Some links! And some of these have been sitting in my "links to post" file for awhile, so clearing them out. Also, I'm behind on email but hoping to catch up tonight or tomorrow. So there you have it.
- "For a Better Brain, Sleep Well": "While an awake brain is more stimulated, our thinking organ cannot handle unbridled activity. Neurons have a threshold past which the communication of information is inhibited. This is why, after a restless night, people say they are unable to concentrate on the day's tasks. By restoring the brain to a restful state, neurons are more prepared to activate the following day and learn from the surrounding environment. The brain's daily rejuvenation process is known as 'synaptic homeostasis." The key to everything, really.
- Great list: 5 Timeless Books of Insight on Fear and the Creative Process.
- The science of kissing.
- "Alejandro Jodorowsky and His Tarot de Marseille": "In Paris, where he has lived for the last 20 years, he lectures on the tarot and does readings for strangers once a week. And he vividly remembers how, at 20, he first saw an old (and, he said, naked) woman in his native Chile give a tarot reading, and was instantly intrigued. He soon moved to Paris, where he joined the mime company of Marcel Marceau and began traveling with him. It was in Tokyo, Mr. Jodorowsky said, that he first bought a tarot deck. This became a habit. Every place they went, he would figure out where and how to buy a new deck; before long, he had a vast collection."
- Hannah Tepper conducts a fascinating interview about the science of free will with researcher Michael Gazzaniga at Salon: "There is something in our left hemisphere, a system, a module, a capacity that is constantly trying to see the meaning in the patterns of activity in the brain. It’s trying to interpret emotional changes and behaviors. It’s trying to put this into a story line. It’s the thing that builds our story. It’s also, I think, responsible for why we can talk about determinism and a lack of free will until we’re blue in the face, but none of us actually believes it. Because we feel we are unified and we have this sense of self. I think this is highly related to the interpreter."
- The difficulties of authors with hard-to-pronounce names.
- Everybody's favorite stealth library artist: link one and link two.
- Laura Miller interviews Jonathan Lethem, and many interesting things are said.
- Annalee makes a list of ten themes shared by historical and science fiction over at io9.
- Colleen visits The Big Idea to talk about The Map of My Dead Pilots, and the issues around writing about real people.
- The fabulous Kat Howard writes about fencing and its fictional versions (delightfully!) at Fantasy.
- Two wonderful and smart women talking: Malinda Lo interviews Cassandra Clare for Diversity in YA.
- I absolutely adored the series of posts Nova Ren Suma hosted on inspiration last month, and her own final post on the subject was no exception. Highly recommended.