Stories and literature
History of ideas
idea
Ancient Indian texts reveal the liberating power of metaphysics
Indian metaphysics presented a philosophical route to a higher level of existence beyond limits of space and time
by Jessica Frazier
Stories and literature
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The plague novel you need to read is by Bachmann, not Camus
In Ingeborg Bachmann’s Malina, the plague isn’t a biological virus, it doesn’t cause lockdowns, but it is killing us
by Lyndsey Stonebridge
Stories and literature
idea
Reading books is not just a pleasure: it helps our minds to heal
Through my own struggles and in teaching bibliotherapy to students, I know that books can help to heal minds and hearts
by Peter Leyland
Thinking and intelligence
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How conspiracy theories bypass people’s rationality
Prior research has focused on the negative reasons people are drawn to conspiracies, but there’s another side to the story
by Jan-Willem van Prooijen
Stories and literature
idea
Selfish, grumpy and unkind? That’s my kind of woman
Misanthropic female novelists and their characters make me hopeful for a future in which we shrug off feminine perfection
by Ellena Savage
Spirituality and religion
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This is not the end. Apocalyptic comfort from ancient Iran
Faced with the collapse of their empire, Zoroastrians sought comfort in the apocalyptic – and their literature flourished
by Domenico Agostini & Samuel Thrope
Spirituality and religion
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The Devil you don’t know: the Satan of the 19th century
Satan wasn’t always a wicked, horned figure. The Romantics imagined the Devil as a resourceful and well-spoken gentleman
by Erik Butler
Stories and literature
idea
Get medieval on your haters: lessons from Beowulf and Chaucer
When your reputation is at stake, get medieval on your haters: lessons from Beowulf, Margery Kempe and Geoffrey Chaucer
by Irina Dumitrescu
Poetry
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Emily Dickinson and the creative ‘solitude of space’
For the poet Emily Dickinson, sequester was a feminist act of independence: it gave her mental and literal space to write
by Magdalena Ostas
Technology and media
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What does switching from paper to screens mean for how we read?
It’s well established that we absorb less well when reading on screen. But why? And can we do something to improve it?
by Lili Yu, Sixin Liao, Jan-Louis Kruger & Erik D Reichle
Poetry
idea
Love’s contradictions: Catullus on the agony of infatuation
Behold a man tortured on the rack, pulled apart by love and hate: how to understand Catullus’s best-known poem
by Armand D’Angour
Consciousness
idea
The myth of machine consciousness makes Narcissus of us all
The idea that AI can be conscious is a mistake. It’s just a very shiny mirror of humanity, reflecting what we want to see
by David Bentley Hart