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Following on the somewhat silly Times cover piece on how distracted we all are, itself in opposition to Steven Pinker’s brilliant Times Op-Ed today, Walter Kirn’s contribution to The Atlantic’s […]
A funny satire on the Helen Thomas story jokes that Ari Fleisher, who appeared on cable news shows to condemn Thomas, is, politically speaking, a completely irrelevant person. But when […]
The Senate defeated a bill that would have prevented the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gases as pollutants under the Clean Air Act. Large greenhouse gas emitters, like […]
Past Big Think interviewee Dr. Harry Ostrer made headlines today for discovering a genetic closeness between the two Jewish communities of Europe, the Ashkenazim and the Sephardim. According to the […]
Abe Foxman, Director of the Anti-Defemation League, stopped by Big Think today to talk about the state of anti-Semitism in America today. Among other things, we asked him if it […]
In writing, as in sports, "if you want to compete you have to train."
1mins
Isabel Allende has seen her American grandchildren grow up to embrace technology and rugged individuality.
2mins
Some of Isabel Allende’s best fiction has been inspired by private correspondence. Yet as Twitter replaces the letter, she fears that we’re losing "the beauty of language."
3mins
Isabel Allende fell in love with New Orleans just before Katrina, and Haiti just before the earthquake. The quake in her native Chile didn’t shake her as much.
2mins
Why female writers are so often overlooked in Latin American literary studies.
2mins
In memoirs, the author must decide "what is mine to tell and what is not mine to tell." But in fiction, "I do whatever I want."
1mins
Writers only need to gather stories and tell them. "I'm not trying to deliver any kind of mission, and I don’t think I have a mission—except telling a story," says […]
4mins
What the "Island Beneath the Sea" author’s desk looks like and why she starts each new novel on January 8th.
2mins
Like magic realism, Isabel Allende’s life has transcended borders.
There was a philosopher once who had no patience with geekish hype about information technology. This application, he wrote, would never make people smarter or better. In fact, it made […]
Urban farming has been one of the biggest socio-environmental trends of late. But, so far, it's been a fairly high-commitment, high-maintenance game requiring a demanding amount of time, resources and […]
Glenn Roberts, the founder of Anson Mills in Columbia, S.C. wants to save Southern food culture, one grain at a time. He thinks the traditional cuisine of the South is […]
Catherine Asaro, the bestselling science-fiction author, uses concepts from physics and math to inform the fantastical stories of her characters. In a recent interview with Big Think, Asaro describes how […]
Today I review Deborah Rhode's excellent book, "The Beauty Bias: The Injustice of Appearance in Life and Work" (Oxford University Press, 2010) for Working In These Times. Here are a […]