Thus spake Schopenhauer: If you want to know how you really feel about someone take note of the impression an unexpected letter from him makes on you when you first see it on the doormat.¹ Why does Schopenhauer imagine that these kinds of reactions of ours would be particularly revealing of our ‘true’ feelings towardsContinue reading “Schopenhauer on Revealing Our True Feelings”
Author Archives: Samir Chopra
American Workers to Bosses: You’re Always Right
Rebecca Schuman recently noted the case of an academic job applicant who lost out on a job offer because she dared negotiate: [A] job candidate identified as “W” recently received an offer for a tenure-track position at Nazareth College… W viewed the original bid as the opening move in a series of negotiations, and thus submitted… [a] counteroffer, afterContinue reading “American Workers to Bosses: You’re Always Right”
Carl Sagan’s Glorious Dawn: The Promise of Cosmos
The YouTube video titled “A Glorious Dawn” starring Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking (their voices run through Auto-Tune), and snippets from Sagan’s epic Cosmos, has now racked up almost nine million views and twenty-seven thousand comments since it was first put up sometime back in 2009. (Mysteriously, in addition to its seventy-seven thousand ‘Likes’ it hasContinue reading “Carl Sagan’s Glorious Dawn: The Promise of Cosmos”
Hankering for a ‘Comfortable’ Past
In Home: A Short History of an Idea (Penguin: New York, 1986, pp. 213) Witold Rybczynski writes: If department stores or home-decorating magazines are any indication, most people’s first choice would be to live in rooms that resemble, as much as their budgets permit, those of their grandparents….such nostalgia is absent from other periods of our everyday lives. WeContinue reading “Hankering for a ‘Comfortable’ Past”
The Visible but Ignored Life Around Us
Yesterday’s post was about death, and how it surrounds us, while being invisible. Today’s is about how life surrounds us too, all the while visible, and yet, somehow, for all that, all too easily ignored. Once, on a hike in the Indian Garhwal with my brother, I headed back downhill to our camp after badContinue reading “The Visible but Ignored Life Around Us”
The Hidden Death Around Us
Approximately 150 people die every day in New York City; the three most common causes are heart disease, cancer, and influenza/pneumonia. I’ve lived in New York City for almost twenty years now, so a rough calculation tells me that in the time I’ve lived here, more than a million New Yorkers have passed away. I’ve seenContinue reading “The Hidden Death Around Us”
A Tale of Two Wendler Waves
In December, on returning from a four-week vacation to India, one marked by considerable dietary indulgence and a non-existent workout routine, I found myself out of shape. As I made my way back to weightlifting, I found my strength and confidence considerably diminished. Over the next few weeks, I struggled to retain some form andContinue reading “A Tale of Two Wendler Waves”
O’Bannon vs. NCAA: A Hotter Ticket Than March Madness
Why doesn’t the NCAA pay its players? Because they are amateurs. Why are they amateurs? Because the NCAA doesn’t pay them. That, roughly, is the NCAA’s argument for running the gigantic exploitation racket called “college sports.” Become the primary feeder for the nation’s professional leagues, to the extent it is well-nigh impossible to get draftedContinue reading “O’Bannon vs. NCAA: A Hotter Ticket Than March Madness”
Hot, Bothered, and Devout: The Religious Policing of Sex
Yesterday, I posted a review essay on a pair of books by SN Balagangadhara and Rajiv Malhotra that critique the field of “Indian studies.” In my essay I attempted to place into some context the recent controversy over the recall from circulation of Wendy Doniger‘s book, The Hindus: An Alternative History. Amongst the many chargesContinue reading “Hot, Bothered, and Devout: The Religious Policing of Sex”
SN Balagangadhara and Rajiv Malhotra on Reversing the Gaze
On 12 February, Penguin India announced it was withdrawing and destroying—in India—all published copies of historian Wendy Doniger’s The Hindus: An Alternative History (2009). Penguin’s decision came after reaching an out-of-court settlement with Shiksha Bachao Andolan, which, in 2011, had filed a legal complaint objecting to sections of Doniger’s book. Amidst the vocal expressions ofContinue reading “SN Balagangadhara and Rajiv Malhotra on Reversing the Gaze”
Samir Chopra 