A leading Harvard pediatrician’s story: During medical school, I was on the admissions committee. Two people interviewed each applicant and then presented to the rest of the committee. There was an applicant who was outstanding in every category; I gave him a 10 out of 10. The other committee member who in- terviewed him, a […]
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Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Anxiety, Depression and OCD: Inside America's Zoos
Zoos contact Virga when animals develop difficulties that vets and keepers cannot address, and he is expected to produce tangible, observable results. Often, the animals suffer from afflictions that haven’t been documented in the wild and appear uncomfortably close to our own: He has treated severely depressed snow leopards, brown bears with obsessive-compulsive disorder and […]
Posted inNonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Quotes
‘In the Name of Our Own Fear’: Eula Biss on Vaccination, Privilege and Fear
In light of the recent measles outbreak in California, I want to share this interview with Eula Biss, author of On Immunity. After the birth of her first child, Biss’ research turned to vaccination, and she ruminated on a culture in which no man, woman or child is an island. Michael Schulson interviewed Biss at Salon.
Posted inFiction, Quotes
A Modern-Day Faery Tale
I recently discovered Kelly Link, an incredible short story author with a penchant for twisty magical realism. Her new collection, Get In Trouble, comes out in February. Luckily, “The Faery Handbag” is available online.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Why One ‘Big Idea’ Won’t Save the World
In the late ’90s, an MIT economics professor named Michael Kremer wanted to find out if school kids in Kenya were better served by being given free textbooks or medicine that would eradicate stomach worms.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Awakening
The advent of anesthesia fundamentally altered modern medicine, and its technology is often seen as infallible. However tens of thousands of patients each year in the United States alone wake up at some point during surgery. In working to eradicate this phenomenon, doctors have been forced to confront how little we know about anesthesia’s effects […]
Posted inNonfiction
The Mountain Carver
Sculpture has always been a controversial art form in Iran, but that is where Parviz Tanavoli has found his greatest inspiration.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Law Is Human and Flawed
What is lawful is not always identical to what is right. Sometimes it falls to a judge to align the two. Ward’s judgment runs to more than eighty closely typed pages. It is beautifully written, delicate and humane, philosophically astute, ethically sensitive, and scholarly, with a wide range of historical and legal references. The best […]
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction
Escape from Baghdad!: Saad Hossain’s New Satire of the Iraq War
In his debut, Saad Hossain brings a much-needed cynicism to our literature of the Iraq War. An absurdist protest novel in the vein of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5 or Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, Escape from Baghdad! relentlessly focuses the reader’s attention on the folly of war.
Posted inNonfiction, Story
The Mountain Carver
Sculpture has always been a controversial art form in Iran, but that is where Parviz Tanavoli has found his greatest inspiration.
