7 Essential Books on Music, Emotion, and the Brain by Maria Popova What Freud has to do with auditory cheesecake, European opera and world peace. Last year, Horizon’s fascinating documentary on how music works was one of our most-liked pickings of 2010. We love the work of neuroscientist and prolific author Oliver Sacks, whose latest book, The Mind’s Eye, was one of our favorite brain books last year. Why music makes us feel the way it does is on par with questions about the nature of divinity or the origin of love. Never ones to pass up a good ol’ fashioned erudite throw-down, we can’t resist pointing out that the book’s final chapter, The Music Instinct, may be the juciest: It’s a direct response to Harvard psycholinguist Steven Pinker, who in a 1997 talk famously called music “auditory cheesecake” and dismissed it as evolutionarily useless, displacing demands from areas of the brain that should be handling more “important” functions like language. Patel also offers this beautiful definition of what music is: Donating = Loving
Minden idők 10 legszebb szerelmes idézete Jelszó*:A jelszónak legalább 5 karakterből kell állnia, valamint tartalmazzon kisbetűt, nagybetűt és számot vagy speciális karaktert is Születési idő: Módosítva: 2014. január 31. A Femina.hu és Retikul.hu honlapok (a továbbiakban: Honlapok, Weboldalak) üzemeltetője a Femina.hu Korlátolt Felelősségű Társaság (székhelye: 1139 Budapest, Teve utca 41., cégjegyzékszáma: 01-09-896511, adószáma: 14271489-2-41, e-mail: info@feminamedia.hu) (a továbbiakban: Szolgáltató vagy Femina.hu Kft.). Szolgáltató kijelenti, hogy Magyarországon bejegyzett gazdasági társaság, és a Fővárosi Bíróság mint Cégbíróság által vezetett cégnyilvántartásban szerepel. A Femina.hu Kft. fenntartja a jogot a Felhasználási feltételek módosítására. Jelen Felhasználási feltételek alapján a Honlapokon elérhető bármely Szolgáltatás igénybevételével a Szolgáltató és a Felhasználó között szerződés jön létre, amely nem minősül írásba foglalt szerződésnek, és amelyet a Szolgáltató nem iktat. 1. 1.1. 1.2. Retikul.hu: Nap képe, Nyerj.
Top 10 Things That Determine Happiness photo: meddygarnet Happiness is, by nature, a subjective quality with a definition like a moving target. There is scant evidence — qualitative or quantitative — to lend convincing support to those life variables most critical in determining individual happiness, which is likely why past researchers committed to the scientific method rarely tried to tackle the subject. This is changing. Take, for example, the World Database of Happiness in Rotterdam, self-described as a, “continuous register of scientific research on subjective appreciation of life.” Also, take the positive psychologists, a movement whose “members” perform scientific research into the nature of happiness and who published Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification, an 800-page behemoth that outlines all the characteristics, behaviors and conditions that lead to happiness. No.10 – Having a short memory Are you one to hold grudges? No.9 – Exacting fairness No.8 – Having lots of friendships No.2 – Good genes
Do the Work: Steven Pressfield: Amazon.com New Year's Resolution Reading List: 9 Essential Books on Reading and Writing by Maria Popova Dancing with the absurdity of life, or what symbolism has to do with the osmosis of trash and treasure. Hardly anything does one’s mental, spiritual, and creative health more good than resolving to read more and write better. Today’s reading list addresses these parallel aspirations. And since the number of books written about reading and writing likely far exceeds the reading capacity of a single human lifetime, this omnibus couldn’t be — shouldn’t be — an exhaustive list. It is, instead, a collection of timeless texts bound to radically improve your relationship with the written word, from whichever side of the equation you approach it. If anyone can make grammar fun, it’s Maira Kalman — The Elements of Style Illustrated marries Kalman’s signature whimsy with Strunk and White’s indispensable style guide to create an instant classic. On a related unmissable note, let the Elements of Style Rap make your day. On the itch of writing, Lamott banters: On why we read and write:
How to Find Your Soulmate: 5 steps (with pictures) Edit Article Edited by Ben Rubenstein, Maluniu, Eric, Richard and 75 others Self-ImprovementAttitude Many people feel that there's one person out there who can enrich their life in a way that no one else can. Ad Steps 1You don't find love, love comes to you. 3Don't keep making the same mistakes. Part 1 of 2: Self-Improvement 1Focus your mind. 3Express your individuality. Part 2 of 2: Attitude 1Expect the unexpected. 2Be patient. Tips Be yourself. Warnings Don't obsess over finding your soulmate.
Creative Cartography: 7 Must-Read Books about Maps by Maria Popova From tattoos to Thomas More’s Utopia, or what Moby Dick has to do with the nature of time. We’re obsessed with maps — a fundamental sensemaking mechanism for the world, arguably the earliest form of standardized information design, and a relentless source of visual creativity. Map As Art, The: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography is the definitive overview of today’s bravest, boldest creative cartography, featuring 360 colorful creations by well-known artists and emerging visual experimenteurs alike, including Brain Pickings favorites Maira Kalman, Paula Scher and Olaful Eliasson. Matthew Cusick, 'Fiona’s Wave,' 2005 Cusick's oversized collages are painted with fragments of vintage atlases and school geography books from the golden era of cartography, 1872-1945. Qin Ga, 'Site 22: Mao Zedong Temple,' 2005 We reviewed it in full here. We’re longtime fans of the Hand-Drawn Maps Association, an ongoing archive of user-submitted maps, diagrams and other spatial illustrations.
