Kickoff For September 7, 2020
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Monday Kickoff, a collection of what I’ve found interesting, informative, and insightful on the web over the last seven days.
It’s been a while since I’ve done an edition on a single theme, so I thought it was about time. I hope you enjoy this week’s selection of reads.
Let’s get this Monday started with these links:
The Perks of Being a Weirdo, wherein Olga Khazan looks at the creative upside to being different from everyone around you.
For the full life experience, put down all devices and walk, wherein John Kaag and Susan Froderberg explain the joys and benefits of walking without aim, without a destination in mind.
The Analog City and the Digital City, wherein L. M. Sacasas ponders how the political and ideological divisions in our society are caused by adherence to either old or new mores or ethoses.
The Tragedy of Costs and Benefits, wherein Roberto Tallarita explains that crises encourage simplistic contrasts, but that those contrasts don’t take into account wider, more subtle factors.
Urban Auscultation: Listening to the City, wherein Shannon Mattern looks at experiencing cities more deeply not just by sight and smell, but by paying closer attention to the sounds and rhythms of those cities.
The Case Against Thinking Outside of the Box, wherein Jordan Shapiro aruges that creativity doesn’t happen on demand and that inspiration for creative and innovative ideas usually comes from external factors.
The Science of Reading, wherein Charles Fernyhough ponders the voices we hear inside our heads when we read fiction.
More than arm’s length: reimagining rituals in a technologically mediated pandemic-centric era, wherein anthropologist Caitlin E. McDonald looks at how the coronavirus pandemic has so quickly changed rituals, even small daily ones, around the world.
Don’t blame social media for conspiracy theories, wherein Joseph E Uscinski argues that people who believe and embrace conspiracy theories would do so even without social media and the internet.
And that’s it for this Monday. Come back in seven days for another set of links to start off your week.