By Zubeida Mustafa
IN his informative book, A History of Reading, Alberto Manguel does not touch on any aspect of children’s reading. It is a glaring omission as it is unlikely that children’s reading has no history.
Three developments described by Manguel, however, have implications for children and reading Continue reading How to make a child read
By Zubeida Mustafa
THE grass is always greener on the other side, so it is said. Crises also assume a more horrific image when viewed from a distance, especially when the media is there to beat the drums. But when you get closer to the scene of action in both situations you find that things are not always what they appear to be. Continue reading Manufacturing happiness
by Zubeida Mustafa
NOT widely noticed internationally, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in July declaring “happiness was critical in advancing economic growth and social progress”. The “pursuit of happiness” was described as a “fundamental (universal) human goal”.
Psychologists have Continue reading Can happiness be measured?
By Zubeida Mustafa
A NEW book that is making waves in the West these days is The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined.
Written by Harvard’s professor of psychology Steven Pinker, the book argues that “violence has declined over long stretches of time, and today we may be living in the most ‘peaceable era in our species’ existence”. Continue reading Violence: beyond statistics
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
Retirement is now another phase that can be added to the seven ages of Man that Shakespeare wrote about. Its concept has changed radically, considering that medical science has added years and health to life.
Today people don’t ‘retire’ in the conventional sense of withdrawing from active life to wait for the inevitable end. Most people remain as active in their later years as they have been in any of their other ‘ages’. But the nature and intensity of their activities change. If there is one word I can use to describe this phase of life, it is ‘liberated’.
Continue reading Life begins at 60