ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Joshua Prager - Journalist
Joshua Prager’s journalism unravels historical secrets -- and his own.

Why you should listen

Joshua Prager writes for publications including Vanity Fair, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, where he was a senior writer for eight years. George Will has described his work as "exemplary journalistic sleuthing."

His new book, 100 Years, is a list of literary quotations on every age from birth to one hundred. Designed by Milton Glaser, the legendary graphic designer who created the I ♥ NY logo, the book moves year by year through the words of our most beloved authors, revealing the great sequence of life.

His first book, The Echoing Green, was a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. The New York Times Book Review called it “a revelation and a page turner, a group character study unequaled in baseball writing since Roger Kahn’s Boys of Summer some three decades ago.”

His second book, Half-Life, describes his recovery from a bus crash that broke his neck. Dr. Jerome Groopman, staff writer at the New Yorker magazine, called it “an extraordinary memoir, told with nuance and brimming with wisdom.

Joshua was a Nieman fellow at Harvard in 2011 and a Fulbright Distinguished Chair at Hebrew University in 2012. He was born in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, grew up in New Jersey, and lives in New York. He is writing a book about Roe v. Wade.

 

More profile about the speaker
Joshua Prager | Speaker | TED.com
TEDActive 2015

Joshua Prager: Wisdom from great writers on every year of life

Joshua Prager: Mudrost velikih pisaca o svakoj godini života

Filmed:
1,797,150 views

Različiti kakvi jesmo, mi ljudi ipak prolazimo kroz slična razdoblja, a šablone koje dijelimo pretaču se u stranice knjiga koje volimo. U ovome dirljivom govoru, novinar Josh Prager istražuje faze života kroz citate pisaca kao što su Norman Mailer, Joyce Carol Oates, William Trevor i drugi, a služeći se vizualizacijama grafičkog dizajnera Miltona Glasera. "Knjige nam govore tko smo bili, tko smo sada i što ćemo postati." kaže Prager.
- Journalist
Joshua Prager’s journalism unravels historical secrets -- and his own. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
I'm turningtokarenje 44 nextSljedeći monthmjesec,
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Slijedeći mjesec napunit ću 44 godine,
00:15
and I have the senseosjećaj that 44
is going to be a very good yeargodina,
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i imam osjećaj da će 44
biti jako dobra godina,
00:19
a yeargodina of fulfillmentispunjenje, realizationRealizacija.
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godina ostvarenja, realizacija.
00:23
I have that senseosjećaj,
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Osjećam to,
00:24
not because of anything
particularposebno in storedućan for me,
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ne zbog nečega posebnog što mi predstoji,
00:27
but because I readčitati it would be a good yeargodina
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već jer sam pročitao da će ovo biti
dobra godina
00:30
in a 1968 bookrezervirati by NormanNorman MailerPredati na poštu.
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u knjizi Normana Mailera iz 1968.
00:34
"He feltosjećala his ownvlastiti agedob, forty-four44 ..."
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"Svoju vlastitu dob,
četrdeset i četiri godine ..."
00:37
wrotenapisao MailerPredati na poštu in "The ArmiesVojske of the Night,"
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piše Mailer u romanu "Vojske noći,"
00:40
"... feltosjećala as if he were a solidsolidan embodimentutjelovljenje
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"... osjećao je kao utjelovljenje
00:42
of bonekost, musclemišić, heartsrce, mindum,
and sentimentosjećaj to be a man,
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od kosti, mišića, srca i uma,
i težnji da bude muškarac,
00:46
as if he had arrivedstigao."
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kao da je stigao."
00:49
Yes, I know MailerPredati na poštu
wasn'tnije writingpisanje about me.
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Da, znam da Mailer nije pisao o meni.
00:52
But I alsotakođer know that he was;
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Ali isto tako znam da je;
00:54
for all of us -- you, me,
the subjectpredmet of his bookrezervirati,
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za sve nas -- tebe, mene,
subjekt njegove knjige,
00:58
agedob more or lessmanje in stepkorak,
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starenje više manje postepeno,
01:00
proceedpostupiti from birthrođenja
alonguz the sameisti great sequenceslijed:
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nastaviti koračati od rođenja,
duž istaknutog slijeda,
01:05
throughkroz the wondersčuda
and confinementsporode of childhooddjetinjstvo;
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kroz čuda i ograničenja djetinjstva;
