2 June

Michel Serres, maybe the greatest thinker of all time, has died. Was only thinking yesterday while reading one of his books that this couldn't be far off. It's difficult to describe the magnitude of his genius, he was so far advanced of most thought of any time that it's almost impossible to describe his way of seeing things. But in a nutshell, his books describe the world without the boundaries we tend to place in it, between arts, science, religion, physical work, between people and the world. Reading them you actually see the seamless connection between all things that others only talk about in vague ways. They're often very difficult books for that reason, because we're so used to dividing things up into neat categories. When you read them maths is mixed with literature, art, religion, everyday life, his early life on farms and in the navy, etc. without any analogy, he describes the connections directly, as they exist and as he saw and lived them. No separation between thought and action, between the life of the mind and everyday life. To our modern mind they can seem baffling, because we love to divide and categorise. RIP Michel.