Review: The Snow Leopard

by | May 5, 2018 | Book reviews, David Howell

I recently reread Peter Matthiessen’s The Snow Leopard, a work of nonfiction published in 1978 that won the National Book Award for its depiction of Matthiessen’s spiritual explorations. I first read it 30 years ago: I was 23, trekking through Nepal, and looking for...

Bring on the brilliance

by | Mar 31, 2018 | Book reviews, David Howell

As a professor at a rigorous university, I’ve seen a trend over the last decade that troubles me. My students (as bright and hardworking as they are) are less creative. Each incoming class seems to have a more difficult time coming up with ideas to write about; they...

The Serenity Experiment

by | Feb 10, 2018 | David Howell, The Descent into Happiness

The other day I was sitting in my office when one of my students, Rima, walked in and asked if I would be interested in going to Honduras. Rima is the president of my university’s student chapter of Medical Brigades, an “international movement of students and medical...