01:08
the emancipationsemancipations
and frustrationsfrustracije of adolescenceAdolescencija;
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odvojenosti i frustracija adolescencije;
01:12
the empowermentsEmpowerments
and millstonesmlin of adulthoododrasloj dobi;
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moćnih i velikih trenutaka zrele dobi;
01:16
the recognitionspriznanja
and resignationsostavke of oldstar agedob.
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priznanja, ali i rezignacija odrasle dobi.
01:20
There are patternsobrasci to life,
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Postoje šablone u životu,
01:22
and they are sharedpodijeljen.
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i svi ih dijelimo.
01:24
As ThomasThomas MannMann wrotenapisao:
"It will happendogoditi se to me as to them."
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Thomas Mann je napisao:
"Dogodit će se meni kao i njima."
01:29
We don't simplyjednostavno liveživjeti these patternsobrasci.
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Ne samo da živimo po obrascima.
01:32
We recordsnimiti them, too.
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Mi ih i bilježimo.
01:33
We writepisati them down in booksknjige,
where they becomepostati narrativespriče
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Mi ih zapisujemo u knjige,
gdje postaju pripovijetke
01:36
that we can then readčitati and recognizeprepoznati.
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koje zatim možemo čitati i prepoznavati.
01:39
BooksKnjiga tell us who we'veimamo been,
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Knjige nam također otkrivaju što smo bili,
01:41
who we are, who we will be, too.
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tko smo, i što ćemo postati.
01:45
So they have for millenniatisućljeća.
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To rade već tisućljećima.
01:48
As JamesJames SalterSalter wrotenapisao,
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Kako je James Salter napisao,
01:49
"Life passesprolazi into pagesstranica
if it passesprolazi into anything."
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"Ako postoji jedna stvar u koju se život
prenosi -- to su stranice."
01:54
And so sixšest yearsgodina agoprije,
a thought leaptskočio to mindum:
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I tako je prije 6 godina,
misao prošla kroz moju glavu:
01:58
if life passedprošao into pagesstranica,
there were, somewherenegdje,
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ako se životna mudrost uistinu izljeva
u stranice, onda negdje, moraju postojati
02:02
passagesprolaza writtennapisan about everysvaki agedob.
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odlomci o svakoj mogućoj životnoj dobi.
02:04
If I could find them, I could
assemblesastaviti them into a narrativepripovijest.
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Njihovim pronalaskom,
mogao bih sklopiti cijelinu.
02:08
I could assemblesastaviti them into a life,
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Cijelinu koja zatim postaje život,
02:10
a long life, a hundred-yearsto godina life,
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stotinu godina dug život,
02:13
the entiretycijelosti of that sameisti great sequenceslijed
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potpunost tog veličanstvenog slijeda
02:15
throughkroz whichkoji the luckiestnajsretnija amongmeđu us passproći.
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koji samo najsretniji među nama dovrše
u cijelosti.
02:19
I was then 37 yearsgodina oldstar,
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Tada mi je bilo 37 godina,
02:22
"an agedob of discretionDiskrecija,"
wrotenapisao WilliamWilliam TrevorTrevor.
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"razdoblje diskretnosti,"
piše William Trevor.
02:27
I was pronesklon to meditatingRazmatrajući on time and agedob.
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Bio sam sklon meditaciji o vremenu i dobi.
02:30
An illnessbolest in the familyobitelj
and laterkasnije an injuryozljeda to me
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Bolest u obitelji,
a kasnije i ozljeda koja me zadesila
02:33
had long madenapravljen clearčisto that growingrastući oldstar
could not be assumedpretpostavlja.
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jasno su mi pokazale da ne možemo
pretpostaviti kada ćemo ostariti.
02:37
And besidesosim toga, growingrastući oldstar
only postponedodgođena the inevitableneizbježan,
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Uostalom, starenje samo
odgađa neizbježno,
02:40
time seeingvidim throughkroz
what circumstanceokolnost did not.
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dok vrijeme vidi kroz ono
što okolnosti ne mogu.
02:43
It was all a bitbit dishearteningobeshrabrujuće.
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Sve to bilo je pomalo obeshrabrujuće.
02:46
A listpopis, thoughiako, would last.
