book pickings

a visual way to explore the brain pickings book archive :: otlet's shelf theme :: back to brain pickings

CREATIVITY :: DESIGN :: SCIENCE :: HISTORY :: PSYCHOLOGY :: ART

  1. Mr. Gauguin’s Heart Marie-Danielle Croteau Mr. Gauguin’s Heart – the beautiful and bittersweet true story of how Paul Gauguin transformed the grief over his father’s death into the raw material for becoming one of the world’s greatest artists:

    Mr. Gauguin’s Heart

    Marie-Danielle Croteau

    Mr. Gauguin’s Heart – the beautiful and bittersweet true story of how Paul Gauguin transformed the grief over his father’s death into the raw material for becoming one of the world’s greatest artists:
  2. Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose Flannery O'Connor “Art never responds to the wish to make it democratic; it is not for everybody; it is only for those who are willing to undergo the effort needed to understand it.” Flannery O'Connor on art, integrity, and the artist’s responsibility to his or her muse:

    Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose

    Flannery O'Connor

    “Art never responds to the wish to make it democratic; it is not for everybody; it is only for those who are willing to undergo the effort needed to understand it.”

    Flannery O'Connor on art, integrity, and the artist’s responsibility to his or her muse:
  3. A Leg to Stand On Oliver Sacks The incredible story of how, after tearing a leg muscle while running from a raging bull in a Norwegian fjord, young Oliver Sacks saved his own life through the power of literature and song – perhaps the most beautiful and moving testament to the life-saving power of music ever written:

    A Leg to Stand On

    Oliver Sacks

    The incredible story of how, after tearing a leg muscle while running from a raging bull in a Norwegian fjord, young Oliver Sacks saved his own life through the power of literature and song – perhaps the most beautiful and moving testament to the life-saving power of music ever written:
  4. Wild Ideas Elin Kelsey The creative problem-solving strategies of various animals, in breathtaking illustrated dioramas:

    Wild Ideas

    Elin Kelsey

    The creative problem-solving strategies of various animals, in breathtaking illustrated dioramas:
  5. On Kindness Adam Phillips & Barbara Taylor “We are never as kind as we want to be, but nothing outrages us more than people being unkind to us.” How kindness became our guilty pleasure – wonderful and culturally necessary read that also explains the deeper psychology of the internet’s “outrage culture”:

    On Kindness

    Adam Phillips & Barbara Taylor

    “We are never as kind as we want to be, but nothing outrages us more than people being unkind to us.”

    How kindness became our guilty pleasure – wonderful and culturally necessary read that also explains the deeper psychology of the internet’s “outrage culture”:
  6. How to Write a Thesis Umberto Eco “If we think that our reader is an idiot, we should not use rhetorical figures, but if we use them and feel the need to explain them, we are essentially calling the reader an idiot. In turn, he will take revenge by calling the author an idiot.” Umberto Eco’s pleasurably stern yet sympathetic advice to aspiring writers:

    How to Write a Thesis

    Umberto Eco

    “If we think that our reader is an idiot, we should not use rhetorical figures, but if we use them and feel the need to explain them, we are essentially calling the reader an idiot. In turn, he will take revenge by calling the author an idiot.”

    Umberto Eco’s pleasurably stern yet sympathetic advice to aspiring writers:
  7. Africa in My Blood: An Autobiography in Letters Jane Goodall Young Jane Goodall’s exuberant letters home from Africa when she first arrived half a century ago – the fulfillment of her childhood dream:

    Africa in My Blood: An Autobiography in Letters

    Jane Goodall

    Young Jane Goodall’s exuberant letters home from Africa when she first arrived half a century ago – the fulfillment of her childhood dream:
  8. A Short History of Myth Karen Armstrong “Human beings have always been mythmakers… We are meaning-seeking creatures.” Why the sky enchants us — fascinating read on the power of myth and our longing for transcendence:

    A Short History of Myth

    Karen Armstrong

    “Human beings have always been mythmakers… We are meaning-seeking creatures.”

    Why the sky enchants us — fascinating read on the power of myth and our longing for transcendence:
  9. Little Red Riding Hood Brothers Grimm Gorgeous laser-cut illustrations for Little Red Riding Hood by German artist Sybille Schenker:

    Little Red Riding Hood

    Brothers Grimm

    Gorgeous laser-cut illustrations for Little Red Riding Hood by German artist Sybille Schenker:
  10. The Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1995 Nikki Giovanni Some people forget that love is tucking you in and kissing you “Good night” no matter how young or old you are… Beloved poet Nikki Giovanni on love, friendship, and loneliness:

    The Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1995

    Nikki Giovanni

    Some people forget that love is tucking you in and kissing you

    “Good night”

    no matter how young or old you are…

    Beloved poet Nikki Giovanni on love, friendship, and loneliness:
  11. The Works of John Ruskin John Ruskin How drawing trains you to see the world more clearly and live with a deeper sense of presence:

    The Works of John Ruskin

    John Ruskin

    How drawing trains you to see the world more clearly and live with a deeper sense of presence:
  12. Tesla: Man Out of Time Margaret Cheney Need another reason to love Tesla? The great inventor’s feminist ideas on how technology will empower women in a 1926 piece titled “When Woman Is Boss” – read it at the link:

    Tesla: Man Out of Time

    Margaret Cheney

    Need another reason to love Tesla? The great inventor’s feminist ideas on how technology will empower women in a 1926 piece titled “When Woman Is Boss” – read it at the link:
  13. Map: Collected and Last Poems Wislawa Szymborska Amanda Palmer reads Polish Nobel laureate Wislawa Szymborska’s beautiful poem “Life While-You-Wait”:

    Map: Collected and Last Poems

    Wislawa Szymborska

    Amanda Palmer reads Polish Nobel laureate Wislawa Szymborska’s beautiful poem “Life While-You-Wait”:
  14. Styles of Radical Will Susan Sontag “The art of our time is noisy with appeals for silence. A coquettish, even cheerful nihilism. One recognizes the imperative of silence, but goes on speaking anyway.” Susan Sontag on the aesthetics of silence – superb read, triply timely today, half a century after she wrote it:

    Styles of Radical Will

    Susan Sontag

    “The art of our time is noisy with appeals for silence. A coquettish, even cheerful nihilism. One recognizes the imperative of silence, but goes on speaking anyway.”

    Susan Sontag on the aesthetics of silence – superb read, triply timely today, half a century after she wrote it:
  15. The Magic Box Joseph Pintauro An extraordinary vintage children’s book for grownups celebrating “life, the wonder & pain of it & the unspeakable worthwhileness of every second of it”:

    The Magic Box

    Joseph Pintauro

    An extraordinary vintage children’s book for grownups celebrating “life, the wonder & pain of it & the unspeakable worthwhileness of every second of it”:
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