"The most poetic, agonised character I've had on START THE WEEK recently came on this week. Paul Broks's book INTO THE SILENT LAND is rich with disturbing images, eerie characters and wistful philosophical reflections.
"The thing is, he isn't a poet, novelist or philosopher, but a neuropsychologist. There is a trend here: works by doctors and scientists, from Oliver Sacks to Daniel Dennett, Dawkins to Ridley, books about the brain, or autism, or evolution, are starting to challenge the role of literature in attempting to describe and probe life's puzzles, curios and
happiness.
"These people are story-tellers for a science-literate population, whose influence is as great as Balzac's or Tennyson's once was. And in terms of sheer prose ability, they are the modern masters."
[Editor's note: Andrew Marr is host of START THE WEEK, the leading cultural magazine program on British radio, a former Editor of THE INDEPENDENT, and the present BBC Television Chief Political Correspondent.]
[KH: The Editor is John Brockman of Edge Foundation]
Keith Hudson, 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath, England
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