Ideas & Culture

Essays on the intellectual currents that influence how we think and work: philosophy, culture, language, and the often-unexamined ideas that structure everyday decisions.

Into the Jaws of Death

One of the most memorable photographs of D-Day was taken by Chief Photographer's Mate Robert F. Sargent and aptly titled 'Into the Jaws of Death.'

By Dr Robert N. Winter

/ 6 Jun 2020

WWII: Europe: France; “Into the Jaws of Death — U.S. Troops wading through water and Nazi gunfire”, circa 1944-06-06.

How I Publish — Version 2.0

My quest for a publishing platform which was both elegant, unencumbered by endless plug-ins and left me alone with my text, brought me to write.as.

By Dr Robert N. Winter

/ 14 May 2020

Printer working an early Gutenberg letterpress from the 15th century

Gakyō Rōjin

A compelling aspect is the way in which Hokusai's work burgeoned as he aged. An unconscious reaction to feeling we are yet to realise our potential.

By Dr Robert N. Winter

/ 10 May 2020

Hokusai painting the Great Daruma at Honganji Nagoya Betsuin (Nishi-Honganji) in 1817.

Endurance Through Renewal

I came across a stone bench that appeared to be very old. Carved into an ancient looking wall, dappled in moss, thick creepers wound across its surface.

By Dr Robert N. Winter

/ 9 May 2020

The Giza pyramid complex includes the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Menkaure

The Perfect Moment

Though it is not clear if this is the poet or the urn speaking, what is clear is that the passage seeks to transcend visual value.

By Dr Robert N. Winter

/ 7 May 2020

John Keats 1819 by Joseph Severn (1793–1879)

'Oh, the humanity!'

The past, which comes flooding in, transports us to a moment which is both frozen in time and animated by our thinking. 'Oh, the humanity!'

By Dr Robert N. Winter

/ 6 May 2020

Image of the Hindenburg airship catching on fire during its attempt to dock

Catharsis

At times, writing alone is not action enough to free my thinking from its melancholy trends. In such times I turn to that most lyric of the muses, Euterpe.

By Dr Robert N. Winter

/ 5 May 2020

One Hundred Days...

My writing efforts are usually months in gestation. Thus I am out of the habit of a daily journal. #100DaysToOffload should fix that.

By Dr Robert N. Winter

/ 3 May 2020

Leadership: A Human Encounter

By Dr Robert N. Winter

/ 19 Feb 2017

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Engraving Carlyle giving his Edinburgh speech from the Illustrated London News (1881)