Jonathan Miller – författare

Progress in genetics today would not be possible without Darwin's revolution, but the mysterious man who laid the rational basis for undermining belief in God's creation was remarkable timid. He spent most of his life in seclusion; a semi-invalid, riddled with doubts, fearing the controversy his theories might unleash.In this brilliantly lucid book - a classic originally published in 1982 - Jonathan Miller unravels Darwin's life and his contribution to biology, and traces the path from his scientific predecessors to the later modifications that his own evolutionary theories required.Introducing Darwin brings alive the difficult progress from pre-Darwinian thinking to modern genetics and the devastatingly important impact of one man on our fundamental understanding of biology, life and ourselves.

In this remarkable book Jonathan Miller considers the functioning of the body as a subject of private experience. He explores our attitudes towards the body, our astonishing ignorance about certain parts of it and our inability to read its signals. Taking as his starting point the experience of pain, Dr Miller explores the elaborate social process of 'falling ill', considers the physical foundations of 'dis-ease' and looks at the types of individuals man has historically attributed with the power of healing. His explanations are so lucid, so wide-ranging and so whole-heartedly entertaining it is often hard to believe one is reading about the facts of one's own body and what can go wrong with it. His use of metaphor and suggestive models, particularly when tracing the historical development of certain leading ideas in human physiology, is highly stimulating. Above all, there is the keen originality and sheer enthusiasm of Dr Miller's approach to his subject which makes The Body in Question such an outstanding book.

‘Do you sometimes think that you might wish that you were a national treasure, like Alan Bennett?’‘I’m rather glad I’m not. I’m quite pleased to be what I think I am, which is a sort of national liability.’Over the course of seven decades, Jonathan Miller has been at the forefront of developments in theatre, opera, comedy, philosophy and scientific debate. This new collection brings together the very best of his acerbic writing. In keeping with Miller’s grasshopper mind, One Thing and Another leaps from discussions of human behaviour, atheism, satire, cinema and television, to analysis of the work of M. R. James, Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens and Truman Capote, by way of reflections on directing Shakespeare, Chekhov, Olivier and opera. A celebrated conversationalist, the book also features a selection of key interviews focusing on his working method. Jonathan Miller is internationally celebrated as one of the last great public intellectuals. Read One Thing and Another to find out why.

The French live in a feverish state of fantasy. People are paid to pretend to work, pretend to strike, and generally think work causes depression and suicide. Dental hygienists are illegal, yet the French exchange a staggering 184 billion kisses every year. While preaching liberte, the State forbids everything, is run by one school's alumni, messes up over two thirds of the economy. Despite his rhetoric, even Macron has made not an iota difference. Did you know that.... the French eat more McDonald's hamburgers than anywhere else in the world; pretend to be literary even as Fifty Shades of Gray is France's best-selling book, ever...; and there is much more!

In a razor-sharp witty memoir Jonathan Miller pulls back the curtain on Murdoch, media, tech and the news in a way that is bound to provoke debate.The young Jonathan Miller had an innate talent to annoy authority as a pupil at Bedales school. When he discovered that the news can be like a hand grenade, he had found his calling.In pursuit of creating a stir, he ended up in many different places, from Rupert Murdoch’s tech adviser and disruptor-in-chief, to war reporting in Kosovo, the UK’s first news site, Piers Morgan’s Uncensored and bare-knuckle reporting on the follies of rural Britain.  These spiky confessions trace through the Murdoch empire’s secrets, the tech revolution that preceded the web, Bart Simpson, Margaret Thatcher, the doomed fate of wokeness, and trouble in an era flattened by AI. Tech and the media world will never look the same...

AsRupert Murdoch’s tech advisor and founder of the leading communications journalin the US, Jonathan Miller rode the exhilarating first technology wave of thenews with satellite TV that made Murdoch the Elon Musk/Mark Zuckerberg of hisday. But he was also the founder of Britain’s first news website, Camden Lock,and was a first-hand witness how Murdoch lost the internet revolution by beingunfocused and misunderstanding the nature of the news.Concernedabout the AI revolution and control passing entirely from the journalists toengineers, Jonathan wrote this passionate plea about the function of the newsmachine and how its important function to shock is being squandered in acatch-up chase for traffic by old media companies. There is still time to pullit back if only we understand why news can neither be replaced by AI and whatwe need to do.Theyoung Jonathan Miller had an innate talent to annoy authority as a pupil atBedales school. When he discovered that the news can be like a hand grenade, hehad found his calling.  pursuit ofcreating a stir, he ended up in many different places, from Rupert Murdoch’stech adviser and disruptor-in-chief, to war reporting in Kosovo, the UK’s firstnews site, Piers Morgan’s Uncensored and bare-knuckle reporting on the folliesof rural Britain.Thesespiky confessions trace through the Murdoch empire’s secrets, the techrevolution that preceded the web, Bart Simpson, Margaret Thatcher, the doomedfate of wokeness, and trouble in an era flattened by AI. Tech and the mediaworld will never look the same...