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Popis stvari bi doduše potrajao.
02:49
To chroniclekronika a life
yeargodina by vulnerableranjiv yeargodina
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Zabilježiti svaku ranjivu godinu života
02:52
would be to claspkopča and to groundtlo
what was fleetingkratkotrajna,
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značilo bi očuvati ono nestalno,
02:55
would be to providepružiti myselfsebe and othersdrugi
a glimpsesvjetlucanje into the futurebudućnost,
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pružajući sebi, ali i drugima
pogled u budućnost,
02:59
whetherda li we madenapravljen it there or not.
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čak i ako smo već do tamo stigli.
03:01
And when I then beganpočeo to compilesastaviti my listpopis,
I was quicklybrzo obsessedopsjednut,
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I kad sam tada počeo sastavljati,
svoju listu -- ubrzo sam opsesivno
03:05
searchingu potrazi pagesstranica and pagesstranica
for agesdobi and agesdobi.
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pretraživao stranicu za stranicom,
godinu za godinom.
03:09
Here we were at everysvaki annualgodišnji stepkorak
throughkroz our first hundredstotina yearsgodina.
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Prošao sam svim godišnjim stepenicama,
duž svojih prvih sto godina.
03:14
"Twenty-seven27 ... a time
of suddennaglo revelationsobjave,"
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"Dvadesetsedam ... razdoblje
iznenadnih otkrivenja,"
03:19
"sixty-twoŠezdeset dva, ... of subtlefin diminishmentsdiminishments."
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"šezdeset i dvije ...
razdoblje suptilnog propadanja."
03:23
I was mindfulpažljiv, of coursenaravno,
that suchtakav insightsuvidi were relativerođak.
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Naravno da sam bio svjestan,
relativnosti takvih shvaćanja.
03:28
For starterspredjela, we now liveživjeti longerviše,
and so agedob more slowlypolako.
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Za početnike, sad živimo duže,
i starimo sporije.
03:33
ChristopherChristopher IsherwoodMolim used
the phrasefraza "the yellowžuta boja leaflist"
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Christopher Isherwood je upotrijebio
izraz "žuti list"
03:36
to describeopisati a man at 53,
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kako bi opisao 53-godišnjaka,
03:38
only one centurystoljeće after LordGospodin ByronByron
used it to describeopisati himselfsam at 36.
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samo sto godina nakon što je Lord Byron,
tim istim izrazom opisao sebe sa 36.
03:42
(LaughterSmijeh)
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(Smijeh)
03:45
I was mindfulpažljiv, too, that life
can swingljuljati wildlymahnito and unpredictablynepredvidivo
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Bio sam i svjestan činjenice,
da je život neobuzdan i nepredvidljiv,
03:48
from one yeargodina to the nextSljedeći,
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iz godine u godinu,
03:50
and that people maysvibanj experienceiskustvo
the sameisti agedob differentlyrazličito.
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i da ljudi istu dob mogu
proživljavati različito.
03:54
But even so, as the listpopis coalescednemirom,
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Čak i da je tako,dok se lista sjedinjavala
03:57
so, too, on the pagestranica, clearčisto
as the reflectionodraz in the mirrorogledalo,
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istovremeno se na stranici,
jasno kao odraz u zrcalu,
04:01
did the life that I had been livingživot:
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sjedinjavao i moj život:
04:03
findingnalaz at 20 that "... one is lessmanje
and lessmanje sure of who one is;"
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saznavajući da s 20 "osoba postaje sve
nesigurnija svojeg pravog identiteta;"
04:08
emergingu nastajanju at 30 from the "... wastelandpustoš
of preparationpriprema into activeaktivan life;"
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da bi sa 30 iskrsnula iz "pustoši
pripreme za aktivni život;"
04:13
learningučenje at 40 "... to closeblizu softlynježno
the doorsvrata to roomssobe
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naučivši sa 40 "... kako nježno zatvoriti
vrata prema sobama
04:17
[I would] not be comingdolazak back to."
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kojima se [Ja] neću vraćati."
04:20
There I was.
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Bio sam tamo.
04:23
Of coursenaravno, there we all are.
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Naravno, svi smo mi bili tamo.
04:26
MiltonMilton GlaserGlaser, the great graphicgrafika designerdizajner
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Milton Glaser, sjajni grafički dizajner
04:29
whosečije beautifullijep
visualizationsvizualizacije you see here,
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čije prekrasne vizualizacije vidite ovdje,
