Tangent

The Great Man theory has serious flaws, as many have pointed out over the years. But it's no less attractive—or useful, perhaps—for its failures.

What happens when you send kids far away from their parents, to be raised by adults who don't love them in hallowed halls of learning? According to George Orwell, it's a childhood without much joy.

At the start of a new year, otherworldly guidance is always useful. Especially if a supernatural thriller has you obsessed with demons to the point of sleeping with the light on. How do you cleanse your spiritual palate?

There's a lineage of middle and upper-class British pop stars, actors and chefs who've affected a Cockney accent as part of their persona—whether opportunistically or as a form of tribute. Then the Chav came along. Does how we speak say anything about the person we are?

In his new book, Oliver Sacks describes a poet who began experiencing vivid hallucinations as she went blind late in life, and put those visions to use in her work. Which raises a question: what's the difference between dream and hallucination, the poetic vision and figment of imagination?

Youthful inexperience led to a near death encounter that left the author bruised and shaken. But in the aftermath of survival those who have been to the edge and back are left with a difficult question: what is the best way to live?

In areas where tenancy is unstable and human waste ubiquitous, how do you implement a sanitation system?

At a Brooklyn Walgreens, toiletries sit under lock and key. On social contracts and the nature of locks.

Just as nervous disorders were once considered refined, aspects of psychopathy may be an asset in today's world. So what kind of world are we living in?