The Marginalian
The Marginalian

The Best of Brain Pickings 2015

After the annual reading list of the 15 finest books of the year, it’s time for the annual look back upon the best of Brain Pickings this year — “best” being a hybrid measure of the articles you read and shared most ardently, and those I took the greatest pleasure in writing. Please (re)enjoy, and here’s to a vitalizing new year.

1. Why We Fall in Love: The Paradoxical Psychology of Romance and Why Frustration Is Necessary for Satisfaction

Read the article here.

* * *

2. 9 Learnings from 9 Years of Brain Pickings

Read the article here.

* * *

3. Love, Lunacy, and a Life Fully Lived: Oliver Sacks, the Science of Seeing, and the Art of Being Seen

Read the article here.

* * *

4. Nietzsche on How to Find Yourself and the True Value of Education

Read the article here.

* * *

* * *

5. Patti Smith on Time, Transformation, and How the Radiance of Love Redeems the Rupture of Loss

Read the article here.

6. The Science of Stress and How Our Emotions Affect Our Susceptibility to Burnout and Disease

Read the article here.

* * *

7. Desert Solitaire: An Uncommonly Beautiful Love Letter to Solitude and the Spiritual Rewards of Getting Lost

Read the article here.

* * *

8. A Rap on Race: Margaret Mead and James Baldwin’s Rare Conversation on Forgiveness and the Difference Between Guilt and Responsibility

Read the article here.

* * *

9. Mary Oliver on What Attention Really Means and Her Moving Elegy for Her Soul Mate

Read the article here.

* * *

10. The Heart and the Bottle: A Tender Illustrated Fable of What Happens When We Deny Our Difficult Emotions

Read the article here.

* * *

11. In Defense of Boredom: 200 Years of Ideas on the Virtues of Not-Doing from Some of Humanity’s Greatest Minds

Read the article here.

* * *

12. Virginia Woolf on Why the Best Mind Is the Androgynous Mind

Read the article here.

* * *

13. How to Love: Legendary Zen Buddhist Teacher Thich Nhat Hanh on Mastering the Art of “Interbeing”

Read the article here.

* * *

14. The Soul of an Octopus: How One of Earth’s Most Alien Creatures Illuminates the Wonders of Consciousness

Read the article here.

* * *

15. Creative Courage for Young Hearts: 15 Emboldening Picture Books Celebrating the Lives of Great Artists, Writers, and Scientists

Read the article here.

* * *

16. Ursula K. Le Guin on the Sacredness of Public Libraries

Read the article here.

* * *

17. Poet and Philosopher David Whyte on Anger, Forgiveness, and What Maturity Really Means

Read the article here.

* * *

18. Beatrix Potter, Mycologist: The Beloved Children’s Book Author’s Little-Known Scientific Studies and Illustrations of Mushrooms

Read the article here.

* * *

19. Rilke on How Great Sadnesses Bring Us Closer to Ourselves

Read the article here.

* * *

20. Poet Jane Kenyon’s Advice on Writing: Some of the Wisest Words to Create and Live By

Read the article here.

Step into the time machine of timeless reading with the best Brain Pickings articles of 2014.


Published December 30, 2015

https://www.themarginalian.org/2015/12/30/best-of-brain-pickings-2015/

BP

www.themarginalian.org

BP

PRINT ARTICLE

Filed Under

View Full Site

The Marginalian participates in the Bookshop.org and Amazon.com affiliate programs, designed to provide a means for sites to earn commissions by linking to books. In more human terms, this means that whenever you buy a book from a link here, I receive a small percentage of its price, which goes straight back into my own colossal biblioexpenses. Privacy policy. (TLDR: You're safe — there are no nefarious "third parties" lurking on my watch or shedding crumbs of the "cookies" the rest of the internet uses.)