Just over a year ago, at the height of the recession, Ben Roberts, a computer programmer at a hedge fund in London, was made redundant. Armed with his severance package the 29-year-old bought an Apple computer, some programming textbooks and got together with Chris Stevens, a friend from university and a journalist and illustrator. Read [...]

In Santa Cruz, Calif., volunteers will re-enact every word and movement in the famous courtroom scene. In Monroeville, Ala., residents dressed in 1930s garb will read aloud from memorable passages. In Rhinebeck, N.Y., Oblong Books will host a party with Mocktails and recorded music by the indie band the Boo Radleys. Read more…
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His portraits betray an obsession with style and surface. How did Alex Katz become one of the most influential painters alive? Read more…

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It may seem surprising that so many books continue to be written debating Martin Heidegger’s Nazi affiliations, since the fact that Heidegger was a Nazi has never been in dispute. How could it be, when the great philosopher took office as rector of Freiburg University in April 1933 specifically in order to carry out the Gleichschaltung, [...]

One of the pitfalls of writing a biography of a great philosopher is the temptation to reduce important ideas to mere psychology, an outgrowth of some fluke in the philosopher’s personal development. Julian Young, a professor at the University of Auckland and Wake Forest University, has for the most part avoided this trap by writing a [...]

The belief that a genius is the product of genetic make-up is as pervasive as it is wrong, according to David Shenk.
Talent is like the marksman who hits the target others cannot reach; genius is like the marksman who hits a target others cannot even see. Thus Arthur Schopenhauer defined the concept of genius – as a [...]