science
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The Science of Why You Can’t Read Good Literature
Writer Michael Harris discusses digital distraction and reading War and Peace at Salon: But there’s a religious certainty required in order to devote yourself to one thing while cutting off the rest of the world. We don’t know that the…
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Monkeys Don’t Have Stories
The question, “why fiction?” has very much been on my mind lately, and it’s one of these things that, again, is so big, and so obvious that most people just don’t think about it. It seems obvious to people that…
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The Science of Creativity
For the Atlantic, Cody C. Delistrarty ponders whether a person can learn to be creative, or if he or she is simply born with the trait. Framing his essay on Mary Shelley and her writing process for Frankenstein, Delistrarty presents several…
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Weekly Geekery
Will computers replace teachers? In Silicon Valley, ladies don’t get no respect. And that difficult intersection between women, Silicon Valley, and speaking up every time is embodied in one woman: Shanley Kane. Crowdsourced editing and fact-checking. It’s a thing now.…
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Learning to Look Closer
Over at Brain Pickings, Maria Popova talks with cognitive scientist Alexandra Horowitz about her new book On Looking, which is about the way sensory awareness impacts our perception of reality. The two discuss how “a writer is a professional observer”…
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Inside a Writer’s Head
New research reveals how a creative writer’s brain functions while writing. As it turns out, it might not be so different from a basketball player’s brain. The New York Times has the whole story.
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The Sins of the Father
Lord Byron’s estranged daughter, Lady Ada Lovelace, was just as swashbuckling and as tragic as her father. She was also a card shark, drug addict, and computer genius.
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A Book by Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet
Whether or not we like the contents, most of us agree: books smell pretty good. (For the truly devoted, there’s even a paper-scented perfume you can wear.) The chemistry blog Compound Interest explores what exactly makes books smell so good…
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Are Science and Literature at Odds?
What role can a knowledge of scientific concepts play in understanding literature? It comes as no surprise that “biological science remains more-or-less completely un-talked about in English seminar,” as M.M. Owen writes in a piece featured on The Millions, but…
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Man vs. Terrifying Gigantic Agribusiness
…“grew up in world (S.C.) that wouldn’t accept him,” “needs adulation,” “doesn’t sleep,” was “scarred for life.”…“What’s motivating Hayes?—basic question.” An actor’s notes for a role? A writer’s sketch of a character for a novel? Actually, these are observations by…
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How to Scientifically Predict a Novel’s Success
It’s impossible to predict what will make a book sell well, but scientists at Stony Brook University think they might be on the right track. After conducting statistical analyses of novels from several genres, they were able to predict with…
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Reading Makes You Better At Life
A degree in English may make your job search harder, but it makes empathy and social interaction easier, according to a study conducted by some people who had more practical majors. The study, published in Science, found that literary fiction like…