Category: Nature
We’re excited that you’ve joined the conversation! At HMU, we want to continue the great authors’ conversations in a contemporary context, and this blog will help us do that. We look back to Aristotle and the early philosophers who used reason and discourse to gain wisdom and now we endeavor to do the same every day.
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April 17, 2026
Thanks to Natalie Sum Yue Chung, HMU 2026 Fellow in Ideas; PhD Candidate in Climate Policy, Princeton University
Walden; or, Life in the Woods (1854) by Henry David Thoreau: review by Natalie Sum Yue Chung
There are books we read, and then there are books that read us—that somehow knew us before we knew ourselves. Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden; or, Life in the Woods” (1854) has been such a companion throughout my life.
» Read more about: Finding Walden: A Personal Reflection on Thoreau’s Masterwork »
March 6, 2026
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Sharks flow in and around the Pequod for most of its journey. Ishmael often notes their presence rather casually. They are, of course, one of the many challenges involved in whaling. They hover at the periphery of the tale until Stubb, Ahab’s second mate, decides to feast on a recently harpooned whale. At this point in the story, the reader has met everyone except Moby Dick.
» Read more about: What Lurks Below Melville’s Whale: the Shark Chapters Part I »
February 13, 2026
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
I just finished a Mary Oliver seminar which was hosted by the Academy of American Poets and taught by Lindsay Whalen. I appreciated Whalen’s historical insights into Oliver’s writing. Here are a few things that I love, admire, cherish about Mary Oliver’s poetry.
First, as Lindsay Whalen eloquently expressed in class, for Oliver, memories are attached not just to a moment in time but to a very physical place.
December 19, 2025
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s blog.
As the holiday season arrives, many of us find ourselves moving at a frenzied pace. To counterbalance the fury, I like to sit with a poem. Since HMU is also entering the holiday break, I figured that featuring a poem would also invite you into this practice. Use the next few weeks to explore the poem at your own pace.
June 6, 2025
Thanks to Estella Achinko, a 2025 HMU Fellow in Ideas, for today’s post.
Alfred Lansing’s Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage is a masterfully crafted narrative that chronicles one of the most extraordinary survival stories in the annals of exploration. Originally published in 1959, the book recounts the ill-fated 1914 Antarctic expedition led by the indomitable Sir Ernest Shackleton. Lansing, an American journalist, skillfully reconstructs this harrowing saga through meticulous research,
» Read more about: BOOK REVIEW: Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing »
April 4, 2025
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
As an entry point into the great idea of “Family,” Adler quotes Rousseau who claims that family is “the most ancient of all societies and the only one that is natural.” Adler then explains that by natural he means something to the effect of either “instinctive” or “necessary.” Rousseau continues that children stay with parents only as long as is necessary.
January 31, 2025
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Michael Faraday introduces Lecture 1 of the Chemical History of a Candle with a passionate discussion about the function of the cup of wax which builds at the bottom of a burning wick. This liquid wax pools to be used as fuel in burning. This cup wastes nothing since all gathered wax will be burned or will eventually cool for the next usage.
November 15, 2024
Thanks to HMU Tutor, Peter Ponzio, for today’s post.
Milton, in describing Satan’s fall in Book II of Paradise Lost, compares the fallen angel to a comet. The five-line description of Satan reads as follows:
“Satan stood/ Unterrifi’d and like a Comet burn’d, / That fires the length of Ophiucus huge/ In the Artick Sky, and from his horrid hair/ Shakes Pestilence and Warr…”
» Read more about: And Like a Comet Burn’d, /That fires the length of Ophiucus huge »
December 23, 2022
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Robert Frost was born in San Francisco in 1874. Frost, an American icon, was one of few poets who achieved celebrity status. As the first poet to read at a Presidential Inauguration, he set many standards for our nation. Focused on country life, he explored themes which include capitalism, man and nature. His poems often feature impressive imagery.
September 16, 2022
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Recently, I attended a pop-up conference hosted by Classical Pursuits. Moderator Melanie Blake walked us through a short story by Guy de Maupassant. I jumped on this opportunity since I had never read any of his short stories. And discussion is an excellent way to be introduced to new stories! Being in such a large group limited the number of comments from each participants,