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In 2018 I semi-retired by retiring from Weston High School after my 21st year teaching mathematics there. This was also my 44th year as a teacher altogether. In 2023 I retired fully, adding in my 18 years at Harvard’s Crimson Summer Academy each summer. For 21 years I had taught at the Saturday Course in Milton, MA, and I used to serve on the board of the Dorchester Historical Society.

I read, cook, and spend a lot of time building my model railroad. For some reason I’m left with less free time than would be ideal, considering that I’m supposed to be retired, but somehow I also manage to devote time to my wife, Barbara, and to our varying number of cats (once up to six, but now sadly down to one).

Larry Davidson
ljd@larrydavidson.com

  • Invisible City

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    Can you say “metaphor”? The title of Julia Dahl’s novel, Invisible City, may mislead you into thinking it’s science fiction, but it’s not. Not in the least. If you have to assign it to a genre, it’s a mystery — though it’s… Read More ›

  • Smiles of a Summer’s Night and A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy

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    Literary and musical connections can be rather complicated. First, we have Mozart’s well-known “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik,” often translated (literally but inaccurately) as “A Little Night Music.” Nachtmusik actually means “serenade,” but the literal translation has become even more well-known as a result… Read More ›

  • More Botswana charm from McCall Smith

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    It’s hard to believe, but apparently this is my seventh post about Alexander McCall Smith’s novels. Most recently (Dec. 15) I reviewed The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection. Since that point I’ve read two more in the Botswana series, one in… Read More ›

  • Teaching and learning are our priorities…aren’t they?

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    Surely our top priorities in a school must be teaching and learning…right? We know that a lot of things get in the way of those priorities, but still they’re the essence of what school is all about. At some point,… Read More ›

  • World Gone By

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    Almost exactly three years ago — on January 12, 2013 — I reviewed The Given Day and Live by Night, the first two novels in Dennis Lehane’s historical trilogy. At the time it wasn’t clear whether this would really be a… Read More ›

  • New Years Eve at Ashmont Grill

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    Last night, Barbara and I had a wonderful New Years Eve dinner at our favorite local restaurant, the Ashmont Grill, assisted by our favorite server, Michaela Collins. The food was especially scrumptious; the service was superbly attentive (without hovering), as always;… Read More ›

  • Bones

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    Yesterday evening, Barbara and I drove over to Somerville for a post-solstice/pre-New-Years holiday dinner with my sister and niece. Unfortunately their housemate, Bones, didn’t get enough to eat over the holiday.

  • Linguistics? What’s that?

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    “A linguist is a person who speaks a lot of languages.” Not. But that’s what you hear from the general (uninformed) public. People are willing — many even eager — to become informed, but they’ve never heard of linguistics as… Read More ›

  • The Question of the Unfamiliar Husband

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    One week ago I reviewed The Question of the Missing Head, by E. J. Copperman and Jeff Cohen. I liked it. The sequel, The Question of the Unfamiliar Husband, is even stronger. On the whole it’s what you’d expect in a traditional second novel in… Read More ›

  • Languages of the UK

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    English, Scots, British Sign Language, Welsh, Gaelic, Irish, Cornish, Manx, Angloromani and Shelta What is the common bond here? Obviously they’re all languages that are currently in use in the UK. Well…no…it’s not that obvious. You probably haven’t heard of Angloromani… Read More ›

  • Thank you, Mr. Wegman.

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    Barbara and I had an excellent dinner last night. We prepared all of it from ingredients bought earlier in the day at the Wegman’s in Chestnut Hill. Thank you, Mr. Wegman! Your sherry, lobster tails, stuffed mushrooms, green beans, and shiraz were all delicious…. Read More ›

  • That’s Not English

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    It’s entertaining, it’s charming, it’s informative, but…ultimately it’s disappointing. Every chapter shows great promise…and then it suddenly ends before that promise could be fulfilled. That’s Not English: Britishisms, Americanisms, and What Our English Says About Us, by Erin Moore,  is a book… Read More ›

  • Math is forever.

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    You can never take a holiday from math. Read this brief but wonderful paragraph from distinguished physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson (retired but still flourishing at age 92!): It’s the beauty of mathematics, as opposed to physics, that it’s forever. I published my… Read More ›

  • Hitchcock/Truffaut

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    If you’re a film buff (as I am not), you will want to see Hitchcock/Truffaut, currently playing in Kendall Square, Cambridge. I went with a couple of friends who are film buffs, as I had assumed (correctly) that they would enjoy this documentary about the… Read More ›

  • The Question of the Missing Head

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    The Question of the Missing Head is the first in an unusual series of mysteries by E. J. Copperman and Jeff Cohen. What’s so unusual, you ask? It’s that the detective has Asperger’s Syndrome, which plays a significant role in… Read More ›

  • What’s wrong with periods?

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    I know why apostrophes are a bad idea, but periods???? Here I am listening to All Things Considered on WGBH, and I hear this report about ending text messages with periods: …Researchers at Binghampton University have found that ending your… Read More ›

  • MOOCs

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    Two headlines from different publications: No Rich Child Left Behind, and Enriching the Rich: Why MOOCs are not improving education Weston High faculty creates online courses for the world Are these headlines saying the same thing in different words? Not really…. Read More ›

  • This Book is Overdue

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    “This book is overdue,” I observed as I handed the book to the librarian in order to check it out. It had been on the Hold shelf, as I had requested it earlier, so it still had the request slip… Read More ›

  • The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection

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    As the 13th book in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith, The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection is one of the stronger contenders for Best in Series. But it might not be your cup of rooibos. Is… Read More ›

  • The food never arrived!

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    Oh noes! I waited and waited…they even sent me a receipt by email…but the food never arrived! Then I realized that I hadn’t ordered delivery for lunch…and such an odd menu…maybe they confused Dorchester, MA, with its namesake, Dorchester, England…. Read More ›