As of now, I’m partway through: Essays in Indian History – Irfan Habib An underrated Marxist economic historian The Islamic Enlightenment – Christopher de Bellaigue Honestly, I thought this was going to be about, like, al-Farabi. It’s not; it’s about the development of modern nation-states in the Islamic world in the 19th century. It’s popular… Read more

Have you ever read Elizabeth Bishop’s poem Insomnia? I saw it on twitter the other day and it blew my little mind. Take the whole thing in, enjoy all the turns: The moon in the bureau mirrorlooks out a million miles(and perhaps with pride, at herself,but she never, never smiles)far and away beyond sleep, orperhaps… Read more

When I picked a major my second semester of college, I could describe what I was going to learn. I didn’t actually know any of it yet, but the major gave clear language about what it was going to teach. Mine was a particularly strong case because there was a sequence of required classes for… Read more