The Marginalian
The Marginalian

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The 7-Word Autobiographies of Famous Writers, Artists, Musicians, and Philosophers
The 7-Word Autobiographies of Famous Writers, Artists, Musicians, and Philosophers

John Irving, Joan Didion, David Byrne, Rem Koolhaas, Madeleine Albright, Malcolm Gladwell, Daniel Dennett, Andrew Sullivan, Ed Ruscha, Brian Eno, and more.

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Survival of the Prettiest: Harvard Cognitive Scientist Nancy Etcoff on the Science of Beauty
Survival of the Prettiest: Harvard Cognitive Scientist Nancy Etcoff on the Science of Beauty

“Attitudes toward beauty are entwined with our deepest conflicts surrounding flesh and spirit.”

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The Surprising History of the Pencil
The Surprising History of the Pencil

What medieval smuggling has to do with the atomic structure of carbon.

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Nabokov on Inspiration and the Six Short Stories Everyone Should Read
Nabokov on Inspiration and the Six Short Stories Everyone Should Read

“A prefatory glow, not unlike some benign variety of the aura before an epileptic attack, is something the artist learns to perceive very early in life.”

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Presence, Not Praise: How To Cultivate a Healthy Relationship with Achievement
Presence, Not Praise: How To Cultivate a Healthy Relationship with Achievement

Why instilling admiration for hard work rather than raw talent is the key to fostering a well-adjusted mind.

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Vi Hart Explains Stravinsky’s Atonal Compositions and Why We Hear Music the Way We Do
Vi Hart Explains Stravinsky’s Atonal Compositions and Why We Hear Music the Way We Do

What experimental composers have to do with copyright wrongs and the neuroscience of language.

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Faces of Justice: Mariana Cook’s Portraits of Human Rights Leaders
Faces of Justice: Mariana Cook’s Portraits of Human Rights Leaders

“Peering through the camera lens, I hoped to gain an understanding of how they become so devoted to the rights and dignity of others.”

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Helen Keller on Optimism
Helen Keller on Optimism

“The struggle which evil necessitates is one of the greatest blessings. It makes us strong, patient, helpful men and women. It lets us into the soul of things and teaches us that although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.”

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Design in a Nutshell: One-Minute Animated Primers on Six Major Creative Movements
Design in a Nutshell: One-Minute Animated Primers on Six Major Creative Movements

From Gothic Revival to Postmodernism, or how Bauhaus ushered in the age of minimalism.

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How to Worry Less About Money: Financial Planning Lessons from Goethe
How to Worry Less About Money: Financial Planning Lessons from Goethe

What Goethe can teach us about cultivating a healthy relationship with our finances.

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