M.J. Rose

What books do you think humanity would need (or want) to rebuild things after a global apocalypse? The Long Now Foundation has been pondering this question, and they have asked some great modern day thinkers to curate lists of books for their  MANUAL FOR CIVILIZATION. The actual books themselves will be housed in the new library at the INTERVAL salon space — a San Francisco cocktail bar/library for contemplating the Long Term.

Here is a bit about Brain Pickings‘ Maria Popova’s reading list for the Manual of Civilization:

33 Books on How to Live: My Reading List for the Long Now Foundation’s Manual for Civilization

by Maria Popova

Books that help us make sense of ourselves, our world, and our place in it.

“In a recent piece about the Manual for Civilization — the Long Now Foundation’s effort to assemble 3,500 books most essential for sustaining or rebuilding humanity, as part of their collaboratively curated library of 3,500 books for long-term thinking — I lamented the fact that Stewart Brand’s 76-book contribution to the Manual contained only one and a half books authored by a woman. To their credit, the folks at the Long Now reached out immediately, inviting me to contribute my own list to the collaborative library they’re building.

In grappling with the challenge, I faced a disquieting and inevitable realization: The predicament of diversity is like a Russian nesting doll — once we crack one layer, there’s always another, a fractal-like subdivision that begins at the infinite and approaches the infinitesimal, getting exponentially granular with each layer, but can never be fully finished…”

Click here for the list, and more. Learn more about The Long Now and its Manual for Civilization here.

The Gospel of Mary Magdalene is deeply controversial, and as much as the more stubborn religious scholars would love to reject it, the fact is it was written in ancient times, and therefore likely to be closer to a true representation of the historical Jesus than the bible itself (which was edited and reworked countless times in the ancient world and its content subjected to both political and religious pressures).

So, despite the debate of whether or not Jesus was married, what were the roles of women in the early church? If this gospel is to be believed, women were much more influential than we thought…

Tests Show ‘Gospel of Jesus’s Wife’ Is Ancient (NPR)

“Harvard University professor Karen King says this fragment of papyrus, which she unveiled last year, is the only existing ancient text quoting Jesus explicitly referring to having a wife.

New tests show that the fragment of papyrus called “Gospel of Jesus’s Wife” is actually from ancient times. The results of a carbon dating test show that it probably dates to eighth-century Egypt.

The discovery of the fragment, which includes the words “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife…’” was announced to the world a little more than a year ago by Karen L. King, a professor of history at Harvard’s School of Divinity.

The gospel immediately sparked heated debate and drew immediate dismissals from some because the gospel refers to Jesus being married.

King joins Here & Now’s Robin Young to discuss the implications of the latest tests. She says there should not be a debate over whether or not the historical Jesus was married, rather the role of wives, mothers and sexuality in Christianity…”

Listen to the NPR radio presentation here.

Every good story of witchcraft or evil should, at some point, include a creepy book. These real books  discovered at Harvard fit the bill…

Harvard discovers three of its library books are bound in human flesh (Roadtrippers)

“There’s something undeniably creepy about big, expansive libraries. The hushed whispers, the almost artificial quiet, and the smell of dusty tomes combine to create a surreal experience. But when it comes to creepy libraries, Harvard University might take the cake… you see, three of its books are bound in human skin…”

For the complete story and more photos, click here.