Mark Fryer

Oct 21, 2024 | nzherald.co.nz | Mark Fryer

In Working For The Brand, Josh Bornstein argues the easy answer to placate an angry online mob is to show the employee the door. Photos / suppliedBook review: In 2019, rugby union player Israel Folau posted a screenshot on Facebook: “WARNING Drunks, Homosexuals, Adulterers, Liars, Fornicators, Thieves, Atheists, Idolaters HELL AWAITS YOU. REPENT! ONLY JESUS SAVES.”Folau’s wrath had been provoked by a Tasmanian government decision allowing gender to be changed on birth certificates.

Sep 24, 2024 | nzherald.co.nz | Mark Fryer

All smiles: The Queen had a mesmerising effect on a welcoming party during her visit to New Zealand in 1977. Photo / Getty Images Book review: You could blame seasickness. You could blame sunstroke. Or too much ice cream. I blamed the monarchy. It was February 13, 1963. Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh were leaving Picton aboard the royal yacht Britannia, and I was watching the festivities from a small boat.

Sep 11, 2024 | nzherald.co.nz | Mark Fryer

Big ideas: Friedrich Nietzsche and Simone de Beauvoir. Photo / Supplied Book review: Given that this is a book about philosophers, and nothing makes a philosopher happier than a hypothetical question, here’s one to start with: what would 18th-century thinker Jeremy Bentham make of our modern, digitised world, frantically busy with social media, text messages, email and other electronic distractions?

Jul 16, 2024 | nzherald.co.nz | Mark Fryer

Cyclists in the town of Baarle-Hertog cross the border from Belgium to the Netherlands. Photo / Getty Images BOOK REVIEW: Long ago, in a country far away, I once stumbled upon a deserted border post, guarded only by a sign forbidding unauthorised entry to the nation next door. Did I cross? Of course – after a nervous look around for hidden observers. And cross again, and back and forth a few more times just for the fun of it.

May 29, 2024 | nzherald.co.nz | Mark Fryer

The hard, sweaty graft that went into making books through the ages is brought to life in all its stinky glory. Photo / Supplied Book review: It’s long ago and far away – early 17th-century England, say – and you’ve just bought a book. But what you’ve got isn’t really a book, not in the modern sense. All you’ve bought are some printed sheets of paper, maybe stacked up, maybe rolled, maybe not even cut into individual pages.