Matthew Scully

If a Lion Could Talk: Animal Minds and the Evolution of Consciousness by Stephen Budiansky Free Press, 210 pages, $25 Stephen Budiansky’s If a Lion Could Talk is a skeptical look at animals and the claims made on their behalf by animal-welfare advocates. In his articles as a science writer for . . . . Continue Reading »

Forbidden Knowledge: From Prometheus to Pornography By Roger Shattuck.St. Martins, 369 pages, $26.95. As the title suggests, this book ventures into some fairly dangerous territory. Author Roger Shattuck has even posted “Warnings to the Reader,” once at the beginning and again when we come to . . . . Continue Reading »

Did you ever hear from Otto?” I asked Viktor . . . . Continue Reading »

Saints & Sinners: Walter Railey, Jimmy Swaggart, Madalyn Murray O’Hair, Anton LeVay, Will Campbell, Matthew Fox by lawrence wright knopf, 266 pages, $24 Lawrence Wright’s memoir of a few years ago, In the New World: Growing Up With America, 1960–1984, was billed as “a biography of the . . . . Continue Reading »