A bite-sized Tumblr companion to @brainpickings by @brainpicker.
Brooklyn, NY
Joined February 2012
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On Sylvia Plath's birthday, Patti Smith reads her haunting portrait of depression themarginalian.org/2023/09/0…
“Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
The story behind one of the greatest poems ever written, and a rare recording of Dylan Thomas (born on this day in 1914) reading it themarginalian.org/2024/01/1…
When the Oxford children's dictionary discarded dozens of nature-words—"dandelion," "fern," "starling"—as irrelevant to children's imagination and replaced them with words like "broadband" and "cut-and-paste," this inspired act of resistance was born: themarginalian.org/2019/06/1…
20 favorite books from 20 years of The Marginalian themarginalian.org/2026/10/2…
Meryl Streep reads "Morning Song" by Sylvia Plath, who would have been 94 today themarginalian.org/2018/04/0…
Tchaikovsky on depression and finding beauty amid the wreckage of the soul themarginalian.org/2015/11/1…
Sundogs and the sacred geometry of wonder – the fascinating science of the phenomenon that inspired Hilma af Klint, born on this day in 1862 themarginalian.org/2023/05/1…
Oliver Sacks on the 3 essential elements of creativity themarginalian.org/2017/11/0…
Bob Dylan on the unconscious mind and the ideal conditions for creative work themarginalian.org/2026/10/2…
The Baloney Detection Kit – Carl Sagan's timeless tenets of critical thinking themarginalian.org/2026/10/2…
20 favorite books from 20 years of The Marginalian mailchi.mp/themarginalian/20…
Although he won the Nobel Prize for his fiction, I think John Steinbeck's greatest masterpiece is this strange, splendid book at the intersection of marine biology and philosophy: themarginalian.org/2022/11/0…
The power of surrender and the paradox of self-transcendence – timeless wisdom from The Moomins themarginalian.org/2015/01/2…
The paradox of knowing who you are and what you want – beloved Italian storyteller Cristina Campo on fairy tales and the meaning of maturity themarginalian.org/2025/07/2…
Tolkien on how to fall in love with life themarginalian.org/2026/09/1…
20 favorite books from 20 years of The Marginalian themarginalian.org/2026/10/2…
“Love the earth and sun and the animals… re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul…”
Whitman's timeless advice on living a vibrant and rewarding life themarginalian.org/2016/05/3…
Empire, emoji, and the origin of love – the fascinating and bittersweet story of the ancient plant that gave us the heart symbol as the representation of love themarginalian.org/2026/05/0…
Just after Dostoyevsky was narrowly spared death by a firing squad, he wrote his brother this extraordinary letter about the meaning of life themarginalian.org/2019/12/0…
The Baloney Detection Kit – Carl Sagan's timeless tenets of critical thinking themarginalian.org/2014/01/0…