The Venus Hottentot: Elizabeth Alexander Reads Her Stirring Poem About the Roots of Racism and the Misuses of Science

“Elegant facts await me.”

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H.L. Mencken on Reclaiming Democracy from the Mob Mentality That Masquerades for It

“This fear of ideas is a peculiarly democratic phenomenon… nowhere so horribly apparent as in the United States, perhaps the nearest approach to an actual democracy yet seen in the world.”

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Oliver Sacks on Storytelling, the Curious Psychology of Writing, and What His Poet Friend Taught Him About the Nature of Creativity

“The act of writing is an integral part of my mental life; ideas emerge, are shaped, in the act of writing… a special, indispensable form of talking to myself.”

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The Psychology of Cryptomnesia: How We Unconsciously Plagiarize Existing Ideas

The cognitive machinery of inadvertent copying and why it matters more than ever.

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Pioneering Psychologist Jerome Bruner on the 6 Pillars of Creativity and How to Master the Art of “Effective Surprise”

“Passion, like discriminating taste, grows on its use. You more likely act yourself into feeling than feel yourself into action.”

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