The Proper Study of Mankind

Strachey on Prince Albert

Yet Stockmar had told him that he must ‘never relax,’ and he never would. He would go on, working to the utmost…

Orwell on autobiography

Autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself…

Orwell on Dickens

I wouldn’t endorse everything Orwell says here. Orwell was a socialist; I’m not. That said, the below contains much that an…

Edith Wharton describes Mrs. Mingott

An excerpt from her Age of Innocence

National identity and Schelling’s Segregation Model

Complexity, organized and disorganized

The nature of the distinction and why it matters

The (a) Paradox of Modern Life

Scale-free and exponential networks, change and paralysis

Americans should be worried

Ideally, a society should afford individuals the opportunity to form both — what are known in network theory…

The best and worst of Burke

An excerpt from his 1775 “Speech on Conciliation” with commentary