Finding Comfort in Small Spaces
In this personal essay, Jessica Gross considers her preference for certain types of confinement.
Why Are Humans So Curious?
Mario Livio on his new book about human curiosity, his work as an astrophysicist, and why we shouldn’t fear our expanding universe.
Becoming Estranged from My Family ‘Was the Best Thing for Me’
Jessica Berger Gross on what it means to sever ties with your family.
Literature by the Numbers
In Nabokov’s Favorite Word is Mauve, data journalist Ben Blatt takes a mathematical approach to writers of fiction.
A Conversation With Ariel Levy About Writing a Memoir That Avoids ‘Invoking Emotional Tropes’
So let’s talk about your realization, or your narrative persona’s realization, through the course of the book, that the rules do apply. They do apply, although—
Well only one: nature, mortality, age, the body. There is that: nobody gets out alive. Like, that. Part of that is your fertility: your fertility will expire, particularly if you’re female; your body will deteriorate, you will age. That is never going to change, that’s life as a human animal. And I think that that’s one of the things that it means to be a grown-up is to slowly, slowly realize that. Remember when you’re a little kid and you’re like, “Yyyyeeeah, I’m actually not gonna die”?
Making Sense of Our Compulsions
Sharon Begley explores the behaviors we engage in to cope with unbearable anxiety.
A Conversation With Dan Ariely About What Shapes our Motivations
Dan Ariely on building an understanding of how humans behave from the ground up.
The Invisible Forces Behind All of Our Decision-Making
Author Jonah Berger explains when and why we follow the herd.
Bringing Bach to the Public
A conversation with violinist Michelle Ross, who, for a month, toured New York City playing Bach’s entire solo violin cycle in public spaces.
Mark Haddon: ‘Ultimately, There Is No Narrative Without Death’
An conversation with the author about his new dark short story collection, The Pier Falls.
