In Autobiography of a Yogi, Indian monk and guru Paramahansa Yogananda describes the spiritual path that led him to leave India for the United States. As a young teenager, Yogananda sometimes dreamed of wrestling tigers and performing other marvelous feats he had heard about other gurus performing. However, once he started training to become a monk, […]
Weekend Wisdom – How to Endure
It’s lonely out in space. That’s what former astronaut Scott Kelly found each of the three times he left his family to live and work on the International Space Station. In space, routine chores that seem very simple on Earth—cleaning the bathroom, making a minor repair—have life-and-death consequences. The pressure is relentless. Over time, Kelly […]
The Original Influencer
Before there was Instagram, there was Oprah. Our latest Instaread Original profiles Ms. Winfrey, analyzing her career as not just an entertainer, but also as a marketing whiz. By cultivating an impeccable personal brand, Winfrey transformed daytime television, the publishing industry, and the 2008 presidential election. Learn how she did—and what’s next—in our Success Story […]
Gwyneth Paltrow’s Hustle
When Gwyneth Paltrow won the Oscar for Best Actress in 1998, no one expected her to pivot from Hollywood to retail. Just ten years later, Paltrow founded her lifestyle brand Goop as a free newsletter, and by 2018 she had built it into a company with a $250 million valuation. How and why did the […]
Weekend Wisdom – The Secret Struggles of the Rich and Famous
Abraham Lincoln was depressed. So was Marilyn Monroe, whose glitzy lifestyle hid her painful struggle with borderline personality disorder. And Charles Darwin, who suffered from anxiety, was chronically ill when he traveled to develop his theory of evolution. In ANDY WARHOL WAS A HOARDER, Claudia Kalb examines the lives of prominent historical figures for signs that they […]
The Cult of Musk
Richard Branson crosses oceans in hot-air balloons. Peter Thiel planned an elaborate conspiracy fronted by Hulk Hogan. Mark Zuckerberg has a profoundly strange haircut. But even by the standards set by other billionaires, Elon Musk stands out as eccentric. With his own fan club (the Musketeers) and a dream to die on Mars, Musk frequently […]
The Mommy Blogger With a Past
Tiffany Jenkins isn’t like most women with parenting blogs. In lieu of a Pinterest page, she has a rap sheet (17 arrests, 20-plus felonies) and a memoir about her life as a drug addict. Now sober and the mother of three young children, Jenkins has become famous for being honest in an industry where everyone […]
How a Teenager Disrupted his African Village—and Became a Celebrity Innovator
William Kamkwamba’s fellow villagers worried that he was a malevolent wizard. But the African teen was in fact a talented inventor who taught himself how to build windmills from library books. Up against immense hardship—family tragedy, a hostile government, famine, and catastrophic weather—Kamkwamba found a way to better the lives of everyone in his village. […]
