“What could Marilyn Monroe’s death ever have to do with me? ‘IT HAS TO DO WITH ALL OF US,’ said Owen Meany, when I called him that night. ‘SHE WAS JUST LIKE OUR WHOLE COUNTRY––NOT QUITE YOUNG ANYMORE, BUT NOT OLD EITHER; A LITTLE BREATHLESS, VERY BEAUTIFUL, MAYBE A LITTLE STUPID, MAYBE A LOT SMARTER […]
As an amateur neuroscience enthusiast, I’m obligated not only to seek out the best and most recent neuroscientific findings, but also to be wary of how these findings might be abused. Any scientific discipline that can be easily monetized and/or misinterpreted by the popular media will spawn its share of hacks, prophets, and snake oil […]
When I decided to move back to Humboldt after returning from Japan in summer 2013, I was motivated by several different factors. One of the most influential was my growing trepidation about the problem of climate change, which birthed in me a desire to settle myself in a strong community and start learning about sustainable […]
“Grandmother was rigorous and unswerving. It was her belief in the value of effort itself that prevented her from buying a television set. She was a passionate reader, and she thought that reading was one of the noblest efforts of all; in contrast, she found writing to be a great waste of time––a childish self-indulgence, […]
This was my favorite novel throughout my adolescence, and is also probably the only book I’ve ever read three times. After a recent and extremely rewarding rereading of The Grapes of Wrath, I decided it was time to take up East of Eden once again. The book holds many memories, like that handful of albums […]
I came to this book by way of science fiction author Peter Watts, whose excellent novel Blindsight was influenced by Thomas Metzinger’s philosophy. The Ego Tunnel is the best book I’ve read about consciousness since Antonio Damasio’s Self Comes to Mind. Damasio and Metzinger have much in common, but I ultimately prefer Metzinger’s approach; as a neuroscientist, […]
“‘There are many millions in their sects and churches who feel the order, “Do thou,” and throw their weight into obedience. And there are millions more who feel predestination in “Thou shalt.” Nothing they may do can interfere with what will be. But “Thou mayest”! Why, that makes a man great, that gives him stature […]
“Joe said plaintively, ‘But what will I do here alone?’ Samuel was silent for a moment. Then he said, ‘Joe, do you love me?’ ‘Why, sure.’ ‘If you heard I’d committed some great crime would you turn me over to the police?’ ‘What are you talking about?’ ‘Would you?’ ‘No.’ ‘All right then. In my […]
“I don’t know how it will be in the years to come. There are monstrous changes taking place in the world, forces shaping a future whose face we do not know. Some of these forces seem evil to us, perhaps not in themselves but because their tendency is to eliminate other things we hold good. […]