Begin with a question
You do not need to start at the beginning of an archive. Choose a question and follow it through these short reading routes.
I. What makes us who we are?
Begin with emotion and connection, then consider the questions we ask when trying to understand other people.
- The Whole-Brain Child — ideas about emotional regulation and connection.
- The Mom Test — how better questions can help us move beyond polite answers.
- Why do cultures set aside days to remember the dead? — memory and the bonds between people.
Carry this question with you: how much of understanding another person depends on how we listen?
II. Why do we believe?
Explore the difference between what a practice means to a community and which claims can be examined through evidence.
- Why is the Ganga sacred? — a river with many layers of meaning.
- Days of remembrance across cultures — ritual, kinship and recurring memory.
- Do trees really communicate? — how compelling stories can outrun what research establishes.
Carry this question with you: what kind of evidence would actually answer the claim being made?
III. What have we overlooked?
Look again at familiar landscapes. A changing leaf or a flowering desert can hold a much larger story.
- Why do leaves turn red, orange and yellow?
- Why can a desert suddenly bloom?
- Underground fungal networks
Carry this question with you: what would change if we paid more attention to the ordinary?
