate luthier journey, I discovered a book about lutherie techniques in the Oxfam bookshop a...