Nonfiction

Worse Than Jerks: Why Some People Have Rotten Character

And Why Socrates Couldn’t Fix It: Reviewing ‘The Quest for Character’ by Massimo Pigliucci

6 hrs ago •

Rest Well, Work Well: The Formula for Being Human

Reviewing Two Classics on the Link Between Work and Leisure

Nov 8 •

All There Is to Know, More or Less

Encyclopedic Understanding. An A-to-Z Review of Simon Garfield’s ‘All the Knowledge in the World’

Nov 5 •

Our Ancestors Murdered Their Mother Tongue, Thankfully

Reviewing Laura Spinney’s ‘Proto: How One Language Went Global’

Sep 24 •

Mystery to Ourselves: The Brain’s Black Box

The Human Self in Literature and Science: Reviewing Eric Hoel’s ‘The World Behind the World’

Aug 20 •

‘And Lead Us Not into Distraction’

What Monks and Nuns Know about Staying Focused. Reviewing Jamie Kreiner’s ‘The Wandering Mind’

Aug 16 •

Note to Self: Watch Your Mouth

When We Don’t Speak Our Minds: Reviewing Glenn C. Loury’s ‘Self-Censorship’

Jun 28 •

Narrative Control: How Stories Dominate Our Lives

Reviewing Alissa Wilkinson’s ‘We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine’

Jun 14 •

Books Before Print, Paper, and Pixel

The Art and Function of Medieval Manuscripts: Reviewing ‘The Lindisfarne Gospels,’ ‘Imperial Splendor,’ and ‘Performing the Gospels in Byzantium’

May 24 •

3 Ways to Make New Stuff Happen

Lessons in Innovation from Buckminster Fuller, Martin Luther King Jr., Milton Friedman, and Sonny Rollins

Apr 5 •

Ideas Are Tools, and Words Can Heal

An African American History of Literacy and Liberation, and What Their Words Mean for Us All

Feb 1 •

How to Predict the Future Better than a Dolphin

Imagining What’s Next. Reviewing ‘The Invention of Tomorrow: A Natural History of Foresight’

Nov 27, 2024 •

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