Reads by Maria Popova

Crescendo: A Watercolor Ode to the Science, Strangeness, and Splendor of Pregnancy

Crescendo: A Watercolor Ode to the Science, Strangeness, and Splendor of Pregnancy

From sesame seed to selfhood, a lyrical serenade to the astonishing process by which we all enter the world.

Art and the Nocturnal Imagination: Painter, Poet, and Philosopher Etel Adnan on Dreaming and Creativity

Art and the Nocturnal Imagination: Painter, Poet, and Philosopher Etel Adnan on Dreaming and Creativity

“The logic of dreams is superior to the one we exercise while awake. In dreams the mind at last finds its courage: it dares what we do not dare.”

Trailblazing 18th-Century Artist Sarah Stone’s Stunning Natural History Paintings of Exotic, Endangered, and Extinct Species

Trailblazing 18th-Century Artist Sarah Stone’s Stunning Natural History Paintings of Exotic, Endangered, and Extinct Species

Potoroos, birds of paradise, variegated lizards, and other wondrous creatures brought to vibrant life by a visionary woman in the golden age of scientific exploration.

Astrophysicist and Author Janna Levin Reads “Berryman” by W.S. Merwin: Some of the Finest and Most Soul-Salving Advice on How to Stay Sane as an Artist

Astrophysicist and Author Janna Levin Reads “Berryman” by W.S. Merwin: Some of the Finest and Most Soul-Salving Advice on How to Stay Sane as an Artist

Tonic for living with that sacred, terrifying uncertainty with which all creative work enters the world.

Nobel-Winning Physicist Wolfgang Pauli on Science, Spirit, and Our Search for Meaning

Nobel-Winning Physicist Wolfgang Pauli on Science, Spirit, and Our Search for Meaning

“It is only a narrow passage of truth (no matter whether scientific or other truth) that passes between the Scylla of a blue fog of mysticism and the Charybdis of a sterile rationalism. This will always be full of pitfalls and one can fall down on both sides.”

These Truths: Jill Lepore on How the Shift from Mythology to Science Shaped the Early Dream of Democracy

These Truths: Jill Lepore on How the Shift from Mythology to Science Shaped the Early Dream of Democracy

“The past is an inheritance, a gift and a burden. It can’t be shirked. You carry it everywhere. There’s nothing for it but to get to know it.”

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