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Great Reads in Life

2B Or Not 2B - July 7, 2008

by David Crystal, The GuardianSome people dislike texting. Some are bemused by it. But it is merely the latest manifestation of the human ability to be linguistically creative and to adapt language to suit the demands of diverse setings. There is no disaster pending.
http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/referenceandlanguages/story/0,,2289259,00.html?gus...

Head Fake - July 7, 2008

by Jonah Lehrer, Boston GlobeLike many other antidepressants, Prozac increases the brain's supply of serotonin, a neurotransmitter. The drug's effectiveness inspired an elegant theory, known as the chemical hypothesis: Sadness is simply a lack of chemical happiness. The little blue pill cheer us up because they give the brain what it has been missing.There's only one problem with this theory of depression: it's almost certainly wrong, or at the very least woefully incomplete.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/07/06/head_fake/

The Urge To End It - July 6, 2008

by Scott Anderson, New York Times"There is but one truly serious philosophical problem," Albert Camus wrote, "and that is suicide." How to explain why, among the only species capable of pondering its own demise, whose desperate attempts to forestall mortality have spawned both armies and branches of medicine in a perpetual search for the Fountain of Youth, there are those who, by their own hand, would choose death over life Our contradictory reactions to the act speak to the.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/magazine/06suicide-t.html

Numerology - July 6, 2008

by Jordan Ellenberg, New York Times"One to Nine" offers a different model for teaching math — discursive rather than linear, topical rather than abstract and remote, and, above all, manically energetic rather than repetitive and plodding.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/books/review/Ellenberg-t.html

Fair Play For The CIA - July 5, 2008

by James M. Murphy, The TimesWe must not forget that the CIA was formed in an era of civic trust and patriotism.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article4255297.e...