Book Review: Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

Author and mountaineer Jon Krakauer (who also wrote Into the Wild) recounts with disturbing clarity the 1996 Everest disaster, in his best-selling book, Into Thin Air (which was adapted into the Everest film – apparently deviating a lot from the book). Krakauer is an expert storyteller who transmits the intense feelings of stress, panic, and vigilance that the climbers…

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The Mental and Physical Challenge of Hiking Mount Rinjani

Mount Rinjani is the second highest volcano in Indonesia, standing at 3,726m, surpassed only by Mount Kerinci (3,805m) on the island of Sumatra. Situated on the island of Lombok, Mount Rinjani is a popular hiking spot for many tourists, as the island is easily reachable from Bali. Mount Rinjani is quite unique as a volcano,…

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Book Review: Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon

Star Maker (1937) is a sci-fi novel written by British writer Olaf Stapledon. It describes the rich tapestry of cosmic evolution, surpassing in scale his previous novel First and Last Men (1930), which details the history of humanity from the present day back to two million years ago. Star Maker tells the story of a…

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How Studying Mythology Can Help You Become a Better Entrepreneur

When most people think of entrepreneurs or freelancers who have taken their careers into their own hands and have broken free from the conventional structures of the working world, so to speak, the first thoughts that come to mind are things like “cunning”, “hard-working”, “strategic”, and “pragmatic”. And, of course, to make it on your…

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How the Design of 19th Century Asylums Helped to Ameliorate Madness

Asylum designs in the 19th century were believed by medical practitioners, psychiatrists, and asylum architects to ameliorate, if not cure, madness. (In this essay, I will use the term ‘madness’ instead of mental illness because as sociologist Andrew Scull highlights, “for much of history, “mad” or some cognate of it really was the word that…

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