Judith Thurman notices everything. Meticulous observation has been a hallmark of her 50-year career as a writer whose laser-sharp gaze traverses millenniums, countries and genres. She is as interested in the faintest details of Stone Age cave paintings (which she descended to examine for herself, flashlight in hand) as she is in little-known dying languages…
When is a book tour not just a book tour? When it is a platform for the refashioning, literally, of a major public figure — when it is a way for someone whose image at one stage of her life has been memorialized for posterity to signal that it is time to move on. That…
During the holiday season a few years ago, my mother sent me a dozen Fabergé egg-inspired ornaments from one of the Joan Rivers for QVC holiday collections. Instead of trying to parse any of the cultural meeting points going on — Russian Orthodox meets Jewish woman meets Christmas decorations — I hung them up on…
Send questions about the office, money, careers and work-life balance to workfriend@nytimes.com. Include your name and location, or a request to remain anonymous. Letters may be edited. Not So Happy Hours I recently started a new job I’m excited about, doing good work. As part of the job, I am asked to host or attend…
The feeders are filled and hung; the scene is set. Are we ready to let our incessant daily to-do list take flight and settle in to watch the birds? I’m not talking about the occasional glance out the window, but a long, contemplative look. A new book, “Slow Birding: The Art and Science of Enjoying…
Si alguien te da un regalo, ¿estás obligado a darle uno a cambio? La gratitud es obligatoria, pero las compras de pánico por culpa no lo son. Sabira Bandali, fundadora de la revista en línea Haul of Fame, sugiere que si te sorprenden con las manos vacías, simplemente expreses tu sincero agradecimiento en persona o…
Last week, I put a call out to Where to Eat readers for holiday-themed questions. You didn’t disappoint, sending in a fun mix of dining inquiries. One reader wanted to know which bars and restaurants have the best holiday decorations; another was looking for a special holiday meal before Christmas Day. There was also a…
The study found that some of the long Covid patterns related to age, sex, race and ethnicity differed from those seen in deaths caused by the initial infection. For example, while Black and Hispanic people had higher death rates from the initial coronavirus infection than non-Hispanic whites, those groups did not have higher death rates…
The holiday season can bring up all kinds of thorny questions: Is it OK to make a wish list? If someone gave you a gift, are you obligated to give them one in return? Why does giving cash often feel weird but giving a gift card does not? Even as someone who loves to gift,…
The mythic figure that is the billionaire tech genius in the nowhere man tee may finally be about to meet its long overdue end. The arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the FTX cryptocurrency trading platform, on Monday in the Bahamas on charges of fraud, may signal not just the next stage in his…