Great Regulars: This book is at its best when

[Daniel] Barenboim meditates on and explains the unique status of music. "I firmly believe," he writes, "that it is impossible to speak about music." But, somehow, he does. He describes brilliantly the way music works and the way in which its intricacies and logic justify his faith that everything is connected.

from Bryan Appleyard: The Sunday Times: Everything is Connected by Daniel Barenboim

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Consumerism, globalism and, somehow, secularism lurk behind the pepperoni, the garlic bread and the salade niçoise. An AK-47 assault rifle has something of the same effect. Also global, also consumed, this is a killing machine that never seems to go out of style. It's as sexy and vile in 2008 as it was when it first went into service in 1949. More than any other object, it seems to embody the anguish of Africa and the incorrigible original sinfulness of humanity.

from Bryan Appleyard: The Sunday Times: Warhol captured an era in his Time Capsules
also Bryan Appleyard: Thought Experiments: Ashbery and Alsop--More Capsules

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