Free

… as well, a gathering of familiar birds on the nearby trees—half of them probably waiting for my wife to take the hint and refill the bird feeder on the other side of our property. Every now and then, a regal-looking hawk, his wings solemnly folded about him, perches motionless at the top of …

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A Rebel to Remember

… sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek and sponsored by the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
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We Are the Borg

… yet. This book builds on Kurzweil’s 2005 title, The Singularity Is Near, which argued that accelerating advances in computer science and other domains, coupled with positive feedback loops, would eventually produce a superhuman intelligence far beyond anything we can conceive—an event he dubbed the Singularity. (Kurzweil always capitalizes the term, like the Rapture …

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Going for Gold

… narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek and sponsored by the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
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Paradise Reclaimed

… cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek and sponsored by the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
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Bathing Badasses

… narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek and sponsored by the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
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To Catch a Sunset

… s baby; once they become yearlings, their mothers abandon them. We became aware of spots where they liked to rest late at night, and where they’d feed midmorning. Their hulk and bulk shook the ground. A telltale thump accompanied their approach.
One night, while I was working, the other residents had the first sighting …

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Rhyme, Not Repetition

… is, “Maybe it’s some John Birch thing.” Such a person, Didion writes, is not so much engaged with society as “ignorant of it, able only to feed back certain of its most publicized self-doubts.”
The most publicized self-doubt in the age of Trump—at least for many—is whether American society has …

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Turning the World to Powder

… literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek and sponsored by the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
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Corona Chasers

… Josh pointed our Dobsonian reflector at the clouds. Without a clear view of the sun, however, we weren’t able to frame the telescope to test the feed and ensure that the exposure was correct—on the off chance that we would see the eclipse. We rolled through our broadcast program in a formulaic manner …

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