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

history

  1. Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything Philip Ball Fascinating read on the difference between curiosity and wonder:

    Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything

    Philip Ball

    Fascinating read on the difference between curiosity and wonder:
  2. Anne Sexton: A Self-Portrait in Letters Anne Sexton “She had little patience for studying … she passed the time in math class by writing flirtatious notes to boys.” Anne Sexton’s report card:

    Anne Sexton: A Self-Portrait in Letters

    Anne Sexton

    “She had little patience for studying … she passed the time in math class by writing flirtatious notes to boys.”

    Anne Sexton’s report card:
  3. The Artists’ & Writers’ Cookbook Beryl and Barbara Turner Sachs Barr “Permit two egg yolks to recline.” A lavish 350-page vintage tome, illustrated with 19th-century engravings and original drawings by Marcel Duchamp, Robert Osborn, and Alexandre Istrati. Originally published in 1961, it features 220 recipes and 30 courses by 55 painters, 61 novelists, 15 sculptors, and 19 poets, including such luminaries as Man Ray, John Keats, Marcel Duchamp, Lawrence Durrell, Robert Graves, Harper Lee, Irving Stone, William Styron, and Georges Simenon.

    The Artists’ & Writers’ Cookbook

    Beryl and Barbara Turner Sachs Barr

    “Permit two egg yolks to recline.”

    A lavish 350-page vintage tome, illustrated with 19th-century engravings and original drawings by Marcel Duchamp, Robert Osborn, and Alexandre Istrati. Originally published in 1961, it features 220 recipes and 30 courses by 55 painters, 61 novelists, 15 sculptors, and 19 poets, including such luminaries as Man Ray, John Keats, Marcel Duchamp, Lawrence Durrell, Robert Graves, Harper Lee, Irving Stone, William Styron, and Georges Simenon.
  4. The Selected Letters of Willa Cather Willa Cather Long before the age of data and hacking and involuntary transparency, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Willa Cather was a fierce custodian of her own privacy. Despite being a prolific letter-writer, she burned much of her correspondence and, in a will written during the final and rather dark years of her life, forbad the posthumous publication of the remainder. Now, more than sixty-five years after her death, her correspondence is at last revealed – including the only surviving letter to her partner, Edith Lewis:

    The Selected Letters of Willa Cather

    Willa Cather

    Long before the age of data and hacking and involuntary transparency, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Willa Cather was a fierce custodian of her own privacy. Despite being a prolific letter-writer, she burned much of her correspondence and, in a will written during the final and rather dark years of her life, forbad the posthumous publication of the remainder. Now, more than sixty-five years after her death, her correspondence is at last revealed – including the only surviving letter to her partner, Edith Lewis:
  5. Conversations with Artists Selden Rodman “Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is.” Jackson Pollock, in a rare interview shortly before his death, on art and morality:

    Conversations with Artists

    Selden Rodman

    “Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is.”

    Jackson Pollock, in a rare interview shortly before his death, on art and morality:
  6. Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats T. S. Eliot T. S. Eliot’s whimsical vintage verses, on which the famed Broadway musical Cats was based, illustrated and signed by the great Edward Gorey

    Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats

    T. S. Eliot

    T. S. Eliot’s whimsical vintage verses, on which the famed Broadway musical Cats was based, illustrated and signed by the great Edward Gorey
  7. Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews, First Series Malcolm Cowley “The germ of a story is a new and simple element introduced into an existing situation or mood.” The great Malcolm Cowley on the four stages of writing:

    Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews, First Series

    Malcolm Cowley

    “The germ of a story is a new and simple element introduced into an existing situation or mood.”

    The great Malcolm Cowley on the four stages of writing:
  8. Encountering America: Humanistic Psychology, Sixties Culture, and the Shaping of the Modern Self Jessica Grogan “Abraham Maslow … once asked himself in his journal how he would define the [humanistic psychology] movement in one sentence. … It is, he wrote, ‘a move away from knowledge of things and lifeless objects as basis for all philosophy, economics, science, politics, etc. (because this has failed to help with the basic human problem) toward a centering upon human needs & fulfillment & aspirations as the fundamental basis from which to derive all social institutions, philosophy, ethics, etc. I might use also for more sophisticated & hep people that it is a resacralizing of science, society, the person, etc.” How Abraham Maslow and his humanistic psychology shaped the modern self.

