MIT Press Reader

A nonprofit digital magazine that showcases thought-provoking excerpts, interviews, and other original works by Press-affiliated authors, past and present.

MIT Press Reader

Sep 2, 2021 - 24 min

Blaming our genes

The heritability of behavior.

MIT Press Reader

Aug 25, 2021 - 32 min

When in doubt, copy

Easy and effective, copying is how we cope with unpredictability.

MIT Press Reader

Aug 18, 2021 - 12 min

The art of pondering distant future Earths

Embracing planetary imagination could be key to our survival.

MIT Press Reader

Aug 9, 2021 - 32 min

Alien dreams

The surprisingly long history of speculation about extraterrestrials.

MIT Press Reader

May 25, 2021 - 24 min

Amo, ergo cogito: a philosopher on love as a way of seeing

Phenomenology could uncover the truth of love.

MIT Press Reader

May 20, 2021 - 14 min

Alphonse Bertillon and the troubling pursuit of human metrics

"The pursuit of human metrics has a rich and fascinating history."

MIT Press Reader

May 5, 2021 - 36 min

The Nazi-Soviet pact: a betrayal of communists by communists

Why did the Russians exile those true to their cause?

MIT Press Reader

Apr 29, 2021 - 27 min

What 250 years of innovation history reveals about our green future

An unstoppable wave of competitive innovation is heading our way.

MIT Press Reader

Apr 10, 2021 - 27 min

What irony is not

There's a linguistic reason why it's lost on many people.

MIT Press Reader

Apr 6, 2021 - 10 min

Mexico's little-known attempt to save Freud from the Nazis

Freud’s unknown escape attempt.

MIT Press Reader

Mar 15, 2021 - 26 min

The spectacular rise of ornamental plants

From Mesopotamia to South America: how our use of plants transcended mere economic value.

MIT Press Reader

Feb 27, 2021 - 22 min

A brief global history of the war on cannabis

Have laws on weed ever been truly relaxed?

MIT Press Reader

Feb 21, 2021 - 17 min

A guide to the gravesites of architects

Exploring their often-humble final resting places, from Alvar Aalto to Frank Lloyd Wright.

MIT Press Reader

Feb 16, 2021 - 15 min

Britain’s sexist campaign to sell computers

The history of British computing is rooted in discriminations that continue to have a negative effect today.

MIT Press Reader

Feb 10, 2021 - 29 min

A brief history of consumer culture

From the invention of the television to the masterful craft of PR strategies that followed it.

MIT Press Reader

Feb 8, 2021 - 17 min

The myth of a wilderness without humans

What is nature?

MIT Press Reader

Feb 1, 2021 - 25 min

The future encyclopedia of Luddism

What would have happened if they had won their battle against technology?

MIT Press Reader

Jan 30, 2021 - 10 min

When kids ran the world: a forgotten history of the junior republic movement

14 to 21-year-olds successfully emulated the United States government in the early 1900s.

MIT Press Reader

Jan 29, 2021 - 40 min

Stanisław Lem's reflections on the objects of his childhood home

Journey into the past with this excerpt from the acclaimed science-fiction author's memoir.

MIT Press Reader

Jan 28, 2021 - 22 min

The many-worlds theory, explained

A mind-bending, jargon-free account of the popular interpretation of quantum mechanics.