All posts tagged: read

Your suffering is a compass. Here’s how to read it.

Your suffering is a compass. Here’s how to read it.

MARK MANSON: My name is Mark Manson. I am the author of the subtle art of not giving a fuck, as well as some other works. I’m a YouTuber, podcaster, and my work focuses primarily on the importance of values. This is Big Think, and today I’m going to be talking about how to grow into an emotionally mature adult. How to develop a healthy sense of hope. How to improve your life by changing your values. And how to find success through failure. Chapter 1. Becoming an emotionally healthy adult. One of my spicier arguments is that I think happiness is greatly overrated in today’s age. I think people focus on it way too much. I think they’re focused on it backfires pretty consistently. But worst of all, I think people have started confusing comforts and highs for the same thing as happiness. It’s interesting if you look at the ancient world, Aristotle actually argued that there are two versions of happiness. There’s hedonia, which is kind of pleasure, comforts, short-term satisfactions, and then there’s …

This Beanie Is Designed to Read Your Thoughts

This Beanie Is Designed to Read Your Thoughts

Speech-to-text capability is now baked into all modern computers. But what if you didn’t have to dictate to your computer? What if you could type just by thinking? Silicon Valley startup Sabi is emerging from stealth with that goal. The company is developing a brain wearable that decodes a person’s internal speech into words on a computer screen. CEO Rahul Chhabra says its first product, a brain-reading beanie, will be available by the end of the year. The company is also designing a baseball cap version. The technology is known as a brain-computer interface, or BCI, a device that provides a direct communication pathway between the brain and an external device. While many companies such as Elon Musk’s Neuralink are developing surgically implanted BCIs for people with severe motor disabilities, Sabi’s device could allow anyone to become a cyborg. It’s not exactly Musk’s vision of the future, which involves implanted brain chips to allow humans to merge with AI. But venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, who was an early investor in OpenAI, says a noninvasive, wearable …

What to read this week: Emma Chapman’s mind-expanding Radio Universe

What to read this week: Emma Chapman’s mind-expanding Radio Universe

ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, Chile ESO/C. Malin Radio UniverseEmma ChapmanJohn Murray When he was 16 years old, Albert Einstein imagined chasing after a beam of light and, as the story goes, this feat of imagination helped him develop the now-famous theory of special relativity. Physicist Emma Chapman also chases a light signal through the known universe and up to its very edges in her new book, Radio Universe: How to explore space without leaving Earth (in the US, its title is The Echoing Universe and it is out on 19 May). But while Einstein wanted to hop onto the light beam and experience the cosmos’s fastest speed, the light Chapman is after plays the role not of a carrier, but of an explorer, guide and messenger. “The universe already speaks the language of light,” she writes, and her book offers a wonderful insight into how humans have used radio telescopes to learn and become fluent in that language, too. As a wave of electromagnetism, light can have many different wavelengths. For example, ultraviolet …

UK ‘can’t succeed’, says Trump – read full transcript of his Sky News interview | US News

UK ‘can’t succeed’, says Trump – read full transcript of his Sky News interview | US News

Donald Trump characterised Britain’s immigration policies as “insane” and lamented the “sad” state of America’s special relationship with the UK in his latest call with Sky News. In the interview, the US president said Britain had “bad immigration policies and bad energy policies”, that the country is “being invaded”, and that it “can’t succeed” with its current approach. He also said he is looking forward to welcoming King Charles and Queen Camilla to the White House, and insisted his strained relationship with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer would not affect the visit. Captivate This content is provided by Captivate, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Captivate cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Captivate cookies. To view this content you can use the button …

Five Paddington books to read with your child, and why the bear on the page is different and worth meeting

Five Paddington books to read with your child, and why the bear on the page is different and worth meeting

For many children, Paddington is now primarily the star of three movies and a hit west end musical. However, that is not where the bear in a red hat whose adventures involve high-speed chases and marmalade-based slapstick began. In writing our book on the bear, we have found that the Paddington British writer Michael Bond created in 1958 is a rather different creature from that which we now know. Film Paddington is a slapstick innocent abroad, propelled by plot and peril. Book Paddington is slower, odder, funnier: a small figure of polite chaos who wreaks havoc not because the world is against him, but because he takes it entirely at its word. He is, in the gentlest possible way, a satirist. Paddington is incredibly popular with children and adults alike. Paddington in Peru broke UK box office records last autumn, the West End musical at the Savoy Theatre triumphed at the Olivier awards this week and is already booking into 2027, and a fourth film is in development. So if you or your children are …

