Words of wisdom from an obscure and great writer. 

  In her book Brightsided, Barbara Ehrenreich criticizes the belief that we can control the universe with our thoughts. When that kind of regression sweeps a culture, it's time for a little rational thinking before the ship sinks with all aboard clenching their eyes shut and concentrating on positive results.

  Living in the information age has most of us doing mental juggling routines as a matter of course. Are we more distracted and fragmented? Or is this good exercise for us? 

Barbara Ehrenreich's book Brightsided analyzes America's obsession with success and positivity. This coincides with the Enneagram personality system's type Three: the Achiever. So what happens when one type's values dominate a culture?

  Beneath the radar of men's awareness, women conduct emotional boxing matches with each other.

  Living in the information age has most of us doing mental juggling routines as a matter of course. Can we handle it? Are we getting more distracted and fragmented? Or is this good exercise for us? Have we long had an underfed capacity for complexity that’s only now being regularly fertilized?    

What does our inclination for nostalgia and romanticism leave out of the picture?

Joining five others, four parts of the Beams team will soon begin a year long study of Karl Marx's Das Kapital, following along to the free online lectures of David Harvey. Apparently we're not the only ones returning to Marx, as a general rebirth of interest in his work is globally underway. Here's a bunch of Marx resources, including the trailer for the new documentary Marx Reloaded.

This could actually mean that we're climbing up the evolutionary ladder.

What does the recent Spider-Man reboot (ten years after the first film) reveal about the human spirit?