The Marginalian
The Marginalian

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Visionary Photographer Edward Weston on the Importance of Cross-Disciplinary Curiosity in Creative Work
Visionary Photographer Edward Weston on the Importance of Cross-Disciplinary Curiosity in Creative Work

“In this age of communication… who can be free from influence, — preconception? But — it all depends upon what one does with this cross-fertilization: — is it digested, or does it bring indigestion?”

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Incubation, Ideation, and the Art of Editing: Beethoven on Creativity
Incubation, Ideation, and the Art of Editing: Beethoven on Creativity

“I carry my thoughts about with me for a long time, sometimes a very long time, before I set them down.”

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Iris Murdoch on Storytelling, Why Art Is Essential for Democracy, and the Key to Good Writing
Iris Murdoch on Storytelling, Why Art Is Essential for Democracy, and the Key to Good Writing

“A good society contains many different artists doing many different things. A bad society coerces artists because it knows that they can reveal all kinds of truths.”

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A Flash of Illumination on the Greyhound Bus: Physicist Freeman Dyson on Creative Breakthrough and the Unconscious Mind
A Flash of Illumination on the Greyhound Bus: Physicist Freeman Dyson on Creative Breakthrough and the Unconscious Mind

“It is strange the way ideas come when they are needed.”

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Julián Is a Mermaid: A Tenderhearted Story of Identity, Belonging, and the Courage to Be Yourself
Julián Is a Mermaid: A Tenderhearted Story of Identity, Belonging, and the Courage to Be Yourself

A watercolor serenade to the transformative power of unconditional love.

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The Influence of Physical Causes Upon the Moral Faculty: How Founding Father Benjamin Rush Revolutionized Our Understanding of Mental Health
The Influence of Physical Causes Upon the Moral Faculty: How Founding Father Benjamin Rush Revolutionized Our Understanding of Mental Health

“How wonderful is the action of the mind upon the body! Of the body upon the mind!”

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Beasts of India: Stunning Illustrations of Indigenous Animals Depicted in Various Tribal Art Traditions
Beasts of India: Stunning Illustrations of Indigenous Animals Depicted in Various Tribal Art Traditions

A vibrant menagerie at the nexus of nature and culture.

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From Immigrant to Inventor: The Great Serbian-American Scientist Michael Pupin on the Value of a Penniless Immigrant Boy Full of Promise
From Immigrant to Inventor: The Great Serbian-American Scientist Michael Pupin on the Value of a Penniless Immigrant Boy Full of Promise

“An immigrant can see things which escape the attention of the native.”

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‘Frankenstein’ Author Mary Shelley on Creativity
‘Frankenstein’ Author Mary Shelley on Creativity

“Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos.”

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Nabokov’s Synesthetic Alphabet: From the Weathered Wood of A to the Thundercloud of Z
Nabokov’s Synesthetic Alphabet: From the Weathered Wood of A to the Thundercloud of Z

“The long A of the English alphabet… has for me the tint of weathered wood, but a French A evokes polished ebony.”

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