Personal Growth — April 21, 2011

The Inspiration Behind Cell Phones

The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

Inventor of the cellular phone Martin Cooper explains his moment of genius in which he devised the radical idea of mobile communication.

The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

Black-and-white photo showing a disc-shaped object with a shadowed underside, floating in a blank sky—an iconic image from the UFO craze.

Books

Science fiction, Project Blue Book, and the beginnings of the UFO craze

In this preview from “The Saucerian,” author Gabriel Mckee explains how the combination of fantastical stories and obscure bureaucracy launched the “space age of the imagination.”

A large black question mark with the words "live the questions" overlaid in cursive font, set against a beige background with red abstract lines.

Thinking

The 1903 letter that’s helped countless people embrace the unknown

“Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms, like books written in a truly foreign language.”

Barry Ritholtz, a man in a suit and tie, stands confidently before a blue zigzag line on a light backdrop.

The Long Game

The Barry Ritholtz Interview: “Smart is good. Smart and lucky is better”

Barry Ritholtz — market commentator, founder of Ritholtz Wealth Management, and podcast host — shares what really trips investors up.

Starts With A Bang

Ask Ethan: Couldn’t COVID-19 have originated in a Chinese lab?

In theory, scientists could’ve produced a deadly virus that accidentally infected lab workers. In practice, we know that didn’t happen.

A smiling person in a black and white photo is set against a vibrant, Spotify-themed background with abstract patterns and shapes.

Business

The Gustav Söderström interview: Spotify and the psychology of taste

Spotify’s Co-President, CPO and CTO chats with Big Think about the science of discovery, Swedish innovation, C-suite podcasting, and more.

Up Next

Guest Thinkers

English Lesson 1: T.S. Eliot, and April

English Lessons is a new blog celebrating writing we love, and illuminating why we love it—and what we can learn from it. Poetry, fiction, editorials; Presidential speeches, classic texts, popular […]