Daily Interlude

Physics and Pixie Dust

For many years, historians of the Renaissance have lauded the value of forgeries and fakes. Counterfeit documents, passed off as real, offer invaluable clues about the wider culture in which they were made ... more >>

Linguistic Currency

In an information economy, tiny asymmetries in language comprehension translate into vast profits--and large-scale collapses ... more >>

Survival of the Weakest

Do you want to know why neanderthals really went extinct ... more >>

China's Mystery Lady

There was a time in the history of modern China when one of Mao Zedong's favorite proverbs, "women hold up half the sky," could have been amended to the singular: "A woman holds up half the sky." That woman, Soong May-ling, was the wife of Mao's bitter rival and better known by her married name, Madame Chiang Kai-shek. To virtually everyone in her orbit, she was simply "Madame. She was the most evil woman to wield power in the 20th century? Madame Chiang Kai-shek is still an enigma ... more >>

Jonathan Kirsch on ‘The Woman Who Named God’

Is the biblical tale of Hagar “a creation story as important as the Garden of Eden,” as Charlotte Gordon argues in her provocative new book? ... more >>

Grime and punishment

Russian literature: A resurgence? ... more >>

Why the Berlin Wall Fell?

Stephen Kotkin's fascinating "Uncivil Society" presents a revisionist account of Communism's failure ... more >>

Coming Soon to a Battlefield Near you

WIRED FOR WAR: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century ... more >>

The Education of a British-Protected Child

This collection of beautifully written autobiographical essays reveals much about the worldview of celebrated Nigerian author Chinua Achebe ... more >>

What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell

Gladwell's great strength is his ability to make his reader think. This is a review of his latest book ... more >>