1951 Black-and-White Animation on How Different Drugs Work
Produced by Encyclopaedia Britannica's film division in 1951, this video shows how heroin, opium, marijuana, and cocaine actually work More »
Advertisement
Maria Popova is the editor of Brain Pickings. She writes for Wired UK and GOOD, and is an MIT Futures of Entertainment Fellow.
Produced by Encyclopaedia Britannica's film division in 1951, this video shows how heroin, opium, marijuana, and cocaine actually work More »
From Iceland to India to Moldova to Bhutan, or what medieval depictions of heaven have to do with the neuroscience of well-being More »
Floating Worlds is as much a powerful personal memoir of an unusual friendship as it is a priceless cultural treasure More »
Cyclepedia: A Century of Iconic Bicycle Design is part heartfelt homage to the beauty of the bike, part museum of notable innovations More »
Curated to stimulate your critical thinking, Culture is one of this year's most significant time-capsules of contemporary thought More »
Bringing Jonathan Haidt, Martin Seligman, Alison Gopnik, Steven Pinker, Philip Zimbardo, and others together between two covers More »
Selznick's new book tells the parallel stories of Ben and Rose, two children trying to find their place of belonging in New York City More »
If you're an artist, you know the creative process can be plagued by fear, often so paralyzing it makes it hard to actually create More »
Adolf Hoffmeister's stunningly illustrated book captures his experience of life on the run from the Nazis with humor and poignancy More »
From ever-inventive designer Stefan G. Bucher comes 344 Questions -- a delightful pocket-sized compendium of flowcharts and lists illustrated in Bucher's unmistakable style More »
A compelling new book suggests that our relentless pursuit of happiness might be derailing rather than propelling our progress More »
Photographer Christopher Payne documents our treatment of the mentally ill in his book, Asylum, with an foreword by Oliver Sacks More »
"I got a bug to do wet plate photography in '76. In this day and age of digital, it's so easy to just shoot thousands of pictures a day." More »
Altruism by way of self-improvement, or what optimizing your workflow has to do with saving children with mosquito nets in Africa More »
From pheromones to disease detection via the sense of smell, or what your nose has to do with the neurochemistry of nostalgia More »
Israeli illustrator Noma Bar reacts to a blatant rip-off of his brilliant portrait of Adolf Hitler found on the cover of a legendary magazine More »
Doyald Young never made it through high school, but as this short documentary shows, that never made any difference More »
What is absolutism? Humanism? Genis Carreras's designs render these philosophical movements—and others—comprehensible. More »
Available in English for the first time, a book by a minimalist French illustrator brings the richness of human society to life More »
Kindles and iPads have a lot of advantages—but they still can't duplicate paper cutouts. A roundup of impossible-to-digitize reading. More »
