What We Are Reading Today: ‘Africa’s Struggle for Its Art’ by Benedicte Savoy

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Africa’s Struggle for Its Art’ by Benedicte Savoy
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Updated 17 June 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Africa’s Struggle for Its Art’ by Benedicte Savoy

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Africa’s Struggle for Its Art’ by Benedicte Savoy

For decades, African nations have fought for the return of countless works of art stolen during the colonial era and placed in Western museums. In “Africa’s Struggle for Its Art,” Benedicte Savoy brings to light this largely unknown but deeply important history. One of the world’s foremost experts on restitution and cultural heritage, Savoy investigates extensive, previously unpublished sources to reveal that the roots of the struggle.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘Experiments of the Mind’ by Emily Martin

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Experiments of the Mind’ by Emily Martin
Updated 11 February 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Experiments of the Mind’ by Emily Martin

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Experiments of the Mind’ by Emily Martin

Experimental cognitive psychology research is a hidden force in our online lives. We engage with it, often unknowingly, whenever we download a health app, complete a Facebook quiz, or rate our latest purchase.

How did experimental psychology come to play an outsized role in these developments?

“Experiments of the Mind” considers this question through a look at cognitive psychology laboratories. 


What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Truth About Everything’

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Updated 10 February 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Truth About Everything’

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  • Wiest wants to remind people of the importance of authenticity and self-acceptance in today’s often superficial, fast-paced world

Published in 2013, “The Truth About Everything” is a collection of personal experiences by Brianna Wiest which attempts to provide an understanding of love, loss and self-discovery.

One of the strengths of the publication is the author’s writing style. Wiest adopts a tone that provides a reflection of her views without lecturing.

Her straightforward language makes her insights digestible, offering the chance to connect with her, while encouraging personal introspection and growth.

Another fascinating aspect of the book is Wiest’s attempts to motivate readers to acknowledge their deepest feelings and imperfections. She considers this attitude critical to establishing genuine connections and achieve eventual healing.

Wiest wants to remind people of the importance of authenticity and self-acceptance in today’s often superficial, fast-paced world.

Judging from the online reviews, some readers prefer the structure of the book, with its short chapters and quotes.

Other reviewers were more critical and stated that some ideas were repeated or not grouped thematically.

Wiest challenges readers to re-examine what they thought to be true, and urges them to embark on their own spiritual journeys so that they can find their own truths to share with the world.

 


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

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Life’s Devices’ by Steven Vogel
Updated 10 February 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Life’s Devices’ by Steven Vogel

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.

You will learn why a fish swims more rapidly than a duck can paddle, and why healthy trees more commonly uproot than break, among others. 


What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Mystery of the Mind’

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Updated 09 February 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Mystery of the Mind’

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Author: Wilder Penfield

Can the mind be explained by what we know about the brain? Is a person’s being determined by their body alone or by their mind and body as separate elements?
With a foreword by Charles W. Hendel, an introduction by William Feindel, and reflections by Sir Charles Symonds, “The Mystery of the Mind” is Penfield’s compelling personal account of his experiences as a neurosurgeon and scientist observing the inner workings of the brain in conscious
patients.

 


What We Are Reading Today: The Age of Choice

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Updated 08 February 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: The Age of Choice

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Author: Sophia Rosenfeld

Choice touches virtually every aspect of our lives, from what to buy and where to live to whom to love, what profession to practice, and even what to believe. But the option to choose in such matters was not something we always possessed or even aspired to. It turns out that not only are we not very good at realizing our personal desires, we are also overwhelmed with too many possibilities and anxious about what best to select. There are social costs too. ‘The Age of Choice’ tells the long history of the invention of choice as the defining feature of modern freedom.