Category: Aggregated

Shock and surprise are often the responses I get when I tell my university peers that I studied maths at A-level. As a History student – and a female – it often doesn’t seem to compute that I chose to study a science alongside my humanities A-levels. It certainly wasn’t due to any sort of passion for the subject: for me it was purely a tactical decision. Not only would maths be useful to me in boosting logical thinking and helping with everyday activities, it also looked more appealing to future employers. Indeed, new statistics revealed by YouGov seem to … Continue reading →

The late Simon Leys, the great Sinologist and literary essayist, once wrote a little essay on the first lines of novels. He was inspired to do so by having picked up G. K. Chesterton’s The Napoleon of Notting Hill in a second-hand bookshop and read its first words: ‘The human race, to which so many of my readers belong…’ He said that the rest of the novel did not live up to this glorious opening, but it would have been impossible for any extended piece of writing to do so. It is not only the writers of novels who strive … Continue reading →