Brain Pickings Icon
Brain Pickings

Reads tagged with “books”

Why the Sea Is Blue: Rachel Carson on the Science and Splendor of the Marine Spectrum
Why the Sea Is Blue: Rachel Carson on the Science and Splendor of the Marine Spectrum

“The deep blue water of the open sea far from land is the color of emptiness and barrenness; the green water of the coastal areas, with all its varying hues, is the color of life.”

read article

The Great Polish Poet and Nobel Laureate Czesław Miłosz on Love
The Great Polish Poet and Nobel Laureate Czesław Miłosz on Love

“Who serves best doesn’t always understand.”

read article

King of the Sky: A Lyrical Illustrated Fable of Belonging and the Meaning of Home
King of the Sky: A Lyrical Illustrated Fable of Belonging and the Meaning of Home

A soulful sidewise gleam at the loneliness of the immigrant experience.

read article

Stephen Hawking on What Makes a Good Theory and the Quest for a Theory of Everything
Stephen Hawking on What Makes a Good Theory and the Quest for a Theory of Everything

“There are grounds for cautious optimism that we may now be near the end of the search for the ultimate laws of nature.”

read article

Walt Whitman on the “Meaning” of Art and How to Best Access the Poetic
Walt Whitman on the “Meaning” of Art and How to Best Access the Poetic

“At its best, poetic lore is like what may be heard of conversation in the dusk, from speakers far or hid, of which we get only a few broken murmurs. What is not gather’d is far more — perhaps the main thing.”

read article

Polish Poet and Nobel Laureate Wisława Szymborska on Great Love
Polish Poet and Nobel Laureate Wisława Szymborska on Great Love

“Great love is never justified. It’s like the little tree that springs up in some inexplicable fashion on the side of a cliff: where are its roots, what does it feed on, what miracle produces those green leaves?”

read article

View Full Site

Brain Pickings participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn commissions by linking to Amazon. In more human terms, this means that whenever you buy a book on Amazon from a link on here, I get a small percentage of its price. That helps support Brain Pickings by offsetting a fraction of what it takes to maintain the site, and is very much appreciated