About

My original idea of this blog was to use it as a notebook for investigating what makes us humans tick, with the aim of uncovering some new ideas about how we can live happier, better lives in happier, better societies.

But at the moment, I'm finding that I have a lot to learn about myself, and making a happy life for myself, before I can take a wider look around. So, for now, this blog is mostly about my experiences as I slowly work towards becoming a happy, stable, self-knowing person with the energy to take on the problems of the world.

My aim is to put up a new post each week. Mostly I write about figuring myself out; sometimes I do reviews of books that I have learned something from.

A bit more about me:

I was born in Israel and raised in the United States; I've spent time living in England and Slovenia and at the moment I live in Germany. I studied botany and evolution as an undergrad and I have a PhD in evolutionary biology. My original plan was to be a research scientist in a university, but after eight years in academia that doesn't sound so attractive anymore. Last year I decided to take a break from academia to give myself time to explore my interests in people, society, and art that have always been pushed to the side by science. Now I'm pretty sure I'm not going back, but I don't know yet what's next! I've been working my way out of depression for the last two years; I don't know for how long before that I was depressed and didn't realize. I've been vegan since 2003. I'm 30, married, with two cats. I love wilderness, handicraft, gardens, books, comics, yoga, and food. Above all, I value kindness, compassion, honesty, humility, rational thinking, and open-mindedness, and I try to follow these virtues in my own life. And I have just two goals in life: to enjoy it, and to do good.