What We Are Reading Today: ‘I Was Working: Poems’

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Updated 12 October 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘I Was Working: Poems’

Author: Ariel Yelen

Seeking to find a song of the self that can survive or even thrive amid the mundane routines of work, Ariel Yelen’s lyrics include wry reflections on the absurdities and abjection of being a poet who is also an office worker and commuter in New York.

In the poems’ dialogues between labor and autonomy, the beeping of a microwave in the staff lounge becomes an opportunity for song.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Power of Prions’ by Michel Brahic

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What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Power of Prions’ by Michel Brahic

Over the last decade, scientists have discovered the importance and widespread presence in the body of a remarkable family of proteins known as prion proteins.

Research links various types of prion proteins to neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s—and this has fueled the search for new drugs that could halt the progression of these terrible disorders.

Other discoveries have revealed the essential roles prion proteins play in memory and immunity, and—in an extraordinary finding—the part they may have played in the beginnings of life on our planet.


What We Are Reading Today: Nationalism: A World History by Eric Storm

Updated 01 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: Nationalism: A World History by Eric Storm

The current rise of nationalism across the globe is a reminder that we are not, after all, living in a borderless world of virtual connectivity. In “Nationalism,” historian Eric Storm sheds light on contemporary nationalist movements by exploring the global evolution of nationalism, beginning with the rise of the nation-state in the 18th century through the revival of nationalist ideas in the present day.
Storm traces the emergence of the unitary nation-state—which brought citizenship rights to some while excluding a multitude of “others”—and the pervasive spread of nationalist ideas through politics and culture.


What We Are Reading Today: The Lobotomist’s Wife

Updated 01 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: The Lobotomist’s Wife

Author: Samantha Greene Woodruff

This is a story that illuminates the chilling history of lobotomies. It is told from the perspective of Ruth, the wife of an innovative, revolutionary, and charismatic neurologist, and it shows the shocking truth behind this formerly widespread medical practice, according to Princeton Book Review. Ruth is easy to like; she is relatable and deeply cares for the patients, always striving to do what is best.
The book also explores themes of love, betrayal, and the catastrophic fallout of unbridled ambition.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘Life’s Devices’ by Steven Vogel

Updated 29 October 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Life’s Devices’ by Steven Vogel

Life on Earth is subject to the pull of gravity, the properties of air and water, and the behavior of diffusing molecules, yet such physical factors are constraints that drive evolution and offer untold opportunities to creatures of all sizes.
In this lively introduction to the science of biomechanics, Steven Vogel invites you to wonder about the design of the plants and animals around us.


Book Review: ‘I Feel Bad About My Neck’ by Nora Ephron

Updated 28 October 2024
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Book Review: ‘I Feel Bad About My Neck’ by Nora Ephron

American screenwriter, director, journalist and celebrated author Nora Ephron has perhaps been the source of some of the most humorous and humanizing narratives from a woman’s perspective in recent decades. 

In her 2006 book, “I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman,” she uses her usual relatable anecdotes to describe the merging landscape of her aging body.

She describes our bodies as “one big ball of wax” and argues that if you decide to go to a plastic surgeon to iron out your neck, you’ll have to have a facelift.

“According to my dermatologist, the neck starts to go at 43, and that’s that,” she writes matter-of-factly. The neck is where everything starts and ends.

The book’s tone is light-hearted yet poignant, encouraging readers to laugh at life’s inevitable changes as they see them in the mirror while appreciating the wrinkled moments along the way.

“The neck is a dead giveaway. Our faces are lies, and our necks are the truth. You have to cut open a redwood tree to see how old it is, but you wouldn’t have to if it had a neck,” she writes.

The book uses the neck as an anchor that turns the head and connects it to the rest of the body, literally and figuratively.

Ephron first gained prominence as a journalist in the 1960s, writing for publications like Esquire. As a California-raised-turned-New Yorker, she became known for her candid and humorous takes on the adventures and misadventures of everyday life. Even something as mundane as clearing out her purse somehow became an exploration of self-discovery and a deep take on society.

Ephron transitioned to screenwriting, following in the footsteps of both her parents. She found major success with hits including “When Harry Met Sally” (1989), “Sleepless in Seattle” (1993), “You’ve Got Mail” (1998), and, of course, “Julie & Julia,” her final directorial masterpiece before she died in 2012. This intertwined two true stories — the life of iconic cook Julia Child (played by Meryl Streep) and that of Julie Powell (played by Amy Adams), a writer who blogs about her attempts to cook and write about all 524 recipes in Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in 365 days.

In “I Feel Bad About My Neck,” Ephron reflects on the physical changes that come with getting older in her signature honest, humorous style and also look at the joys and frustrations of parenting, relationships, getting older and shedding the skin of youth.

It’s a book that stands the test of time. In fact, you could say it ages better than our necks.