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Let Maria Popova Pick Your Brain

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Maria Popova, internet philosopher sensation and creator of the blog, "Brain Pickings," on how to live a meaningful life in 2016.

Maria Popova. (Photograph by Elizabeth Lippman for The New York Times)
Maria Popova. (Photograph by Elizabeth Lippman for The New York Times)

We are heirs to such a great intellectual tradition. Great thinkers from the dawn of history and right now. And yet we tap it so lightly. All that insight, run over by the latest listicle and raft of cat pictures. But Maria Popova mines it every day. Points us to brilliance in her blog called “Brain Pickings.” She’s out right now with great ideas to light up 2016 from Baldwin, le Guin, Kurt Vonnegut, Grace Paley. This hour On Point, Maria Popova is with us to rev up our minds for a new year.
-- Tom Ashbrook 

Guest

Maria Popova, writer, blogger and critic. Founder of BrainPickings.org. MIT Futures of Entertainment Fellow. (@brainpicker)

From Tom's Reading List

Brain Pickings: 16 Elevating Resolutions for 2016 Inspired by Some of Humanity’s Greatest Minds -- "What if we could augment the bucket-list of typical New Year’s resolutions, dominated by bodily habits and pragmatic daily practices, with higher-order aspirations — habits of mind and spiritual orientations borrowed from some of humanity’s most timelessly rewarding thinkers?"

The Atlantic: A Writer’s Journey: Lessons Learned From a Search for Purpose — "In 2006, Maria Popova began regularly sending her friends emails containing 'five stimulating things to learn about each week.' What started as an experiment among a small circle of friends became Brain Pickings, a widely read blog with millions of readers from around the globe. Seven years after sending that initial email, Popova paused to contemplate what she had learned over that period of time.

New York Times: She’s Got Some Big Ideas — "Unlike most blogger celebrities, however, Ms. Popova revels in remaining anonymous, which means her followers know almost nothing about her. In an age when many tweet what they put in their morning coffee, she rarely uses the word 'I.' Her personal history is almost completely absent. Her photograph is not on the site."

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This program aired on January 4, 2016.

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