Thursday's Notes

Jon Turney reviews Fred Spier's Big History and the Future of Humanity for the THE, 23 September.

Oliver Herford,"Shelley's social network," TLS, 22 September, reviews Daisy Hay's Young Romantics: The Shelleys, Byron and other tangled lives and Richard Marggraf Turley's Bright Stars: John Keats,"Barry Cornwall" and Romantic literary culture.

Elif Batuman,"Kafka's Last Trial," NYT, 22 September, follows the struggle over his literary estate.

Michiko Kakutani,"Afghanistan as Obama and Others Game It," NYT, 22 September, and Steve Luxenberg for the Washington Post, 22 September, review Bob Woodward's Obama's Wars.

Finally, on Saturday 25 September, some 1300 museums throughout the United States are participating in Museum Day. You can download and print a free ticket good for the admission of two people to a museum near you.