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The Power of Comparison
ByadminIn a wonderful article on deep cave exploration, Burkhard Bilger shows how powerful comparison can be in putting an unfamiliar topic into context. He is describing the arduous work involved in deep cave exploration. He is describing the risks of being far, far inside the cave when a heavy rain on the surface begins to…
Great Writing from Charles C. Mann in the Atlantic Monthly
ByadminFollowers of this blog, and I mean both of you, know by now that I am a fan of getting the word out about good writing. Here’s a nice example from the May issue of the Atlantic Monthly. It is from the cover article, titled “We Will Never Run Out Of Oil.” The whole article…
Writing So Good It Makes Me Think About Giving Up
ByadminIn his new book, Detroit City is the Place to Be, Mark Binelli describes the scene outside his residence in language so wonderful I had to share it with you: “By 9 o’clock on a Sunday morning, when I’d step out to buy a newspaper, I’d spot the tailgaters bundled up like deer hunters, clutching copied…
Thomas Jefferson, On Being Afraid of Girls
ByadminIn his youth, Jefferson didn’t lack for confidence except, it seems, when smitten by an attractive girl. One night at a dance, he worked up a bunch of things he could say to a girl named Rebecca who he was hoping to become acquainted with: “I was prepared to say a great deal: I had…
A Third Hand Quote, but a Great One
ByadminI recently heard Dan Sulmasy give an ethics talk at a conference. Like me, Dan is a general internist. In his talk, he quoted a former President of the Society of General Internal Medicine and I thought I’d pass the quote along. That former President was Nicole Lurie, who now works for the federal government…
Humbling Words from Carl Sagan
ByadminThe Cornell Alumni Magazine had a wonderful article recently, on its famous former professor, Carl Sagan. Here is my favorite Sagan quote from that article: Look again at that dot. . . . On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their…