That sounds almost like a political statement these days, but it shouldn't be. No matter what politicians, activists and others with an agenda tell you, the reasons for optimism far outweigh the case ...

You’re reading Open Questions, Joshua Rothman’s weekly column exploring what it means to be human. What do you read, and why? A few decades ago, these weren’t urgent questions. Reading was an ...

Mr. Robinson is a video producer for Times Opinion and the author of the forthcoming memoir “Whale Eyes,” from which this article is adapted. When you’re a struggling reader, there’s no amount of ...