In an experiment reported many years ago a pencil of light was shone through a tank. The resident goldfish chose to swim back and forth through the beam. This was interpreted as evidence of an appetite, perhaps a need, for sensory stimulation. If it could, the goldfish too might pay good money to be dropped from a great height or whirled through the air. Fairground music and flashing lights add to the experience of the big wheel, the long fall, the carousel, the dodgem and the rollercoaster, but they aren't essential: bungee jumpers take the drop with no more than the cheers of friends, and skiers slide down mountains in silence.

LRB 7 January 2010 | PDF Download