Stories and literature
![A young couple in handcuffs lean against a 1950s police car beneath a brooding prairie sky](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/d0dca061-835c-419d-9899-62e0ea1da3a3/rt-2qdgw8rog1ub1.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Mind and brain
idea
What films and literature reveal about the voice in your head
Inner speech is mysterious and hard to study. But movie voiceovers and introspective novels offer fresh ways to understand it
by Shayla Love
![A woman is grappling with another woman who has a bloody nose](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/6ce7b58e-17c8-4907-8cd5-9b16bec41fc7/rt-janice-soprano.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Stories and literature
idea
Fiction has a special power to give us insight into our flaws
Losing yourself in a book, film or show provides a useful mirror for character – one that is hard to access in real life
by Martina Orlandi
![Wooden shelves filled with books, framed pictures, small ornaments, a bowl, and various decorative items.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/fca8b519-5d00-4541-9746-970863ae376f/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Stories and literature
guide
How to nurture a personal library
An escape, a sanctuary, a place of pleasure, a memoir. Take these steps to ensure your library is just what you want it to be
by Freya Howarth
![A stylised figure drawn in glowing red lines stands on a cliff reaching towards a dark sky full of stars above a calm sea. The scene has a mystical atmosphere.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/201abfcd-50fe-40cb-aa31-09cf18517553/navajo-tales-the-stars-landscape-2-v2.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Symbols and myth
film
A Navajo creation story illustrates why humans must forge their own path
Directed by Dallin Penman
![A dark, moody painting of a cloaked figure with a faint smile, partially illuminated, and a small, grimacing animal-like face on their shoulder.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/217ba1dd-6c4c-4d88-a9e3-ed9c42691e1e/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Sex and sexuality
idea
My take on ‘Venus in Furs’ as a modern-day dominatrix
My experiences as a 21st-century femdom echo the gendered themes that feature in Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s 1870 novel
by Gia Marcos
![An illustration of two deer running in a forest, surrounded by text in a historical script, bordered in red.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/4fc7cf70-910d-407d-98b9-7c21e9f4edf5/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Grief
idea
After my mom died, I found comfort in a medieval Andalusi tale
Ibn Tufayl’s story of a man mourning the gazelle who raised him helped me appreciate the interconnection of all things
by Veronica Menaldi
![Cubist artwork depicting a fragmented still life with a book, glass, and other abstracted objects in earthy tones and muted greys.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/b0025b1e-a2ba-4252-9691-46810b823c4d/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Stories and literature
guide
How to gain more from your reading
There’s more to words than meets the eye. Deepen your appreciation of literature through the art of slow, attentive reading
by Robert DiYanni
![Abstract painting of people in a park; a man in a suit walks, a woman in a green dress stands, and another person sits on a bench reading.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/e43d1918-4c4e-496b-9262-8ed035dca35b/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Virtues and vices
film
A simple morality tale finds rich depth in the hands of a master animator
A film by Georges Schwizgebel
![A girl is shown reading from a device in her hand, her face illuminated by the screen’s light](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/8b396a17-1157-4831-8424-c7264ab84d29/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Technology and media
idea
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
![Ancient stone carving of a woman standing beside intricately decorated circular patterns and floral motifs, with ruins in the background.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/fc9d7b41-a55e-463d-b5f5-f710cff5906d/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Sacred places
idea
Why Indian Buddhism has gardens, not monasteries
Wishing trees, jewels, unfading flowers – what place do these sensual pleasures have in the ascetic life of Buddhist monks?
by Simran Agarwal
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/3d68ecdd-25e3-49cb-878f-060058b7877b/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Thinkers and theories
guide
How to deconstruct the world
Don’t believe everything you hear, read and watch. To puncture received ideas about culture, start thinking like Jacques Derrida
by Peter Salmon
![Open book with sketches of a handgun on the left page and a peach with geometric lines on the right page, on a dark surface.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/d6698a53-9343-410b-9c8c-342139e86882/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Poetry
film
An English teacher asks his class: ‘What’s the opposite of a gun?’
Directed by Anna Samo and Lisa LaBracio