Means of Communication

My Lapham's Quarterly arrived a few weeks ago, Means of Communication.

These collections are wonderful, with entries bite-sized but provocative enough to leave me thinking.  Juxtaposing thinkers through millennia, across cultures and alternating between text and visuals it feeds the soul.

Many of this month's selections can be accessed online, which is a good thing, because I seem to have mislaid this hard copy  more than a few times in my travels.  It's popped up again, and I'm thankful.  

Some of my favourites from this edition's pages:

The History of Life Written Across Her Face,
Margot Humphrey, 1991

Methinks the human  method of expression by sound  of tongue is very elementary and  ought to be substituted for  some ingenious invention   which should be able to  give vent to at least six coherent sentences at once

- Virginia Wolf,  1899

Plus, advice on setting type in Venice (1514);  Body Language; selections of poetry from ancient Babylon; notes made in the margins of medieval texts by bored monks and beautiful images

White Noise, by Graham Dean, 2007

I love the concept so much I'm now a subscriber.  You can also order back issues on themes including Food, Eros, Family and Lines of Work.