Observation is the most enduring of the pleasures of life.
— George Meredith, born in 1828
The Enduring Power of the Charlatan Los Angeles Review of Books
MICROBIOME NEWS: Are ‘good’ germs in your gut key to a healthy brain? “New research shows that folks with a more robust balance of bacteria in their gut are more likely to perform well on tests of standard thinking skills including attention, flexibility, self-control and memory. Exactly how the bacterial milieu in our gut affects our brains is not fully understood, but researchers have some theories.”
Ancient Gonzo Wisdom – Hunter S. Thompson’s excruciating writing process Bookforum Magazine
The Wrap’s Diane Haithman with “Crime, Homelessness, High Taxes: Why Hollywood Big Shots Like Ryan Kavanaugh Are Fleeing L.A.”
Stalin’s marginalia. He marked up every book he read. What — if anything — do such stray thoughts reveal? Man of steel
The Unsuccessful Treatment of Writer’s Block
In 1974, the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis published a paper by Dennis Upper called The Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of a Case of “Writer’s Block”. Here’s the paper, in its entirety:
“Portions of this paper were not presented at 81st Annual American Psychological Association Convention…” — LOL. You can read more about this paper at Wikipedia. (via @ecohugger)
Memory, like dreams and sleep, remains a puzzle so huge that we barely think about it. It is obvious why one of my first recollections, perhaps aged three, is of sitting in a heavy, bulbous black car as it rolled backwards and downhill out of our front garden, gathering speed until it hit a tree and stopped. Oddly, I cannot remember my mother, who was in control of the vehicle, or rather not in control of it, saying anything, though she could have a colorful turn of phrase when required. It is not obvious why I remember sitting in a high-ceilinged room aged about seven, trying to make a plastic model of a Navy destroyer, amid much glue. Or why I remember swinging on a certain gate on a summer evening, at about the same age. There is no principle or pattern in all this.
Red poets society: The Stasi Poetry Circle’s battle for hearts and rhymes The Irish Times
What Driveling Times Are These! Lapham’s Quarterly
Men Have No Friends and Women Bear the Burden
Toxic masculinity—and the persistent idea that feelings are a "female thing"—has left a generation of straight men stranded on emotionally-stunted island, unable to forge intimate relationships with other men. It's women who are paying the price.