As some of my readers may have noticed, I spend a lot of time these days among trees, paying attention to trees, cutting back invasive trees...

Last night, I decided to re-read Stumbling on Happiness , a book I'd discovered a few years ago and was (then) delighted with.  I cho...

I spent 10-15 hours a week in various locations of still-wooded Chicago (and now nearby Lincolnwood) cutting down buckthorn. Some people ha...

First, I encourage everyone reading this (and beyond) to  subscribe to Consumer Reports  and make use of their unbiased, science-based revie...

Who appreciates the display of feathers by a male peacock? Female peacocks seem to get a kick out of them. They seem to p...

More than a few people think that I am pretty good at what I do, that I am  successful . I respect their judgement and thought abou...

So we've had taxis for years and we know that generally taxi drivers work hard, long hours and make small amounts of money. The cab comp...

Sure, "trepidatious" might not be a word, per se. But I am confident it is something that more than one very famous male actor i...

Saw Interstellar last night. Only had to wait through TWENTY MINUTES of trailers. Had to put fingers in my ears for much of it. So loud, so ...

Christopher Nolan of Dark Knight fame releasing new sci-fi movie: Interstellar. In a Chicago Tribune interview, he says: I could be ...

What could be more self-centered? Why should anyone else in the world care what I like best about myself? I have no idea. That is fo...

A few weeks ago, I moved my office into the basement. That was a big change. That room upstairs, with big windows looking out onto Pratt Ave...

I don't know most people in Chicago on an individual basis, but of all the people I don't know, my favorite Chicagoans are scavenger...

In 2013, the big sensation in (my) children's publishing was the release of Vivian Vulture and the Cleanup Culture . In 2014, the h...

I was one of those dot.com boom excitables who decided that he must own a Herman Miller Aeron chair in order to be super cool and incredibly...

On this day in 1858, members of the Linnaean Society of London listened to the reading of a composite paper, with two authors, announcing t...

Steve Ballmer is a terribly oblivious ultra-rich man. His offer of $2B for the Los Angeles Clippers is so ridiculously outsized and unju...

In the last couple of years, I have shifted my attention away from the human condition (wars here and there, cool new gadgets, etc.) to the ...

OK, first of all, don't tell me your answer to this question. That would make the rest of this post seem a bit rude. Here is one of t...

Leafing my way through the Chicago Reader, I came across this ad: It took me a moment to sort it out. Can you? And I don't e...