7 Essential Books on Optimism by Maria Popova What the love of honey has to do with ancient wisdom, our capacity for hope, and the future of technology. Every once in a while, we all get burned out. Sometimes, charred. And while a healthy dose of cynicism and skepticism may help us get by, it’s in those times that we need nothing more than to embrace life’s promise of positivity with open arms. Here are seven wonderful books that help do just that with an arsenal ranging from the light visceral stimulation of optimistic design to the serious neuroscience findings about our proclivity for the positive. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince, one of our must-read children’s books with philosophy for grown-ups, is among the most poetic and hopeful reflections on human existence ever penned. Here is my secret. Published in 1943, translated into 180 languages since and adapted to just about every medium, Exupéry’s famous novella is one of the best-selling books of all time. Reviewed in full, with more images, here.
Képeken 8 szerelemvonzó tárgy, ha nem szeretnéd a Valentin-napot egyedül tölteni Jelszó*:A jelszónak legalább 5 karakterből kell állnia, valamint tartalmazzon kisbetűt, nagybetűt és számot vagy speciális karaktert is Születési idő: Módosítva: 2014. január 31. A Femina.hu és Retikul.hu honlapok (a továbbiakban: Honlapok, Weboldalak) üzemeltetője a Femina.hu Korlátolt Felelősségű Társaság (székhelye: 1139 Budapest, Teve utca 41., cégjegyzékszáma: 01-09-896511, adószáma: 14271489-2-41, e-mail: info@feminamedia.hu) (a továbbiakban: Szolgáltató vagy Femina.hu Kft.). Szolgáltató kijelenti, hogy Magyarországon bejegyzett gazdasági társaság, és a Fővárosi Bíróság mint Cégbíróság által vezetett cégnyilvántartásban szerepel. A Femina.hu Kft. fenntartja a jogot a Felhasználási feltételek módosítására. Jelen Felhasználási feltételek alapján a Honlapokon elérhető bármely Szolgáltatás igénybevételével a Szolgáltató és a Felhasználó között szerződés jön létre, amely nem minősül írásba foglalt szerződésnek, és amelyet a Szolgáltató nem iktat. 1. 1.1. 1.2. Retikul.hu: Nap képe, Nyerj.
Mapping the Human Condition by Maria Popova What the empire of love has to do with the intellect forest and the bay of agoraphobia. We love maps. There’s something about cartography that lends itself to visualizing much more than land and geography. In 1961, Norton Juster wrote The Phantom Tollbooth, a timeless children’s classic and one of our essential children’s books with philosophy for grown-ups. This map by mid-century American cartoonist Jules Feiffer, who illustrated the book, depicts the marvelous land that Milo finds himself in as he follows his own curiosity. Thanks, @dethe Last week, delicious new work by designer Marian Bantjes (whose latest book, I Wonder, is among the most ambitious and beautiful visual communication volumes ever published) made the rounds — and for good reason: Isle of Knowledge is a beautifully illustrated map of “the ‘known’ beyond which lie monsters,” created for the second installment in Bantjes’ column for UK illustration magazine Varoom on the theme of “Knowledge.”
7 Must-Read Books on the Art & Science of Happiness by Maria Popova From Plato to Buddha, or what imperfection has to do with the neuroscience of the good life. If you, like me, are fascinated by the human quest to understand the underpinnings of happiness but break out in hives at the mere mention of self-help books, you’re in luck: I’ve sifted through my personal library, a decade’s worth of obsessive reading, to surface seven essential books on the art and science of happiness, rooted in solid science, contemporary philosophy and cross-disciplinary insight. From psychology and neuroscience to sociology and cultural anthropology to behavioral economics, these essential reads illuminate the most fundamental aspiration of all human existence: How to avoid suffering and foster lasting well-being. The question of what makes us happy is likely as old as human cognition itself and has occupied the minds of philosophers, prophets and scientists for millennia. Human rationality depends critically on sophisticated emotionality. Donating = Loving
How to Stop Loving Someone Who Doesn't Love You: 7 steps Edit Article Edited by Rattana CHEY, Sarah Eliza, Julia Maureen, Lillian May and 63 others Loving someone who doesn’t love you is one of the most hopeless feelings in the world because it isn’t something you can control. Then again, this is exactly why you need to start the healing process: it’s not your fault, there’s nothing you could have done differently, and the only thing left to do is move on. For help with this, read on. Ad Steps 1Be honest with yourself. 9Don’t be ashamed of having loved and lost. Tips Realize you deserve someone who treats you as well as you treated them.Remember that love must be reciprocal; otherwise, you will lose precious years of your life waiting for something that will never happen!
John Steinbeck on Falling in Love: A 1958 Letter by Maria Popova “If it is right, it happens — The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.” Nobel laureate John Steinbeck (1902-1968) might be best-known as the author of East of Eden, The Grapes of Wrath, and Of Mice and Men, but he was also a prolific letter-writer. Among his correspondence is this beautiful response to his eldest son Thom’s 1958 letter, in which the teenage boy confesses to have fallen desperately in love with a girl named Susan while at boarding school. New York November 10, 1958Dear Thom:We had your letter this morning. Complement with six tips on writing from Steinbeck. via Letters of Note Donating = Loving Bringing you (ad-free) Brain Pickings takes hundreds of hours each month. You can also become a one-time patron with a single donation in any amount: Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter. Share on Tumblr