Sublime

I never stopped to ask, “Who is the typical Yale alumnus? Who am I editing for?” One of my principles is that there is no typical anybody; every reader is different. I edit for myself and I write for myself. I assume that if I consider something interesting or funny, a certain number of other people will too. If they don’t, they have two inalienabl

The six Mitchell pieces that would eventually constitute his book, The Bottom of the Harbor, a classic of American nonfiction,

Oldenburg contends the most important “first place” in a community is the home. The places where we work are our “second place” since work is required and serious and “reduces the individual to a single productive role.” Our “third place” is composed of those informal, neutral, public social spaces we visit voluntarily—where “conversation is the pr

Like John McPhee waiting on the picnic table for insight on his article structure, Zuiker’s efforts point toward a definition of meaningful and valuable work that doesn’t require a frenetic busyness. Its magic instead becomes apparent at longer timescales, emanating from a pace that seems, in comparison with the relentless demands of high-tech pseu

1. All technological change is a trade-off.


2. The advantages and disadvantages of new technologies are never distributed evenly among the popula