Ballet, behind all the grace...

I don't understand anything about ballet. All I know is that during the intervals the ballerinas stink like horses.-Anton Chekhov

More like this

Steven Pinker has a new essay in The New York Times Magazine, The Moral Instinct.
"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." -Anton Chekhov
I'm a junkie for medical stories. You give me a good narrative description of a mysterious set of symptoms, and I'm hooked. If you share my obsession with patient histories and diagnostic case-studies, then I highly recommend Complications, by Atul Gawande (2003).
Because it is so beautifully concocted, it is tempting to digest every last drop of Mark Slouka's delicious potion ("Dehumanized" published last month in Harper's) without questioning the recipe.