The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads tagged with “history”

The Mountain View of the Mind: Simone Weil on the Purest and Most Fertile Form of Thought
The Mountain View of the Mind: Simone Weil on the Purest and Most Fertile Form of Thought

“Our thought should be empty, waiting, not seeking anything, but ready to receive in its naked truth the object that is to penetrate it.”

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Mister and Lady Day: The Illustrated Story of Billie Holiday and the Dog Who Loved Her
Mister and Lady Day: The Illustrated Story of Billie Holiday and the Dog Who Loved Her

A tale of loyalty, steak, and unconditional love.

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Jared Diamond on the Root of Inequality and How the Mixed Blessings of “Civilization” Warped Our Relationship to Daily Risk
Jared Diamond on the Root of Inequality and How the Mixed Blessings of “Civilization” Warped Our Relationship to Daily Risk

What the distribution of wealth and power in the world has to do with the most dangerous act in your day: taking a shower.

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Micromegas: Voltaire’s Trailblazing Sci-Fi Philosophical Homage to Newton and the Human Condition, in a Rare Vintage Children’s Book
Micromegas: Voltaire’s Trailblazing Sci-Fi Philosophical Homage to Newton and the Human Condition, in a Rare Vintage Children’s Book

“Perhaps those who live here are not sensible people.”

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Simone Weil on True Genius and the Crushing Illusion of Inferiority
Simone Weil on True Genius and the Crushing Illusion of Inferiority

“When one hungers for bread one does not receive stones.”

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Michael Faraday on Mental Discipline and How to Cure Our Propensity for Self-Deception
Michael Faraday on Mental Discipline and How to Cure Our Propensity for Self-Deception

“That point of self-education which consists in teaching the mind to resist its desires and inclinations, until they are proved to be right, is the most important of all.”

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The Rise of Networkism: A Visual History of Human Knowledge, from Aristotle to the Algorithm
The Rise of Networkism: A Visual History of Human Knowledge, from Aristotle to the Algorithm

What Darwin has to do with superservers and galaxy formation.

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August 25, 1944: Picasso, the Liberation of Paris, and the Meaning of Heroism
August 25, 1944: Picasso, the Liberation of Paris, and the Meaning of Heroism

“It’s easy to be a hero when you’re only risking your life.”

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Marianne Moore and the Crowning Curio: How a Poem Saved One of the World’s Rarest and Most Majestic Trees
Marianne Moore and the Crowning Curio: How a Poem Saved One of the World’s Rarest and Most Majestic Trees

“It is still leafing; still there. Mortal though.”

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Michelangelo on Struggle and Creative Integrity
Michelangelo on Struggle and Creative Integrity

“I do not know which is better, the ill that helps or the good that harms.”

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