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What do the Egyptian pyramids, the Mona Lisa and George Clooney’s face all have in common? The “golden ratio” according to The Independent writer Steve Connor.

Each January, an observer in Davos will find a small, well-selected set of men and women taking refuge from the world to try to come to terms with its problems. […]

A writer for The Salon ponders the intellectual stimulus of being a stay-at-home-father and asks “Is my kids making me not smart?”

It was Andy Warhol who said “sex is the biggest nothing of all time,” and whether his coy abstinence is worth comparing to the young novelists analyzed in Katie Roiphe’s […]

While John Irving may have never won a major championship as a wrestler, his experience in the sport has equipped him with the stamina and discipline necessary to struggle through […]

Nearly 800 people have set themselves the challenge of self improvement by joining the One Hundred Days to Make Me A Better Person campaign.

British comedian Stephen Fry is best known for his work as an actor, writer and, more recently, a new media aficionado, with some million-plus Twitter followers eagerly awaiting his every […]

While it’s not quite Norman Mailer on Liston v. Patterson, Gawker’s analysis of New Republic editor Leon Wieseltier’s recent exchange with Andrew Sullivan makes for brilliant reading, a smart companion to the […]

It seems Google is trying to build the world’s biggest digital library. They have digitized 12 million books so far, but want access to many more. The fairness hearing before […]

The Chronicle of Higher Education writes that studying the humanities in graduate school is a recipe for hardship and poverty.

Jessica Valenti would go out with the writer Raymond Carver, even if he was “twisted” and “not necessarily a very good person.”

It is true: Eat, Pray, Love was not for everyone—although it was for many, many people, over five million people—mainly women. Women went so mad for the novel they not […]

Professor Luke Timothy Johnson reviews New Testament writers, including Paul, and whether their condemnation of paganism was a product of their time.

A look inside The Onion writer’s room, and how it avoids becoming too “inside.”

The other day my Triscuits came with a package of basil seeds glued into the box. According to the instructions, these could be used to start my very own “home […]

The Economist’s Christmas Issue one-act, “Gordon Rex,” might be funny or—in that uniquely English, Economist-y way—slightly self-consciously aloof, but it makes us long for more. More Brown in verse. More […]

While subversive novelists have historically stood as a spokesperson for their generations, Kurt Andersen believes that, in today’s world, the serious writer is destined for obscurity.

The legendary author and activist Howard Zinn passed away this evening at the age of 87. In one of his final interviews, Professor Zinn discussed how he would like to […]

With its complete disregard for screenwriters and endless, seemingly luck-based, collaborative process, it’s a wonder anybody with literary sympathies can stomach cinema culture. Despite all this, John Irving wonders if […]

Who are these people in the media who tell us what is important — who decide what the narrative is for the rest of our national tribe? Do they really […]

Let us now praise Sir Harry Evans. Why not? We thought we knew him, but now we know so much more. Memoir is best when performed by those who did […]

Of all the writers to emerge from the psychedelic ’60s, few have endured as long at the top of their craft as Robert Stone. In a candid interview with Big […]

Why do people resist going to the doctor? A writer recently diagnosed with cancer explores an ingrained reluctance to self preserve.

Well, not exactly. But Jessica Valenti, founder of Feministing.com, spoke with Big Think about how she admires the pop star for her pluck and blunt sexuality. Much of the interview […]

It was easy when you knew which writers were writing what in your favorite newspapers. Now, if you’re like the rest of us, you’re constantly combing the internet for fresh […]

Footnote about the Pinker-Gladwell kerfuffle: To discredit Gladwell, Pinker takes advantage of a truly embarrassing mistake (the science-writer’s nightmare) in which Gladwell misspelled “eigenvalue” as “igon value.” (It seems a […]

Stephen Fry, the actor, writer, and avid tweeter, paid us a visit Tuesday. Gracious and cheerful while waiting for his closeup, Fry’s interview was a fascinating series of childhood ruminations, […]

I’m sure there will be hundreds of takeaways on the airwaves this morning about President Barack Obama’s State Of The Union address last night. There will be opinions by political […]

The novelist believes that it’s “the burning need to do it,” not to be praised, that spurs great writing.

For John Irving, the need for a daily ration of solitude was his strongest “pre-writing” moment as a child.