This morning, thanks to an article in The New York Times, I was introduced to "Brain Pickings" and to its editor, Maria Popova. Bruce Feiler writes in The Times of Ms. Popova, "She is the mastermind of the one of the faster growing literary empires on the Internet, yet she is virtually unknown. She is the champion of old-fashioned ideas, yet she is only 28 years old. She is a fierce defender of books, yet she insists she will never write one herself.... She is the unlikely founder of the exploding online emporium of ideas known as Brain Pickings."
Since Brain Pickings is a new discovery, I'm not yet ready to write an impression of it, except to say that as founder and editor of Reckonings I find its character as a more or less one-woman band and its diversity of focus congenial, and I'm intrigued by its mission statement:
"We believe that creativity is a combinatorial force — it happens when existing pieces of knowledge, ideas, memories and inspiration coalesce into incredible new formations. And in order to make a concept (or product, or idea, or argument) fully congeal in your head, you have to first understand all the little pieces that surround it — pieces across art, design, music, science, technology, philosophy, cultural history, politics, psychology, sociology, ecology, anthropology, you-name-itology. Pieces that build your mental pool of resources, which you then combine into original concepts that are stronger, smarter, richer, deeper and more impactful — the foundation of creativity.
"This is Brain Pickings. It’s a modest exercise in vision- and mind-expansion. Curated bits of culture that will, at the very least, introduce you to new ideas and perspectives and, at their very best, help you think more, laugh more, create more. Be a better person. Because a better person conceives of better, stronger, smarter, richer, deep[er], more impactful ideas — culturally, commercially and socially.
"And, yes, despite the pageantry fluff of it, we do all want to 'make the world a better place.'"