Who do you think you are? There are two answers We tell children that they can be whatever they want to be. But philosopher Joanna Lawson, an assistant professor at Oklahoma State University, remembers the moment her piano teacher told her that, in fact, she could not plan to attend Juilliard and become a professional […]
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The Rise of Literary Tourism “Explore the rise of literary tourism worldwide and how book lovers are traveling to iconic literary destinations.” Adam Ryan looks at the various ways that readers are incorporating literary destinations into their traveling plans. While I’ve never planned a trip explicitly around a literary destination, I try to include literary-related
How To Kill a Mockingbird Got Banned and Became a Pulitzer-Winning Classic “Happy anniversary, To Kill a Mockingbird! Harper Lee’s classic turns 66—explore the story behind its lasting power and timeless relevance.” In this article from July 2025, Millie Ramm celebrates the anniversary of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird by asking, “why has this
The Rise of Ragebait Lit “This spring, arguing about books in the group chat is back” In Harper’s Bazaar, Maris Kreizman discusses the predominance of “ragebait lit,” books that “are dominating the cultural conversation.” “The premises of these books may have inspired more than their share of hot takes . . . but the conversations
The Summer Reading Guide If you’re still drawing up your summer reading plan, The Atlantic has 25 recommendations for books in the following categories: What Close Reading Can Reveal About an Author’s Intentions I was always taught that we cannot know what an author intended to do; we can only see what an author has
We’re All Reading Wrong “To access the full benefits of literature, you have to share it out loud.” Journalist Alexandra Moe informs us “Until approximately the tenth century, when the practice of silent reading expanded thanks to the invention of punctuation, reading was synonymous with reading aloud.” She continues: “To reap the full benefits of
A simple illusion can unlock your childhood memories, according to new psychology research Recent research published in Scientific Reports suggests that “people can better access detailed memories from their childhood by experiencing an illusion of owning a younger version of their own face”: Our memories are not just recordings of external events; they are experiences
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Record everything! “Our memories are precious to us and constitute our sense of self. Why not enhance them by recording all of your life?” Yannic Kappes is a philosopher and a postdoc at the University of Vienna in Austria. In this article he takes the proposition that “[c]urrent technology allows for radical memory enhancement” to
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The Oxford Word of the Year 2025 is rage bait The powers that be at Oxford University Press have chosen rage bait as their word of the year for 2025. Rage bait is defined as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to
How the Union Lost the Remembrance War “The victors of the American Civil War failed to write their story into the history books, leaving a gap for the mythologizing of the Confederacy.” “After the American Civil War, there was what historian Robert J. Cook calls a ‘robust and purposeful narrative’ of the Union’s defeat of
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