What do you think?
Rate this book
Brain Pickings
- GenresPsychologyNonfiction
Kindle Edition
About the author
Maria Popova
27 books1,473 followersMaria Popova is a reader and a writer, and writes about what she reads on Brain Pickings (brainpickings.org), which is included in the Library of Congress permanent digital archive of culturally valuable materials. She hosts The Universe in Verse—an annual charitable celebration of science through poetry—at the interdisciplinary cultural center Pioneer Works in Brooklyn.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 20, 2012
Brain Pickings is a collection of extraordinary content, delivered wirelessly to your kindle. Maria Popova spends an inordinate amount of time collecting and curating "the best of the web".
Unfortunately, she does so via Twitter, so you can get this content for free on the web just as easily. Because she really does add value, I would say this is the one and only news aggregator you should follow, if any. Unfortunately, some bright minds out in the cloud believe that curation is something that a computer can do well before we have reached The Singularity. The vast majority of content aggregators fall somewhat between totally worthless and a chatty Eliza routine over time- you'll spend more time ignoring it than any value you could have hoped to gain.
There are also many social media experts who have become an echo chamber of each other: they friend and retweet each other, thinking that the circular motion of sameness is somehow new to you. And, it is, for a while.
Much the way Transcendenz must be punished for its crimes against reality, I award this feed three stars, two stars eliminated for the brutal assault on what makes us human.
---
More: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
Unfortunately, she does so via Twitter, so you can get this content for free on the web just as easily. Because she really does add value, I would say this is the one and only news aggregator you should follow, if any. Unfortunately, some bright minds out in the cloud believe that curation is something that a computer can do well before we have reached The Singularity. The vast majority of content aggregators fall somewhat between totally worthless and a chatty Eliza routine over time- you'll spend more time ignoring it than any value you could have hoped to gain.
There are also many social media experts who have become an echo chamber of each other: they friend and retweet each other, thinking that the circular motion of sameness is somehow new to you. And, it is, for a while.
Much the way Transcendenz must be punished for its crimes against reality, I award this feed three stars, two stars eliminated for the brutal assault on what makes us human.
---
More: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
November 4, 2018
I absolutely love this blog. Maria writes in such a way that gets me more emotionally connected to books, authors and history. The content can at times feel heavily targeted to American writers and readers but it has led me to some books I otherwise would not have read.
If anyone knows of a discussion group for this blog I can join, let me know because I'd love to find others who read it and won't look at me oddly when I get enthusiastic about her latest post!
If anyone knows of a discussion group for this blog I can join, let me know because I'd love to find others who read it and won't look at me oddly when I get enthusiastic about her latest post!
October 24, 2018
She's so fucking cool.
Read
January 15, 2020I would like to thank Maria Popova for the incredible effort she puts into this site. It is so intelligent and thought provoking. Definitely a refreshing change from the unrelenting news bites that repeat the latest idea ad nauseam .
December 11, 2016
If u like books worth taking a look at for sure. Some good stuff. But --- I find a lot of the entries on Brain Pickings and Maria Popova's writing style in particular too precious, too heartfelt, it feels like an overdose of the sublime. She has too much quasi-mystical reverence, her face seems to be wet with tears, there is hand-wringing and her breast may be about to explode. Her reverence is often directed towards writers with questionable insights whom she lauds as profound. Omg yet another profoundly wise writer or poet astonishing us with timeless insights into the magic and mystery of the human tragedy! There are thousands of them all celebrated a bit too much.
I mean there are loads of great writers mentioned for sure but there's a fair bit of bs as well. Yes great writers can write bs sometimes. Quite often you read a quote for which she has a dewy-eyed admiration, which she declares life changing (omg again?) and you think what a load of rubbish!
I'm not sure the mix and match approach to accruing wisdom works as well as following through with certain writers. She can give you a few good leads on writers though.
But worth reading for the good bits.
I mean there are loads of great writers mentioned for sure but there's a fair bit of bs as well. Yes great writers can write bs sometimes. Quite often you read a quote for which she has a dewy-eyed admiration, which she declares life changing (omg again?) and you think what a load of rubbish!
I'm not sure the mix and match approach to accruing wisdom works as well as following through with certain writers. She can give you a few good leads on writers though.
But worth reading for the good bits.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews