Marina Benjamin

Senior Editor, Aeon+Psyche

Marina is a former arts editor of the New Statesman and deputy arts editor of the Evening Standard newspaper in London. Her books include, Living at the End of the World which looked at end-time cults, Rocket Dreams, an off-beat elegy to the Space Age, and Last Days in Babylon, the story of the Jews of Iraq. Marina specialises in the culture of science, developmental psychology and strong personal narratives. Her acclaimed memoirs The Middlepause and Insomnia have been translated into 9 languages. Her latest memoir A Little Give will be published in 2023. She can be found on Twitter @marinab52.

See Marina Benjamin’s profile on Psyche

Written by Marina Benjamin

Neon signs at night in a city, featuring the words “Fremont Hotel,” “Casino,” “Saloon,” “Keno,” and “Craps”.

essayCognition and intelligence

Playing games for real

My father was hopelessly, joyously addicted to gambling and I his moral critic. How did I end up playing pro blackjack?

Marina Benjamin

Period painting of a woman with curly hair in a red dress holding a portrait necklace, with a young girl in white resting her arm on her shoulder.

essayChildhood and adolescence

My daughter, myself

Storms of doubt and change I expected as the parent of an adolescent, I just thought they would be hers, not mine

Marina Benjamin

Edited by Marina Benjamin

An older woman sitting on steps, speaking to journalists holding microphones and cameras outside a house.

essayBiography and memoir

On her own terms

Doris Lessing’s Golden Notebook remains shocking, necessary and imperfect – a dazzling experiment in living as a woman

Catherine Taylor

A destroyed house with an American flag amid debris and destruction under a clear blue sky.

essayEconomics

The insurance catastrophe

Whole regions of the world are now uninsurable, bringing radical uncertainty to the economy. How do we fix the problem?

Gavin Evans

Photo of two silhouettes walking by fountains with bokeh effect in the foreground, Arc de Triomphe in the background.

essayComputing and artificial intelligence

Computers can’t surprise

As AI’s endless clichés continue to encroach on human art, the true uniqueness of our creativity is becoming ever clearer

Richard Beard

Painting of industrial workers and scientists performing tasks; includes gears, blueprints and factory elements.

essayPolitical philosophy

Landholder vs stockholder

In 1752, David Hume discerned that wealth was becoming untethered from land. Here lies the origin of our political divisions

Catherine Nichols

Illustration of three people wearing headscarves walking along a wall carrying books and backpacks with trees and a decorative gate in the background.

essayBiography and memoir

A life of joy and work

I am banned from working now, but as I look back on my long, challenging career in Afghanistan I feel hope for the future

Najla & Asad Nariman

Pope Francis wearing white robes waters a freshly planted tree from a wooden bowl, a man holding a book and a woman wearing a colourful headdress beside him and a cameraman in the background

essayReligion

Green dominion

Coursing through Catholicism is a radical tradition of environmental justice that will help combat the climate crisis

Mike Mariani

Painting of a green and pink landscape with a prominent flat-topped mountain and a cloudy sky in the background.

essayArt

My private mountain

Through her paintings, Georgia O’Keeffe laid claim to New Mexico’s desert landscape. But it was never hers for the taking

Alanna Offield

Black and white photo of a young boy playing simultaneous chess against three suited men watched by a crowd.

essayNeurodiversity

The puzzle of the ‘idiot savant’

The convergence of singular talent and profound disability confounded scientists eager to place humans into neat categories

Violeta Ruiz

Illustration of a person in a wheelchair drawing at a desk, surrounded by swirling dark and light patterns.

essayBiography and memoir

Kabul in my heart

When the Taliban captured my city, thousands fled and the rest were severely repressed. But I’ve stayed – and survived

Maryam Mahjoba & Asad Nariman

Silhouette of a bird on a branch against a golden sunset sky.

essayAnimals and humans

Life thrums with music

Listen to the boundless sounds of nature, the great animal orchestra, whose songs imbue the world with fresh meaning

Jay Griffiths

Vintage black and white photo of a woman in a garden sitting beside a large urn with a sleeping dog lying nearby.

essayFamily life

Glorious and mundane

I once exalted in the extraordinary. But as I’ve learned from Virginia Woolf, indelible beauty is also found in the everyday

Diana Saverin

Abstract sketch of a cityscape with buildings, cars and patterns in pencil and ink.

essayArt

Witty wotty dashes

Doodles are the emanations of our pixillated minds, freewheeling into dissociation, graphology, and radical openness

James Reath