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Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrechts, The Reverse of a Framed Painting (ca. 1670) — Source

The Museum Anthenaeum

What is an Anthenaeum? 

It is a place for learning, like a library, or a literary or scientific society.

It can also refer to a building or room used by such an institution.

A place where scholars and artists, and thinkers might gather.

So, welcome, thinker, to The Museum Anthenaeum.

Maybe one day we'll have a real room, in a real building, to gather (together). :)

But for now, we invite you to explore our cherished The Museum of Ideas reads.

(There are more to list, btw. The list is just a start.)

I'll meet you where the ideas are,

--Shannon

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Find it here.

 

This book will shape how you think about life. 

 

Find it here.

 

This book will inspire you to interrogate your own creative process and to appreciate the beauty that is creation.

 

Find it here.

 

This book will inspire you to think about thinking. :)

 

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Find it here.

 

This book will shape how you think about what it takes to seek and attain power and influence. 

 

Find it here.

 

Who is your team of challengers? This book will shape how you think about each choice you make in a changing world.

 

Find it here.

 

Open up any page and start reading. A leadership masterpiece. My graduate school professor,  Dean Galvin, tipped me off to its brilliance.

 

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Find it here.

 

This book will shape how you think about beauty and the quest for truth (via questions). 

 

Find it here.

 

How do works of art come to be? An exploration of the process through the lens of creators (and illustrated.)

 

Find it here.

 

"Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the ...consequences of love’s absence."

 

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Find it here.

 

Theology: An exploration of creativity through the lens of an exploration of the idea of a Creator. 

 

Find it here.

 

"Focus your arguments on the moral values we share---compassion and fairness--rather than those held by only one part of the population."

 

Find it here.

 

"Look up at the sky. Ask yourself, “Has the sheep eaten the flower or not?” And you'll see how everything changes."

 

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Find it here.

 

"The gift moves toward an empty place." 

 

Find it here.

 

"What if imagination and art are not, as many of us might think, the frosting on life but the fountainhead of human experience? "

 

Find it here.

 

"Explores the way art gets made."

 

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Find it here.

 

On the philosophic life.

 

Find it here.

 

"What will happen to a joke when the language is gone? "

 

Find it here.

 

"Where do ideas come from? Iyengar has an idea about this. A practical method for innovating.

 

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Find it here.

 

Henry Miller's musings.

 

Find it here.

 

10 Questions. 5 Values. An invitation for all tech creators to think deliberately and purposefully about the tech we're creating. (Full Disclosure: Shannon is a co-author of this alongside her QCollective team.)

 

Find it here.

 

What is our will to know?  Why do(n't) we listen to warnings?

 

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Find it here.

 

Byung-Chul Han's musings about the art of lingering.

 

Find it here.

 

"the CBS daytime network announcer's voice would say,...You're watching As the World Turns,---until I was suddenly struck by the reality of the statement. I don't mean any sort of humanities-type iconic metaphor, but the literal thing he was saying, the simple surface level. I don't know how many times I'd heard this that year while sitting around watching As the World Turns, but I suddenly realized that the announcer was actually saying over and over what I was literally doing."--David Foster Wallace

 

Find it here.

 

"Where do ideas come from? Iyengar has an idea about this. A practical method for innovating.

 

Copyright © 2025 The Museum of Ideas

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