Most U.S. Adults Read a Book Last Year

Most U.S. Adults Read a Book Last Year

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. Most U.S. Adults Read a Book Last Year There tends to be a lot of hand-wringing about whether American adults read books anymore, and every year, we get a survey or two offering “good” or “bad” news. Here’s the thing: it’s just a number, and reading books is among a billion things people can do with the free time they have. But a recently released survey from Pew Research offers some fascinating insights into the reading habits of American adults. Last year, 75% read at least part of a book (not bad!), print was the preferred format (though audiobooks are on the rise), and few were involved in a book club. People Are Paying $1,000 to Read Among Strangers While data may suggest that fewer people are involved in book clubs, that doesn’t mean reading isn’t a social …

People Who Can Read Moods, Energy, And Vibes Usually Have 11 More Rare Talents

People Who Can Read Moods, Energy, And Vibes Usually Have 11 More Rare Talents

Many people who have developed social awareness over their lives, whether from trauma or as a side effect of growing emotional intelligence, can read the energy of a room before they speak to anyone. It’s a natural kind of intuition that often serves in their best interests, connecting with people and protecting their peace. From noticing someone with great, welcoming energy when they’re anxious to seeing the vibes shift negatively when one person enters the room, they’re observant and aware. However, people who can read moods, energy, and vibes usually have more rare talents that others tend to miss. People who can read moods, energy, and vibes usually have 11 more rare talents 1. They have an accurate intuition Many people who can rely on their gut instincts and intuition to live their lives steer clear of overly rigid thinking because their inner voice provides all the wisdom they need. Especially when they practice building trust with themselves and regularly tap into their intuition with meditation, mindfulness, and reflection, they’re no stranger to trusting their …

Overrated Fantasy Classics (and What to Read instead)

Overrated Fantasy Classics (and What to Read instead)

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Well, this one is going to get me in trouble. I just know it. Fantasy has existed in the form we know it since Tolkien put The Lord of the Rings into the world. Since then, everyone has been trying to recapture that particular brand of magic and mythology. Some of them have done so with a flourish. Others, well, they’ve fallen a bit flat. As for what makes a fantasy book or series overrated? You know them. You’ve heard of them. You might have read them. Maybe, you even love them, warts and all. Or maybe you can’t see the warts. In that case, I apologize in advance. But, I stand by my choices. And as for what makes a classic? We’re going with publication beginning at least 20 years ago. Do with that what you will. Without further preamble, here are some overrated fantasy classics and fantasy books (classic or otherwise) that you should read instead. …

Tell us: What’s the best book you’ve ever read in a book club?

Tell us: What’s the best book you’ve ever read in a book club?

When perusing our final list of the 101 best book club picks, my eyes popped. My book club had just read two books that made the final cut. And they were, on average, both our favorite and least favorite of the year. “Martyr” by Kaveh Akbar was layered and moving. “Big Swiss” by Jen Beagin was spicy and fun but too over the top. Still, both led to fervent conversation peppered with oh-my-gods. So it goes with book clubs: Even if you don’t love what you’re reading, it can still offer something interesting to tease apart. To make our lineup, The Times surveyed more than 200 authors, publishers, journalists and general book club enthusiasts to select the best book club reads in 10 categories, including romance, mystery, memoir and literary fiction. Did we miss any books your book club loves? Tell us in the form below by April 16. We may include your suggestions in a follow-up story. Source link

Why this Octavia Butler book is the ultimate book club read

Why this Octavia Butler book is the ultimate book club read

Octavia E. Butler’s “Parable of the Sower” topped our 101 Best Book Club List survey by receiving the most votes. We talked to Nikki High, the founder of Octavia’s Bookshelf bookstore in Pasadena, about Butler’s legacy and why the title resonates with so many. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. The book was first published in 1993, and speaking for myself, I read it in ’93 and the year 2024 felt like something that could never happen, right? Now that we are here in 2026, we’re two years into the book as it starts — it’s a great book club read because we’re in this together at the same time that she’s writing about. I think there’s going to be some incredible discussions around “Parable of the Sower” in book clubs this year. I read “Parable of the Sower” every six or seven years, and depending on what’s going on, something different resonates with me. When I reread it again, I felt like our main character, Lauren Olamina, being 15 years old, …