Somewhere, a university authority understands its purpose: Cory Doctorow,"Cambridge university refuses to censor student's thesis on chip-and-PIN vulnerabilities," boingboing, 25 December. Thanks to Chris Bray for the tip.

Bee Wilson,"Hugh Plat, alchemist, courtier and all-round inventor," TLS, 22 December, reviews Malcolm Thick's Sir Hugh Plat: The search for useful knowledge in early modern London.

Claudio Vita-Finzi,"Galileo's explosive life and legacy," TLS, 22 December, and Owen Gingrich,"Starry Messenger," NYT, 24 December, review J. L. Heilbron's Galileo and David Wootton's Galileo: Watcher of the Skies.

Blake Gopnik,"An encyclopedia of artistic greatness," Washington Post, 24 December, considers Diego Velazquez's"Las Meninas." Painted in 1656,"the absolutely greatest work of art in the Western tradition" is on exhibit at the Prado in Madrid. Look more closely at the painting in"Blake Gopnik at the Prado Museum."

Michael Korda,"The Splendidly Soaring Seas," Daily Beast, 23 December, reviews Simon Winchester's Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories.

Robert Perkinson,"The Gutted Writ: On Habeas Corpus," Nation, 10 January, reviews Paul D. Halliday's Habeas Corpus: From England to Empire and Wilbert Rideau's In the Place of Justice: A Story of Punishment and Deliverance.

David M. Kennedy,"A Question of Character," Boston Review, Nov/Dec, reviews Claude S. Fischer's Made in America: A Social History of American Culture and Character.

Felicia R. Lee,"Scholars Say Chronicler of Black Life Passed for White," NYT, 26 December, seems to think Henry Louis Gates' and Rudolph Byrd's piffle is a contribution to scholarship. They've uncovered no new evidence and, to argue that Jean Toomer tried to pass for white, you have to accept racial essentialism and make allowances for a"one drop" theory of racial identity.

Ben Macintyre,"Arabian Knight," NYT, 24 December, reviews Michael Korda's Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia.

In Felipe Fernández-Armesto,"In agony? Don't fret: Uncle Felipe offers a shoulder to cry on," THE, 23 December, the Notre Dame historian offers advice to self-doubting senior administrators.

Farewell to journalist and historian Dan Kurzman.