Maria Popova, the writer behind Brain Pickings and the book Figuring, talks with Krista Tippett about reading widely as a discipline and about the cross-pollination between philosophy, science, and poetry that her work has tracked for over a decade. The conversation considers what a contemplative life looks like when it is conducted, day after day, online.
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She has called Brain Pickings, her invention and labor of love, a “human-powered discovery engine for interestingness.” What Maria Popova really delivers, to hundreds of thousands of people each day, is wisdom of the old-fashioned sort, presented in new-fashioned digital ways. She cross-pollinates — between philosophy and design, physics and poetry, the intellectual and the experiential. We explore her gleanings on what it means to lead a good life — intellectually, creatively, and spiritually. Maria Popova is the creator and presence behind BrainPickings.org, which is included in the Library of Congress’s permanent digital archive of culturally valuable materials. She is the author of Figuring and hosts “The Universe in Verse” — an annual celebration of science through poetry — at the interdisciplinary cultural institute Pioneer Works in Brooklyn. Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.