“As medicine advances, we have more survivors. But those survivors carry trauma to their graves.”
aeon
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes, Science & Nature
America’s Plastic Legacy
A father and daughter tour landmarks in the early history of modern plastic and assess the toxic legacy of petrochemistry.
Posted inReading List
Our Gardens, Growing: A Reading List
Five stories about plants and gardens and the humans that tend them.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Rules of Ascent
For mountaineers, it’s not enough to get to the top – it must be done a certain way. But why is the harder way better?
Posted inReading List
Adventures in Solitude: A Reading List
Being alone, free of distraction, can be both a writer’s dream and a nightmare.
Posted inEditor's Pick
In Praise of Cash
Cash might be grungy, unfashionable and corruptible, but it is still a great public good, important for rich and poor alike.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes, Science & Nature
Learning About Memory from a Woman Who Lost Hers
Lonni Sue Johnson was a successful illustrator, when the herpes simplex virus attacked her brain; she lost almost her entire lifetime of knowledge, along with the ability to form new memories. Michael Lemonick describes how she’s invaluable to neuroscientists working to understand how we make and store memories.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
In Makeover Culture, Authenticity Doesn’t Come Cheap
If the “real” self is inside us, why do we constantly seek to transform our outer surfaces?
Posted inReading List
A Reading List Inspired by the Seven Deadly Sins
I used the seven deadly sins–lust, gluttony, envy, greed, sloth, pride, and anger — as the springboard for choosing these stories. 1. LUST: “Eileen Myles on the Excruciating Pain of Waiting for Love.” (Eileen Myles, The Cut, February 2016) Poet and novelist Eileen Myles muses on a summer fling that should’ve lasted forever. 2. GLUTTONY: […]