5/10 Janet Rae-Dupree in The New York Times on brain science, creativity, and changing habits: "don't bother trying to kill off old habits; once those ruts of procedure are worn into the hippocampus, they're there to stay. Instead, the new habits we deliberately ingrain into ourselves create parallel pathways that can bypass those old roads." (Thanks to Beverly for the link.) And Stephen Baker explains why he thinks we need Renaissance people more than ever. For example, "the triumph of the iTunes wouldn't have happened without someone who could bring together music, software, business, and design. We could even throw in anthropology."

5/8 At the web log for the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship Anja Hartleb-Parson and I have a series of new posts on business ethics and entrepreneurship. Anja and I will be blogging there regularly now.

5/7 An interesting (though quirky) article by political scientist David Schaefer on Robert Nozick (thanks to Bob H. for the link), which prompted a response from philosopher Lester Hunt.

5/6 For your reading pleasure? Samples of horrible academic writing from Philosophy and Literature's Third Annual Bad Writing Contest. (Thanks (?) to Bob M. for the link.)

5/5 Artworld round up: Very ordinary political propaganda wins the Turner Prize. On the other hand, new frontiers in self-deformation and self-destruction. Perhaps this guy has a sense of humor about the art world? (Thanks to Chris for the link.) Notice this deep insight: "Steven's 'Trader Joe's Cashew #4' is such a complete and absolute brutally dissecting view of the industrial conflict between capitalism and modernism that is hard for even the most verbose of critics to add too. Regardless of Steven's relation to me as a colleague and studiomate, the intense complexity I feel for this work is also complete and absolute." The tricky thing about the art world is the problem of indistinguishability-how does one separate the serious from the spoof and the significant from the trivial? A philosophy book waiting to be written. Wait-it already was, twenty-eight years ago, and has been reissued: "Mr. Danto argues that recent developments in the artworld, in particular the production of works of art that cannot be told from ordinary things, make urgent the need for a new theory of art." I read Danto's book as an undergraduate in 1980 or so, and he was writing in response to where the art world had arrived in the 1960s. For half a century, the art world has gone … nowhere.

5/3 Erudito describes Richard Hamilton's Who Voted for Hitler as an excellent example of "how historical sociology should be done." Which gives me an opportunity to plug this fine documentary.

5/2 The greatest human being who ever lived comes to New York.

5/1 The New York Times on the rising number of college entrepreneurship programs. (Thanks to Bob M. for the link.) "According to the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Mo., more than 2,000 colleges and universities now offer at least a class and often an entire course of study in entrepreneurship. That is up from 253 institutions offering such courses in 1985. More than 200,000 students are enrolled in such courses, compared with 16,000 in 1985." Which reminds of this cool, new place.

4/30 In the name of entrepreneurship and innovation, let's create another bureaucratic, rent-seeking government agency? Jeff Cornwall says Just say "No". Which is a little easier remembering the wise words of Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, and Will Rogers.

4/29 Psychological limits and updating the "crow-epistemology" numbers: Not seven but four?

4/28 Attorney Tom Kirkendell reflects on the US's extraordinarily high incarceration rates and, given that much of it is a consequence of our wrong-headed war on drugs, links to this exchange in the LA Times between Reason's Jacob Sullum and Heritage's Charles Stimson.

4/26 Some pathetic racist conspiracy theories. (Thanks to Anja for the link.) And Robert Bidinotto has this perceptive diagnosis of the psychology of conspiracy theorists. And all I can say about this is: Keep those sorcerers away from me.

4/25 Fascinating statistics: a video interview with Thomas Sowell about his Economic Facts and Fallacies. (Thanks to Anja for the link.) And here is Thomas Sowell on writing: "the only way I know to become a good writer is to be a bad writer and keep on improving." (Via Not PC.)

4/24 Science predicts the future and it's not all science fiction. (Thanks to Craig for the link.) And while we solved the problem of politicized religion hundreds of years ago, now we're learning about politicized science. (Thanks to Anja for the link.)

4/23 In the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: business ethicist Alexei Marcoux's overview of the current state of the debate in the business ethics literature.

4/22 Excellent rebuttals: David R. Henderson takes apart a sloppy mish-mash assessment of Milton Friedman's views by The New York Times's Peter Goodman. And Richard Dawkins explains, more patiently than I would, why Darwin was not the cause of Hitler. Both of which raise the question: Why do so many journalists and academics have problems with basic scholarship?

4/15 A shocker: What Iran can teach us about the virtues of capitalism.

4/14 Thinking about why we think: Philosopher Michael Ruse has Darwin on his mind. And pleasant news that more students are thinking about majoring in Philosophy. (Thanks to Shawn for the link.)

4/13 Why the sudden grounding of so many planes: actual safety issues or dysfunctional politics? (Via TIA Daily.) Checking in with Walter Olson and the latest zaniness from the world of litigation. And Lincoln McLain has a series of one-liners answering the question: "If you could change one thing about the 'environmental movement,' what would it be?"

4/12 Classical Values has coverage of the current wave of assaults on free speech in Canada, of all places. One of the bloggers under attack, Ezra Levant, has these wonderfully forthright words for his government inquisitors. (Thanks to Ralph for the link.) And in Iran, some odd choices in censoring Western magazines. (Via Philosopher Stone.)

4/11 A Washington Post article on the booming homeschooling movement. (Via Division of Labour.) FLOW's Michael Strong urges the freedom to innovate as a key component of educational reform. And in related educational-innovation news, I have joined the Board of Advisors of the Reason, Individualism, and Freedom Institute, headed by Marsha Enright.

4/10 Not a pretty picture, though a warped consistency: Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir as thinkers and human beings.

Archives: Worth Reading 2008, Worth Reading 2007, Worth Reading 2006, Worth Reading 2005, Worth Reading 2004, Worth Reading 2003.