Newsletter 828

Best of the Moment

How Do You Raise A Prodigy?

Andrew Solomon | NYT | 31 October 2012

Parents of prodigies explain. One likens prodigiousness to disability. And Ken Noda has a great insight into how musical prodigies are able to express (adult) emotion in their playing, and why so many go on to have midlife crises Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/how-do-you-raise-prodigy)

Hacking The President's DNA

Andrew Hessel et al | Atlantic | 25 October 2012

"The US is collecting the DNA of world leaders. These genetic blueprints may provide the basis for personalised bioweapons that take down a president and leave no trace." Starts with a fictional scenario, moves on to the facts Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/hacking-presidents-dna)

Literature Is Not Data

Stephen Marche | LA Review Of Books | 28 October 2012

"Big data is coming for your books. Artificial intelligence has already changed health care and pop music, baseball, electoral politics. And now, as an afterthought to an afterthought, the algorithms have arrived at literature" Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/literature-not-data)

The Case For Price Gouging

Matthew Yglesias | Slate | 30 October 2012

Democratic and Republican politicians joined arms to warn against sharp price hikes by merchants in light of Hurricane Sandy. They may have meant well but, says Yglesias, what they did is actually counterproductive. Here's why Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/case-price-gouging)

Siren Call Of Central Asia

Yaroslav Trofimov | WSJ | 29 October 2012

Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, emerges as "sin city" for Afghans seeking fun. It's not Bangkok. But morals are a lot easier than in Kabul. Tajik and Dari languages are very similar. And a bit of money goes a long way Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/siren-call-central-asia)

The Love Bot

Robert Ito | Pacific Standard | 30 October 2012

"There are robots that comfort lonely shut-ins, assist patients suffering from dementia, and help autistic kids learn how to interact with their human peers." People are coming to love and trust robots. Are we ready for this? Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/love-bot)
(http://www.amazon.com/Best-of-FiveBooks-2011-ebook/dp/B007GAM6RC?tag=thebro-21)

FiveBooks Interview

(http://thebrowser.com/interviews/helene-guldberg-on-man-and-ape)

Helene Guldberg on Man and Ape

It's fashionable today to liken humans to animals but the developmental psychologist says it's more interesting to study the ways in which we're remarkably different from other creatures Read on (http://thebrowser.com/interviews/helene-guldberg-on-man-and-ape)

Featured Special Report

(http://thebrowser.com/reports/america-drugs)

America On Drugs

Ritalin, Adderall, LSD, cocaine. Even bath salts. What is drug use doing to Americans? Read on (http://thebrowser.com/reports/america-drugs)

Reader Recommendations

@henrylf (http://twitter.com/henrylf) Google Now - Behind The Predictive Future Of Search: Fascinating feature, @verge (http://twitter.com/verge) #browsings (https://twitter.com/search?q=#browsings) #tech (http://twitter.com/#!/search?q=#tech) t.co/qfXGfe3R More like this (http://thebrowser.com/browsings)

Book of the Day

Book of the Day (http://thebrowser.com/recommended/curious-incident-dog-night-time-by-mark-haddon)

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Simon Baron-Cohen says (http://thebrowser.com/interviews/simon-baron-cohen-on-autism-and-asperger-syndrome) : "It looks at the world through someone else’s eyes and sees how things that we take for granted might be a terrifying experience for other people." FiveBooks Archive (http://thebrowser.com/fivebooks/archive)

Video of the Day

(http://thebrowser.com/videos/banned-ipad-mini-promo)

Not really banned. Just satirical. But still pretty good More videos (http://thebrowser.com/videos)

Quote of the Day

Marilynne Robinson, on science (http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5863/the-art-of-fiction-no-198-marilynne-robinson)

"In discussions of human beings it tends to compare downwards: We’re intelligent because hyenas are intelligent and we just took a few more leaps"

More quotes (http://thebrowser.com/quotations)