Books Because...
I too have tussled with, a decade later, in contemplating the challenge of cultivating wisdom in the age of information, particularly in a media landscape driven by commercial interest whose very business model is predicated on conditioning us to confuse information with meaning. (Why think about what constitutes a great work of art — how it moves ... See more
Maria Popova • Susan Sontag on Storytelling, What It Means to Be a Good Human Being, and Her Advice to Writers
For those who ask, with Gauguin, “Who are we? Why are we here? Where are we going?”—and who feel that the answering of those questions is the grand mission of the species—the prospect of a collective life in an electronic hive is bound to seem terrifying.
Sven Birkerts • The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age
it. Reading is a different experience than when we were young—each word offers the possibility for linking out to something else, and the main text just doesn’t have the same gravity it once did. But is this larger network actually providing us with a larger understanding?
Ahmir "Questlove Thompson • Creative Quest
Lives interweave with other lives, and out of the tapestry arise hints at answers to questions that raze to the bone of life: What are the building blocks of character, of contentment, of lasting achievement? How does a person come into self-possession and sovereignty of mind against the tide of convention and unreasoning collectivism? Does genius ... See more
Maria Popova • Figuring
Today the paper sheets of a book are disappearing. What is left in their place is the conceptual structure of a book—a bunch of symbols united by a theme into an experience that takes a while to complete.
Kevin Kelly • The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future
