The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads from 2013

J.R.R. Tolkien on Fairy Tales, Language, the Psychology of Fantasy, and Why There’s No Such Thing as Writing “For Children”
J.R.R. Tolkien on Fairy Tales, Language, the Psychology of Fantasy, and Why There’s No Such Thing as Writing “For Children”

“Creative fantasy, because it is mainly trying to do something else … may open your hoard and let all the locked things fly away like cage-birds.”

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Hemingway on Not Writing for Free and How to Run a First-Rate Publication
Hemingway on Not Writing for Free and How to Run a First-Rate Publication

Find the best writers, pay them to write, and avoid typos at all costs.

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Young vs. Old, Male vs. Female, Intuition vs. Intellect: Susan Sontag on How the Stereotypes and Polarities of Culture Imprison Us
Young vs. Old, Male vs. Female, Intuition vs. Intellect: Susan Sontag on How the Stereotypes and Polarities of Culture Imprison Us

“The young-old polarization and the male-female polarization are perhaps the two leading stereotypes that imprison people.”

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Thoroughly Conscious Ignorance: How the Power of Not-Knowing Drives Progress and Why Certainty Stymies the Evolution of Knowledge
Thoroughly Conscious Ignorance: How the Power of Not-Knowing Drives Progress and Why Certainty Stymies the Evolution of Knowledge

“It’s a wonderful idea: thoroughly conscious ignorance.”

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The 13 Best Psychology and Philosophy Books of 2013
The 13 Best Psychology and Philosophy Books of 2013

How to think like Sherlock Holmes, make better mistakes, master the pace of productivity, find fulfilling work, stay sane, and more.

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The Art of Rube Goldberg
The Art of Rube Goldberg

“An artist who followed the logic of the machine to its comic climax.”

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A Ghost of Evolution: The Curious Case of the Avocado, Which Should Be Extinct But Still Exists
A Ghost of Evolution: The Curious Case of the Avocado, Which Should Be Extinct But Still Exists

“Even after thirteen thousand years, avocado is clueless that the great mammals are gone.”

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Legendary Cartoonist Ralph Steadman’s Inkblot Dog Drawings
Legendary Cartoonist Ralph Steadman’s Inkblot Dog Drawings

Canine humanity from the beloved Gonzo cartoonist.

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The Raven: Lou Reed’s Adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe, Illustrated by Italian Artist Lorenzo Mattotti
The Raven: Lou Reed’s Adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe, Illustrated by Italian Artist Lorenzo Mattotti

A graphic novel “meant to be heard in the mind.”

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How Should We Live: History’s Forgotten Wisdom on Love, Time, Family, Empathy, and Other Aspects of the Art of Living
How Should We Live: History’s Forgotten Wisdom on Love, Time, Family, Empathy, and Other Aspects of the Art of Living

“How to pursue the art of living has become the great quandary of our age… The future of the art of living can be found by gazing into the past.”

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