Category Archives: suggested readings

by Molly Worthen This is the season for final exams, but maybe we should drop the pencils, paper and keyboards and start talking instead. The thought is scary at first. If Chidera Onyeoziri had known that her introductory sociology course required oral exams, “I’m not sure I would have taken the class,” she told me.Continue reading “Suggested reading: If it was good enough for Socrates, it’s good enough for sophomores”

by Alice Callahan There are few single measures in health care that seem to carry as much weight as body mass index, or B.M.I. We encounter it not just at doctor’s offices, but with online calculators and smart scales, at gyms and even when determining eligibility for the Covid vaccine. Its formula is simple: Take your weight (inContinue reading “Suggested reading: Is B.M.I. a scam?”

by Steven Lee Myers When Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill that would punish California doctors for spreading false information about Covid-19 vaccines and treatments, he pledged that it would apply only in the most “egregious instances” of misleading patients. It may never have the chance. Even before the law, the nation’s first ofContinue reading “Suggested reading: Is spreading medical misinformation a doctor’s free speech right?”

by Nathan P. Gilmour Another teaching semester is about to ramp up, and as is often the case, I have some Platonic dialogues lined up to teach. I’ve taught at least one dialogue in almost every semester since about 2005, and on the campus of Emmanuel College, where I’ve taught since 2009, people who knowContinue reading “Suggested reading: Plato was not White”

by Alex Marshall On Monday evening, Finna Ayres and Matt Turnbull met in Ayres’s London home to do something their friends would have found shocking: watch the latest season of “The Crown,”Netflix’s show about the ins and outs of Britain’s royal family. Ayres, 80, a retired architect, and Turnbull, 35, a brand strategist, are members of Republic,Continue reading “Suggested reading: Watching ‘The Crown’ with Britain’s anti-monarchists: ‘I feel queasy’”

by Tara Isabella Burton If the language of the internet is anything to go by, America’s collective mental health is in shambles. Before the midterms, some of us were suffering from “election stress disorder”; others have left Elon Musk-acquired Twitter as an act of boundary-setting. Our political lives have become saturated with the language and imageryContinue reading “Suggested reading: The problem with letting therapy-speak invade everything”

by Gabriel Popkin Justine Karst, a mycologist at the University of Alberta, feared things had gone too far when her son got home from eighth grade and told her he had learned that trees could talk to each other through underground networks. Her colleague, Jason Hoeksema of the University of Mississippi, had a similar feelingContinue reading “Suggested reading: Are trees talking underground? For scientists, it’s in dispute”

by Frans de Waal It’s not always easy to talk about bonobos at academic gatherings. There is no issue with fellow primatologists, who are used to straightforward descriptions of sexual behavior and know the recent evidence. But it’s different with people outside my field, such as anthropologists, philosophers, or psychologists. They become fidgety, scratch theirContinue reading “Suggested reading: The gendered ape–Those embarrassing bonobos!”

by Tressie McMillan Cottom Trevor Noah recently surprised fans (and, according to some accounts, also Comedy Central management) when he announced plans to leave “The Daily Show.” His departure is one of many notable personnel changes in late-night television: James Corden will leave “The Late Late Show” next year, TBS canceled “Full Frontal With SamanthaContinue reading “Suggested reading: In the political talk show race, outrage is winning”

by Phil Jaekl One fine spring afternoon this year, as I was out running errands in the small Norwegian town where I live, a loud beep startled me into awareness. What had just been on my mind? After a moment’s pause, I realized something strange. I’d been thinking two things at the same time—rehearsing theContinue reading “Suggested reading: I didn’t know my mind was so strange until I started listening to it”