An Astronaut at 80

Alan Bean on his Apollo mission, and what he did next.

Fearsome Plague Epidemic Strikes Madagascar

Wrote about this today in my new book, The Bandits of Madagascar. It’s because they dance with their disinterred dead.

A Taxonomy of Ideas

The Man Who Could Make Interstellar Travel to Alpha Centauri Possible

Greg Matloff has spent most of his life trying to go interstellar, and he's closer than ever.

Whitman and the American Revelation

Tucked in a prosaic, newly discovered early novel are the seeds of ‘Leaves of Grass’

Nobel Prize in Literature

This year.

The Healing Power of Nature

Immersing yourself in forests and nature has a healing effect.

Dazzling and Worrying

 Memories of Bruce Chatwin and In Patagonia.

When It’s Good to Be Antisocial

Sometimes everybody wins when you go it alone.

Speaking Ill of Hugh Hefner

And the arc of his life.