In hell, said the American poet Randel Jarell, Americans tell each other how to make a martini. A martini – "the elixir of quietude" as E.B. White described it – consists of gin and vermouth. The ingredients are chilled and then strained into a cocktail

“Every serious civilization, like every serious person, possesses an essence or a spirit,” said the woman with the grasshopper mind. “A soul, if you like.” She was a political refugee, standing – and not sitting – at my bar one quiet Tuesday evening. People called her

The term methodological individualism was coined by the Austrian economist and historian Joseph Schumpeter, who also, incidentally, coined the term creative destruction, in reference to the "gales of innovation" which freedom of exchange unleashes. Methodological individualism is another way of saying individualistic method. Both

Intelligence is your brain’s capacity to deal with a wide range of thoughts and ideas. Like most things, therefore, intelligence is a process. It is not a static state. It is not something you either do or don’t at birth possess. Your

It was a mysterious message that started it all: a mistaken text sent to her number in the deepest part of night, her phone, face-up across her lap, all at once coming to life with a soundless throb of silvery light. Later, when she