A new novel about what it’s like being the only Black person at a tech startup; a sardonic guide to surviving office life (for whenever we go back); and a bundle of new essays from one of the most lauded American writers of her generation. Those are just a few of our 10 new books […]
The wonder of wading into the black lake boiling with light. What is it about the human animal that impels us to interrupt the elemental elegance and perpetual incompleteness of a perfect ellipse with an arbitrary point we call a beginning? And yet here we are, once every three hundred and sixty-some days, marking the […]
Normally at this time of year, most of us are concerned with figuring out our New Year’s resolutions (that we probably won’t keep beyond the first week of January). But as every single person knows, 2020 was not a normal year, and this is not a normal New Year’s Eve. Instead of resolutions, this might […]
The pandemic forced public libraries to close their doors, but they remained resilient in supporting local communities by moving important programs, tools, and resources online as much as possible. The pandemic also renewed (pardon the pun) people’s relationships with the library, encouraging readers and listeners to download digital services like OverDrive and its digital reading […]
A glance over the shoulder of time to reveal the patterns, themes, and ideas that steady us and shelter us in the tempest of life. Like every year, this annual glance over the shoulder of time is a composite of the essays that most resonated with readers and those I most enjoyed writing, the overlap […]
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that as the festivities of the holiday season wind down and New Year’s resolutions set in, gyms and fitness centers are most crowded during the first quarter—if not the first month or even the first week—of the year. But with another round of shutdowns occurring in many states as positive […]
Even seasoned travelers frequently suffer the most common problem after a long flight: jet lag. Much like a hangover, there is no precise cure for this ailment. But frequent fliers often pick up a few tricks over the years to recover from the worst of it quickly in order to get on to the next. […]
As editors feverishly put to bed any remaining “Best of 2020” lists, work is well underway to review all the new books arriving in 2021. (Yes, 2020 is, mercifully, almost over.) Here is a sampling of nonfiction and fiction titles to consider reading as they will be published in the first half of 2021. “World […]
“Not because happiness exists, that over-hasty profit from imminent loss, not out of curiosity, or to practice the heart… But because being here is much, and because all that’s here seems to need us.” In the bleak winter of 1922, a “hurricane of the spirit” swept the ailing and downtrodden Rainer Maria Rilke (December 4, […]
Branchings of belief from the lovely common root of “holy” and “whole” in the interleaving of all things. Some years ago, at a gathering exploring our human search for meaning through a kaleidoscope of perspectives in the middle of the redwoods, I sat down for a conversation with an astronomer I had just met, who […]