Lessons for scientific writers from Leonard Cohen and Tony Bennett

I’ve been laid up with the flu for the past few days, so I’ve been watching more TV and DVDs than I normally do. One DVD that I’ve had for some time, but only got around to watching the other day was Leonard Cohen: Live In London. The concert was recorded just a few months … read more

Leonard Cohen on songwriting

Over the years, I’ve thought a lot about the similarities between being a musical performer and being a scientist. I was listening to Leonard Cohen on my way to work the other day, and I was reminded of an interview where he discussed his songwriting process in more depth than you normally hear from an … read more

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? 10,000 Hours

Slate.com has had an interesting series of articles (two of them are here and here) about the creativity originating from working in pairs: think Lennon and McCartney, Joel and Ethan Cohen, Richards and Jagger. In the second installment, Joshua Wolf Shenk said about the two Beatles: The nature of John and Paul’s intimacy evolved over … read more