The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads by Maria Popova

We Are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt, the Power of Defiant Goodwill, and the Art of Beginning Afresh
We Are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt, the Power of Defiant Goodwill, and the Art of Beginning Afresh

“It is when the experience of powerlessness is at its most acute, when history seems at its most bleak, that the determination to think like a human being, creatively, courageously, and complicatedly, matters the most.”

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George Saunders on How to Live an Unregretting Life
George Saunders on How to Live an Unregretting Life

“At the end of my life, I know I won’t be wishing I’d held more back, been less effusive, more often stood on ceremony, forgiven less, spent more days oblivious to the secret wishes and fears of the people around me.”

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Moonlight and the Magic of the Unnecessary
Moonlight and the Magic of the Unnecessary

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The Ecstasy of Eternity: Richard Jefferies on Time and Self-Transcendence
The Ecstasy of Eternity: Richard Jefferies on Time and Self-Transcendence

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Jonathan Franzen on How to Write About Nature, with a Side of Rachel Carson and Alice in Wonderland
Jonathan Franzen on How to Write About Nature, with a Side of Rachel Carson and Alice in Wonderland

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Something About the Sky: Rachel Carson’s Lost Serenade to the Science of the Clouds, Found and Illustrated by Artist Nikki McClure
Something About the Sky: Rachel Carson’s Lost Serenade to the Science of the Clouds, Found and Illustrated by Artist Nikki McClure

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Cordyceps, the Carpenter Ant, and the Boundaries of the Self: The Strange Science of Zombie Fungi
Cordyceps, the Carpenter Ant, and the Boundaries of the Self: The Strange Science of Zombie Fungi

“It is likely that fungi have been manipulating animal minds for much of the time that there have been minds to manipulate.”

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The Middle Passage: A Jungian Field Guide to Finding Meaning and Transformation in Midlife
The Middle Passage: A Jungian Field Guide to Finding Meaning and Transformation in Midlife

“Our task at midlife is to be strong enough to relinquish the ego-urgencies of the first half and open ourselves to a greater wonder.”

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The Other Significant Others: Living and Loving Outside the Confines of Conventional Friendship and Compulsory Coupledom
The Other Significant Others: Living and Loving Outside the Confines of Conventional Friendship and Compulsory Coupledom

“While we weaken friendships by expecting too little of them, we undermine romantic relationships by expecting too much of them.”

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How Emotions Are Made
How Emotions Are Made

“Emotions are not reactions to the world; they are your constructions of the world.”

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