The Nature Of with Willow Defebaugh Maria Popova on Turning Matter Into Meaning
May 12, 2026
Maria Popova, writer and founder of The Marginalian, blends science, poetry, and cultural history. She discusses wonder as an antidote to overthinking. Topics include Traversal’s origins, Mary Shelley and Tambora’s ripple effects, using poetry to teach science, and how biography and curiosity weave meaning from matter.
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Wonder As Antidote To Selfing
- Wonder dissolves the inward narrative of the self and suspends certainty, offering an escape from rumination and selfing.
- Maria Popova practices receptivity to wonder by placing herself in surprising environments, especially nature, rather than actively searching for it.
Put Yourself In The Path Of Wonder
- Put yourself in the path of surprise and possibility to invite wonder into life instead of hunting for it.
- Use nature as a dependable, impersonal-yet-intimate source of astonishment that interrupts self-focused narratives.
Mary Shelley Revisited During The Pandemic
- Maria returned to Mary Shelley after archival letters and Shelley's plague novel, The Last Man, haunted her during the pandemic.
- She wrote Traversal to rescue Shelley from being known only for Frankenstein and to highlight her later prophetic work.
