This comes from a speech by John F. Kennedy that pays tribute to Robert Frost. He said, “When power leads men towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man’s concerns, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power … Read More
Category: non-fiction
“We travel, some of us, to slip through the curtain of the ordinary…”
“Montaigne proved himself a literary revolutionary from the start, writing like no one else. . .”
I’ve always been interested in how writers choose to structure their stories. I was particularly curious about the narrative architecture of this book because it’s a biography about someone who is famous for the revolutionary way he constructed his autobiography. If this author had chosen to describe events chronologically, it … Read More
“For the most part, we are going about learning in the wrong ways.”
The authors tell us that going over and over something is “a time-consuming study strategy that yields neglibile benefits at the expense of much more effective strategies that take less time.” (15) What works better? Quizzing yourself, or writing a summary paragraph about possible applications, or drawing diagrams, or even … Read More
“Not a week goes by without my telling a lie, but I suppose that is the same for most people.”
Under what circumstances do you lie? This book shows how our tendencies to lie can be influenced by the culture we live in. Kyoko Mori describes situations in her home country of Japan, where it’s more important to be polite than honest, especially with people who have authority over you. … Read More