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Written by
John Mitchinson
John Mitchinson is a writer and publisher and co-founder of Unbound, the world's leading crowdfunding platform for books. He was previously Director of Research and a senior writer for the BBC TV show 'QI'. He is co-host of the popular books podcast Backlisted and a Vice-President of the Hay Festival. He writes a monthly column, 'The Upside Down', for Byline Times
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The Upside Down: Slow Company – The Shameful History of Humans and the Giant Tortoise
John Mitchinson explains why our relationship with these fascinating creatures is such a depressing one
The Upside Down: The Appeal of Hibernation
If humans can’t yet hibernate, could we approach something like the ‘torpor’ that bears and other larger mammals practice? asks John Mitchinson
The Upside Down: Wish You Were Here – The Persistence of the Postcard
With emails, text messages and WhatsApp groups now a dominant feature of all our lives, John Mitchinson considers the enduring qualities of a more humble form of social communication
THE UPSIDE DOWN: Less Is More – What Buckminster Fuller Still has to Teach Us
John Mitchinson explores the lessons in the inventor, philosopher and mathematician’s ‘doing more with less’ philosophy
The Upside Down: Odd and Odder – The True Value of Eccentricity
John Mitchinson makes the case for those who have lived and died by their own rules, flying in the face of conventionality
The Upside Down: Let Them Eat Bread
John Mitchinson charts a brief history of British food and the emergence of a humble meal enjoyed billions of times each year
The Upside Down: Outrageous! Are We Hardwired for Scandal?
John Mitchinson unearths some of the juiciest incidents turning the gossip mills of times past
The Upside Down: The Lie of the Land
John Mitchinson explains why we should listen to the farmers and why their plight deserves our attention
The Upside Down: The Cobbett Conundrum
John Mitchinson explores the problematic legacy of one of the founding fathers of English radicalism
THE UPSIDE DOWN: Playing the Game – How Sport Can Set Us Free
John Mitchinson explores the connection between liberty and fair play
THE UPSIDE DOWN: Mental Slavery – What ‘Moving Forward’ Will Require for America
John Mitchinson explores how the mental structures that enabled slavery are still alive and thriving in the United States today
The Upside Down: Long Live the Elders! The Exemplary Life of Barry Lopez
John Mitchinson returns with his reflections on the final book of the late great American author and what it reveals about the demands on humans to evolve ethically in order to meet the many challenges on the horizon
