Category: Books

Intelligence and Humanity

I like this quote on human intelligence and our humanity, from Adam Gopnik. “Yet human intelligence has another force, too: the sense of urgency that gives human smarts their drive. Perhaps our intelligence is not just ended by our mortality; to a great degree, it is our mortality.” ― Adam Gopnik

Theodore Roethke was from Saginaw, Michigan

I have never been a huge fan of the poet Theodore Roethke, but I learned today that he grew up in Saginaw, Michigan. The Theodore Roethke Home Museum is located in Saginaw. According to the Museum's website,  "The Roethke House was designated  a National Literary Landmark in 2004 in recognition of the profound impact Roethke had on American poetry and the…

Joy

Zadie Smith's piece from the current New York Review of Books: "It might be useful to distinguish between pleasure and joy. But maybe everybody does this very easily, all the time, and only I am confused. A lot of people seem to feel that joy is only the most intense version of pleasure, arrived at by the same road—you simply…