“Although he never admitted publicly to so political a motivation,” because of what he witnessed aboard the Beagle, “anti-slavery sentiment was the handmaiden of Charles Darwin’s great intellectual achievement – the theory of evolution.”
Category: ideas
On The Origin Of Species, A Great Beach Read
Adam Gopnik: “It is such an entertaining book. And I never expected to find that… It’s not just that it’s beautifully written in some abstract sense, but it’s such a passionate piece of pleading. I remember sitting on the beach at the end of the day when I finally finished it. And genuinely I felt the world will never look the same again.”
There’s Catharsis In Crying (Maybe), But Is It Healthy?
“Tears lubricate love songs and love, weddings and funerals, public rituals and private pain, and perhaps no scientific study can capture their many meanings.” But that doesn’t stop scientists from trying. “Now, some researchers say that the common psychological wisdom about crying — crying as a healthy catharsis — is incomplete and misleading.”
Report: Brain Fires to Match Suggestion Of Activities In Stories
“Reading a book triggers an active response in a person’s brain, replicating the activity described in the story, a study by Washington University researchers in St. Louis, Mo., indicates.”
When Art Began (A Long Long Time Ago)
Denis Dutton suggests that “Darwinian aesthetics shed light on literature, music and painting not by demonstrating them to be evolutionary adaptations, but by showing how their existence and character are connected to prehistoric preferences, interests and capacities.”
Doing Things The Hard Way: The Artisans Of Old Japan
June Thomas visits the dedicated, meticulous and very, very serious men and women keeping alive traditional Japanese crafts, notably the indigo dying that creates the country’s signature blue-and-white textiles and the extraordinary workmanship that goes into making exquisite silk kimonos. (She also considers how odd it is to see women wearing them in daily life).
Che – The #1 Brand In Revolution
In Cuba, “a country largely devoid of public advertising and religious iconography, Guevara’s ubiquitous image appears to fill the role of both Jesus Christ and Ronald McDonald – a sainted martyr of unwavering purity who also happens to promote a meticulously standardized (if not particularly nutritious) political menu.”
Better: Say It With Your Hands
“Words, of course, fail all of us from time to time; gestures hardly ever. Those small or large movements of the fingers and hands are universal, ubiquitous and usually unconscious. They say more than you think, sometimes quite literally.”
Newsflash: IQ Tests Do Not Measure Common Sense
Researcher Keith Stanovich finds that “intelligence [as conventionally measured can] coexist with foolishness because IQ tests do not measure the rationality required to abstain from dumb decisions.”
The Origins Of ‘Good Taste’
“During the 17th century, Britain witnessed the birth of a consumer society. But, as the number of possessions grew, so did the concept of ‘taste’, a subtle and elusive yardstick by which people advertised their social position and sensibilities.”