How C.S. Lewis Critiqued and Improved Tolkien's Work

In June of 1938, J.R.R. Tolkien (The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings author) wrote a letter to his editor Stanley Unwin explaining why he was behind ...

Blacksmith's Ancient Swords Illustrate Excellence

In his book Deep Work, author Cal Newport provides an example of excellence—a blacksmith from Wisconsin named Ric Furrer. Furrer specializes in ...

Japanese Word for 'Golden Repair'

There is a Japanese word, kintsukuroi, that means "golden repair." It is the art of restoring broken pottery with gold so the fractures are literally ...

The Phrase 'A Mile Wide and an Inch Deep'

In 1889, American journalist and humorist Edgar Nye introduced the phrase "A mile wide and an inch deep." He was referring to a river found in the Midwestern ...

The Global Trend of Looking for the Quick Fix

Jeffrey Zacks, professor of psychology and radiology at Washington University in St Louis, laments what he calls a "global trend" of looking for short ...

Actor Will Smith's Positive View of Marriage

Actor Will Smith discussed his marriage to Jada Pinkett Smith, revealing that the nearly 20 years they've been together have been filled with ups and ...

Study Reveals the Upside of Stress

In 1975, Salvatore Maddi, a psychologist at the University of Chicago, began to study the long-term impact of stress on employees at the Illinois Bell ...

Brainwashed by Jesus or the World?

A friend of mine described the reaction when he went home, as a young teenager, and announced to his mother that he'd become a Christian. Alarmed, she ...

What Actors Have Done to Prepare for a Role

For her role in Black Swan, Natalie Portman trained with New York City Ballet dancer Mary Helen Bowers for eight hours a day, six days a week for the ...

The Lordship of Christ Is 'A Life-Quake'

Tim Keller compares the Lordship of Jesus Christ to what he calls "a life-quake":

When a great big truck goes over a tiny little bridge, sometimes there's ...