The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads from December 2017

The Best of Brain Pickings 2017
The Best of Brain Pickings 2017

The courage to be yourself, a Stoic’s antidote to anxiety, how friendship transforms us, in praise of solitude, and more.

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In Praise of the Telescopic Perspective: A Reflection on Living Through Turbulent Times
In Praise of the Telescopic Perspective: A Reflection on Living Through Turbulent Times

Perspective to lift the blinders of our cultural moment.

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Flatland Revisited: A Lovely New Edition of Edwin Abbott Abbott’s Classic 1884 Allegory of Expanding Our Perspective
Flatland Revisited: A Lovely New Edition of Edwin Abbott Abbott’s Classic 1884 Allegory of Expanding Our Perspective

On the absurdity of truth by consensus, and a gentle invitation to consider how our way of looking at the world limits our view of it.

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7 Favorite Science Books of 2017
7 Favorite Science Books of 2017

From trees to consciousness to black holes, an immersion into the glory of the knowable and the splendor of the unknown.

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Jad Abumrad Reads an Ode to the Glory of Tiny Creatures and Celebrates His Mother’s Scientific Persistence
Jad Abumrad Reads an Ode to the Glory of Tiny Creatures and Celebrates His Mother’s Scientific Persistence

In praise of the invisible heroisms and unglamorous triumphs of nature and the human spirit.

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Inner Sanity Amid World Chaos: The Young Alan Watts on What Makes the Human Struggle Bearable, in a Touching Letter to His Parents
Inner Sanity Amid World Chaos: The Young Alan Watts on What Makes the Human Struggle Bearable, in a Touching Letter to His Parents

From the abyss of WWII, an elevating reminder that we each contain a universe within that contributes to the universe without.

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Walt Whitman, Shortly After His Paralytic Stroke, on What Makes Life Worth Living
Walt Whitman, Shortly After His Paralytic Stroke, on What Makes Life Worth Living

“Tone your wants and tastes low down enough, and make much of negatives, and of mere daylight and the skies.”

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The 7 Loveliest Children’s Books of 2017
The 7 Loveliest Children’s Books of 2017

Profound and poetic illustrated celebrations of solitude, self-possession, friendship, and our place in the cosmos.

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On a Magical Do-Nothing Day: A Lovely Illustrated Ode to the Nourishment of Nature and the Art of Solitude in the Age of Screens
On a Magical Do-Nothing Day: A Lovely Illustrated Ode to the Nourishment of Nature and the Art of Solitude in the Age of Screens

A modern Alice-in-Wonderland tale of self-discovery against the odds of culture.

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The Heartening Illustrated Story of How Blues Pioneer Muddy Waters Transmuted Loss and Loneliness into Music That Changed History
The Heartening Illustrated Story of How Blues Pioneer Muddy Waters Transmuted Loss and Loneliness into Music That Changed History

“The guitar howled like a wolf: powerful, lonely, and proud.”

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