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The newest essays, interviews, and features from Big Think.
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The famed novelist explains why even considering the act strikes many with a sense of anxiety and impending doom.
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For John Irving, the need for a daily ration of solitude was his strongest "pre-writing" moment as a child.
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For the novelist, obsessions, by definition, control you. Thus, try as he may to control the plot of his stories, a variety of recurring fixations inevitably work themselves in.
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When not interrupted by family and travel, the writer begins his work early, keeps at it for hours at a time, and does it every day.
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For even our best writers, penning that final sentence can be a difficult and tortuous affair. For John Irving, who never begins a novel without knowing its concluding words, this […]
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Big Think sits down with the author of twelve novels, including "Last Night in Twisted River."
John Irving’s novels have earned him a National Book Award, sold tens of millions of copies and have been translated into over thirty languages. Yet, far from affording him a […]
A.N. Wilson, the arch-conservative English litterateur, doesn't like scientists. They are ``gods of certainty'' and people who respect them, he writes today, are responsible for killing most of Britain's cows […]
How will the introduction of e-book devices affect academics and fit into the scholarly ecosystem? And is the book as an artifact dead?
An application to challenge the patenting of human genes that could hamper diagnostic research has been upheld by a federal judge in New York.
Scientists suggest that having a high IQ has nothing to do with practical ability and good judgement, which means clever folks can behave stupidly.
A bizarre video of a bewildered Anna Nicole Smith painted like a clown has been submitted as evidence that she was being held in a drugged stupor by Howard K. Stern.
A wild bear mauled to death two militants of the Kashmiri militant group Hizbul Mujahideen in the mountains on Monday.
An 11-year-old Bulgarian girl gave birth on her wedding day - and her husband now faces prison for having sex with a minor.
Middle America is up in arms after fully exposed breasts were aired on TV – as part of a breast cancer exam awareness campaign!
Were former Vice President Dick Cheney’s vague responses to the FBI during the Valerie Plame affair clever question dodging or did he really not remember?
For years organ donors have suffered the medical costs of saving another person’s life – now health insurers are denying them cover too.
Hamid Karzai’s default election victory in Afghanistan spells difficulties for the supporters of the cancelled run-off, including President Barack Obama.
A crucial round of climate change talks are underway in Spain, with a singular message shared widely among United Nations delegates: get ready to deliver big in Copenhagen.
Because we aspire to put ideas above ideology here at Big Think, I want to make sure you've heard of Andrew Bacevich, a scholar and retired army officer who would […]