Monthly Archives: July 2018

The Harvard Review is published twice yearly, and the current one on the newsstand contains a delightful essay by the Godfather of Creative Nonfiction, Lee Gutkind, titled “Meshuggina”.  It is a thoroughly entertaining piece, featuring Pittsburghese dialect such going “dahntahn” … Continue reading →

“I’m taking this one”, I excitedly announced to Jenna, the staff person behind the counter at Booktowne last week with July 4 looming.  It turned out to be one of several proofs that I took, pledging to read them all … Continue reading →

What a great piece by Pat Cunnane in the Review section of the Wall Street Journal’s Weekend edition! ILLUSTRATION: PETER ARKLE By Pat Cunnane July 5, 2018 12:15 p.m. ET “Summer’s over!” Every year, not long after Memorial Day, one … Continue reading →

One evening’s transition over Little Silver Lake from a Van Gogh-like cloud swirl into a blood-red backlit feast for the eyes.  

A self-described “Gay Leftie” (in the YouTube video below) who learned something valuable that may surprise you by spending time amongst the Amish, Johann Hari has written a masterful book that is, on the surface about anxiety and depression, but is so … Continue reading →

Greetings on July 4 from PPB, and hope you’re having a beautiful day wherever you are!  The red, white, blue is on display full force here. It’s always cooler at the shore, but warm enough that fountain statues were watering … Continue reading →

In the course of reading an intriguing new book by neuro-ophthalmologist Frederick Lepore, Finding Einstein’s Brain, I learned of the clever naming of an idyllic patch of land  in 2005 by the city of Princeton, New Jersey, in honor of … Continue reading →

My neologism for the latest foray into making ourselves less dependent on human beings.  The origin of the term is a play on alexithymia, a clinical construct for lack of emotional depth, as detailed by Deborah Serani in her Scientific … Continue reading →

From Epstein’s introduction to this delightful book: “So it has been for me over the past decades, widening my knowledge by fresh readings, and deepening it, as I like to think, by writing about them.  For the act of writing is … Continue reading →