Name: Howards End
ISBN: 9781520287096

Howards End

Howards End is a novel by E. M. Forster about social conventions, codes of conduct and relationships in turn-of-the-century England. A strong-willed and intelligent woman refuses to allow the pretensions of her husband's smug English family to ruin her life. Howards End is considered by some to be Forster's masterpiece

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btwnplacesJan 2026

This reminded me of E.M. Forster’s line from Howards End: “Only connect.” Not in the grand, ideological sense, but in the mundane, logistical one. It's funny how life optimizes for comfort and autonomy, but those optimizations quietly remove the scaffolding that friendships used to grow on.

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svatDec 2025

I see them prevalent in fiction just as well. Looking at the first few pages of a few random works of fiction, continuing from my other comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46400974

- The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925: 28 on the first 10 pages https://archive.org/details/greatgatsby0000fitz_i1g1/page/n9...

- Love among the chickens, P. G. Wodehouse, 1909: 15 on the first 16 pages (and some of them spaced and extra long; apparently this publisher had a very “inflationary” style!) https://archive.org/details/loveamongchicken00wodeuoft/page/...

- Of Human Bondage, W. Somerset Maugham, 1915: eight on the first ten pages https://archive.org/details/ofhumanbondage0000wsom_j3w4/page...

- Howards End, E.M. Forster, 1910: at least 49 in the first ten pages https://archive.org/details/howardsend0000fors_q9r3/page/n9/...

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smcinMay 2023

Never knew E.M. Forster did science fiction too.

English author better known for the novels "A Room with a View" (1908), "Howards End" (1910) and "A Passage to India" (1924).

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PeterWhittakerJan 2015

Good read. Liberal education meaning one based on liberty, freedom, and personal growth. From TFA:

How does one recognize liberally educated people?

1. They listen and they hear.

2. They read and they understand.

3. They can talk with anyone.

4. They can write clearly and persuasively and movingly.

5. They can solve a wide variety of puzzles and problems.

6. They respect rigor not so much for its own sake but as a way of seeking truth.

7. They practice humility, tolerance, and self-criticism.

8. They understand how to get things done in the world.

9. They nurture and empower the people around them.

10. They follow E. M. Forster’s injunction from Howards End: “Only connect...”

All good things, IMHO. (Full disclosure, I'm a liberally educated physics major - went to a small liberal arts school with a very strong science faculty.)

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ghshephardNov 2012

Citation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consols (to save others the search)

First issued in 1751.

"Consols still exist today: in their current form as 2½% Consolidated Stock (1923 or after), they remain a small part of the UK Government’s debt portfolio. As the bond has a low coupon, there is little incentive for the government to redeem it. Unlike most gilts, which pay coupons semi-annually, Consols pay coupons four times a year because of their age. As a result of their uncertain redemption dates, they are typically treated as a perpetual bond.

...

Given their long history, references to Consols can be found in many places, including literature such as Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, Howards End by E. M. Forster, Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray, Of Human Bondage by William Somerset Maugham and The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy and in economics."

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