The Marginalian
The Marginalian

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An Occasion for Unselfing: Iris Murdoch on Imperfection as Integral to Goodness and How the Beauty of Nature and Art Leavens Our Most Unselfish Impulses
An Occasion for Unselfing: Iris Murdoch on Imperfection as Integral to Goodness and How the Beauty of Nature and Art Leavens Our Most Unselfish Impulses

“The self, the place where we live, is a place of illusion. Goodness is connected with the attempt to see the unself… to pierce the veil of selfish consciousness and join the world as it really is.”

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Advice on Writing from Emily Dickinson’s Editor
Advice on Writing from Emily Dickinson’s Editor

“Oftentimes a word shall speak what accumulated volumes have labored in vain to utter: there may be years of crowded passion in a word, and half a life in a sentence.”

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The Loveliest Children’s Books of 2018
The Loveliest Children’s Books of 2018

A “new” Maurice Sendak treasure, James Baldwin’s only children’s book, a celebration of history’s heroic women illustrated by Maira Kalman, a stunning serenade to the wilderness, and more.

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Tiny, Perfect Things: A Lyrical Illustrated Invitation to Presence
Tiny, Perfect Things: A Lyrical Illustrated Invitation to Presence

A serenade to the small wonders that fill life with aliveness.

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An Evolutionary Anatomy of Affect: Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio on How and Why We Feel What We Feel
An Evolutionary Anatomy of Affect: Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio on How and Why We Feel What We Feel

“How and what we create culturally and how we react to cultural phenomena depend on the tricks of our imperfect memories as manipulated by feelings.”

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The Antidote to Prejudice: Walter Lippmann on Overriding the Mind’s Propensity for Preconceptions
The Antidote to Prejudice: Walter Lippmann on Overriding the Mind’s Propensity for Preconceptions

“There is a taint on any contact between two people which does not affirm as an axiom the personal inviolability of both.”

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Favorite Books of 2018
Favorite Books of 2018

The anatomy of feeling, the science of psychedelics, Ursula K. Le Guin’s final poetry collection, arresting essays by Zadie Smith, Rebecca Solnit, Anne Lamott, and Audre Lorde, a physicist’s lyrical meditation on science and spirituality, and more.

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How a Jellyfish and a Sea Slug Illuminate the Mystery of the Self
How a Jellyfish and a Sea Slug Illuminate the Mystery of the Self

A humbling evolutionary antidote to the hubris of exceptionalism, with a side of etymology.

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How to Change Your Mind: Michael Pollan on How the Science of Psychedelics Illuminates Consciousness, Mortality, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence
How to Change Your Mind: Michael Pollan on How the Science of Psychedelics Illuminates Consciousness, Mortality, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence

“The Beyond, whatever it consists of, might not be nearly as far away or inaccessible as we think.”

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An Illustrated Fictional Day in the Real Lives of Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein
An Illustrated Fictional Day in the Real Lives of Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein

Parisian misadventures in multitasking drawn from one of history’s great loves.

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