books
How Frank Herbert’s “Dune” revolutionized science fiction
Before Herbert came along and wrote Dune, few if any sci-fi stories were set in fully realized universes.
The messianic movements that inspired “Dune”
Frank Herbert's "Dune" refers to a religious desert people who are desperate for a savior to overthrow an evil empire. Sound familiar?
Andrew Yang on how the media shapes our impressions of political candidates
In his new book, "Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy," former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang explores how media narratives can warp public perception of political candidates.
Keeping offended people safe from “harmful” speech threatens intellectual liberalism
The most unpleasant aspect of intellectual liberalism is that when speech causes emotional or mental pain, the offended parties are morally entitled to nothing.
Is it possible to write an unbiased history of human civilization?
Will and Ariel Durant were praised for their ability to look at the big picture without losing sight of its little details, even if they did miss some of them.
How privacy became a forgotten virtue
Dave Eggers book, "The Circle," uses satire to illuminate how privacy is fast becoming a lost virtue in the digital age.
Science fiction doesn’t predict the future. It inspires it.
William Shatner is going to space because Jeff Bezos loves Star Trek.
More “disease” than “Dracula”: how the vampire myth was born
Societal breakdown, whether real or imagined, can lead to dramatic responses — like blood-sucking vampires.
Our crisis of attention: is it digital?
Our minds are hyper-taxed due to hyper-tasking. We need to slow down and allow ourselves to daydream if we want to improve our attention.
Why did the Buddha invent baseball?
The book Buddha Takes the Mound delivers an engaging and sophisticated account of Buddhism’s worldview through the prism of baseball.
Lost Cities, Ancient Tombs: The cemetery of the golden chiefs
The new book "Lost Cities, Ancient Tombs" documents 100 archaeological discoveries that changed the world.
What’s occurring in your brain as you read this sentence?
To enable us to read, the brain piggybacks on other cognitive processes.
Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation”: Predicting the future with mathematical sociology
The "Foundation" series, recently adapted into a show by Apple TV, was inspired by a fascinating, real-life academic discipline.
2021 Nobel Prize for literature goes to Zanzibar-born author Abdulrazak Gurnah
The Swedish Academy honored the writer for his uncompromising inquiry into the lasting consequences of Africa’s colonization.
How Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” highlights the value of science fiction
Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" series helped inspire the field of social physics, which uses math to understand crowd behavior.
The time Japan’s bestselling author staged a coup and committed seppuku
Yukio Mishima treated his life as if it were a story — one with a surprising and deadly final act.
Parasocial relationships: How people form eerily intimate bonds with TV characters
For some people, the emotional pull of fictional characters is profoundly strong.
How Stoicism can inspire fearless leadership
In his new book "Courage is Calling: Fortune Favors the Brave," Ryan Holiday explores the virtue of courage and how to overcome fear.
Who wins and who loses from globalization? There are (at least) six answers
Everybody wins, everybody loses, or something in between.
Three habits to master long-term thinking
The fruits of long-term thinking will reveal themselves in five or ten or 30 years, when you’ve created the future you’ve always wanted.
How China’s Monkey King changed Western literature
Journey to the West is rightly considered one of the most influential novels ever written, but the real reason for its success may be its charismatic poster-boy: The Monkey King.
Grigori Rasputin: mad monk or misunderstood mystic?
The peasant turned czarist advisor has come to be known and feared as the devil incarnate, but was he really as demonic as we have been led to believe?
Modern sophistry: how to debunk politicians and self-help books
Some intellectuals use charisma and deception to obscure the holes in their arguments. Here is how to see through their smokescreen.
How the U.S. reinvented the notion of empire
Preferring "bases not places," the U.S. does not really resemble the empires of old.
Neurohacking: how to upgrade your mental abilities
Through self-tracking and self-experimentation, we can greatly improve our cognitive capacity.
The most famous popular science book ever written
Why I was prepared to hate The Structure of Scientific Revolutions but ended up loving it.
Why the U.S. is trapped in “endless war”
Instead of just Afghanistan, the U.S. military ought to withdraw from the entire Middle East and much of the rest of the world.
Do we still need math?
We spend much of our early years learning arithmetic and algebra. What's the use?
How humans came to rely on the kindness of strangers
For the ancients, hospitality was an inviolable law enforced by gods and priests and anyone else with the power to make you pay dearly for mistreating a stranger.