    Encountering America: Humanistic Psychology, Sixties Culture, and the Shaping of the Modern Self

    Jessica Grogan

    “Abraham Maslow … once asked himself in his journal how he would define the [humanistic psychology] movement in one sentence. … It is, he wrote, ‘a move away from knowledge of things and lifeless objects as basis for all philosophy, economics, science, politics, etc. (because this has failed to help with the basic human problem) toward a centering upon human needs & fulfillment & aspirations as the fundamental basis from which to derive all social institutions, philosophy, ethics, etc. I might use also for more sophisticated & hep people that it is a resacralizing of science, society, the person, etc.”

    How Abraham Maslow and his humanistic psychology shaped the modern self.
  9. Turing: Pioneer of the Information Age Jack Copeland “He might ask you … whether you think a computer could ever enjoy strawberries and cream or could make you fall in love with it.” An uncommon portrait of Alan Turing, godfather of modern computing.

    Turing: Pioneer of the Information Age

    Jack Copeland

    “He might ask you … whether you think a computer could ever enjoy strawberries and cream or could make you fall in love with it.”

    An uncommon portrait of Alan Turing, godfather of modern computing.
  10. Immortality: The Quest to Live Forever and How It Drives Civilization Stephen Cave “Our overblown intellectual faculties seem to be telling us both that we are eternal and that we are not.” Fascinating read on the mortality paradox

    Immortality: The Quest to Live Forever and How It Drives Civilization

    Stephen Cave

    “Our overblown intellectual faculties seem to be telling us both that we are eternal and that we are not.”

    Fascinating read on the mortality paradox
  11. New York: A Serendipiter’s Journey Gay Talese A hierarchy of New York’s cats from the father of literary journalism, with exclusive illustration.

    New York: A Serendipiter’s Journey

    Gay Talese

    A hierarchy of New York’s cats from the father of literary journalism, with exclusive illustration.
  12. Designing for People Henry Dreyfuss “Man achieves his tallest measure of serenity when surrounded by beauty.” Iconic designer Henry Dreyfuss on beauty, serenity, and the art of shaping public taste.

    Designing for People

    Henry Dreyfuss

    “Man achieves his tallest measure of serenity when surrounded by beauty.”

    Iconic designer Henry Dreyfuss on beauty, serenity, and the art of shaping public taste.
  13. Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds Harold Bloom “Genius, in its writings, is our best path for reaching wisdom … the true use of literature for life.” Harold Bloom’s 100 geniuses of language and literature, visualized.

    Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds

    Harold Bloom

    “Genius, in its writings, is our best path for reaching wisdom … the true use of literature for life.”

    Harold Bloom’s 100 geniuses of language and literature, visualized.
  14. Dear Mark Twain: Letters from His Readers R. Kent Rasmussen “This world would not be satisfying unless one person were allowed to express gratitude and thanks to another.” Heart-warming fan mail for Mark Twain

    Dear Mark Twain: Letters from His Readers

    R. Kent Rasmussen

    “This world would not be satisfying unless one person were allowed to express gratitude and thanks to another.”

    Heart-warming fan mail for Mark Twain
  15. Afterwords: Letters on the Death of Virginia Woolf Sybil Oldfield “For myself and others it is the end of a world. I merely feel quite numb at the moment, and can’t think about this or anything else…” T.S. Eliot, Edith Sitwell, E.M. Foster, Elizabeth Bowen, H.G. Wells, and others grapple with the ineffable

    Afterwords: Letters on the Death of Virginia Woolf

    Sybil Oldfield

    “For myself and others it is the end of a world. I merely feel quite numb at the moment, and can’t think about this or anything else…”

    T.S. Eliot, Edith Sitwell, E.M. Foster, Elizabeth Bowen, H.G. Wells, and others grapple with the ineffable
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