From The New Yorker, a review of Giordano Bruno: Philosopher/Heretic by Ingrid D. Rowland; David Remnick on how Lang Lang, China’s greatest musician, will win the Beijing Games; an article on the making of a long-distance runner, Ryan Hall; and can the Burmese people rescue themselves? George Packer wants to know. From The Atlantic Monthly, Robert Kaplan on lifting the bamboo curtain: As China and India vie for power and influence, Burma has become a strategic battleground. From NYRB, the strange history of birth control: A review of Fatal Misconception: The Struggle to Control World Population by Matthew Connelly. We grew up too comfortable to take risks: What if Japan, the face of the future, is showing us who we are becoming, a Cassandra of our trans-cultural futures. Lisa Randall on understanding multiple dimensions. From TED, Murray Gell-Mann on beauty and truth in physics; Louise Leakey on digging for humanity's origins; and Kevin Kelly on predicting the next 5,000 days of the web. From Big Think, before Silicon Valley: Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer on growing up in San Francisco; Lisa Witter on capitalism and its enemies; and Susan Neiman explains the concept of moral maturity; how to become a better person; and current perspectives on evil. Keeping up appearances: An article on the benefits of pretending to be insane.
