Philip Roth believes books will soon be dead. Paul Auster respectfully—and strenuously—disagrees.

Known for bending genres and playing with the paradoxes of identity, Paul Auster explains what anchors his novels in the personal and the real.

For a young future author, traveling in France after drawing a high number in the Vietnam draft, the opportunity to live abroad was as lucky as escaping war.

For “Invisible” author Paul Auster, writing novels never gets easier, yet he no longer dreads the blank page.

As costs run away in the legal and medical industries, pay practices are going to change, explains Ben Heineman, a senior fellow at Harvard Law School.

When the Israeli press uncovered a scandal at America’s largest company, former general counsel Ben Heineman was on the case. The first lesson he learned: take your head out of […]

Legally, General Electric had no obligation to the overseas facilities they employed. That didn’t rid the company of a moral obligation, describes Ben Heineman, GE’s former general counsel.

The field of economics will likely witness a wildly new approach to the notion of scarcity in the coming years, a good thing believes the Nobel Prize winner—but first let’s […]

Elinor Ostrom won the 2009 Nobel Prize for economics, yet Paul Krugman, another laureate, has confessed to never having encountered her work. Here she explains how we can move past […]

The Nobel-prize winning economist argues that, contrary to the widespread theory, with the right governance, humans are likely to forge peaceful solutions to coping with resource scarcity.

If given the opportunity to sit down with anybody, Elinor Ostrom would meet the late labor economist John Commons, who linked the individual’s rights with their responsibilities.

For Elinor Ostrom, the path to the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics was fraught with challenges, but a commitment to great work and a group of rare friends, proved the […]

The writer often loses sleep over the dread of disappointing others.

Of course they are. And, as Jonathan Ames explains, they’re also still finding the time to visit peep shows.

From sex to his great-aunt, Jonathan Ames’ oeuvre is laced with a variety of obsessions, including the desire to let books themselves shape our fates

Striving for titillation may be fun, but for Jonathan Ames the true aim of writing about the act is somewhat cathartic–if only he could reach all of those needy souls […]

Fits of self-loathing, the challenge of being unlovable, and the general sense that you are tripping through darkness are part and parcel of the grand confusion of life—-Jonathan Ames explains.

After years of forced frugality, the novelist Jonathan Ames has been clueless about what to do with his new paycheck as an HBO producer—one purchase, however, has been obvious, getting […]

Jonathan Ames takes the casual approach to writing, punctuating his time in front of the screen with periods of “messing around,” lying down, coffee drinking, and efforts to feel a […]

In his long career as a storyteller, Jonathan Ames has learned a thing or two about how to entertain. A few quick tips: don’t memorize your lines, and always be […]

Sometimes the most valuable thing you can do as a writer is to just “hang out” with what you love. For Jonathan Ames, this meant many long nights in Midtown […]

Big Think sits down with the author and creator of, “Bored to Death.”

Marriage counselor David Schnarch thinks every romantic relationship consists of a high desire and low desire partner. And it’s not always the guy who can’t get enough.

Therapist David Schnarch says that bedroom embers almost always burn out in emotionally committed relationships.

A conversation with the marital therapist and author of Passionate Marriage and Intimacy and Desire.

Sex and gender researcher Lisa Diamond thinks the secret is all about not being defined.

Eighty percent of gay and straight women who changed sexual orientation report being attracted to both sexes.

Lisa Diamond has undertaken a 13-year longitudinal study of gay women. The surprising trend? The overwhelming amount of fluidity and transition.