The Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings) Book Recommendations & Book Mentions
This list consists of recommendations or mentions of books spotted in media, social media accounts, podcasts or other public websites.
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When Breath Becomes Air
Paul Kalanithi
When Breath Becomes Air – a young neurosurgeon examines the meaning of life as he faces his own death https://t.co/ITuUGqzlbH
Hardcover, 2016
$27.00$13.50 + Free shipping50% off your first book
The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm - Illustrated by Arthur Rackham
Brothers Grimm
On the great Arthur Rackham's 155th birthday, his rare and revolutionary century-old illustrations for the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm https://t.co/njiUAlR4Un
Hardcover, 2013
$61.99$36.99 + Free shipping50% off your first book(max discount $25)
Leisure: The Basis of Culture
Josef Pieper
The perfect holiday read: Leisure, the Basis of Culture – an obscure German philosopher's magnificent 1948 manifesto for reclaiming our human dignity in a culture of workaholism https://t.co/j2T2cvnAQZ
Paperback, 2009
$17.95$8.98 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Moomin: Volume 2: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip
Tove Jansson
"I long to read more in the book of you." On beloved Moomins creator Tove Jansson's birthday, his almost unbearably beautiful love letters to the love of her life (who inspired her wisest Moomin character) https://t.co/VpUTsB61fQ
Hardcover, 2007
$24.95$12.48 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Treasure Island
Robert Stevenson Louis
"Treasure Island" author Robert Louis Stevenson on what makes life worth living https://t.co/uxBK4XK4xG
Paperback, 2023
$17.99$8.99 + Free shipping50% off your first book
de Profundis
Oscar Wilde
Patti Smith reads Oscar Wilde's stirring letter on suffering and transcendence, penned while imprisoned for loving whom he loved https://t.co/oBAl9xzhwz
Paperback, 2000
$13.00$6.50 + Free shipping50% off your first book
A Responsibility to Awe
Rebecca Elson
"For this we go out dark nights, searching For the dimmest stars, For signs of unseen things..." Astronomer Rebecca Elson died OTD in 1999, not yet forty, leaving behind 56 scientific papers and some stunning poems. Patti Smith reads one of her best: https://t.co/DNEijLWUb4
Paperback, 2018
$20.99$10.49 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley
"Brave New World" author Aldous Huxley, born on this day in 1894, on love, knowledge vs. understanding, and the cure for our existential helplessness https://t.co/dEHmgqkfjy
Paperback, 2006
$17.99$8.99 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Love Letters: The Love Letters of Kahlil Gibran to May Ziadah
Kahlil Gibran
Kahlil Gibran's stunning love letters to his muse and patron, Mary Haskell, born on this day in 1873 https://t.co/hR09UZrwSD
Out of stock

Parable of the Talents
Octavia E. Butler
“Love quiets fear. And a sweet and powerful positive obsession blunts pain, diverts rage, and engages each of us in the greatest, the most intense of our chosen struggles.” Timeless truth from Octavia Butler, who would have been 75 today: https://www.themarginalian.org/2020/10/31/octavia-butler-parable-of-the-talents-self/
Paperback, 2019
$19.99$9.99 + Free shipping50% off your first book