In this clip from Astra Taylor’s stylish and brainy documentary Examined Life, Kwame Anthony Appiah walks through the Toronto airport while discussing the concept of “Cosmopolitanism”—which comes from a Greek phrase meaning citizen of the world. (Cosmopolitanism is also the name of the Princeton philosophy professor’s award-winning book). We tend to be good at personal relationships, Appiah says. The trick now, in our rapidly populating world, is to build good relationships with the billions of other citizens who share our planet. We will see more people in one trip to the airport, Appiah reminds us, than our ancient ancestors saw in their entire lives. “We need an ocean of global citizenship.”

We love getting new books from our speakers here at Lavin. This week, we saw the arrival of Know the Past, Find the Future, a book on the New York Public Library’s 100 year anniversary. It features work from our speakers Kwame Anthony Appiah, Reza Aslan, and Colum McCann. Flanking it are David Eagleman’s neuroscience mind-bender, Incognito and John Elder Robinson’s collection of personal stories illustrating autistic thinking, Be Different.