Books
Does One Emotion Rule All Our Ethical Judgments?
When prehistoric predators abounded, the ability to perceive harm helped our ancestors survive. Some researchers wonder whether it fuels our greatest fights today.
He Was a Genius for the Ages. Can We Give Him a Break?
Gottfried Leibniz made conceptual advances that lie behind our digital world. Yet for centuries he was mocked for a misstep.
Yukio Mishima’s Death Cult
The writer spent his life cultivating beauty—on the page and in the mirror—only to end it with a samurai-style suicide. Both acts spoke to a long-standing obsession.
Is There Any Escape from the Spotify Syndrome?
The history of recorded music is now at our fingertips. But the streamer’s algorithmic skill at giving us what we like may keep us from what we’ll love.
Does Morality Do Us Any Good?
Our basic sense of right and wrong appears to be the product of blind evolution. The hard question is how unsettling that should be.
What Professional Organizers Know About Our Lives
Overwhelmed by too much stuff, we hire experts to help us sort things out. But what’s really behind all the clutter?
Sure, “Paradise Lost” Is Radical, but Did You Know It Was Sexy?
A new study charts John Milton’s influence on revolutionary thinkers but misses the sheer seductiveness of his masterwork.