I am not a fast, nor an avid, reader of books. The news and social media sure. TV, films, music, audio books, podcasts, YouTube videos; all are seductively unchallenging compared to sitting down and reading a book. Some are blessed with more awe-inspiring bibliographic curiosities: my friend Lydia read 115 books last year, so I asked her why she likes reading. She told me that she ‘likes learning about difference experiences of the world’, that ‘it feels like a solid routine

Illustration by Will Allen/Europinion In a recent intervention , I mentioned a historian whom I treasure, Dr. Timothy Snyder of Yale, who...