Maria Popova: Art/Biography/Literature/Philosophy/Poetry/Science (Azimuths)

The Marginalian [Maria Popova's website, formerly 'Brain Pickings']

Popova, Maria. "Adrienne Rich on Lying, What “Truth” Really Means, and the Alchemy of Human Possibility." Brain Picking (November 13, 2014)

---. "Adrienne Rich on Why an Education Is Something You Claim, Not Something You Get." Brain Pickings (May 21, 2014)

Popova, Maria. "Alain de Botton on How to Think About Sex More." Brain Pickings (February 14, 2013) [“The more closely we analyze what we consider ‘sexy,’ the more clearly we will understand that eroticism is the feeling of excitement we experience at finding another human being who shares our values and our sense of the meaning of existence.”]

---. "How Relationships Refine Our Truths: Adrienne Rich on the Dignity of Love." Brain Pickings (July 2, 2013)

---. "Obey: How the Rise of Mass Propaganda Killed Populism." Brain Pickings (February 6, 2013)

---. "On 20 Years of he Marginalian." The Marginalian (October 24, 2026) ["Twenty years ago, Maria Popova was newly arrived in the US and working four jobs to pay for college. Lonely and disoriented, she started keeping a record of her search for meaning. Today, what began as an email to seven friends has millions of followers and is preserved in the Library of Congress permanent web archive. The Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings) is still a one-woman labor of love, a free and ad-free cultural blog exploring science and philosophy, art and literature, poetry and children’s books. In this conversation, Maria Popova looks back on twenty years of reading and writing “through the lens of wonder.” How do we make sense of life in a random and chaotic universe? How do we sustain a sense of wonder in the face of disappointment or despair? Popova shares some of her own inspirations – from reading Mary Shelley’s diaries and J.R.R. Tolkien’s letters, to witnessing Bulgaria’s popular democratic uprising as a child. We discuss science as a portal to wonder, and her fascination with mapping the invisible connections that link people and ideas across time and place. In addition to The Marginalian, Popova has written multiple books: "Figuring" (2019), an LA Times Book Prize-winning “biographical mosaic” weaving together the lives of historical figures such as astronomer Johannes Kepler, sculptor Harriet Hosmer, and marine biologist Rachel Carson; "Traversal" (2026), connecting the lives and legacies of visionaries like Mary Shelley, Walt Whitman, Frederick Douglass, and Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin; "The Universe in Verse" (2024), an anthology of science and poetry; "The Snail with the Right Heart" (2021), a true, illustrated children's story about genetic mutation, chance, and biological uniqueness; and "An Almanac of Birds: 100 Divinations for Uncertain Days" – an oracle deck."]

---. "What Power Really Means: Cheryl Strayed Reads Adrienne Rich’s Homage to Marie Curie." Brain Pickings (April 24, 2018)