“your brain delves into itself when you are in an unfamiliar place”
On our last day in London, my wife and I wandered past, and of course in, a travel bookstore near Covent Garden called Stanfords. Actually not Stanfords, but
This is why I turn off alerts: New study finds awareness of notifications is a distraction
One of the most effective things I’ve done to get my phone to defend rather than attack my attention is to turn off as many notifications and alerts
Winston Churchill on “painting as a pastime”
I’m just back from a trip to England, where I was doing interviews and archival work for Rest. While most of my time was spent in the British
Nature and creative problem solving: how days in the wood boost creativity
This morning via Michael Hyatt, I came across a 2012 study on "Creativity in the Wild: Improving Creative Reasoning through Immersion in Natural Settings:" Adults and children are
Using EEG to measure the impact of education
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Westmont College, a Christian liberal arts college in Southern California, is going to try to measure the impact of international education
“…very gradually build up living and creative structures within us”
The Swedish neuroscientist Ragnar Granit gave what I regard as a remarkable talk about research and deep thinking as activities requiring personal development and transformation. It's a great
“I love to do research, I want to do research, I have to do research, and I hate to sit down and begin to do research”
Mathematician Paul Halmos, from the Notices of the American Mathematical Society: I love to do research, I want to do research, I have to do research, and I
Michael Corballis: “we are programmed to alternate between mind-wandering and paying attention”
It seems we are programmed to alternate between mind-wandering and paying attention, and our minds are designed to wander whether we like it or not. In adapting to
Alain Connes: “when fighting with a very complicated problem… go for a long walk”
Advice from Alain Connes (from the Princeton Companion to Mathematics) on being creative: Walks. One very sane exercise, when fighting with a very complicated problem (often involving computations),
Michael Corballis, The Wandering Mind
I just ordered Michael Corballis’ new book, The Wandering Mind: What the Brain Does When You’re Not Looking, which obviously is very much in my wheelhouse these days. I