What is good writing? “The Elements of Style,” hailed by many as one of the most important books on writing ever published, tries to answer this question. But does it succeed? I believe that the answer will vary depending on your stand in the most heated debate among wordsmiths — whether brevity and succinctness are … Read more
“Happy people remember more good events than actually happened, and they forget more of the bad events,” Martin Seligman wrote in his book “Authentic Happiness.” Reading news, however, can have an opposite effect. A quick glance at today’s headlines can leave you feeling angry or depressed. That’s why your information diet needs to be balanced … Read more
. Buddhist nun Pema Chödrön wrote that the best way to maintain concentration during meditation is to label all distracting thoughts as “thinking” and return to the immediacy of your breath. Similarly, one might argue that the best way to keep your mental composure during a debate is to label your opponent’s arguments as opinion. … Read more
. I like to think of this blog as a constantly updated map of my reading adventures, where each new stop offers an opportunity to ask one of my favorite authors how to live a good life. At the same time, I also view it as a constantly evolving anthology of my intellectual pursuits, where … Read more