04:32
and who todaydanas is 85 --
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i kojemu je danas 85 --
04:34
all those yearsgodina "... a ripeningzrenja
and an apotheosisapoteoza," wrotenapisao NabokovNabokov --
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sve ove godine "... zrenje i apoteoza,"
piše Nabokov --
04:39
notednavedeno to me that, like artumjetnost and like colorboja,
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napominjale su mi da,
kao umjetnost i boja,
04:43
literatureknjiževnost helpspomaže us to rememberzapamtiti
what we'veimamo experiencediskusan.
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književnost nam pomaže da se sjetimo
onoga što smo iskusili.
04:47
And indeeddoista, when I sharedpodijeljen
the listpopis with my grandfatherdeda,
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I doista, kad sam podijelio popis
sa svojim djedom,
04:50
he noddedkimnula glavom in recognitionpriznanje.
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on je kimnuo u znak potvde.
04:53
He was then 95 and soonuskoro to dieumrijeti,
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Tada mu je bilo 95 i bio je na samrti,
04:57
whichkoji, wrotenapisao RobertoRoberto BolaBolaño,
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koja je, piše Roberto Bolaño,
04:59
"... is the sameisti as never dyingumiranje."
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"... isto kao nikada ne umrijeti."
05:03
And looking back, he said to me that, yes,
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Gledajući unatrag, rekao mi je da,
05:07
ProustProust was right that at 22,
we are sure we will not dieumrijeti,
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Proust jest bio u pravu -- sa 22 godine
sigurni smo da nećemo umrijeti,
05:13
just as a thanatologistthanatologist
namedpod nazivom EdwinEdwin ShneidmanShneidman was right
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kao što je Tanatolog Edwin Shneidmann --
05:16
that at 90, we are sure we will.
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bio u pravu da smo sa 90 uvjereni u suprotno.
05:21
It had happeneddogodilo to him,
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Dogodilo se njemu,
05:23
as to them.
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kao i ostalima.
05:27
Now the listpopis is doneučinio:
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Sada je popis dovršen:
05:30
a hundredstotina yearsgodina.
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stotinu godina.
05:33
And looking back over it,
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I gledajući nazad prema njemu,
05:36
I know that I am not doneučinio.
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znam da nisam gotov.
05:38
I still have my life to liveživjeti,
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Još uvijek trebam proživjeti svoj život,
05:40
still have manymnogi more pagesstranica to passproći into.
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i još stranica u koje ću se uobličiti.
05:44
And mindfulpažljiv of MailerPredati na poštu,
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I svjestan Mailera,
05:46
I awaitčekaju 44.
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iščekujem četrdeset četvrtu.
05:48
Thank you.
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Hvala vam.
05:49
(ApplausePljesak)
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(Pljesak)
Translated by Tilen Pigac
Reviewed by Ivan Stamenkovic

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Joshua Prager - Journalist
Joshua Prager’s journalism unravels historical secrets -- and his own.

Why you should listen

Joshua Prager writes for publications including Vanity Fair, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, where he was a senior writer for eight years. George Will has described his work as "exemplary journalistic sleuthing."

His new book, 100 Years, is a list of literary quotations on every age from birth to one hundred. Designed by Milton Glaser, the legendary graphic designer who created the I ♥ NY logo, the book moves year by year through the words of our most beloved authors, revealing the great sequence of life.

His first book, The Echoing Green, was a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. The New York Times Book Review called it “a revelation and a page turner, a group character study unequaled in baseball writing since Roger Kahn’s Boys of Summer some three decades ago.”

His second book, Half-Life, describes his recovery from a bus crash that broke his neck. Dr. Jerome Groopman, staff writer at the New Yorker magazine, called it “an extraordinary memoir, told with nuance and brimming with wisdom.

Joshua was a Nieman fellow at Harvard in 2011 and a Fulbright Distinguished Chair at Hebrew University in 2012. He was born in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, grew up in New Jersey, and lives in New York. He is writing a book about Roe v. Wade.

 

More profile about the speaker
Joshua Prager | Speaker | TED.com