The poison & the remedy: welcome to the darker side of scent... - The Perfume Society
Some of our most beloved flowers and fragrant ingredients are, in fact, powerful poisons with a rich heritage of folklore traditions, used for centuries in suspected witchcraft practices, to render scented gloves quite deadly, and by spurned lovers sprinkling petals into potions. Once, during the reign of King Louis XIV, a murderer supposedly used poisoned perfume to kill so many royal courtiers it sparked a witchhunt ten years before those fingers started pointing in Salem. A notorious case named ‘The Affair of the Poisons’ by sensation-seeking newspaper headlines, it simultaneously delighted and horrified a public who began looking at perfumes in a new light…
Bibliomania: the strange history of compulsive book buying
When I was a young woman, I drew a sort of perverse pride from my willingness to skip a meal or two in order to afford books. Soon enough, with the ubiquity of credit card touts on campus, I could buy both books and meals. I justified my increasing debt as necessary for my education, and joked with friends that while others spent their money on cars and expensive clothes, anything of value that I owned was on my bookcases.
Warren Buffett's son 'doesn't regret' spending $90,000 of Berkshire stock he got at 19
In 1977, when Warren Buffett’s son Peter turned 19, he received his inheritance — proceeds from the sale of his grandfather’s farm, which his father converted into $90,000 worth of Berkshire Hathaway stock. “It was understood that I should expect nothing more,” Peter, an Emmy Award-winning musician and philanthropist, writes in his 2010 memoir “Life Is What You Make It.” (Although he and his siblings have been given an enormous sum of money from their father to do charitable work, that $90,000 was the only inheritance Peter received for personal use, he said in an NPR interview.) So what does a teenager in college do with all that money?
The Deadly History of Women Using Perfume as Poison
Illustration by Jessica Olah There's a myth about Marie Antoinette's attempt to escape the guillotine I love retelling: In seeking to avoid the wrath of the Jacobin revolutionaries, the royal family escaped to the outskirts of Paris in disguise. When their coach was stopped by a mob, they were unrecognizable. They were found out, improbably, by the noble profile of the king (which perfectly matched a banknote), but also in the noble smell of the queen.
Misbehaving Children in Ancient Times
Dear Quote Investigator: There is a great quote by Plato or Socrates about the misbehavior of children in antiquity that I read in the New York Times. The quote shows that the problems between generations are not just a recent occurrence. Instead, the conflicts between parents and offspring are timeless [NY8]: The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. I wanted to use this quote, so I needed to know who said it; however, the NYT website contained a surprise.
How to be a good white ally during the George Floyd protests and always
There are good ways — and there are less good ways — to be a white ally right now. Do take cues from black leaders and create space for their voices to be heard. Don’t think a performative emotional post on Instagram about your knowledge of racism does the trick.
Publications - Yuval Noah Harari
Books (UK editions) Yuval Noah Harari, David Vandermeulen, Daniel Casanave, Sapiens: A Graphic History, Volume 1 – The Birth of Humankind (Jonathan Cape, 2020)Yuval Noah Harari, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century (Jonathan Cape, 2018).Yuval Noah Harari, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (Harvill Secker, 2016).Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Harvill Secker, 2014).Yuval Noah Harari, The Ultimate Experience: Battlefield Revelations and the Making of Modern War Culture, 1450-2000 (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2008).Yuval Noah Harari, Special Operations in the Age of Chivalry, 1100-1550 (Boydell & Brewer, 2007).Yuval Noah Harari, Renaissance Military Memoirs: War, History and Identity, 1450-1600 (Boydell & Brewer, 2004). Academic Essays For media publications, please see the articles page
In Today’s Polarizing Culture, Is it Possible to Really Listen & Converse with Others?
My stomach is in knots. My boss told me at the 9am staff meeting that he wanted to meet with me at 2pm. I know it’s not going to be good.
