In Defense of Difficult Reading
The tomes of the past cultivate the lost art of sustained attention
By Todd Shy Friday, June 5, 2026
What’s So Great About the Great Books?: Why You Should Read Classic Literature (Even Though It Might Destroy You) Naomi Kanakia
Inside Man
A young reporter’s devastating exposé of the amoral elite
By Anne Matthews Monday, June 1, 2026
How to Rule the World: An Education in Power at Stanford University By Theo Baker
Things Fall Apart
A meditation on entropy, obsolescence, and death
By Steven G. Kellman Monday, June 1, 2026
How We Disappear: A Personal History of Information By Thomas S. Mullaney
Into the Wilds
The tangled terrain of untrammeled lands
By Miranda Weiss Monday, June 1, 2026
The Savage Landscape: How We Made the Wilderness By Cal Flyn
The Painter Time Forgot
An overdue reckoning of an artist’s volcanic genius
By Rebecca Bedell Monday, June 1, 2026
Glorious Country: How the Artist Frederic Church Brought the World to America and America to the World By Victoria Johnson
Where Are We?
Finding our bearings has never been so risky
By Peter Turchi Monday, June 1, 2026
Little Blue Dot: How GPS Shaped the Modern World By Katherine Dunn
Canonical Contempt
Even in the 18th century, Edward Gibbon’s misogyny set him apart
By Michael O'Donnell Monday, June 1, 2026
The Conversions of Edward Gibbon: A Modern Biography By Martha Saxton
Books Are a Star’s Best Friend
The little-known reading habits of a Hollywood icon
By Noah Isenberg Thursday, May 28, 2026
Marilyn and Her Books: The Literary Life of Marilyn Monroe by Gail Crowther
Who Is Thinking?
The quest to discover the answer to an age-old question
By T. M. Luhrmann Thursday, May 7, 2026
A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness By Michael Pollan
An Israeli-Palestinian Peace Encounter
Under raining bombs, is healing conceivable?
By Erik Gleibermann Wednesday, April 15, 2026
Rocket Men
A daughter explores the male-dominated universe of her father
By Michael Upchurch Wednesday, December 1, 2004
Astro Turf: The Private Life of Rocket Science By M. G. Lord
The Peculiar Intellectual
In the antebellum South, scholars made serious contributions to their fields, at least until they turned to defending slavery
By Richard E. Nicholls Wednesday, December 1, 2004
Conjectures of Order: Intellectual Life and the American South By Michael O’Brien
What Einstein Knew
One year and five papers that changed physics forever
By Tony Rothman Wednesday, December 1, 2004
Einstein 1905: The Standard of GreatnessBy John S. Rigden /The Einstein Almanac By Alice Calaprice
One Bad Husband
What the “Bluebeard” story tells us about marriage
By Alison Lurie Wednesday, December 1, 2004
Secrets Behind the Door: The Story of Bluebeard and His Wives By Maria Tatar
