It's a Don's Life

Mary Beard's by now famous blog It's A Don's Life has been running on the Times Literary Supplement website for nearly three years. In it she has made her name as a wickedly subversive commentator on the world in which we live. Her central themes are the classics, universities and teaching - and much else besides. What are academics for? Who was the first African Roman emperor? Looting, ancient and modern. Are modern exams easier? Keep Lesbos for the Lesbians. Did St Valentine exist? What made the Romans laugh? That is just a small taste of this selection (and some of the choicer responses) which will inform, occasionally provoke and cannot fail to entertain.

“'Britain's most outspoken classicist is hilarious, staggeringly knowledgeable and utterly brilliant' - Vogue 'Delightful ... it has the virtues of brevity, eclecticism and learning worn lightly ... Beard is a very funny and penetrating commentator on academic life - and has a fantastic knack for controversy. If they'd had Mary Beard on their side back then, the Romans would still have their empire' - Daily Mail”

Delightful ... it has the virtues of brevity, eclecticism and learning worn lightly ... Beard is a very funny and penetrating commentator on academic life - and has a fantastic knack for controversy. If they'd had Mary Beard on their side back then, the Romans would still have their empire -- Sam Leith Daily Mail
Enjoyable ... Beard is an exuberant communicator -- Dinah Birch Observer
Sharply observed, often hilarious slices of academic life -- Charlotte Higgins Guardian
Beard's studies of bygone times are infused with a peppering of wit that is unusual in an academic work, but given free rein here -- Julian Fleming Sunday Business Post
This collection of her posts is pithy and engaging. The casual, humorous tone is seemingly informal. But the rhythm and cadence of the short blog have been honed to a fine art ... Beard remains self-deprecatory, invigoratingly sane and zestful -- Frances Spalding Independent
The marvellously educative, hilarious It's a Don's Life by Mary Beard, the blogging queen -- Jane Gardam Daily Telegraph
Beard has a spry, pithy, conversational style ... a diverting read -- Edmund Gordon Sunday Times
Well-written, in short column-length bursts, it's the thinking person's loo book -- Alastair Mabbott Glasgow Herald
It's a Don's Life is, by turns, enlightening, funny, outrageous Weekend Australian

Mary Beard is a professor of classics at Newnham College, Cambridge, and the classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement. Her books include the acclaimed and best-selling Pompeii, The Roman Triumph and The Parthenon (in the Wonders of the World series of which she is general editor).

Britain's best known classicist speaks her mind on the ancient, and modern, worlds. Mary Beard's by now famous blog It's A Don's Life has been running on the Times Literary Supplement website for nearly three years. In it she has made her name as a wickedly subversive commentator on the world in which we live. Her central themes are the classics, universities and teaching - and much else besides. What are academics for? Who was the first African Roman emperor? Looting, ancient and modern. Are modern exams easier? Keep Lesbos for the Lesbians. Did St Valentine exist? What made the Romans laugh? That is just a small taste of this selection (and some of the choicer responses) which will inform, occasionally provoke and cannot fail to entertain.

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