6 min read ⌚ Who Was Leonardo da Vinci? Look up the word “polymath” in the Dictionary, and you’ll end up reading a biography of Leonardo da Vinci! Don’t believe us? Here’s what Wikipedia says a “polymath” means: A polymath (Greek: πολυμαθής, polymathēs, “having learned much,” Latin: homo universalis, “universal man”) is a person whose […]
7 min read ⌚ On (Not) Getting By in America Ah, the American Dream, the national ethos of the United States! Well, it’s a dream alright! Literally – explains Barbara Ehrenreich in “Nickel and Dimed.” And upward mobility is a myth for every third American. Read ahead to find out why. Who Should Read “Nickel and […]
7 min read ⌚ Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness Racism is a thing of the past, right? Well, add a little adjective such as “Overt” before that sentence, and Michelle Alexander may just agree. But that only makes it worse. Read “The New Jim Crow” to find out how. Who Should Read “The New […]
8 min read ⌚ You scoff at the person claiming that you have been destined to be a housewife as you are booking your next flight to an all-girls holiday in the Bahamas? Well, in case you didn’t know, you have Betty Friedan to thank. And her 1963 seminal book, “The Feminine Mystique”! Who Should Read […]
7 min read ⌚ With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects Another feminist classic. Hey, did we say another? We actually meant to say the original feminist classic, Mary Wollstonecraft’s 1792 magnum opus “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.” As in: if this book didn’t exist, neither Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own” nor Beauvoir’s […]
8 min read ⌚ The Birth of the Prison Have you ever wondered why public tortures and executions evolved into prisons and penitentiaries? Steven Pinker would say because of the better angels of our nature. Michel Foucault, in “Discipline and Punish” claims that, unfortunately, it’s because of the worse – If not the devils. Who Should […]
8 min read ⌚ Critique of Political Economy They don’t even bother translating the title to make it sound scarier, ha? “Das Kapital” – you have to agree – sounds way more frightening than “Capital,” and “Karl Marx” is a more intimidating author than “Marx and Engels” (the latter sounds as if a corporation, doesn’t it?) […]
5 min read ⌚ Revolutionized ideas about the female role in the modern society marked the beginning of a new era. Confronting the conventional way of life isn’t a straightforward process even from a feminist’s point of view. Nonetheless, De Beauvoir teaches you not to back down and surrender your inner power to someone else. Who […]
5 min read ⌚ The iconic political text on how to balance authority, society, and individuality Do you consider yourself free? Think twice before you answer. Personal freedom is not the same as democracy, but although societies need to strive for bigger personal freedom, it should not be without limits. Find out the details below. Who […]
8 min read ⌚ Six Innovations That Made the Modern World Do you want to learn how Chinese women abort their baby girls today because the Titanic sank in 1912? Or how the bikini trend owes its existence to the Chicago sewer system of the 1860s? Or, say, how mirrors started the Renaissance? Then you will […]
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