“I pace my living room, imagining myself as a photographer: a person with a real, adjustable camera, a tripod, various lenses and light-focusing gimmicks (not too many), but nothing changes. There is nothing…

“One result of my abstemious existence, as we venture into the darkest of days ahead, is that I spend considerable time reflecting on my life goals and evaluating—constantly re-evaluating—what I live for. I…

“It would be sad to have to miss out on the joy of reaching into a damp brown paper bag, removing a fat, soft, whole peanut in its soggy shell, popping the entire…

“The sequel is often not as entertaining as the original; the son not quite so stellar as his father. (This is especially true in regards to movies.) But, for whatever reason, there seem…

“Over the next few generations, more and more of the Baal Shem Tov’s miracle-making ritual was forgotten, so when the fourth Hasidic leader was told a now-familiar tale of woe, he was crestfallen.…

“The summer’s unseasonal storms, which did more harm than good, followed a rainless winter and spring. Even as early as mid-June, not long after we arrived to stay, locals were telling dire tales…

“More than 15 years ago, while editing a book about climate change, I concluded that habitat for humans would be coming to an end soon due to abrupt planetary warming. I knew we’d…

“In 1975, the parents of a 13-year-old girl were relaxing in New York’s Central Park, basking in the glow of a Broadway-musical matinee. In the distance, Dr. Bill Bruehl, the father, spied the…

“Along with our idealism, there was an unquestioning faith in the unprecedented technological expertise of the time, accompanied by a blindness to the extreme dangers inherent in these missions. If you stop to…

“I’m a little embarrassed to tell you this, Sir, but some nights I have dreams, Mr. President, dreams of you as the baby Jesus, lying in the manger at Radio City Music Hall,…