Brain Pickings
Maria Popova writes essays and book-based reflections on creativity, thinking, and the lives of notable writers and scientists.
What HN says
Commenters recommend it for literary works and ideas from great thinkers, and say they always find something interesting there.
Stats for nerds
503HN people shared it
563linked in comments
5.8Kstory points
Oct 2021last shared
Top posts on HN
- 1Richard Feynman's Extraordinary Letter to His Departed Wife6 people · 250 points · first shared 2017 · 12 comments on HN
- 2Woz on Creativity: Work Alone1 person · 249 points · first shared 2012 · 50 comments on HN
- 3How to give a great presentation: advice from a legendary adman (2012)1 person · 224 points · first shared 2020 · 17 comments on HN
- 4Oh, My Hand: Complaints Medieval Monks Scribbled in the Margins of Manuscripts1 person · 219 points · first shared 2013 · 82 comments on HN
- 5John Cleese on How to Make Your Life More Creative2 people · 176 points · first shared 2013 · 16 comments on HN
- 6Umberto Eco's Anti-Library (2015)12 people · 173 points · first shared 2015 · 48 comments on HN
- 7Vi Hart on Stravinsky's Atonal Compositions [video]1 person · 172 points · first shared 2013 · 55 comments on HN
- 8The Baloney Detection Kit: Carl Sagan’s Rules for Critical Thinking8 people · 169 points · first shared 2015 · 46 comments on HN
- 9Dostoyevsky's “Dream of a Ridiculous Man” (2014)3 people · 167 points · first shared 2018 · 44 comments on HN
- 10Bruce Lee’s Letters to Himself About Authenticity, Personal Development1 person · 162 points · first shared 2017 · 3 comments on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
- clicksFeb 2013
> I don't think her statement, that she uses Amazon data to find other books her readers enjoy, is an admission of immoral conduct. She said a quarter of the books she recommends are from information she gained from Amazon.
Visiting the website for myself now: http://www.brainpickings.org/
I think it's clear that she's deliberately and forcefully fishing for clicks on Amazon affiliate link hits. I mean, just take a look at the number of large images (every one of them being affiliate links), one after another, encompassing probably 6-page'fuls at times (and I'm on a 1080p res.). I'm a person who's usually very well aware of what is an affiliate link or not... and yet I found myself strongly wanting to click the images. I don't buy it for a single second that Popova is not exactly aware of what she is doing. Her repeated requests for donations (after every post, in which she stresses that this is a site that doesn't have advertisements) leave no room for doubt -- I strongly believe she is disrespecting the user in a very fundamental way by misleading them like this and playing them on.
- RegardsyjcJun 2018
I don't think so because suicide is or may be contagious. "...numerous social science studies indicate that one of the best predictors of committing suicide is knowing suicide."
When I was suicidal, I wondered if my suicide could influence someone else I love to bite the bullet when they had a moment of weakness, and whether if I could live with that. I considered metaphorically putting a gun to my head was the same as putting a gun to another's psychologically. Honestly because I have had two suicide attempts... Even though I didn't succeed, I know I hurt the people I love very much.
I feel that every loss and death is like a tiny bomb in a social network, it stresses families and communities, and can even severely damage people.
https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/11/18/stay-suicide-hecht/
- pixelmonkeySep 2020
I just read this. It's good, but Cleese's talk on Creativity has his best thoughts on the subject (linked elsewhere in this HN thread). However, if you're not up for investing in the video (though you really should), there are two nice articles that summarize, one from Quartz and one from Brainpickings. I regularly share these with my engineering colleagues when they feel like they are in a creative rut.
"The perfect conditions for creativity, according to Monty Python’s John Cleese":
https://qz.com/919351/the-perfect-conditions-for-creativity-according-to-monty-pythons-john-cleese/
"John Cleese on the Five Factors to Make Your Life More Creative":
https://www.brainpickings.org/2012/04/12/john-cleese-on-creativity-1991/
- grzmJan 2017
It's not a constructive critique. If the intent is not to further the conversation by improving it and moving it forward, there's no constructive purpose in making it. Further comments by 'geon make this clear: there's no sincere attempt to understand or charitably grant that the interlocutor might be have a reasonable argument, even if it's one you might not agree with.
Edit to add:
Rapoport's rules are really helpful, particularly when discussing contentious topics.https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/03/28/daniel-dennett-rapoport-rules-criticism/
This is too far off-topic now, and at best we're talking past each other, so I'll take any answer off the air.
- BulkingtonMay 2017
Tangential, but worth sharing for HN crowd, I think. Psychologist Jung and physicist Pauli worked very closely together to explore the unity of mind and matter. Some of their theories are, frankly, difficult to grasp and so intuitively unfathomable they're easy (for me) to just dismiss. But when you consider that Pauli could conceive the idea of the neutrino, impress Einstein with a critique of general relativity, etc., then maybe he's just onto something. The collection of letters referenced below is really wonderful.
https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/03/09/atom-and-archetype-pauli-jung/
- yunusabdJan 2021
Review of the book his second wife Anna wrote about their marriage (spoilers?): https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/02/15/anna-dostoyevsky-reminiscences-marriage/
This part seems to be a direct contradiction of the Guardian intro:
> [...] It was these mutual attitudes which enabled both of us to live in the fourteen years of our married life in the greatest happiness possible for human beings on earth.
vs the Guardian:
> His marriages were disastrous [...]