Quote of the day
We all love a good story. We all love a tantalizing mystery. We all love the underdog pressing onward against seemingly insurmountable odds. We all, in one form or another, are trying to make sense of the world around us. And all of these elements lie at the core of modern physics. The story is among the grandest — the unfolding of the entire universe; the mystery is among the toughest — finding out how the cosmos came to be; the odds are among the most daunting — bipeds, newly arrived by cosmic time scales trying to reveal the secrets of the ages; and the quest is among the deepest — the search for fundamental laws to explain all we see and beyond, from the tiniest particles to the most distant galaxies.
~BRIAN GREEN, author of The Elegant Universe
CREATIVITY
The enemy of creativity… [What To Do When It’s Your Turn (and it’s always your turn)
], Seth’s Blog | Tweet
Seth Godin tells who’s the enemy of creativity and gives us a surprising insight.
CULTURE
Centireading force: why reading a book 100 times is a great idea, The Guardian | Tweet
I have read two books more than a 100 times, for different motives and with different consequences. Hamlet 
I read a 100 times for my dissertation, The Inimitable Jeeves
by PG Wodehouse a 100 times for comfort. The experience is distinct from all other kinds of reading. I’m calling it centireading.
PSYCHOLOGY
If someone tells you they’re narcissist, believe them [Disarming the Narcissist
], Priceonomics | Tweet
Have you ever met someone who described themselves as a narcissist? When meeting someone like this, you might be tempted to brush this admission off as empty small talk. It turns out that this is likely a mistake, and possibly a very big one. As scientists have recently discovered, self-reporting narcissism is a remarkably good indicator of actually being a narcissistic — “egotistical, self-focused, and vain.”
The biggest reason we steal other people’s ideas [Give and Take
], Huffington Post | Tweet
Chances are that at some point in your career, you’ve taken an idea from someone else. I want to know why. There’s a clue in a story about one of the great bands of our time.
THE MIND
Your memory is like a camcorder–Here’s how to turn it on, Forbes | Tweet
According to a new study, memory is a lot like a camcorder. “If you don’t hit the ‘record’ button on the camcorder, it’s not going to ‘remember’ what the lens is pointed at,” says study co-author Brad Wyble, psychology professor at Penn State University. Sounds simple enough, but in practice there’s a little more to it.
PHYSICS
No Big Bang? Quantum equation predicts universe has no beginning [The Elegant Universe], Phys | Tweet
The universe may have existed forever, according to a new model that applies quantum correction terms to complement Einstein’s theory of general relativity. The model may also account for dark matter and dark energy, resolving multiple problems at once.
Scientists now know why popcorns pop [The Popcorn Book
], The Guardian | Tweet
Study unravels physics of kernel – water contained in the shell rapidly escapes as steam under heat, making the corn ‘pop’
ENTERTAINMENT
When people around the world go to the movies most, The Washington Post | Tweet
Americans go on Christmas (Dec. 25), the Chinese on Chinese New Year (Feb. 19) and the French on Labor Day weekend (Sept. 4-7). Revenue data gathered by research firm Rentrak shows that a long New Year’s holiday draws out Russia’s revelers, the late April and early May “Golden Week” holiday is a popular movie-going time for the Japanese, and the November and December rollout of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
and the final Hobbit
movie lured Australian and Germans to the cinema.
WRITING
How to write a successful synopsis [The Anatomy of a NOVEL SYNOPSIS 
], The Write Practice | Tweet
A synopsis is a summary of your manuscript. That’s it. You get a chance to answer the question “what’s your novel about?” in one single-spaced page in anomniscient narrative voice.
10 Top writing tips by 10 top writers on 10 top Medium articles, Medium | Tweet
For the last months, top-notch writers on Medium have been publishing some mind blowing articles in which they have been revealing their top writing secrets.