Having read Julian Barnes' "Nothing to be Frightened of", I wanted more and googled for more. What I finished up with was Jonathan Barnes: same last name, same subject, almost the same age, but a different first name. After all, they're brother and that's as good a way as any of telling them apart.
Jonathan Barnes is an Aristotelian scholar. That great man Aristotle is supposed to have said, "Brothers are equal in all things, apart from age". While this seems neither memorable nor particularly true, in the case of Jonathan and Julian Barnes he might have been right, despite their mother having been heard to complain, "I have two sons. One of the writes books I can read but can't understand, and the other writes books I can understand but can't read."
I continue to read Julian Barnes' books as well as listen to both of them.
