Mike Pilewski writes about life, politics and culture in the United States
The next Star Wars movie is months away, but its second “teaser trailer”, out since mid-April, has already got fans excited. Those of you not very familiar with Star Wars may at least recall how the overwhelming popularity of the “original trilogy” — Episodes IV through VI, which came out in 1977–83 — contrasted with general disappointment at the “prequels” … >>
March 10 marked the 15th anniversary of the death of a famous American whose life was devoted to advancing our knowledge about language. He was, unfortunately, a controversial individual prone to drug use and violent outbursts, and wound up spending most of his life behind bars. He also liked bananas. I’m talking, of course, about Nim Chimpsky (1973–2000), the second … >>
Is time travel real? According to Hollywood, we’ll know nine months from now, when a young Michael J. Fox steps out of a specially converted automobile and grabs a sports almanac and a hoverboard. According to Internet folklore, other time travelers have already lived through 2015. The best-known of them, John Titor, described this year as a turning point in … >>
In our part of the world, the past two centuries have been, among other things, a story of social progress. It started with the abolition of slavery, continued with the women’s-rights and labor movements, and culminated in the civil-rights movement of the 1960s. Campaigns since then have focused on the environment, equal access for the “differently abled”, and respect for … >>
Recent news events have made clear just how easy it is for America — or shadowy, undemocratic entities that claim to act in its interest — to panic. This emotion isn’t just the product of 9/11, however. It was always there: fear that the Native Americans would attack; fear that the slaves would revolt; fear of crop failures and bank … >>
As I mentioned last week, I learned a lot from the teachers I had at school. At home, in a neighborhood without many other kids, I had some other good teachers in the form of books. One of my favorite authors back then was Isaac Asimov (1920–1992). He’s mainly thought of as a science-fiction writer because of the lighthearted yet … >>
If you could live at any time in the past, when would you like to live? I think I’d feel very much at home during the Renaissance, or in ancient Greece. Those were great times to be a scientist, a philosopher, a traveler, or all three. Scientists and philosophers saw it as part of their job to be on the … >>
Can you throw away books? Many of us can’t. Good books are like old friends. We appreciate the amount of time someone took to write these stories and set them on paper. We want to make sure our books are taken care of. If there’s no more room on our shelves (because we’ve made new friends), we go looking for … >>
Well, it’s happened. My favorite bookstore has gone out of business. The Borders chain had been struggling since about 2007 and had already closed some of its stores. After an attempt at restructuring failed, the company announced last week it would be closing its 399 remaining stores. This will put 10,700 people out of work. This is a big loss … >>
My eight-year-old cousin Trevor wrote to me recently from Pleasant Gap, Pennsylvania, to ask for my help with a school project. Dear Michael, We are working on a Flat Stanley project. Stanley is a character in our book, Flat Stanley. He was flattened when a big bulletin board fell on him while he was in bed sleeping. In the book, … >>