I am obsessed with Maria Popova’s ingenious, fascinating, fun, and just plain awesome blog, Brainpickings. If you haven’t heard of it, you are missing out. She is so original, hip, and brilliant that you feel inspired just being in her web presence. A self-described “interestingness hunter-gatherer and curious mind at large,” the blog is a “human-powered discovery engine for interestingness, a subjective lens on what matters in the world and why, bringing you things you didn’t know you were interested in — until you are.” Impossibly cool.
She is fond of presenting lists, particularly of the best books on a certain topic. Recent examples: “9 Books to Help You Read More and Write Better,” “7 Must-Read Books on the Art and Science of Happiness,” “7 Obscure Children’s Books by Famous Authors of Adult Literature,” “Why We Love: 5 Books on the Psychology of Love,” and “7 Must-Read Books on Music, Emotion, and the Brain.” She also sometimes just offers up a really great read that we should all know about–the other day it was Posterity: Letters of Great Americans to their Children.
Then there are her lists and discussions of diverse topics that you may never have considered but that you will want to: “5 1/2 Timeless Commencement Speeches to Teach You to Define Your Own Success,” “Isaac Asimov on Science and Creativity in Education,” “100 Ideas that Changed Graphic Design,” “5 Manifestos for Life,” and coolest of all, “How to Talk about Books You Haven’t Read.”
I will stop gushing now, but do yourself a favor and check out brainpickings, subscribe to the weekly email, and send Popova in a few bucks because she spends over 200 hours monthly on her own dime to provide gratis, ad-free inspiration that makes the world a better place.
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