Reflections on books, the web, philosophy, and the quiet disciplines that hold a life together.

Start at Zero

Albert Einstein was once a baby.Before he formulated relativity, unraveled light’s secrets, and became the shorthand for “genius,” Einstein spit up on his caregivers, failed to stop wobbling when they tried to sit him...

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Fiction accelerates reality.

Imaginary things can help us understand reality and rapidly inform what we believe is true.Think of the things that guide society at large and people in particular. Religion, money, countries, politics, culture. Even ...

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Ethan Frome

Edith Wharton (1862–1937) was a groundbreaking American author, renowned for her astute observations of the social elite and her critical examination of American society’s moral codes. Born into a prominent family in ...

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The Weekly Dispatch

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